134 



Ctenoid Acantheres.- 



-FISHES.- 



-LopnioiDS. 



the habits of the Shauny [Dlennius pholis) : — "A 

 specimen of this fisli was biouglit to me on the 3rd of 

 Juno. On placiijg it in a glass vessel of sea-water, it 

 appeared perfectly quiet for some hours, but at lenglh 

 became restless, and made frequent attempts to throw 

 itself out of the water. It then occurred to me that on 

 a former occasion, when occupied by the sea-side, I 

 liad a Gattoruginoua Blenny in a vessel with some 

 ActmicE and Scrpulm, which regularly passed a portion 

 of its time on a stone ; I therefore placed a pebble in the 

 glass. The Shanny immediately leaped on it com- 

 pletely out of the water. It therefore appears that 

 these changes of medium are necessary to its existence. 

 On going to the front of the house, I perceived that it 

 was near low water. Knowing that it would flow till 

 ten o'clock that night, I watched the movements of my 

 little captive, and as the clock struck, had the gratifi- 

 cation of seeing it plunge again uito its natural element. 

 It has now been five mouths in my possession, and has 

 proved throughout that period a regular and correct 

 tide -indicator. I was well aware that these fish are 

 constantly left by the receding tide on the rocks, 

 remaining concealed in small basins or holes under the 

 weed, till the returning flood ; still I was not prepared 

 to see a fisli voluntarily quit the water, and pass so 

 large a portion of its e.xisteuce in a different element, 

 and by instinct alone time its changes so exactlj'. 

 Whilst in the water the colours of the Shanny are 

 less strongly marked ; but after being a short time 

 exposed to, and inhaling atmospheric air, the colour 

 changes to a deeper brown, and the markings become 

 nearly black, with a regular series of white spots above 

 and following the course of the lateral lino. I have 

 noticed that it has the power of altering its position on 

 the stone with great facility, by means of its pectoral 

 and veutral fins. At times it reclines on its side ; at 

 others it is perfectly erect, resting on its broad pec- 

 torals, and turning its head from side to side. It will 

 take crumbs of bread and small earth-worms, two or 

 three a day being sufScient. It continues in good 

 healtli, and has become so familiar as to take its food 

 from my liand ; and if it is not attended to, will dash 

 the water about to let me know that he is on the look 

 out for his bit of meat or rice." 



The Eel-pout {Zoarces vivipams) brings forth its 

 young alive ; and the apodal Wolf-fish {Anari-liklias 

 lupus) is remarkable for its formidable teeth, and their 

 unusual form. 



Family XXVI.— LOPHIOIDS (Lophmla). 

 Plate 12, fig. 62. 



The most obvious peculiarity of the fishes of this 

 fimily, is the lengthened arm which supports the pec- 

 toral fin, whence the German ichthyologists call them 

 Arm-fiiniers, corresponding to the French designation 

 of fishes hanug pediculated or stilted pectorals. The 

 skeletons of the Lophioids are fibrous, though but little 

 indurated, and in some genera are in great part cartila- 

 ginous. No bone-corpuscles enter into their composi- 

 tion. Scales are rarely present, except in the form of 

 tubercles, or of grains supporting spines, which occur 

 in some genera. The sub-orbitar bones arc absent; 



and the gill-openmgs are restricted to a round hole, or 

 a short vertical slit. Most of these fishes have strange 

 and rarely handsome forms. Some have enormously 

 large heads; others are oval and compressed; and others 

 again are greatly depressed, the breadth being aug- 

 mented by the laterally expanded pectorals. The 

 dorsals are two, often with some detached flexible or 

 spinous rays on the head ; more rarely there is only a 



Fig. 23. 



TluTe-spotted Cheironect (Chii-onectes trisigiiatiis). 



single dorsal placed far back. The ventrals have five 

 or fewer branching rays, with or without a spine, and 

 are mostly placed before the pectorals. Tlie caudal is 

 distinct from the dorsal and anal. Generally the 

 branehiostegals are six in number. Some members of 

 the family have gills on only three of the branchial 

 arches ; in others, four arches bear gills. Many have 

 large stomachs ; in all the pancreatic creca are few ; 

 and the air-bladder, though present in some genera, is 

 absent in the greater number. 



The genera are — LopUlus ; Chelronectts , Braclitomchlhijs 

 (Bleeker) ; Ilalleutea ; Batrachus ; Ceratias ; and Chaunax. 



The only British species is the Angler, Briarhot, or 

 Wide-gab [Lopildus piscatorius), a fish most remark- 

 able for the capacity of its mouth as compared to the 

 size of its body, and the bag-like expansion of its 

 branchiostegous membrane. Though common enougli 

 on the south-coast of England, it is often exhibited as 

 an unknown fish. It is reported in almost all ichthyo- 

 logieal treatises to be in the liabit of attracting other 

 fishes into its cavern-like maw, by dangling the piece 

 of membrane attached to one of the long flexible dorsal 

 rays, which rise from the head, as an angler does his 

 bait or atificial fly ; but I have not been able to discover 

 any account of this process related by an eye-witness. 

 The story occurs first in Aristotle ; and Pliny instances 

 the " Sea-frog, called the Fisher," as a notable instance 

 of address in fishes, while the moderns have repeated 

 the story one after the other, secminglj' without inquir- 

 ing into its tmth. The Angler is common in muddy 

 harbours and tideways, where its enticing bait coidd 

 scarcely be visible ; and when taken in such places, its 

 stomach is generally well stored with fishes or crus- 

 taceans. It is rarely or never brought to table in 

 England. Democritus, as quoted by Pliny, says that if 

 the tongue of this fish be plucked out without any otlier 

 part adhering to it, and the fish itself returned alive 

 into the water, then the tongue being laid above the 

 heart of a sleeping woman, she will give a true reply to 

 any question put to her. We have not heard that tliis 

 mesmeiic process has been revived in modern times. 



The Toad-fish of the United States (Batrachus varie- 



