CHAPTER LVIII 

 ORDER OF FOOT-FISHES 



PEDICULATI 



THE strange creatures which form the group of so-called 

 Foot-Fishes are introduced here, not in the expectation 

 of close acquaintance with many of them, but rather that 

 they may not remain absolute strangers to us. They live 

 on the bottom of the sea, are not edible and, being devoid 

 of all value to mankind, they are safe from extermination. 

 The most of them are also safe from close observation. Struc- 

 turally, they stand next to the foot of the Subclass of Bony 

 Fishes. 



The Angler, or Goosefish,^ is the typical representa- 

 tive of this Order. Among fishermen it is so well known 

 that it has received twenty-one English names, and in the 

 languages of continental Europe about fifty more. (G. 

 Brown Goode.) 



It is the glutton of the sea, and its body is merely a purse- 

 like attachment to a mouth that is fearful and wonderful to 

 behold. It has a mouth and an appetite like an old-fashioned 

 carpet-bag, and to it no living thing comes amiss. At pres- 

 ent the body of this creature is painfully small for a mouth 

 so ambitious and all-absorbing, but evolution is doing its 



1 Loph'i-iis pis-ca-to'ri-us. 

 277 



