055 L 0 P H I U S. 
deeper and snore fanning green. We are much inclined to 
fufpeft thefe differences to have arifen from differences of 
treatment; and that the fading of the lateral petals, as they 
advance in age, may be attributed to the affion of ftrong 
funfaine. 
LOPHANTHUS, /. in botany. See Hrssopus. 
l.O'PHIUS, J. in ichthyology, the Angler, or Sea De¬ 
vil ; a genus of fiflies of the order of branchioftegi. Generic 
charaiifera—Head comprelfed downwards; teeth (harp, nu¬ 
merous ; tongue broad, armed with teetli ; eyes vertical ; 
.noftrils final] ; gills three, the aperture lateral, firriple; 
pectoral fins broad, thick, and more or lefs refembling 
feet; dprfal and anal oppofite and near the tail; body 
naked, covered with a thin loofe {kin ; vent in the middle 
of the body ; lateral line not vifible. • 
Thefe fifa live on prey, they increafe from eggs, and 
haunt the Pea, They were by the ancients called fea-frogs, 
from their refemblance to that animal ; the Englifh have 
given them a (fill more hideous name, that of fea toads, or 
jea-dsvils ; appellations which thefe animals feem to merit 
by their extraordinary deformity. The head and mouth, 
in fome fpecies, are far larger than all the reft of the body ; 
the latter being in fome a yard wide, and furnifhed all 
round with an infinite number of fmall teeth. 
i. Lophius pifeatorius, the common angler, or fea- 
devil. Specific charafrer, body deprefl'ed, head rounded. 
This fpecies has a terrific afpeCt; the mouth, which is 
very large and armed with five rows of teeth, (landing al¬ 
ways open, which has probably occafioned the name. 
The roof of the mouth, and the tongue, which is broad, 
{iiort, and thick, are armed with fimilar teeth ; and in the 
throat alfo there are two long bones with feveral fharp 
teeth, Outwardly there appear no apertures for either 
noftrils or ears ; but there are two in the upper jaw within 
the mouth, which are fuppofed to anfwer the purpofes of 
fmell, if not of hearing alio; for, as the mouth is always 
Open, they are as well fituated to receive the impreflions 
of thefe fenfations as if they were outfide. Two long 
tufts of a horny fubftance, which Ariftotle compares to 
hairs, Pliny to horns, Oppian to warts, and Belon to a 
fin, f'erve this animal to angle for its prey ; hence Pennant’s 
name, the angler. Thefe horns have been feen two feet 
long in a fifh of four feet three inches. Befides thefe, 
there are four more of the fame kind on the back, faf- 
.tened at bottom by a membrane. The eyes are placed in 
the upp^r fuperficies of the head ; they have a black pu¬ 
pil, the iris is formed of white and brown (freaks. Some 
prickles rife on the upper furface both of the head and 
body ; and at the edges of the under furface are feveral 
Jittle fin-like appendages at equal diltances. The under 
furface is white, the upper brownifh, without kales, and 
nearly fmooth. The (kin is thin, and fo loofe from the 
body, that it may be drawn away from the flefa, The 
head is flattened above and below, and the tail is com- 
prefied on both fides. In fact the fifh teems made up of 
head and tail only. The aperture of the gills lies under¬ 
neath, near the pectoral fin ; the membrane is thin, and 
extends beyond the width of the lower flat fide of the 
head ; this membrane is fattened in front to a very ftrong 
arched cartilage; and on the tides it forms two large 
pouches, which fonts have fuppofed to be a retreat for 
their young; here it is fuftained by fix large round rays 
which extend longitudinally. The ventral fins, which 
lie under the pectorals, are fliort, broad, thick, and flefliy, 
jointed like arms, and on the inner fide divided into fin¬ 
gers, relembling what is feen on the foot of a mole. 
