156 PAINTED LABRUS. 



certain that such is the only use of these pores ; or 

 supposing that they are concerned in producing it, 

 there are, nevertheless, evidences, that the whole 

 external surface of the skin is employed in the 

 secretion, which is, in fact, a fluid epidermis. 



There is still another property possessed by a few 

 fishes, which, though not connected mth the struc- 

 ture or appendages of the skin, will naturally rank 

 among the organs of defence, and should be men- 

 tioned before we begin to notice those more properly 

 employed in attack or offence. We allude to the 

 electric power possessed by the torpedo, gymno- 

 tus, and a few others. It is perhaps the case, that 

 this curious power is sometimes used as a mode of 

 benumbing the prey which come within the range 

 of the stroke, particularly by the torpedo, which is 

 a sluggish and inactive fish, and possesses the 

 manners, in a great measure, of the rays ; as an 

 organ of defence, however, it is known to be most 

 powerful, both against enemies of its own kind, or 

 the contrivances wrought by the hand of man. Any 

 animal, or even substance, coming within its reach, 

 and producing alarm, is immediately subjected to it, 

 and the stroke being communicable, though other 

 conducting substances intervene, not being in actual 

 contact is no safeguard, and has afforded a subject 

 for the poet to dilate on, while of old a certain su- 

 perstitious awe was conveyed with it. Its immense 

 power, in some species, is very remarkable; and 

 the spirited account of Humboldt, which we intro- 

 duced into our First Volume on Ichthyology, where 



