230 STRUCTURE OF TORPEDO UPSETS EVOLUTION THEORIES. 



regions of the Arctic circle, lias thought fit to apply 

 this same mysterious agency to the use and benefit of 

 a humble fish. The lesson we should learn from the 

 torpedo is that we men, with all our boasted intellect, 

 stand but on the shores of an ocean of knowledge, the 

 profound depths of which human understanding in its 

 present condition will never be able to fathom. 



In Land and Water, vol. vii., p. 26, Jan. 9, 1869, 

 Mr. Jeremiah Wilson, of Stockton-on-Tees, ^vi"ites : " I 

 have taken two torpedoes in the estuary of the Tees. 

 You say the one you dissected had nothing in its 

 stomach. I was curious enough to see what those 

 that I caught were living upon ; so I put my knife into 

 one, and took from him an eel 21bs. in weight, and a 

 flounder nearly a i^ound. The next one I opened 

 also, and was astonished to find in him a salmon 

 between 41b. and 51b. weight ; and what I was more 

 astonished at was that none of the fish had a blemish 

 of any description, showing that your idea of the fish 

 killing his prey with his electrical force is quite correct." 



The genus Baia, or Skate, is of great extent, and in- 

 cludes many well-known fishes. The form of the body 

 is flat and broad, and of a rhomboidal shape. The skate 

 may almost be said to have no true head or neck, the 

 sides of both being surrounded, and thus protected, by 

 the wide-spreading margin of the pectoral fins. Their 

 mode of progression is very peculiar, being performed 

 with a quick flapping motion of the pectoral fins, some- 

 thing between a glide and a swim. Skates are very 

 voracious: their food consists of any fish they can catch, 

 with molluscs and Crustacea. So powerful are their 

 muscles and jaws that they are able to crush the strong 

 shell of a crab with ease. The young are produced to- 

 wards the end of spring, or during summer. 



