90 Mr. Coucu on the Natural History 
it disables by the shock, I conceive that the principal use 
of this power has a reference to the functions of digestion. 
It is well known that an effect of lightning, or the elec- 
tric shock, is to deprive animated bodies very suddenly of 
their irritability ; and that thereby they are rendered more 
readily disposed to pass into a state of dissolution than 
they would otherwise be; in which condition the digestive 
powers of the stomach can be much more speedily and 
effectually exerted on them. If any creature may seem to 
require such a preparation of its food more than another, it 
is the Torpedo, the whole intestinal canal of which is not 
more than half as long as the stomach. 
SQUALUS. 
Monkfish. Sq. Squatina.—Common ; keeps near the bottom, 
and is most commonly taken in nets. The propriety of 
ranking this fish with the Squali seems to me to be doubt- 
ful: the terminal mouth and depressed body afford sufficient 
distinctions for a new genus, which might be denominated 
Squatina, and in which the following species might find a 
place. 
Lewis.—This fish, so named by fishermen, by whom it is not 
unfrequently taken with a line, bears some resemblance to 
-= the Monk, but is somewhat smaller; and as I have not 
been able to assign it a Linnæan name, I subjoin a descrip- 
tion: The head is large, flat, the jaws of equal length, 
forming a wide mouth ; the upper jaw falls in somewhat at 
the middle, so that at this part the lower jaw seems a little 
the longest; both are armed with several rows of sharp 
teeth ; the tongue is small. 'The head is joined to the body 
by something which resembles a neck ; the body is flat so 
far back as the ventral fins, beyond these it is round ; the 
pectoral 
