OLD BRITISH TORPEDO. 545 



canal of whose intestine is not more than half as long as the 

 stomach." 



" So long ago as the time of Dioscorides, the physician of 

 Anthony and Cleopatra, the shock of this fish was recom- 

 mended for medical purposes, and especially for pains of the 

 head ; and this may be considered as the earliest record of the 

 application of electricity to medicine. In later times, it was 

 applied to the cure of gout ; the patient being directed to 

 keep his foot on the fish until the numbness extended to the 

 knees. Baron Humboldt remarks, that the will of the fish 

 directs the effect to whatever part it feels most strongly irri- 

 tated, but only under the influence of the brain and heart. 

 When a fish was cut through the middle, the fore part of the 

 body alone gave shocks." 



But little of its habits are known : it is said to prefer soft 

 and muddy ground, where its actions are slow and inert. It 

 is rare on the British coast ; but two or three species inhabit 

 the Mediterranean, and there is reason to believe that two 

 species inhabit our seas. Walsh obtained specimens in 

 Torbay ; and the figure of his fish in the Transactions of our 

 Royal Society exhibits the temporal orifices, or spiracles, 

 round and stellated, or having notched or fringed edges. 

 Pennant's figures appear to have been copied from those 

 of Walsh ; but Pennant was too good a naturalist to have 

 adopted a figure that did not agree with his specimens ; 

 moreover, in his description are the words, "Behind each 

 (eye) was a round spiracle, with six small cutaneous rags on 

 their inner surface." Mr. Donovan's figure exhibits spiracles 

 with fringed edges. The colour was a pale mottled brown. I 

 have assumed, therefore, for distinction's sake, that it may be 

 the marmorata of MiAller and Henle. The species next to 

 be described has the spiracles oval, with perfectly smooth 

 edges, and has been taken on various parts of our coast. 



VOL. II. 2 N 



