Page:The aquarium - an unveiling of the wonders of the deep sea.djvu/251

200 that stand up and curve backwards like the horn of a Rhinoceros in miniature; while the whole under surface of the head, which is flat, is covered with a beard of horny thread-like filaments, very numerous and close-set, hanging perpendicularly downwards. Let me not, however, be understood as speaking disrespectfully of this mental adornment; for I doubt not it would be considered quite an elegant appendage in Regent Street or Pall Mall.

In the Aquarium the Pogge soon showed how exclusively he is a bottom-fish. Though his fins are ample, he has scarcely any power of swimming except by strong muscular effort, struggling upward for a little distance, and sinking to the bottom the moment the effort is relaxed. In general it lay motionless on the ground, while I had it; and I presume this is its habit when at liberty. The beard-filaments are probably delicate organs of touch, endowed with a high sensibility; and these, when the fish lies on a soft bottom, such as mud or sand, would be partly buried in it, and would be cognizant of the presence of any Annelide or Echinoderm that might be burrowing in the ground or crawling over it, fit for the capacious mouth to engulph, and the ample gullet to swallow.

In pursuing the line of shore which extends from the foot of the Lookout to the Nothe Point, beneath a range of low, crumbling, marly cliff, we pass for a while over nearly horizontal ledges, which dip successively into the sea, as I have more than once had occasion to mention. This is a rich collecting ground.