CHAPTER LIV 
THE ORDER OF FOOT-FISHES 
PEDICULATI 
The strange creatures which form the group 
of so-called foot-fishes are introduced here, not 
in the expectation of close acquaintance with 
many of them, but rather that they may not re- 
main absolute strangers to us. They live on 
the bottom of the sea, are not edible, and, being 
devoid of all value to mankind, they are safe from 
extermination. The most of them are also safe 
from close observation. Structurally, they stand 
next to the foot of the Subclass of Bony Fishes. 
The Angler, or Goose-Fish , 1 is the typical 
representative of this Order. Among fishermen, 
it is sufficiently known that it has received t.wenty- 
By taste and habit the Angler is in the same 
class as the human fish-hog who fishes with three 
poles at once. He lies on the bottom of the sea, 
where the muddy mottlings of his skin give him 
the appearance of mud and sand, opens his head 
widely, and props it open, for the free admission 
of any fish, crustacean, reptile or aquatic bird 
that chooses to enter. 
Dr. Goode observes that the Goose-Fish de- 
rived that name from the swallowing of live 
geese, and that there is an authentic record of 
the capture of one which contained seven wild 
ducks. 
THE ANGLER. 
one English names, and in the languages of con- 
tinental Europe about fifty more. (G. Brown 
Goode.) 
It is the glutton of the sea, and its body is 
merely a purse-like attachment to a mouth that 
is fearful and wonderful to behold. It has a 
mouth and an appetite like an old-fashioned 
carpet-bag, and to it no living tiling comes amiss. 
At present the body of this creature is painfully 
small for a mouth so ambitious and all-absorb- 
ing, but evolution is doing its perfect work, and 
eventually the maw of the Angler will be devel- 
oped on the same scale as its mouth. 
A fully-grown Angler is about four feet long, 
and its mouth is a little more than a foot wide. 
From snout to tail its lower jaw and the median 
line of the body are fringed with tiny barbels 
most cunningly calculated to lure unsuspecting 
fishes within seizing distance. 
The weight of a large specimen is from 35 to 
40 pounds. In our longitudes it is used only 
for bait, but Dr. Goode says that “in Italy it is 
much esteemed as an article of food.” No doubt 
of it. In Naples, they eat stewed octopus ; which 
I can testify is as tender and palatable as rubber 
hose stewed in brine, but not any more so. 
1 Loph'i-us pis-ca-to'ri-us. 
420 
