130 



TRTGON. 



The head enclosed on the sides by the pectoral fins; the body ele- 

 vated; tail slender, without a fin, armed with a long spine, which is 

 serrated on the edges. 



STING BAY. 



FIKE FLATRE. TRYGON. 



Pastinaca marina, 



Baia Pastinaca, 



Raie Pastenaque, 

 Trygon Pastinacea, 



JONSTON; p. 32. 

 WiLLOUGHBY; p. &?, pi, C. 3. 

 LiNN.'EUS. DOXOVAN; pi. 99. 



Bloch, pi. 82. Jenyns; Manual, p. 51 . 

 Lacepede. Risso; p. 10. 

 Fleming; Br. Animals, p. 170, Ouvier. 

 Yarbell; Br. Fishes, vol. ii. p. 588. 

 Gray; Catalogue Br. MuFOMm, p. 118. 



The ancients were well acquainteJi with this fish, and had 

 an extravagant dread of what they supposed the poisonous 

 eflfects of a wound inflicted by the dart on its tail. There is 

 no doubt that this may be the cause of considerable injury 

 when dashed about in all directions, by the vibration of the 

 tail of an angry fish; and it is not improbable that a formi- 

 dable inflammation would follow; and even that an attack of 

 tetanus or lock-jaw has been produced in a constitution of body 

 already prepared for such consequences. Such a superstition is 

 countenanced by what Matthiolus says, in his "Commentaries 

 on Dioscorides," of instances where death from the wound has 

 been attended with convulsions and contractions of the whole 

 body. He also quotes jEtius as saying that such wounds are 

 soon followed with severe pains and deadness, which spread 

 pve: the whole body. It is, therefore, with some truth that 



