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witnessed them represent the obstinate courage of this fish, 

 which, uniting agility to strength, springs out of the water to 

 escape the tail of the whale, and falling on it again, pierces 

 the whale's back with its formidable weapon, and tinges the 

 sea with its blood. ? 



The beak of the sawfish, like that of the sword-fish, has 

 been found driven into the timbers of a ship, both animals, 

 in all probability, taking the moving mass for the body of a 

 whale. 



Of the next genus, the Rays, we shall pass over the sub- 

 genera Rhinobatus and Rhina, as affording no other 

 matter of information, than what is connected with their 

 physical characters, and proceed to those singular fish, the 

 Torpedos. 



For many ages the torpedo has been known to possess the 

 surprising quality alluded to. Plato, in one of his dialogues, 

 is supposed to say to Socrates, " You stun me with your 

 objections, like the torpedo, a flat sea fish, which stuns those 

 who touch it." At the present day, as in ages past, this fish 

 is the object equally of terror and wonder to the vulgar; and 

 its reputation is so extensively spread among even the least 

 informed of mankind, that the nature of its qualities, true or 

 false, has become the subject of various proverbs. 



The genus Torpedo includes several species, but we shall 

 confine our observations to the T. narke, Riss., or the com- 

 mon torpedo ; which, in addition to the characters indicated 

 in the text as common to the genus, is of a yellowish red 

 colour, with five large round spots, of a grayish blue, sur- 

 rounded with a large brownish circle, and a number of whitish 

 dots ; the under side is grayish white. The head is scarcely 

 distinguishable from the body, and is terminated laterally by 

 two processes, which join the pectoral fin. The upper open- 

 ing of the air-vents is surrounded with a folded and indented 

 membrane, and there is an infinity of minute pores, from 



