

3 8o SPINY-FINNED GROUP. 



ugly person. Fish and other prey are also attracted by the constant movement of 

 the first tentacle on the head, the summit of which terminates in an expanded 

 lappet; and no sooner is the unfortunate victim well within reach, than it is 

 engulfed with one snap of the capacious mouth ; the erectile and backwardly- 

 directed teeth preventing any chance of escape from this avernus, 



As an example of a pelagic genus of the family we select the 

 tentacle-fish {Antennarias), so remarkable for their nest-building 

 habits. In these fishes the large head is elevated and compressed; the cleft of 

 the mouth being quite or nearly vertical, and of only moderate width. There are 

 rasp-like teeth on the palate and jaws ; the eyes are small and lateral ; the body 

 may be either naked, or covered with granules or spines, which may be modified 

 into tentacles ; and the head is furnished with three tentacles very similar to those 

 of the true anglers. The soft dorsal is of moderate length, and the anal short ; 

 pelvic fins being present. Although chiefly tropical, these fishes are often carried 

 far into the temperate seas ; and many of them have a most extensive range, being 

 found alike in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Feeble swimmers, these fishes are 

 not unfrequently to be found near the coast, where they conceal themselves beneath 

 corals, stones, or seaweed, to which they hold fast by their arm-like pectoral fins. 

 They have also been observed to hop over moist ground or slimy seaweed, and 

 at times conceal themselves in the mud, after the manner of the true anglers, 

 attracting their prey by the movements of the first tentacle on the head, the 

 extremity of which, when in motion, much resembles a worm. When at sea, they 

 have the power of inflating their bodies in the same way as the globe-fishes. It 

 has been observed that one of these fishes placed in a basin containing a small 

 quantity of water produced so strong a current by the passage of water through 

 its jaws, and its subsequent expulsion through the gill-orifice, that a rapid rotatory 

 motion resulted. *'*' The gulf- weed,' writes Day, " assists the migration of these 

 fishes ; during the winter months the prevailing winds bring to the islands of the 

 Bermudas large fields as well as isolated patches of weed, on which many fishes 

 find a home, and among them Antennarias, Here it makes its wonderful nest, 

 suspended by means of silk-like fibres, which prove strong enough to support the 

 huge bunches of eggs that hang like grape-clusters within its orbicular case ; 

 and M. Vaillant has shown that each nest is made of one seaweed, the different 

 twigs being brought together and made fast to each other by the fish by means 

 of a pasty sort of substance provided by the animal itself," 



The Bull- Heads and Gurnards, — Family Cottibm. 



The thirteenth family of the present section differs from all the foregoing, 

 with the exception of the genus Pseudochromis and its allies, in the presence of 

 a bony process arising from the infraorbital ring of the skull to connect it with 

 the spine at the angle of the preopercular bone. In shape the body is more or 

 less elongate and subcylindrical ; the cleft of the mouth is transverse, and the 

 weak teeth are generally arranged in villiform bands. As a rule, there are two 

 dorsal fins, of which the spinous is less developed than the soft ; both the latter 

 and the anal being elongated ; the pectorals may be provided with filamentous 



