CHONDROPTERYGII. 649 



We are enabled, through the kindness of Dr. Bancroft, to 

 insert a figure of a torpedo from his drawing, which is new. 



The colour is brown, with darker nebulose patches, and a 

 number of black dots, the belly is white, but the edges of the 

 fin brownish. 



There are many species of the Ray, among which the most 

 common are the three indicated in the text. viz. The 

 Thornback, the Skate, and the Rough Ray. 



The first of these Rata clavata is well known. The 

 skin is shagreened, freckled above, but white underneath. A 

 row of strong recurved spines passes down the middle line of 

 the back, and there are three similar rows on the tail, besides 

 various smaller spines. The young are called maids or 

 maiden skate, and are generally spotted with white. The 

 ordinary length of this fish is about three feet, but they are 

 said to occur twelve feet long and more. The larger spines 

 seem to vary in number according to the age and sex of the 

 individual ; they are attached each to a separate compact, 

 hard, white, and smooth cartilage, buried for the most part 

 under the skin. 



The pectoral fins called wings have a much more consider- 

 able surface than the body itself of the fish, and are supported 

 by a great number of articulated cartilaginous rays or bones, 

 so to speak. These as in the Torpedo give the fish more or 

 less of a rhomboidal figure, though the body itself differs little 

 from the ordinary shape of other fish. No part however of 

 the lateral space is occupied by any electric organ, as is the 

 case with the torpedos. When the ray moves, these fins 

 strike the water vertically up and down. The powerful muscles 

 destined to move these immense fins form two thick fleshy 

 beds, one above and the other below each fin, and these are 

 divided into as many fasciae as there are rajs in each 

 fin. 



As the skeleton of this and all others of the genus is entirely 



