1094 



SCAXDIXAVIAX FISHES. 



tTusliiiig of iKird-shelled animals. Tliese flat, ])late-like 

 or tiihuroLis teeth are also charactei'istic of different 

 genera and species. They are set as if in a mosaic, 

 fitted beside one another like the stones in a pavement 

 {denies pavinientati), and arranged, in the longitudinal 

 direction of the body, in several rows or in a quincunx, 

 with tlie pointed corners wedged in between each other 

 (tig. 310). Here, as in the Sharks, the largest forms 

 have relatively the smallest teeth. On account of the 

 differences that prevail in this respect, Mlllek and 

 Hexle" distinguished anmng the forms now under 

 consideration two families, the MiilioJnitiihs and CepJia- 

 Jnpteva-, which Glxthei;'' united into a single family 



FiK- 310. .Jaws of an Eagle-Ray (Myliobalis aijiiihi). After 

 Agassiz and Gl'nthek. 



under the name and with the definition given above, 

 but divided into two siil)f;imilies, ]\I//linbiifiiHi and 

 Ceyatopteruxi' . 



(.)ur knowledge of the gigantic but comparatively 

 small-toothed Rays of the latter subfamily is indeed ex- 

 tremely defective; but they have long afforded material 



for fabidous narratives, and should probably be included 

 in the list of marine monsters that have posed as the 

 great sea-serpent. Their true homes are the great 

 oceans and the Mediterranean. As an example of their 

 magnitude we may cite, after Mitchill, the dimensions 

 of a Ceratoptera rampijnis taken in September, 1823, 

 in Delaware Bay, on the east cost of the United States'*. 

 Its length was 10 ft. 9 in. (3274 ^m.), exclusive of the 

 tail, which measured 4 ft. (I2V5 d"!-)- and its breadth 

 between tlie tips of the pectoral fins 18 ft. (nearly 55 

 dm.). Its weight was so considerable that three j-oke 

 of oxen, a horse, and twenty-two men were required 

 to haul it ashore. The pectoral fins, as well as the 

 cephalic fins, which in the above instance were 2 ft. 6 

 in. (77s elm.) long, may be folded over so as to meet 

 at the mouth; the latter fins are besides mobile in all 

 directions. These Rays often swim in pairs, male and 

 female. They cleave the water with rapid strokes, like 

 the flight of a bird of prey; and in pursuit of their 

 victims, wliich consist principallv of Cephalopods and 

 fish, thej' display a litheness in their movements which 

 one would hardly credit to a Ray. Sometimes they 

 swim so high that their fins emerge above the surface'; 

 and when the cephalic fins are thus exposed to view, 

 the seaman compares them to horns, and hence confers 

 upon the fish such names as ox, cow, or calf, or even 

 that of the prince of darkness, which appears in the 

 form of Devil-fish. Others have compared the move- 

 ments of these Rays to the flitting of a bat, whence 

 the name of Vampire-Baii. On the Irish coast a small 

 specimen of a Ceratoptera has once been met with 

 (about 1828). 



Genus MYLIOBATIS '. 



CepliaJic fi)is {(III the sides of the snout and at its tijA in the same plane as the pectoral. Molars in the middle of 

 the Jairs of adidt S2)ecimens much (.3 — 8 times) broader than long, and larger than the lateral teeth, which are 



set in several roivs. 



This genus too, which contains 7 or 8 species, can 

 boast of considerable dimensions of body, though not 



so great as those of Ceratoptera: one species, the Me- 

 diterranean 3Ii/liohatis hovina, often attains, according 



" System. Besclireib. Plagiostom., Berlin 1841, pp. 176 and 184. 



» Cat. Brit. Miis., Fish., vol. VIII, p. 488. 



' Cephaloplera, the genus established by the elder DOmekil, has necessarily been altered to Dicerobatis, the name more recently con- 

 ferred upon it by Blainville, Ceplialoptera having been previously employed as a generic name among birds. 



'' Isis, vol. XXV, 1832, p. 10G3. According to Brown-Goode (Fislier. Industr. U. S., sect. I, p. 666) this species attains a breadth 

 of 30 ft. (9 111.) between tlie tips of the pectoral fins. 



' Thus we may perhaps explain the account of the "sea-serpent" as seen by Lieutenant Hayes from H. M. yacht Osborne in June 

 1877. See Henry Lee, Sen Monsters Unmasked, Handbooks, Intern. Fisher. Exhib. London 1883, p. 94, fig. 23. 



/ C. DUmeril, in Guv., Regn. Anim., ed. 1, torn. II, p. 137. From ^tvliag, millstone, and (iaiig. Bay. 



