THE SKATE. 465 



his hand. The shocks sometimes followed eacli oiher very quickly, 

 and increased in strength towards the last. Probably, from the weak- 

 ness of the fish, the shock could not be communicated through a brass 

 chain, though the usual contortion was evidently made. A coated 

 vial was applied to it, but could not be charged. 



From some experiments that were made by Mr. Walsh, on a very 

 stout and healthy Torpedo, it appears that although, it seemed to 

 possess many electric properties, yet no spark whatever could be dia- 

 covered to proceed from it, nor were 

 pith-balls ever found to be affected by it. 

 When it was insulated, it gave a shock 

 to persons likewise insulated, and even 

 to several that took hold of each other's 

 hands : this it did forty or fifty times 

 successively, and with very little diminu- 

 tion of force. If touched only with one .„„ _„ 



J TORPEDO. 



finger, the shock was so great as to be 



felt in both hands. Each effort was accompanied by a depression of 

 the eyes, which plainly indicated the attempts that were made upon 

 non-conductors. Although the animal was in full vigor, it was not 

 able to force the torpedinal fluid across the minutest tract of air, not 

 even from one link of a small chain freely suspended to another, nor 

 through an almost invisible separation made by a penknife in a slip 

 ( f tin-foil pasted on sealing-wax. 



THE SKATE AND THORNBACK. 



The Skate is the largest, and at the same time the most useful fish 

 v.f its tribe. Its flesh is white, firm 

 and good. In some parts of the 

 Continent, where these fish are 

 caught in great abundance, they 

 are dried for sale. The best season 

 for Skate is the spring of the year. 

 They sometimes attain a very large 

 size. Willougby speaks of one so 

 huge, that it would have served one gg^„ 



hundred and twenty men for dinner. 



From the month of May, until the beginning of September, the 

 females are occupied in producing their offspring. This they usually 

 do on coasts and in places where they are liable to little interruption. 

 Each of the young-ones is enclosed in an oblong, angular bag, about 

 half an inch thick in the middle. These are called purses by the 

 fishiirmen. After the fish have escaped, the empty bags are frequently 

 cast i^'jhoru by the tide. 



Dr. Monroe has remarked, that in the gills of a large Skate there 

 are xipwards of one hundred and forty-four thousand subdivisions, or 

 foldh ; and that the whole extent of this membrane, whose surface is 

 nearly equal to that of the vhole human body, may be seen, by a 



