TORPEDINIDiE. 331 



questionable whether he figured or described from one. He observes that 

 Torpedoes are frequently taken off Torbay, once off Pembroke, and, according to 

 Smith, near Waterford in Ireland. Montagu (Mss.) refers to one which was small, 

 captured at Torcross in Devonshire ; and another, about 100 lb. weight, at Tenby 

 in Wales ; but it is doubtful to what form he alluded. 



Although two British species have been thus recognized, I have been unable 

 to obtain positive proof that T. marmorata has ever been obtained off our coast. 



1. Torpedo nobiliana. Spiracles not fringed at their margins. First dorsal 

 fin placed behind root of ventral, and much larger than second dorsal. 



2. Torpedo marmorata. Spiracles fringed at their margins. First dorsal fin, 

 with its first half opposite the root of ventral, and only a little larger than the 

 second dorsal. 



Professor Fritsch exhibited at the Physiological Society of Berlin (1883) 

 specimens of the development of these fishes, showing that they possess a squali- 

 form stage, a raiiform stage, and a torjiediform stage. He remarked that the 

 electric organ is developed from muscle, and indeed from the outer gill-muscles of 

 the fifth gill-arch. The gill-arch muscle, which develops in rays and sharks into 

 the powerful lower-jaw muscle, is wanting, and in its place is the electric organ. 

 In plate clxv I have shown the external and deciduous gills of a foetal torpedo. 



1. Torpedo nobiliana, Plate CLXIV. 



2. Torpedo nobiliana, Bonap. Faun. Ital. Pesc. pi. cliv ; Midler and Henle, 

 p. 128 ; Yarrell, Brit. Fish. (ed. 2) ii, p. 546, c. fig. (ed. 3) ii, p. 544 ; Gray, Chond. 

 p. 100; White, Catal. p. 135 ; Dumeril, Ich. i, p. 512; Canest. Fauna Ital. Pesc. 

 p. 53 ; Giglioli, Cat. Pesc. Ital. p. 53 ; Moreau, Poissons de la France, i, p. 386. 



Torpedo Walshii, Thompson, An. Nat. Hist. 1840, v, p. 292, and Nat. Hist. 

 Ireland, iv, p. 256. 



Torpedo hebetans, Lowe, Trans. Zool. Soc. ii (1841), p. 195; Giinther, Catal. 

 viii, p. 449. 



Torpedo emarginata, McCoy, Ann. Nat. Hist. 1841, vi, p. 407. 



Torpedo nigra, Guichen. Expl. Alger. Poiss. p. 131, pi. viii. 



Torpedo, Couch, Fish. Brit. Isles, i, p. 119, pi. xxx. 



The breadth of this species is about two-thirds of its entire length. Eyes 

 small. Mouth crescentic. Spiracles kidney shaped or oval, and having smooth 

 edges and situated a short distance behind the eyes. Fins the first dorsal, 

 which is nearly twice as large as the second, commences above the last portion of 

 the ventral fin ; the interspace between the first and second dorsal is short. 

 Caudal fin well developed. Skin smooth. Colours dull reddish gray or of a 

 dull ash above, dashed wdth purple, and white below ; sometimes there are one or 

 more ill-defined blotches on the dorsal surface. 



Ball observed that should a Torpedo die in a state of spasm he thinks it 

 would present the form which has been named T. emarginata, but which when 

 flaccid is this species. 



Names. Torpedo, cramp- or numb-fish, electric ray. Neio British Torpedo, 

 Yarrell. Swrthbysg, Welsh. 



Habits. Most of such as have been ascertained have been already referred to. 

 It inhabits flat sands or muddy places at from 20 to 40 fathoms in depth. Some 

 investigators have observed that it clit s soon after removal from the water, while 

 others have recorded it living at least 24 hours. Mr. Wilson, of Stockton-on-Tees 

 (Land and Water, January 9th, 1869), found in one of these fishes an eel 2 lb. 

 and a flounder nearly 1 lb. ; in another a salmon between 4 lb. and 5 lb., and none 

 of these fish had any blemish, so they were probably killed by an electric current. 

 A red mullet and a plaice have been found in the stomach of one of them. Mr. 

 Harvey recorded (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1836, p. 109) that part of a small spotted 

 dogfish was hanging from the mouth of one captured at Teignmouth. 



Means of capture. Cornish (Zool. 1875, p. 4500) mentions one taken on a 

 ginged hooked (one in which the line for about six inches from the hook is closely 

 whipped with copper wire), as the captor got the ginged part of the hook in his 



