RAYS 



85 



The habits of these rays seem to be very similar to those 

 of the Mantas, but, instead of roving the seas singly or in pairs, 

 they move about in small shoals, which break up into groups 

 of from three to five individuals each for feeding purposes. 

 Dr. Coles has observed them feeding off the coast of Carolina, 

 and states that " they carry the cephalic fins tightly curled to 

 a sharp point until a school of small " minnows " are sighted ; 

 then the group swings round in a semicircle and rushes them 

 to the beach, and at that instant these fins flash open, and, 

 meeting below the mouth, form a funnel through which the 

 minnows are carried to the mouth ". The Small Devil-fishes 

 are great leapers, and spend a lot of their time jumping from 

 the water at frequent intervals. When taken from the water 

 they are said to make a musical bell-like barking noise, quite 

 unlike the harsh grunt or bark made by some other Rays. 



Dr. Coles was lucky enough to observe two of these Rays in 

 sexual union, and tells us that they were belly to belly, the 

 female underneath on her back, with the pectoral fins curled 

 upward and closely embracing those of the male, which were 

 curved in the same direction. " Copulation was not accom- 

 plished," he writes, " by a vertical motion, but by a graceful, 

 serpentine lateral curvature of the spine, as the male alter- 

 nately advanced one of the mixopterygia [" claspers "] as 

 he withdrew the other." The process lasted for some time, 

 but was not continuous, being interrupted by periods when 

 the two separated and either swam about in graceful curves 

 or leaped into the air. 



FllHlNC IN NORWAY XYT C£NTURY 



