288 THE WALKING-FISH. 



The second spine is arranged after a somewhat similar fashion, but is only capable of 

 being moved backwards and forwards. Fishing-Frogs are sometimes found in the shops, 

 and the inquiring reader will find himself amply repaid if he purchases one of these 

 fishes and dissects its head merely for the purpose of seeing the beautiful structure which 

 has been briefly described. 



The use of these spines is no less remarkable than their form. 



The Fishing-Frog is not a rapid swimmer, and would have but little success if it were 

 to chase the swift and active fishes on which it feeds. It, therefore, buries itself in the 

 muddy sand, and continually waves the long filaments with their glittering tips. The 

 neighbouring fish, following the instincts of their inquisitive nature, come to examine the 

 curious object, and are suddenly snapped up in the wide jaws of their hidden foe. Many 

 fishes can be attracted by any glittering object moved gently in the water, and it is well 

 known by anglers how deadly a bait is formed of a spoon-shaped piece of polished metal, 

 furnished with hooks, and drawn quickly through the water. 



It is a most voracious creature, and has on several occasions been known to seize a 

 fish that had been hooked and was being drawn to the surface. In one such case, the 

 Angler seized on a cod-fish, and held so tightly that it would not loosen its grip until 

 struck on the head with a boat-hook. On another occasion the fish fell a victim to its 

 over-voracity, for having dashed at a conger-eel, just hooked, and taken it into its mouth, 

 the eel contrived to escape through one of the gill apertures, and thus was the uncon- 

 scious means of involving its captor in its own fate. Even the cork-floats on lines and 

 nets have been swallowed by the greedy fish, and when taken in a net, it devours its 

 fellow-prisoners with perfect unconcern. 



It is impossible to mistake this fish for any other inhabitant of the ocean, its huge 

 head wide, flattened, and toad-like its enormous and gaping mouth, with the rows of 

 sharply-pointed teeth, its eyes set on the top of the head, and the three long spines, being 

 signs which cannot be misunderstood. The general colour of this fish is brown above 

 and white below ; the ventral and pectoral fins are nearly white, and that of the tail 

 almost black. The throat, just within the jaws, is composed of loose skin, which forms 

 a kind of bag. The average length of the adult Fishing-Frog is about a yard. 



The family in which this fish is placed may be distinguished by the peculiar structure 

 of the pectoral fins, which are mounted on a sort of arm produced by an elongation of 

 the carpal bones. From this peculiarity, the family is termed Pediculati, or foot- 

 bearing fishes, as the prolonged fins enable them to walk along wet ground almost like 

 quadrupeds. 



THE very odd-looking creature, called the WALKING-FISH, which is shown in the 

 accompanying illustration, is one of the strange and wild forms that sometimes occur in 

 nature, and which are so entirely opposed to all preconceived ideas, that they appear 

 rather to be the composition of human ingenuity than beings actually existing. The 

 traveller who first discovered this remarkable fish would certainly have been disbelieved 

 if he had contented himself with making a drawing of it, and had not satisfied the rigid 

 scrutiny of scientific men by bringing home a preserved specimen. 



In the fishes of this genus, the carpal bones, i.e. those bones which represent the wrist 

 in man, are very greatly lengthened, more so than in the preceding genus, and at their 

 extremity are placed the pectoral fins, which are short, stiff, and powerful, the pointed 

 rays resembling claws rather than fins. In all the fishes of this genus the body is much 

 compressed and decidedly elevated ; but in the present species, these peculiarities are 

 carried to an almost exaggerated extent. The first dorsal spine, with its membranous 

 appendages, is placed as usual just above the snout, and the second ray is set immediately 

 behind it. The third, however, is placed at a very great distance from the second, and 

 forms part of the soft dorsal fin. 



Dr. Giinther remarks upon the fishes of this genus, that they are so extremely variable 

 in form, colour, and the greater or less development of the dorsal spines, that hardly two 

 specimens are found sufficiently alike to enable the systematic naturalist to decide upon 

 their precise situation in the zoological scale. Moreover, their geographical range is 



