SUMMER INDUSTRIES 129 



we should have given first place to the angler Lophius 

 piscatorius a fish who fishes, a fishing-frog he is often 

 called. He is very inconspicuous as he lies squat on the 

 sand in shallow water, and he is sometimes half covered 

 with sand. Three elastic rods, one of them very strong, rise 

 from the middle line of his back, and at the end of each 

 there dangles a shred of skin like bait at the end of a fishing- 

 line. These living fishing-rods are hinged at the base, so 

 that they can be lowered or raised, and they are obviously 

 transformed fin-rays. It is supposed by many that the 

 shreds of skin, dangling loosely in the water, suggest worms 

 to curious little fishes ; it is supposed, at least, that they 

 serve to attract attention ; what is certain is that many 

 small fishes are engulfed in the angler's wide gape, and 

 gripped firmly by backward-bending hinged teeth which 

 make entrance easy but exit difficult. 



The tales of the fishing exploits of animals, like stories 

 of fishing at a higher level, are often a little difficult 

 1o believe. The deep-sea fish Chiasmodon niger has been 

 known to swallow a fish larger than itself ; a large spider 

 has been known to land a small fish ; the archer fish, 

 Toxotes jaculator, is said to make its living by shooting drops 

 of water, with Transatlantic precision, on passing insects. 

 But perhaps more instructive than such oddities is the habit 

 pelicans have of fishing in company, and wading shorewards 

 in a deadly crescent, prophetic of the seine-net. Clumsy 

 birds they are, but exhibiting a remarkable power of co- 

 operative industry, if reports are true. We venture to quote 

 Kropotkin's account : x " They always go fishing in numerous 

 bands, and after having chosen an appropriate bay, they 

 form a wide half-circle in face of the shore, and narrow it by 

 paddling towards the shore, catching all fish that happen to 

 be enclosed in the circle. On narrow rivers and canals they 



1 Mutual Aid, 1902. 



