406 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS [voL. 48 
lucerna in Italy, rat in France, and rata in Spain. There is 
no English vernacular name for the reason that the species does 
not occur in English waters; stargazer is a book-name and trans- 
lation of the scientific one. 
The common Uranoscope is best known as a Mediterranean fish 
and in suitable stations in that sea it is found through its entire 
extent, in some places very common, in others moderately so, and 
in others still it is rare. The only considerable data respecting its 
habits have been published by R. Schmidtlein (1879) and L. Fac- 
ciola (1883). Free translations are herewith presented of articles 
by both authors.’ 
According to Schmidtlein, the stargazer spends the greater part 
of its life in the mud. It is such a poor swimmer that it sinks 
to the bottom like a stone, as soon as it suspends the tail and fin 
movement. The quiet floating practiced by most other fishes at 
all depths is impossible for it; it is bound to the bottom like the 
poor flyer among the birds, and here it pursues the treacherous chase 
with which its heavy physiognomy so well harmonizes. It betrays, 
by its form, the peculiar manner of life that it leads. The clumsy 
body, enlarged and wedge-shaped forwards, and provided with 
powerfully developed pectoral fins; the broadly arched and up- 
turned mouth; and the small mobile eyes situated in the roof of 
the frontal region, at once indicate the lurker. And, indeed, the 
first thing newly caught specimens do in the aquarium is to sink 
into the sand by means of a few vigorous shoveling movements of 
the pectorals, until only the mouth and eyes project. No movement 
is discernible in the fish thus buried, and only a very practiced eye 
is able to discover it and to notice, on careful observation close by, 
the gentle movement produced by the gills in breathing. Now and 
then the eyes are turned by jerks like those of a chameleon and 
watch out cautiously and attentively. We will disturb one! It 
starts up and swims awkwardly up and down with sidewise pendular 
beats, meanwhile incessantly thrusting a long vermiform tongue- 
like filament out of the mouth and drawing it in again. This fila- 
ment is a structure with a broad basis between the inner angles of 
the lower jaw, and in an adult is about two to two and one-half 
centimeters long, and very similar to a thin slimy worm. 
On closer examination we find that this filament is a band-like 
prolongation of the mucous membrane of the mouth, which appears 
*An accurate figure of Uranoscopus scaber was not found in any European 
work and consequently the accompanying illustrations of the entire fish and its 
head were made by Mr. E. C. Starks. The intralabial filament is represented 
more branched than usually manifest in nature. 
