CHONDROPTEILYGII BRAxNCHUS FIXIS. 333 



S. angelut, the Common Angel-fish, grows seven or eight feet long ; is very voracious, and one of the ugliest 

 of fislies. 



Prietis, tlif Saw-fish, form a fourth genus. They 

 have a long bodv, like the Sharks, with the gill- 

 openings below ; the snout extended like the ^^MttiB^ht^ftfH! ^y 



blade of a SWOrd, and with strong and trenchant 

 teeth like spines on both edges. This formidable 

 weapon gives name to the fishes, and with it they 

 will attack the largest Whales, and inflict dreadful 

 wounds. They sometimes attain twelve or fifteen f-,„ 150 _-n,e s«w-6sh. 



feet in length. 



Rata, the Skate, [or rather, perhaps, Iiaiaidce- the Skate family,] are less numerous than the Sharks. 

 They have the body flattened till, from its union with the large and fleshy pectorals, it forms a disc. 

 These pectorals are joined to each other before the snout ; extend behind as far as the base of the 

 ventrals, and have their humeral bones articulated with the spine behind the gills. Eyes and spiracles 

 above; mouth, nostrils, and gill-openings below ; and dorsal fins almost always on the tail. Eggs 

 brown, leathery, and square, with points at the angles. They consist of the following subgenera: 



Rhinobatis, connect the Sharks and Rays by their thick fleshy tail, and two distinct dorsals and a caudal. 

 The rhomboids formed by the snout and pectorals is sharper in front and narrower than in the ordinary Rays j 

 but excepting this they have all the characters of these, and their crowded teeth are placed in fives, like little 

 paving-stones. Some inhabit the Mediterranean ; some the Atlantic ; and one species from Brazil is said, but 

 not proved, to be electric. R/iina differs from Rhinobatis in having a stout, broad, and rounded snout. 



Torpedo. — Tail short, but tolerably fleshy ; disc of the body nearly circular, the anterior edge being formed by 

 two production! of the muzzle, which extend outwards and join the pectorals. The space between the pectorals 

 and the head and gills is filled by an electric apparatus, consisting of numerous cells firmed like honeycombs, 

 and subdivided by lateral diaphragms, in the intervals of which a mucous fluid is contained. This electric or 

 galvanic apparatus is, like that in Gymnotus, amply supplied with nerves. The shocks given by the Torpedo, 

 thQUgh smart, are not so benumbing as those of (i\ nmotus. They probably enable it to stun its prey. The body 

 is smooth, and the teeth small and pointed. Two species, one with ocellated spots, and another \wth seven fleshy 

 protuberances round the spiracles, with the back marbled, sprinkled, or spotted with brown, were long confounded 

 with this one. There are also several species in the foreign seas. The Common Torpedo is occasionally found on 

 the 1 hannel coast of England. 



Rain, the Kays properly so called, or Skate, have the disc rhomboidal ; the tail slender; with two small dor- 

 sals on the upper part, near the point, and sometimes the vestige of a caudal; and their teeth are small, and 

 ranged in quincunx on the jaws. The European seas furnish many species, some of which are not yet well deter- 

 mined. Their flesh is rather hard when recent, but wholesome. [The species found in the British seas are aa 

 follows: R. chagrined, the Shagreen Ray; R. batis, the Blue or common Skate; R. oxyrhynchus, the Sharp- 

 nosed Ray ; R.marginata, the Margined Ray; R. maculata, the Homelin or Spotted Ray; R. tnicroeellata, the 

 Small-eyed Hay ; R. clavata, the Thornback ; and R. radiata, the Starry-ray.— FarrelPl British lushes.] 



Tiygon, the Sting Ray, has on the tail a strong spine notched on both sides; teeth similar to the other Rays j 

 the disc obtuse forwards, and the tail often without any fin save a rudimental membrane. R. acanthus resembles 

 Trygon, but has the tail long and slender, without fin or spine. 



Miliobatit, the Kagle Ray, has the snout projecting beyond the long pectorals, which extend outwards like 

 wings; the jaws have broad flat teeth like a pavement \ the tail is long and slender, having a spine on the upper 

 part near the base, and not far behind the small dorsal. In some there are two or more spines. 



Cephaloptera, has the small tail, the spine, and the small dorsal of the last subgenus: but the pectorals are 

 more extended in proportion to the length of the body ; the head is truncated in front, and a lobe of efch pectoral 

 mces on each side of it, making the fish seem as if it had horns. 



THE SECOND FAMILY OF THE CIIONDROPTERYC.il BRANCHIIS FIXIS. 



Cyclostomata (with the Mouth formed into a Sue! ■ 

 With respect to their skeleton these are the least perfect of fishes, and, indeed, of all vertebrated 

 animals. They have no pectorals or ventrals ; their body ends in a circular fleshy lip, with B 1 nous 



ring supporting it, and formed of the soldered palatals and manditiularies. The substance of all the 



vertebra ia traversed by a single tendinous cord, filled internally with a mucilaginous fluid, without 

 contractions and enlargements, which reduces the vertebras to cartilaginous rays not easily distinguish- 

 able from each other. The annu-ar portion is rather more solid than the rest, but nol cartilaginous 



through its whole circle. They base mi ordinary ribs, but the gill-ribs, noticed as rudimental in the 

 Sharks and Rays, arc more developed and united with each other in this family into a kind of cage, but 

 there are no solid gill-arches. Instead of being comb-shaped, as in other fishes, the gills have the 



