642 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. | [Vor. XXXIX. 
its meal when the fish is taken from the water. From what I 
saw of their behavior in the tank, though, I conclude that this 
behavior shows the inordinate numbers of the fish in the bay, 
rather than extreme voracity. Those.that I had were small 
feeders, and went a long time without eating. Asa matter of 
fact, they ate so infrequently that I was not able to experiment 
with them and test their likes and dislikes as much as I wished. 
According to the fishermen, the best bait is squid ; failing that, 
they use herring, or as they call them, * sardines." 
My first lot was caught on a Friday. The following Monday 
I put into the tank eight dead flounders about ten inches long 
and three inches wide. About a dozen of the fifty hags ate 
freely, some of them ravenously. But although several of the 
flounders had been partly eaten, the total consumed did not 
amount to more than two flounders. : 
It is very interesting to see them eat. The process may be 
easily watched when they are fed with small fish, or are just 
beginning on a large one. The feeding apparatus, described by 
Ayers and Jackson (:00), consists of a heart-shaped plate com- 
posed of symmetrical halves that open out and fold together 
like the leaves of a book. This plate bears on the dorsal sur- 
face of each half a double row of horn teeth, their points 
directed meso-caudad, and itlies imbedded in the membrane of 
the ventral wall of the pharynx. 
When the animal feeds, the tooth plate, which is really a mod- 
ified and movable lower jaw, and in no sense a tongue, as stated 
by Müller (34) and P. Fürbringer, is thrust out of the mouth, 
and its fore end is drawn down so that it takes a position almost 
perpendicular to the long axis of the body. The two halves 
are at the same time drawn apart, so as to present an almost flat 
surface. Placing this flat surface against the fish to be eaten, 
the hag draws the halves of the tooth plate together, thus tear- 
ing off a portion of the food, and then withdraws it into its 
mouth. It swallows the food very rapidly, and immediately 
eee out the tooth plate for more. There is no sucking motion 
= Fürbringer has said; the hagfish simply rests with its nose 
against the fish, and if, because of a current in the water, or 
through the vigor of the attack, the food is moved from its 
