. The pet book. Pets. THE CATFISH OR BULLHEAD HEN we study fish, we shotdd try to understand how they are adapted by form and color for the peculiar place where they live. Any of the catfish are good examples of adaptation of form to life. The most com- mon of the catfish is, probably, the bullhead, and it illustrates this principle well. It is mud-colored, and has no scales; since it lives in the it does not need scales to protect it. The skin is very thick and leathery, and not easily broken. The general shape of the front of the body is flat, and the biill- head is thus fitted for grop
. The pet book. Pets. THE CATFISH OR BULLHEAD HEN we study fish, we shotdd try to understand how they are adapted by form and color for the peculiar place where they live. Any of the catfish are good examples of adaptation of form to life. The most com- mon of the catfish is, probably, the bullhead, and it illustrates this principle well. It is mud-colored, and has no scales; since it lives in the it does not need scales to protect it. The skin is very thick and leathery, and not easily broken. The general shape of the front of the body is flat, and the biill- head is thus fitted for groping about the muddy bot- toms of streams. The pectoral fins open out on the same plane as the body, and are weapons of defense, since the sharp tips of their spines punish whatever touches them. Bullheads' eyes are oval, and rimmed with a nar- row band of pale yellow; they are prominent, so that when moved backward and forward they com- mand a view of the enemy in the rear or at the front, while the fish remains motionless; but after all, eyes are not much good to a fish that gropes in the mud for food, and the bullhead has developed barbels or feelers about the mouth, which assist in searching for food. Two of these barbels stand upright and give news of anything above; the large ones, one on either side of the mouth, are the most useftd of all, and are kept constantly moving for new sensations. The barbels below the mouth give information as to the nature of things below them. The bullhead 244. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Comstock, Anna Botsford, 1854-1930; Lord, Henry B. ins; Wright, Albert Hazen, 1879-1970 ins; Comstock, Anna Botsford, 1854-1930. ins. Ithaca, N. Y. : Comstock
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