I3« THE COMiMO» ANGLER. 



^he Conunon A?ighr 



It 15 in Its tadpole ft ate that this animal refembles ttie 

 frog : its colour upon the back is dark blue, marbled 

 with fome white fpots. The lower jaw projects confi- 

 derablj beyond the upper, which giv^es the animal a 

 grinning afpeft. The eyes are placed in the upper fuper- 

 ficies of the head, fomewhat promineHt, and their irides 

 white. About half an inch from the corner of the upper 

 Jaw are two hairs, the one four, and the other fix inches 

 in length. It is by means of thefe, according to Pliny, 

 that this animal fiflies ; it puts out thefe flender horns 

 among the mud, enticing the little fiib to play around it 

 till they come within reach, when it fprings upon them, 

 and devours them f . 



Around the edges of its head are fmall fin-like appen- 

 dages ; outwardly there appear no ?.pertures of the nofe, 

 but there are two within the mouth, fuppofed to convey 

 fmell|. About the middle af the back there rifes a fin 

 fupported by ten rays ; the tail is not forked, but the 

 rays ftretch fomewhat beyond the membranes of the fin. 

 The ventral fins are broad, thick, and flefliy, jointed like 

 arms, and on the inner fide divided into- fingers, refem- 

 bling what is feen on the foot of a mole \. With thefe 



inftruments 



2 

 * Lophius pifcatoiius, Lin. Syft. La Grenouille de Mer. Bcion. 

 f Plinii, lib. ix. Vide el\am Cicero de Nat. Deor. 

 I Willough. ubi fupra, § Britifh Zool. and Willough. 



