Page:Natural History, Fishes.djvu/241

Rh Small fishes, as trout, roach, salmon-fry, a young herring, or the hind part of an eel, are excellent bait for Pike; and for large ones a young one of their own species. But a bright-coloured small bird, a goldfinch or yellow-hammer, will frequently kill, when they will not look at trout or roach. The best time for catching them is the morning; if hazy, with little wind, so much the better.

An extensive assemblage of uncouth and repulsive fishes is found composing this Family. They are entirely destitute of scales, instead of which some genera have an armature of large angular bony plates, others have only a naked skin, invested with a thick coat of slimy mucus. In general the head is very broad and flat, with a great cat-like face; the lips send forth beards (cirri) or fleshy tentacles, sometimes of great length. The mouth is small, sometimes furnished with close-set velvet-like teeth, but often quite toothless. In the great majority of the species the first ray of the dorsal, and of the pectorals, takes the form of a stout and strong articulated spine, the edges of which are often cut into sharp teeth pointing backward; these spines are formidable weapons of offence.

Four hundred species are reckoned as belonging to this Family, all of which are inhabitants of fresh waters. They abound in the great