37 

 GOBIES. 



ROCK GOBY. Gobius Niger. Jenvns, p. 385. Yarrell's 

 Br. F., vol. 1, p. 251. Miller's Thumb— Black Goby ; but 

 the latter name is inappropriate, since the colour is often 

 light grey, or brown, according to the colour of tlie ground 

 it occupies. I have taken a Shanny, two inches long, from 

 the stomach of a Rock Goby of about six inches. 



TWO SPOTTED GOBY. G. Bipunctatus. Jenyns, p. 

 386. Yarrell's Br. F., vol. 1, p. 255. 



SPOTTED GOBY. G. Minutus. Jenyns, p. 386. Yar- 

 rell's Br. F., vol 1, p. 258. The two last Species are com- 

 monly confounded together ; but the last seems the most 

 abundant. 



YELLOW SKULPIN. Callionymus Lyra. Jenyns, p. 

 388. Yarrell's Br. F., vol. 1, p. 261. Not uncommon. 



DUSKY SKULPIN. C. Dracunculus. Jenyns, p. 389. 

 Yarrell's Br. F., vol. 1, p. 266. Common. 



The Gobies and Skulpins are excellent bait for the more 

 valuable Fishes, and form a portion of the attraction that 

 draws them to our Coasts. 



ANGLER. Lophius Piscatorius. Jenyns, p. 389. Yarrell's 

 Br. F., vol. 1, p. 269. The monk of our Fishermen. Com- 

 mon. 



Denied by nature the power of actively pursuing its prey, 

 this curiously shaped fish is well fitted to discover and seize it, 

 when it comes within its reach. The olfactory nerves, which 

 terminate in two hollow tubes on its snout, are thin and feeble, 

 so that the sense of smell can profit it but little ; and the eyes 

 are directed from rather than to, the presence of its prey ; 

 but the fishing apparatus on the head is erected on a compli- 

 cated muscular and bony structure, that is capable of guiding 

 it in all directions; whilst the nerves with which it is furnished, 

 derived from the origin of the spinal marrow, and passing for- 

 ward over the top of the head, distributing branches to the fin 

 like structure there, thus endowing them with ready sensibility, 

 enable it to discern the presence of any little unsuspecting crea- 

 ture and to lead it forward to the gulf below. The roof of the 

 mouth is rendered sensitive by adistribution of nerves that have 

 penetrated through the bone from the cavity of the skull, where 

 they communicate with the brain (very small for the size of 

 the Fish) by means of a large ganglion far in front of it, but 

 within the same cavity. Branches of the fifth pair of nerves 

 of very large size, are supplied over the cheeks and jaws, but 

 the largest of all to the lower jaw; where the teeth are fur- 

 nished with them in a manner to render their sensation exqui- 

 site. Woe betides the unsuspecting creature that touches any 

 part of this well formed trap; the presence of a stranger is 



F 



