The Skate.-] OF ORKNEY. l67 



DIVISION IL— CARTILAGINOUS FISHES. 



Amphibia nantes, — Lin. Sys. 



General Characters. — Instead of bones all these are furnished with carti- 

 lages, whence the name ; they breathe through a set of apertures, differently 

 constructed from the gills of fishes, properly so called. In their parts and 

 methods of generation they differ ; maribus pene duplici instructis ; many of 

 them are viviparous, being excluded from an egg, as in the sharks and rays. 

 The whole general appearance (especially in the sharks and some others), is 

 hungry and forbidding, which at once distinguishes them from the other fishes. 



GENUS IF.— THE SKATE, OR RAY. 



Gen. Char. — Body broad, flat, and thin ; five apertures on each side, placed be- 

 neath ; mouth situated quite below. 



* With Sharp Teeth. 



Species 1. — The Skate. 



The Skate or Flaire, Wi/. Icth. 69. Raii S^n. Pise. 25. Raia Batis, Lin. Si/s. 

 395. Srit. Zool. 62. Sib. Scot. 24. 



Skates of all sizes are caught at the fishermen's hooks 

 round these islands, from the breadth of an eating- plate to 



