HORNED RAY. 597 



testines exhibit numerous plicae. Contrary to that which is 

 observed in cartilaginous fishes generally, which are remarka- 

 bly tenacious of life, the Horned Ray dies immediately on 

 being taken out of the water, and even if confined by a rope 

 tied over the pectoral fins, though allowed to remain in the 

 sea, it dies in a few hours. The flesh is red, dense, hard, 

 difficult of digestion, and not in esteem as food, but is eaten 

 by the poorer classes. Females are larger and darker in 

 colour than males. They grow to an almost incredible size. 

 M. Risso saw a male that weighed eight hundred pounds, 

 and a female that weighed twelve hundred pounds. In the 

 Arcana of Science and Art for the year 1834, page 224, is 

 a description and a figure representing this fish, copied from 

 M. Le Vaillant. He saw three in lat. 10 15' N. ; longitude 

 335 W. ; he prevailed upon the crew to attempt the capture 

 of one of them, which they effected, and took the smallest, 

 which measured twenty-eight feet in width, and twenty-one 

 feet in length, and was supposed to weigh a ton (twenty hun- 

 dred weight) ; the mouth like a Ray's mouth, but wide 

 enough to swallow a man. The name was applied to it by 

 Lacepede in compliment to the late Professor Giorna, of the 

 Academy of Turin. 



The description of M. Risso is as follows : 



" The body is thick, and slightly rounded, transversely 

 elliptical, smooth, of an indigo-blue colour above, dingy 

 white underneath ; the mouth is of great size ; the jaws large ; 

 the eyes globular, the irides bluish silver ; the spiracles elon- 

 gated ; the branchial openings slightly crescentic ; the dorsal 

 fin small, triangular, dark blue, varied with white at the 

 edge ; the ventrals short, with a small appendage ; the tail is 

 long, thin, and slender, smooth for one-fourth of its length, 

 then tuberculated, and armed at its base with a long and 

 sharp flattened spine, serrated on both edges. 



