"It espies a fish many times larger than itself, but which, nevertheless, may be managed; it darts upon it, seizes it by the tail and gradually climbs over it with its jaws, first using one and then the other; as the captive is taken in the stomach and integuments stretch out, and at last the entire fish is passed through the mouth and into the stomach, and the distended belly appears as a great bag, projecting out far backwards and forwards, over which is the swallower with the ventrals dislocated and far away from their normal place. The walls of the stomach and belly have been so stretched that they are transparent, and the species of the fish can be discerned within. But such rapacity is more than the captor itself can stand. At length decomposition sets in, the swallower is forced belly upwards, and the imprisoned gas, as in a balloon, takes it upwards from the depths to the surface of the ocean, and there, perchance, it may be found and picked up, to be taken home for a wonder, as it is really. Thus have at least three specimens found their way into museums—one being in the United States National Museum— and in each the fish in the stomach has been about twice as long, and stouter in proportion, than the swallower—six to twelve times bulkier! Its true habitat seems to be at a depth of about 1,500 fathoms." Allied to this family is the little group of _Champsodontidæ_ of Japan and the East Indies. _Champsodon vorax_ looks like a young _Uranoscopus_. The body is covered with numerous lateral lines and cross-lines. =The Malacanthidæ.=—The _Malacanthidæ_ are elongate fishes, rather handsomely colored, with a strong canine on the premaxillary behind. _Malacanthus plumieri_, the matajuelo blanco, a slender fish of a creamy-brown color, is common in the West Indies. Other species are found in Polynesia, the most notable being _Malacanthus_ (or _Oceanops_) _lativittatus_, a large fish of a brilliant sky-blue, with a jet-black lateral band. In Samoa this species is called gatasami, the "eye of the sea."