GILL] LIFE HISTORIES OF TOADFISHES 407 
with an enlarged basis at the inner angles of the lower jaw and 
tapers gradually toward the free end. The lateral borders have the 
form of a lobed frill from the basis as far as two-thirds of the 
length, the lobes decreasing in size toward the point. The whole 
structure contains throughout an uncommonly rich vascular network 
which plays a part in the swelling, thrusting out and playing of the 
filament, as may be specially noted in larger individuals: when 
active the appendage is almost cylindrical and reddish; while that 
prepared from a dead fish appears flabby and flattened in a band- 
like manner. In its broader posterior portion it contains mostly 
some brown branching pigment spots, while the middle portion and 
also the largest hinder lobes of the frill are of a dark brown color. 
The exhaled breath is used in thrusting out the tongue. 
In the swimming fish the little appendage plays on the forehead 
backward between the eyes on account of the pressure of the water, 
and moves with great rapidity. In a second the act of thrusting 
out and drawing in is accomplished. After a little the animal again 
sinks to the bottom, at once buries itself, thrusts out its filament 
a few times more, and then it lies, motionless as a block, in the 
sand. Here, however, the playing of the filament appears entirely 
different. Schmidtlein succeeded several tithes in watching an indi- 
vidual while it was performing this peculiar manceuver so familiar 
to fishermen. The ugly lurker lay perfectly concealed in his bed 
of sand, only the crown of the clumsy head with the eyes and the 
mouth-cleft being uncovered, and it bore a striking resemblance to 
a brownish gray stone in its immobility. Slowly the treacherous 
little filament, so deceptively similar to a mud-inhabiting annelid in 
shape, size, color and movement, projected out of the mouth. It 
bent, wound and waved, stretched and contracted, now crawling 
along the bottom, now playing upward vertically, in short, imitating 
so perfectly a harmless little worm that not a moment’s doubt 
could be entertained of its significance as a bait for inexperienced 
young fry, and the assurance of fishermen was not needed that this 
angling method of the stargazer was an indisputable fact. And 
the deception is no doubt easier in the ever dusky, soft light in the 
shallow-seas which the Uranoscope inhabits, than in the light aqua- 
rium where it may have difficulty in procuring its food. Schmidt- 
lein saw the fish in the latter place frequently start up from the 
sand and snatch up a goby or a blenny on a free hunt. But even 
its own species is not safe from its voracity; in the stomach of one 
specimen were found four young ones of the same species, each an 
inch long! 
