scatorius_), a fish well known off the coasts of Great
Britain and Europe generally, the grotesque shape of its body and its
singular habits having attracted the attention of naturalists of all
ages. To the North Sea fishermen this fish is known as the "monk," a
name which more properly belongs to _Rhina squatina_, a fish allied to
the skates. Its head is of enormous size, broad, flat and depressed,
the remainder of the body appearing merely like an appendage. The wide
mouth extends all round the anterior circumference of the head;
and both jaws are armed with bands of long pointed teeth, which are
inclined inwards, and can be depressed so as to offer no impediment to
an object gliding towards the stomach, but to prevent its escape from
the mouth. The pectoral and ventral fins are so articulated as to
perform the functions of feet, the fish being enabled to move, or
rather to walk, on the bottom of the sea, where it generally hides
itself in the sand or amongst sea-weed. All round its head and also
along the body the skin bears fringed appendages resembling short
fronds of sea-weed, a structure which, combined with the extraordinary
faculty of assimilating the colour of the body to its surroundings,
assists this fish greatly in concealing itself in places which
it selects on account of the abundance of prey. To render the
organization of this creature perfect in relation to its wants, it is
provided with three long filaments inserted along the middle of the
head, which are, in fact, the detached and modified three first spines
of the anterior dorsal fin. The filament most important in the economy
of the angler is the first, which is the longest, terminates in a
lappet, and is movable in every direction. The angler is believed to
attract other fishes by means of its lure, and then to seize them
with its enormous jaws. It is probable enough that smaller fishes are
attracted in this way, but experiments have shown that the action
of the jaws is automatic and depends on contact of the prey with the
tentacle. Its stomach is distensible in an extraordinary degree, and
not rarely fishes have been taken out quite as large and heavy as
their destroyer. It grows to a length of more than 5 ft.; specimens
of 3 ft. are common. The spawn of the angler is very remarkable. It
consists of a thin sheet of transparent gelatinous material 2 or 3
ft. broad and 25 to 30 ft. in length. The eggs in this sheet are in a
single layer, each in its