250 FISHES

endless fund of amusement as they dart at their prey
from the seaweed stems to which they anchor by
their tails until they are well within range of their
victims.

With the Plectognatht, whose gills are composed
of small spherical lobes, we reach an assemblage of
eccentricities that conclude the long array of bony
fishes. Here we get the file-fishes, which saw off the
coral and chisel holes in the hard shells of the
oysters ; here we have the coffer-fishes, who seem to
struggle through life in a peculiarly angular mosaic
greatcoat ; here we have the globe-fishes, who puff
themselves out into balls, and stick out their enor-
mous spines like caltrops, as if preparing to receive
cavalry ; and here we have the sun-fishes, which look
all head, with a frill round the neck, and seem to
have left their bodies at home for alteration or
repair.

GANOIDE/.—This order had a glorious past,
but is now represented by about seven genera, of
which the chief are those containing the sturgeon
and the bony pike. They are all armoured with
thick, hard scales, and their internal skeleton is, as
a tule, to a certain extent, cartilaginous. One of
them (Lepzdosteus), the bony pike, has the vertebra
convex in front and hollow behind, being thereby
more reptilian than any other fish. This species, also
known as the gar-pike, is found in Cuba and tem-
perate America. It is about five feet in length,
armoured in thick, hard, lozenge-shaped scales, which
look like polished bone; its long, narrow snout has