ANGLER. 217 



depression between them; vision toward the sides. Hound 



the body from head to tail a series of membranous processes, 



fiat and lobuU^ted, but of some variety in shape, the longest 



round the head. Skin smooth, loose, and slimy. Strong 



tubercles behind the eyes; the head covered with numerous 



irregular lines, from which proceeds a tenacious slime. Two 



short soft processes, already referred to, above the upper jaw; 



between them a slender upright filament, its interior structure 



bony, and which is joined to the bony structure of the head, 



in some cases by a ring joint, in others a portion of the 



ring is formed of soft substance. This forms the fishing-rod 



and line, its termination expanded, soft, hanging down like a 



bait, and in this example the whole Avas nine inches long. 



Behind this are five slender processes, obscurely united by a 



membrane, which may be regarded as the first dorsal fin, these 



processes or rays becoming gradually shorter; second dorsal 



and anal opposite each other, the former having twelve rays, 



the latter ten; pectoral fins horizontal, with twenty-four rays, 



joined to the body by a lengthened wrist, which is hid under 



the skin; and the longitudinal direction of the bones of the 



wrist causes this fin to be placed far behind, yet not so far as 



the gill-opening; which is situated behind it, and is so open in 



consequence of the Ioav nature of its membrane and the length 



of the six slender branchial bony rays that by fishermen the 



pair are termed pockets. The ventral fins resemble slender 



paws, with six raj^s. Tail slightly rounded, with eight rays; 



all the fins thick and fleshy, Avith lobes or crenations at the 



border. The colour above is of various shades of dark or 



ashy grey, mottled, and in a younger condition prettily and 



regularly striped; white below; extremities of the fins often 



red. 



Doctor Borlase, in his "Natural History of Cornwall," has 



described a fish, under the name of the Long Angler, which 



he supposed to be a distinct species, but which is now believed 



to have been a mutilated example of the fish we have described. 



He says it was of a longer form, the head more bony, rough 



and aculeated; with none of the fin-like appendages round 



the head, but there was a series of them on each side of the 



thinner part of the body, beginning under the (second) dorsal 



fin, and reaching to within two inches of the tail. On the 

 VOL. II. 2 F 



