And now, as we come nearer to the shore, where countless numbers of small fry are filling the water, and all creatures are struggling together to accomplish three objects, namely, to get food, to avoid being turned into food, and to lay their eggs, we find many strange weapons and devices adopted by the different fish for protection and attack. ... “Each bay With fry innumerable swarms, and shoals Of fish, that with their fins and shining scales Glide under the green waves, in sculls that oft Bank the mid sea.” There are the Mullets,[40] with tender feelers under their chin, with which they brush the ground lightly as they swim, feeding on the tiny creatures. There are the walking fish, the Gurnards,[41] which have three of the spines of their arm-fins separate, and moved by strong muscles and nerves, so that they can walk on the sea-bottom, feeling their way, while the stiff, spiny rays of their back-fin stand up to wound any enemy attacking them from above. There are the tiny Blennies which walk too, but by means of the few rays which alone remain of their leg-fins growing close under the head. Then there are the clinging-fish, the Gobies,[42] living on the rocky shores, where the waves beat and roar, and they have their leg-fins joined together, so as to form a kind of funnel under their throat, with which they cling to the rocks and then dart across the waves to feed, coming to anchor again out of the dash of the water; some of these little fellows make nests and guard their eggs after the mother has left them, till the young can shift for themselves. More curious still, the Lumpsucker[43] has its arm-fins and leg-fins all joined together into a round disk under the throat, and so holds on bravely against the dashing tide, defending the eggs which have been laid in the seaweed near the shore, and even remaining to take up the young ones when hatched, and carry them safely back into deep water as they cling to his sides. Meanwhile, close down upon the sand are the hiding-fish, the Weevers, the Anglers, and the Flat-fish. The weevers[44] are the most dangerous. Their shaded yellow colour hides them from view, while the sharp spines of their back-fins, which they keep raised, will inflict very severe, if not poisonous, wounds on any creature striking against them. Nor is this all, for behind the cheeks, fastened on to the horny gill cover, are daggers with which they can strike, deliberately jerking them back so as to give a sharp blow. These are fighting aggressive fish, waging the war that goes on so sharply all round our coasts. [Illustration: Fig. 11. The Fishing Frog.[45]]