i)2 



NATURAL HISTORY READER. 



the flashing torrent of the Spey. Witness this clumsy- 

 looking monster the fishing-frog, or angler-fish. 



The Angler-Fish. 



4. Frightful and hideous is he, according to our vulgar 

 notions of loveliness, which the lophius possibly might 

 disagree with. The Least is sometimes five or six feet in 

 length, with an enormous head in proportion to the rest 

 of its body, and with huge sacks like bag-nets attached to its 

 gill-covers, in which it stows its victims ; and what a cav- 

 ernous mouth ! 



5. Surely a fish so repulsive, and with a capacity so 

 vast and apparently omnivorous, would frighten from its 



