THE ANGLER. 



203 



Angler. 



moving to and fro the two slender and elongated appendages 



on his head, the first of which, the hetter to deceive, is broad and 



flattened at the end, inviting pursuit 



by the shining silvery appearance of 



the dilated part. Even the great 



European Sly, a fish which has been 



known to grow to the length of fifteen 



feet, and to attain a weight of 300 lbs. 



is not ashamed to owe its food to 



similar deceits. Like a true lazzarone, the fat creature lies 



hidden in the mud of rivers, its mouth half open, and angling 



with its long beards. 



But no fish catches its prey in a 

 more remarkable manner than the 

 Beaked, or Eostrated Chsetbdon, 

 a native of the fresh waters of 

 India. When he sees a fly alight- 

 ing on any of the plants which 

 overhang the shallow water, he 

 approaches with the utmost cau- 

 tion, coming as perpendicularly as 

 possible under the object of his 

 meditated attack. Then placing 

 himself in an oblique direction, *™peansiy.-(saurusgia m3 ) 

 with the mouth and eyes near the surface, he remains a moment 

 immoveable, taking his aim like a first-rate rifleman. Having 

 fixed his eyes directly on the insect, he darts at it a drop of water 

 from his tubular snout, but without showing his mouth above the 

 surface, from which only the drop seems to rise, and that with such 

 effect, that though at the distance of four, five or six feet, it very 

 seldom fails to bring its prey into the water. Another small 

 Eastlndian fish, theToxotes jaculatot; 

 catches its food by a similar dexterous 

 display of archery. 



While all other fishes hunt only for 

 their own benefit, the Indian Eemora, 

 or Sucking-fish (Echeneis Naucrates), 

 owes to the remarkable striated appa- 

 ratus on its head, by which it firmly 

 adheres to any object — rock, ship, or animal, — to which it 



Toxotes Jaculator. 



