378 NEW-YORK FAUNA. 
sider them as identical. In this view Iam sustained by Cuvier in the last edition of the 
Régne Animal. The giorna rarely exceeds fifty pounds in weight, according to Risso ; while 
our species is so large, that according to Mitchill, it required three pair of oxen, aided by a 
horse and twenty-two men, to drag it to the dry land. It was estimated to weigh between 
four and five tons. It approaches, in fact, nearer to the C. massena of Risso. 
The Sea Devil, or Oceanic Vampire as it has been not unaptly named, is known to seize 
the cables of small vessels at anchor, and draw it for several miles with great velocity. An 
instance of this kind was related to me by a credible eye-witness, as having occurred in the 
harbor of Charleston. A schooner lying at anchor, was suddenly seen moving across the 
harbor with great rapidity, impelled by some unknown and mysterious power. Upon ap- 
proaching the opposite shore, its course was changed so suddenly as nearly to capsize the 
vessel, when it again crossed the harbor with its former velocity, and the same scene was 
repeated when it approached the shore. These mysterious flights across the harbor were 
repeated several times, in the presence of hundreds of spectators, and suddenly ceased. 
There is strong presumptive evidence, from the authorities cited by Mitchill and Storer, of 
the existence of a Ray on our coast, belonging to the Genus Torpedo, and called Numb-fish 
and Cramp-fish ; but as yet it has not been examined by any naturalist. 
