240 THE INHABITANTS OF THE SEA. 
the liver torn out. If the gull by chance succeeded in carrying 
his prey off the rock, he and his partner set up a triumphant 
cackling, as if deriding the disappointed lad.” 
The Rays resemble the side-swimmers by the flatness of their 
form, but differ widely from them in many other particulars. 
Like the sharks and sturgeons, they 
belong to the cartilaginous fishes, and 
as their branchiz adhereto the cells, 
these respiratory membranes are not 
furnished with a gill-cover, but com- 
municate freely with the water by 
means of five spiracles on either side. 
More unsightly fishes can hardly be 
conceived. The rhomboidal broad body, the long narrow tail 
frequently furnished with two and sometimes three small fins, 
and mostly armed with one or more rows of sharp spines along 
its whole length, the dirty colour, and the thick coat of slime 
with which it is covered, render them pre-eminently disgusting. 
Their mode of defending themselves is very effectual, and forms 
a striking contrast to the helplessness of the flat fish. The point 
of the nose and the base of the tail are bent upwards towards 
each other, and the upper surface of the body being then con- 
cave, the tail is lashed about in all directions over it, and the 
rows of sharp spines frequently inflict severe wounds. 
Eleven species of rays are found on the British coasts, some, 
like the skates, with a perfectly smooth skin; others, like the 
thornback, with an upper surface studded with spines, and some, 
like the sting-ray, with a tail still more powerfully armed with a 
long serrated spine: a formidable weapon, which the fish strikes 
with the swiftness of an arrow into its prey or enemy, when with 
its winding tail it makes the capture secure. The lacerations in- 
flicted by the tropical sting-rays produce the most excruciating 
tortures. An Indian who accompanied Richard Schomburgk on 
his travels through Guiana, being hit by one of these fishes while 
fording a river, tottered to the bank, where he fell upon the 
ground and rolled about on the sand with compressed lips in an 
agony of pain. But no tear started from the eye, no cry of 
anguish issued from the breast, of the stoical savage. An Indian 
boy wounded in the some manner, but less able to master his 
emotions, howled fearfully, and flung himself upon the sand, 
