Miscellaneous. 199 



Pediculati, and shares the sluggish habits common to the group. 

 On account of the elongation of the carpal hones and other peculiar 

 modifications, they have poor powers of swimming, their structure 

 being adapted to moving about on the bottom, among corals, sea- 

 weed, and other low forms of life, which they closely resemble in 

 colour and in many points of outline. By this resemblance they are 

 concealed both from their enemies and their prey. The member of 

 the group best known is the common Fishing-frog, Lophius pisca- 

 iorius, whose remarkable mimicry of its surroundings has been well 

 described by Mr. S. Kent. In the genus Antennarius, closely related 

 to Pterophryne, the species present wonderful similarity of colour to 

 the forms among which they live. Dr. Giinther has paid considerable 

 attention to this genus, and he has also given an excellent figure of 

 Pterojphryne histrio, under the name of Antennarius rnarmoratus*. 



Pterophryne histrio is found among the floating masses of Sargassum 

 weed in the warm seas. Here it makes its peculiar nest by biuding 

 together the fronds of the sea-weed with gelatinous threads, and 

 depositing the eggs throughout the mass. The ground-colour of the 

 fish is of a pale yellow, and on this light background are darker 

 irregular brownish bands, closely resembling the branched fronds of 

 the Sargassum weed. Along the edges of these darker bands, on 

 the bands themselves, and also to a lesser extent upon the rest of 

 the body, are little white specks of various sizes, on an average about 

 that of a pin's head. On the belly, around the mouth, and on the 

 dorsal spines, are numerous leaf-like cutaneous filaments. Mr. Ives 

 stated that, after careful consideration, he had come to the conclusion 

 that the colour-markings of the fish, and the cutaneous filaments, 

 had been developed in mimicry of the Spirorbis-coxereH Sargassum 

 weed. Professor Benjamin Sharp, who spent last winter in the West 

 Indies, had informed Mr. Ives that on the Sargassum weed, of which 

 he saw large quantities, were invariably scattered great numbers of 

 Spirorbis shells. Professor Moseley in " Notes by a Naturalist on 

 the ' Challenger ' " (p. 567) speaks of the resemblance in coloration 

 of the forms inhabiting the Sargasso Sea to the Sargassum weed. 

 He attributes the white spots of Pteroph-yne histrio and also of some 

 shrimps and crabs to mimicry of the patches of Membranipora that 

 encrust the Sargassum weed. The white spots upon Pterophryne 

 histrio, however, are much smaller than the patches of Membra- 

 nipora, and are also much more striking to the eye. This latter 

 fact appears to be due to the delicate fenestrated character of this 

 Bryozoan. The patches of Membranipora, also, do not occur in the 

 same abundance upon the Sargassum weed as do the Spirorbis 

 shells. Professor Moseley probably confounded the numerous Spir- 

 orbis shells with patches of Membranipora. As far back as 1757, 

 Peter Osbeck, describing this fish which he had met with in the 

 Sargassum weed of the Atlantic Ocean while on a journey to the 

 East Indies, said, with reference to the cutaneous filaments, " pro- 

 bably Providence has clothed it in this leaf-like manner, in order 



* Journal des Museum Godeffroy, Heft xi. pp. 161-165, pis. 99-106. 



