Page:Natural History, Fishes.djvu/189

Rh supplied to the water retained in the branchial sac, directly from the air."

Now in the Family before us the gill-rays and the operculum are enveloped in the common skin, and the aperture through which the breathed water is discharged is a comparatively small hole, situated behind the pectoral. This is small in all the Frog-fishes, but in those species (such as the genus Antennarius just mentioned), which are most addicted to roving out of their native element, the aperture is not only more than usually minute, but is produced into a short tube, which opens above each pectoral fin; and thus the gill-plates can be kept moist for an indefinite period of time.

Beautiful, indeed, are such combinations of structure and of function, such adaptations of part to part, and of organ to organ! They speak of the perfection of wisdom with which the whole of creation is formed; they loudly tell that one infinite Mind planned and executed the whole in all its details. Like the "glorious voice" uttered forth by the rolling spheres of heaven,—the testimony of the meanest fish that hides in the caves of ocean is heard "in Wisdom's ear," declaring—

These fishes have indeed little claim to outward elegance, either of form or colour. They are characterized by a thick, heavy body, sometimes compressed, sometimes depressed, often roughened, granulated, or covered with irregular tubercles, but always destitute of scales; the