49 



surface, and some which possess spines are very efficiently pro- 

 tected, even in their helpless drifting state. 



All these are emphatically ugly in form and inactive in 

 mode of life. Bullheads and Gurnards, with broad heavy heads, 

 are among the less prepossessing fishes, and are less active in 

 habit than many others. 



The Stargazer is an ugh' fish with clumsy head, and in- 

 habits the bottom of the sea, being concealed among stones, 

 also employing somewhat the same kind of fishing tackle as the 

 Angler Fish, to attract various small forms of prey. 



The Lumpsuckers (Cycloptcridce) are coarse, heavily-built 

 fishes, with skin so thick on the dorsal region as to obscure the 

 dorsal fin, and with an adhesive disc on the ventral surface, by 

 means of which they become attached to rocks, and devote 

 themselves largely to the pleasures of the table. They prefer 

 the fry of other species of fish, and are a low-living class of 

 creatures. 



It is rather noticeable how many of the sluggish and ill- 

 favoured fish to which we have referred, are very much devoted 

 to preying, which is, perhaps, what one would expect, judging 

 from analogy in higher animals. I think it is fair to say that 

 Sluggishness, Ugliness of Form and Gorging, are intimately 

 associated in the majority of lower animals. 



Amphibians. 



Amphibians are divided into the two main groups of Tailless 

 and Tailed Amphibians, the former including Frogs and Toads, 

 the latter Newts, Salamanders and Cecilians. All the frogs and 

 and toads are more or less grotesque in form, especially the 

 toads, and the connection between activity and gracefulness 

 and the reverse, comes out very well in this group ; the most 

 graceful of the frogs being the agile frogs, tree frogs and grass- 

 hopper frogs, the limbs and body of which are tolerably sym- 

 metrical, and the toads and certain more sluggish frogs are far 

 more unsightly and more inactive than those mentioned. For 

 pure ugliness the toad has become proverbial. It may also be 

 mentioned here that many of the Tailless Amphibians go 

 through a form of hybernation, which means a more or less 

 sluggish life. The Tailed Amphibians are more elegantly 

 formed, and show more symmetry than frogs and toads, and 

 greater activity of habits. 



