FISHING-FEOG. 471 



mouth extends all round the anterior circumference of the 

 head, and both jaws are armed with bands of long pointed 



Fig. 210. — A young Fishing-Frog. 



teeth, which are inclined inwards, and can be depressed so 

 as to offer no impediment to an object gliding towards the 

 stomach, but prevent its escape from the mouth. The pec- 

 toral and ventral fins are so articulated as to perform the 

 functions of teeth, the fish being enabled to move, or rather 

 to walk, on the bottom of the sea, where it generally hides 

 itself in the sand, or amongst sea- weed. All round its head, 

 and also along £he body, the skia bears fringed appendages, 

 resembling short fronds of sea-weed ; a structure which, 

 combined with the extraordinary faculty of assimilatiag the 

 colours of the body to its surroundings, assists this fish 

 greatly in concealing itself in places which it selects on 

 account of the abundance of prey. To render the organisa- 

 tion of these creatures perfect in relation to their wants, they 



