380 EUROPEAN ANGLER. 



general length however is from two to three or 

 four feet. The shape bears some resemblance to 

 that of a Tadpole, the head being lost as it were in 

 the outline of the sides, and the hind-parts taper- 

 ing pretty suddenly towards the tail : the skin is 

 smooth, but the upper parts of the animal are 

 marked by various inequalities of surface, rising 

 here and there into the appearance of short spines: 

 the eyes are large, and of a whitish colour, with 

 the iris radiated by several dusky stripes ; the 

 mouth excessively wide, with the lower jaw con- 

 siderably longer than the upper : the teeth very 

 sharp and numerous, both in the mouth and on the 

 tongue : from the upper part of the head spring 

 two or three long and linear tentacula or processes, 

 situated in a longitudinal direction behind each 

 other, and followed by a few shorter ones down the 

 back : the sides or edges of the body are fringed, 

 at intervals, with many shorter appendages of a 

 somewhat similar nature : the pectoral fins are 

 large, of a rounded and slightly scolloped outline, 

 and are seated on very thick, arm-like processes : 

 the ventral fins are short, cartilaginous, of a whitish 

 colour, and strongly pahnated : the dorsal fin is 

 rather shallow and situated at the lower part of the 

 back: the ventral is placed nearly opposite and is 

 of similar appearance, but somewhat smaller : the 

 tail is short and rounded. The colour of the whole 

 animal on the upper parts is brown, with a few 

 deeper and paler variegations, and beneath whitish. 

 This fish is observed chiefly to frequent the shallow 

 parts of the sea, lying in ambush, half-covered by 



