236 
ANIMAL CURIOSITIES 
turn into the pupa state, and a few weeks 
later assume the winged form and become 
perfect bees. 
To mention yet another occupation, namely 
that of angling, we find that several members of 
the Animal Kingdom are exponents of the 
art; one, known as the angler-fish, the sea- 
devil, the fishing-frog or the frog-fish, being 
found in British waters. Although occasionally 
growing to a length of five feet, it usually only 
measures about a yard. 
Of a sluggish disposition, and but an in¬ 
different swimmer, the British angler-fish spends 
the greater part of its time resting upon or 
crawling along the ocean bed. Its fins are 
especially adapted for walking purposes, and 
are also utilized for scratching or stirring up 
the sand in order to arouse the curiosity of its 
prey and to conceal its own presence. But 
its chief lure is a long tentacle that arises from 
its head and terminates in a bifurcated and 
pendent growth that might easily be mistaken 
for a worm in the dim light beneath the water. 
By keeping this lure constantly on the move, 
the angler attracts other fish to their doom, 
the victims being snapped up as soon as they 
come within reach of its enormous mouth. 
The appetite of the angler appears to be 
enormous, for it is recorded that no less than 
