GEN. CEPHALOPTERA. HORNED RAY. 337 



upwards of twenty feet long ; and in other cases 

 they are said to have appeared larger than the ves- 

 sel itself. " Col. Hamilton Smith once witnessed the 

 destruction of a soldier by one of these cej)haloptei*a, 

 off Trinidad. It was supposed that the soldier, being 

 a good swimmer, was attempting to desert from the 

 ship, which lay at anchor in the entrance of the 

 Bocco del Toro. The circumstance occurred soon 

 after day-light, and the man, being alarmed by the 

 call of a sailor from the main cross-trees, endea- 

 voured to return to the vessel, but the monster 

 threw one of his fins over him and carried him 

 down." * 



(Sp. 247.) C. cfiorna. Homed Ray. In 1835, 

 Mr. Thompson communicated to the Zoological 

 Society an account of a fish supposed to be this 

 species, of which a single specimen was found on 

 the southern coast of Ireland. It was rather im- 

 perfect, so that its identity with the C. yiorna of 

 Risso is not altogether certain. It measured only 

 forty-five inches in breadth. In the Mediterranean 

 Cuvier states that it is of gigantic dimensions. 

 * Griffiths' Cuvier, vol. x. p. 654. 



