226 INTJIODUCTION TO ZOOLOGY. 



lecture delivered by Dr. Houston of Dublin, before the Royal 

 Zoological Society of that city: 



" This preparation (for the fidelity of which I can vouch, 

 as it belongs to the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, 

 and which may be taken as a fair average specimen of a fish's 

 breakfast party, captured at an early hour of the morning) 

 will serve as an illustration of the voraciousness of their habits. 

 Here is the skeleton of a Frog-fish, two-and-a-half feet in 

 length, in the stomach of which is the skeleton of a Cod-fish, 

 two feet long; in whose stomach again are contained the 

 skeletons of two Whitings of the ordinary size; in the stomach 

 of each Whiting there lay numerous half-digested little fishes, 

 which were too small and broken down to admit of preserva- 

 tion. The Frog-fish, with all these contents, was taken last 

 summer by the fishermen, and offered for sale in the market, 

 as an article of food, without any reference at all to the size 

 of its stomach, which to them is an every-day appearance."'* 



TEETH. From considering the food of fishes, we naturally 

 turn to the means by which that food is taken. Here we 

 perceive at once that we have got into a new country, and 

 that the tribes by which it is peopled secure their prey by 

 modes very different from those which we have hitherto 

 witnessed. In some of the lower tribes, the action of parts 

 adjoining to the mouth caused currents in the water, and thus 

 supplied the animal with food. The suckers of the Star-fish 

 and the Sea-urchin held fast the prey on which the creatures 

 fed. The lower jaws of the carnivorous beetles maintained 

 their hold while the upper jaws performed their office of 

 laceration. The larger Crustacea had feet which did the 

 same duty. The Cuttle-fish, by means of its suckers, rendered 

 escape impossible, and held its struggling captive firm as in a 

 vice, while its parrot-like beak tore it to pieces. But fishes 

 are destitute of all these appliances. The teeth must seize 

 the prey, and must retain the struggling and slippery victim 

 until swallowed; and admirably are they fitted for the per- 

 formance of their appointed functions; so much so, indeed, 

 that the anatomist finds difficulty in obtaining the command 

 of language sufficiently varied to portray the singular diversity 

 and beauty which they exhibit. " The teeth of fishes, in fact, 

 in whatever relation they are considered whether in regard 



* Saunclers's News-Letter. 



