THE ANGLER FAMILY. 153 



important gaps in the stages of development both between this 

 post-larval form and the earlier stage, and between the same 

 and the adult. The well-known ichthyologist, Day, states that 

 ' the young of these fishes when alarmed seek for shelter in 

 the branchial pouches in the axilla of the pectoral fin.' Such 

 a habit must apply to a later stage than fig. 6, when the 

 pelagic habit has been given up. Another observer has as- 

 serted that the food of the frog-fish is stowed away temporarily 

 within the gill-pouches: the question naturally suggests 

 itself — can the presence of young anglers in the parental 

 gill-pouches be explained in this way? All accounts of the 

 voracity of this fish would lead us to suppose that it would not 

 refrain from feeding upon its own young. 



On the other hand we do not know upon what observations 

 the deceased author based his statements : the above expla- 

 nation would only apply if his remarks rested simply upon 

 the presence of young anglers in the gill-pouches of the 

 captured adults and not upon direct observation of the habits 

 of parents and young. Fishes with pelagic eggs are generally 

 characterised by an entire absence of all parental instincts as 

 displayed in the care or protection of the young, and the latter 

 have to make their way in the world with nothing for which to 

 thank their parents but their mere existence, so that from the 

 fact that the ova of the frog-fish are pelagic we would expect 

 that the young would grow up quite independently of their 

 parents. The eggs, however, although pelagic have one feature 

 characteristic of demersal eggs, namely, the mucus enveloping 

 them in a common mass. The larvae also have certain features 

 in common with demersal larvae, as stated above, so that to some 

 extent the eggs of the angler form a type transitional between 

 the pelagic and the demersal. It is possible that they may 

 have been demersal in the earlier history of the species, but 

 have secondarily acquired a pelagic habitat. 



Valenciennes describes the young fish, 2 inches in length, 

 as having long pectoral and ventral fins, with some of the rays 

 of the former extending beyond the fin-membrane. The 

 dorsal spine also had more numerous and longer tentacles than 

 in the adult. 



