RAYS. 311 



dance, the fishermen universally believe that the 

 Log-fish make a line or semicircle, to encom- 

 pass a shoal of Haddocks and Cod, confining 

 them within certain limits near the shore, and 

 eating them as occasion requires. Haddocks and 

 Cod are always found near the shore, without any 

 Dog-fish among them ; and the Dog-fish are found 

 farther off*, without any Haddocks or Cod ; and 

 yet the former are known to prey upon the 

 latter ; and, in some years, they devour such 

 immense numbers as to render this fishery more 

 expensive than profitable."* 



Pamily IV. Raiad^. 



In the flattened form of the Saw-fish (Pristis), 

 and in the great enlargement of the pectorals in the 

 Angel (Squatma), we saw distinct approaches made 

 by the Family of the Sharks to that of the Rays. 

 Ii: these the pectorals are enormously dilated, 

 their bases, which are continuous with the body, 

 extending from the base of the tail to the head, 

 and sometimes stretching out in front of the 

 head in the form of lobes. Hence the ordinary 

 shape of these fishes is more or less rhomboidal, 

 or square, the snout forming one corner, and the 

 tail projecting from the opposite, the other two 

 corners being the angles of the pectoral fins. 

 The body is broad, but thin aiid flat ; and a 

 common skin invests both it and the fins : the 

 ventrals are commonly large, and in the males 

 are furnished with appendages resembling those 



* Bingley's Anim. Biog. iii. 316. 



