270 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



m 



*. 



late Matthias Dunn of Meva- 

 gissey seriouslv urged on the 

 Admiralty to dj'iiamite them 

 in the interests of the fishing 

 industry. Most of the sharks 

 deposit their eggs in the 

 curious oblong vessels known 

 by those who pick up the 

 disused cases on the fore- 

 shore as " purses '; and 

 these attach themselves to 

 rocks anil stones by long 

 tendrils that ch'ng to every 

 support. A number of 

 species (the Porbeagle and 

 Tote among British kinds), 

 however, bring forth their 

 young ali\'e. 



Between the Sharks and 

 Ra\-s there is a curious and 

 interesting link in the form 

 of the Mi)\K-FlSH,orANGEL- 

 IISH, which is common on 

 all sandy shores, and a fre- 

 quent victim of the trawl. Such local names as Mongrel-skate and Shark-ray indicate a wide- 

 spread acceptance of its intermediate position between the two groups under notice. Like some 

 of the sharks already noticed, it produces living young, and its maximum size may be 

 set down as at any rate over 7 feet. The writer measured and weighed one trawled in 

 Bournemouth Bay during the summer of 1896. Its length was nearly 4^ feet, and its weight 

 rather less than 50 lbs. , - _. 



Like many of the rays, this 1 

 species feeds to a great e.x- ' 



Wtl» h (/-'. S^ltll, Krni, F.Z S.] [.\/j;/irJ-«n-SVa 



HORNED OX-RAY, OR DEVIL-FISH 



T/iis ipeiirs and its allies attatfi ftwmous proportions. One taken at Barhaidoes rebutted sei'en 

 yoke of oxen to draic it 



tent on flat-fishes. 



In outward form the 

 monk-fish, though it is in 

 reality more nearly allied to 

 the sharks, brings us by an 

 easy transition to the flattened 

 Rays, with their long whip- 

 like tails and pointed snouts. 

 There are a dozen, or rather 

 more if we count casual visi- 

 tors, of these skates and rays 

 in British seas, the largest 

 being the great Eagle-RAY, 

 examples of which have been 

 recorded of the enormous 

 weight of 1,000 lbs. Many 

 of the smaller kinds are 

 studded with sharp spines, 

 curved in some species, and 

 the Thornk.ACK owes to 



Fhat, by W. iavi//.- A'.nr, F.Z.S.] 



WHIP-TAILED STING-RAY 



Siing-rayi are abundant in tropical seas 



[Milfcrd-on.Sea 



