250 PEOSE HALLEFTICS. 



tenderness in making provision for it. ' This fish/ says the 

 great French naturalist Cuvier, ' I believe, after mature 

 deliberation, to be the phycis of the ancients ; the only 

 one, according to Aristotle, which builds a nest.' The 

 next group constitutes the thirteenth family, or 



Pectorales Pediculati, 



Fish so called because their carpal bones are elongated 

 into a sort of arm which supports the pectoral fins. It 

 is composed first of the genus Lophius, or fishing frogs ; 

 and secondly, of the genus Chironectes, creatures re- 

 markable for a power of suddenly filling their enormous 

 paunches with air, and of so distending themselves as to 

 assume at will an almost orbicular shape in the water. 

 On land, their singular fins enable them to creep almost 

 like small quadrupeds along the ground, the peculiar 

 position of the pectorals performing the functions of hind 

 feet ; and they can live like other amphibious fish for two 

 or three days out of water.* 



Rana, or Fishing Frog. 

 Turpis in littore Eana. — Mast. 



Our ideas of fish generally are of a pleasing kind; 

 and whether they be seen sporting in water, struggling 

 in a net, or laid out for sale in a market-place, the ex- 

 hibition is one which seldom fails to gratify the eye. 

 Those tribes that are beautifully striped, banded, spotted, 

 or marbled, or which blaze in the rich hues of gems and 

 humming-birds, make lively demands on our admiration; 

 and even those that have not such brilliant colouring nor 

 characteristic markings to set ofi" the skin, frequently 

 glisten in the sheen of silvery scales, and are a,s fan- and 

 attractive in their attire as some young bride at the altar ! 



* Cuvier. 



