Show the alie pelican rish ilski the investigations which have been made by dredging into the fauna of the waters of tle the deep seas in many many parts of the world have resulted in the discovery dj covery of most eccentric forms of animal life more especially among the fishes but bat none exceed in their departure depart Lire from the ordinary type the pelican fish which was dredged up from a depth of a mils mile and a half off the coast of morocco not far from the canary islands ands this fish fiah which differs widely from any previous known type presents a most extraordinary development of the mouth the jaws are extremely large and the floor of the lower jaw is formed of a very ey e extensible skin shin which when filled with food constitutes a sort of pouch like that of the pelican it is probable that the first stages of the digestion of the food may be carried ou on in this cavity as the stomach asvery is very small email the fins are hardly less remarkable than the jaws the pectoral fins are arc very rudimentary whilst the do dorsal and the ventral are each constituted by a range of free detached wines spines unlike many of the inhabitants of the extreme depths of the sea which are so BO frequently blind tile the pelican has two eyes placed in front of the pectoral fins the flattened form of the body tapering to a point at the end makes it certain that the fish must swim by the waving of the elongated tail from side to side but its movements must be very restricted it is probable that like other angler fish it lies on the soft mud which constitutes tile bed of the ocean with the mouth open ready to engulf as food any animal that moves across the opening st jamest james gazette |