552 ~~ ‘Order Pediculati: the Anglers 
pectoral and ventral fins are longer than in any other of the 
anglers. The species live in the warm seas, some in very shallow 
water, others descending to great depths, the deep-sea forms 
being small and more or less degenerate. These walk along like 
toads on the sea-bottoms; the ventrals, being jugular, act as fore 
legs and the pectorals extend behind them as hind legs. 
The common sea-bat, or diablo, of the West Indies, Ogcocepha- 
lus vespertilio, is dusky in color with the belly coppery red. 
It reaches the length of a foot. The angling spine is very short, 
hidden under the long stiff process of the snout. Farther north 
Fic. 504.—Ogcocephalus vespertilio (L.). Florida. 
occurs the short-nosed batfish, Ogcocephalus radiatus, very simi- 
lar, but with the nostril process, or snout, blunt and short. Zalt- 
eutes elater, with a large black eye-like spot on each side of the 
back, is found on the west coast of Mexico. In deeper water 
are species of Halieutichthys in the West Indies and of Halzeutea 
in Japan. Dibranchus atlanticus has the gills reduced to two 
pairs. Malthopsis consists of small species, with the rostrum 
prominent, like a bishop’s miter. Two species are found in the 
Pacific, Malthopsis mitrata in Hawaii and Malthopsis tiarella in 
Japan. 
And with these dainty freaks of the sea, the results of cen- 
turies on centuries of specialization, degeneration, and adapta- 
tion, we close the long roll-call of the fishes, living and dead 