With thefe inftruments Belon aflerts, that the animal 
walks at the fyottom of the water; but their ufe is proba¬ 
bly to attach themfelves to hard bodies ; they are of a 
white colour. The peftoral fins are brown above, white 
below, with a black border. The anal and dorfid fins are 
'brown ; the tail black. This fpecies is found in the 
Jforth Sea, in the Southern Ocean, the Mediterranean, &c, 
Bloch had one in his pofleffion which was two feet nine 
inches Jong ; and by no means one of the large It, if we 
may believe the wonder-dealing Pontoppidan, who had' 
one, as he fays, twelve feet long ; Linnaeus deferibes one 
which was as thick round as a man. Some are caught 
near Scarborough between four and five feet in length* 
and whofe mouth is near three feet wide. The fifhermen 
no fooner take them, than they give them their liberty, 
from the fuppofition that they deftroy the dog-fifh; and, 
in fupport of that idea, fome of thefe voracious animals 
have been found in their ftomachs. It has been very lately 
difeovered that this fifh is viviparous, but they are not 
numerous. The flefh is white when dreffed, and is faid 
to tafle like a frog ; but, as our countrymen feldom eat 
frogs, we mull take this upon the word of a foreigner. 
Though this hideous creature might be fuppofed to 
make great ravages among the fifh, yet it appears by no 
means to be the cafe ; for, being a llow fwimmer, proba¬ 
bly occafioned by the great fize of his head, he can only 
catch his prey by ftratagem. Ke hides himfelf in the fen- 
weed, behind fand-hills, (tones, or pietes of rock; then, 
with his mouth open, he watches the fifh that fwirn about, 
and throws out the {lender appendages of his head, to 
draw their attention, moving them about in the mud ; 
the little fifii approach without fear, taking them for 
worms; neither are they feared at the dirty colour of the 
angler, which they take for a lump of earth ; nor at his 
open mouth, which looks like a hole; and, when they 
think to catch thefe fuppofed worms, the angler feizes 
them at his eafe. This fifh, who fwirns ill, might perifh 
for want of food, had it not thefe,filaments, and clafpers 
or feet likewife to flop itfelf and refilt the violence of the 
waves. Being a folitary fifh, and living in aimoft inac- 
cefiible.places, they are very rarely caught. See the an¬ 
nexed Plate, fig, i. 
2. Lophius Cornubicus, the Cornifh angler : body de- 
prelied, fringed at the hind-part. It may perhaps be 
doubted whether this be truly diftincf from the preceding, 
or whether it may not rather conftitutea fexuaj difference 
or a variety. It is mentioned .by Dr. Borlafe in his Na¬ 
tural Hiliory of Cornwall; and is faid to be of a longer 
form than the common angler, (whence Pennant calls it 
the long angler,) with the head more bony, rough, and 
aculeated, as well as defeitute of the fringed appendages, 
which take place only towards the hind-part of the body ; 
the pel)oral fins are tipped with fpinc<- .of about an inch 
and three quarters in length;' and on the tail are fimilar 
ones, but fom.ewhat fhorter, m; Turing only an inch. 
Obferved about Mount’s Bay in Cornwall. 
3. Lophius muricatus, ti.. u iricated,angler: body de- 
prefied, orbicular, rmiricatei: amove, with radiated (pines. 
Ddcribed by Cepede: from a fpecimen formerly in the 
muf’eum of the,prince of Orange, but brought, from the 
Hague to Paris, during tile late revolutionary war, by ci¬ 
tizen Faujas ; Cepede therefore calls it Lophie Faujas. 
Its (liape is extremely fiat ; if the peHorai fins and tail 
were removed, it would be a perfect circle. The aperture 
of the mouth is fi me.yybftt underneath the front part of 
the head ; above which, juft at the extremity, is a Jittle 
cavjty, out of which arii'es a rounded protuberance. The 
noftrils are very near this cavity ; each has a double aper¬ 
ture, of which the front one is the narrowed, and com¬ 
municates with a little tube. The eyes are not larn'e ; 
they arc fo .placed as with the two noftrils aimoft to form 
a fquare. The apertures of the. gills are more back¬ 
wards towards the tail than in mpft of the fpecies. 
The, jugular fins, are faftened to flefiny prolongations 
cotnpofed of five rays divided at the extremities, find- 
lay to hands, or at leak to paws ; they are farther back 
than in the preceding fpecies, being midway between the 
mouth.and the.peefpra! fins. The' pectoral fins are near 
the anus, coufequently not far from the apertures of the 
gills; their fiiYhy productions are feen underneath. The 
vent is in that place where the, tail joins to the body. 
The tail is a cone flatted underneath, about half as. long 
as the body; its fin is rounded at the end ; a fmall dorw 
fa! Jin appears on its upper furface, and an anal on the 
5 lower. 
