166 Description of a new Species of Torpedo. 
the situation and form of the temporal orifices in the two speci- 
mens ; and at once suspected the American fish must be an un- 
‘described species. As Yarrell’s figure was engraved from a dried 
specimen, and consequently might not perfectly represent the 
form of the fish, I wrote to Mr. Yarrell, stating to him my doubts 
of the identity of the two fishes, and presenting him with my 
figure. His opinion coincides perfectly with mine. I have there- 
fore the pleasure to offer you a description of a Torpedo hitherto 
unknown to men of science ; and as no other species of this genus 
is known to exist on the shores of our hemisphere, I shall call it 
Torpedo occidentalis. 
Dr. Mitchill introduced the Rata torpedo into his “Fishes of 
New York,” published in 1815, upon the authority of several fish- 
ermen with whom he had conversed, who had been electrified 
by a species of Ray, when they were detaching it from the hook 
with which it was taken. He had never seen a specimen, but 
had no doubt of its being the common torpedo, and consequently 
catalogued it as such. Since the appearance of Dr. Mitchill’s 
paper, I cannot find any farther notice of the existence of the 
electrical Ray in our waters. In my Report on the Ichthyology 
of Massachusetts, published in 1839, I cited the testimony of sev- 
eral observers to prove that an electrical fish, known as the cramp- 
Jish, was occasionally taken on the shore of Cape Cod, but had 
never been seen by a naturalist. During the month of November, 
1842, a specimen of this long looked for species was captured at 
Wellfleet by Mr. Seth N. Covell, and I was so fortunate as to ob- 
tain it. , 7 
For the following valuable letter { am indebted to Capt. Na- 
thaniel E. Atwood of Provincetown. This gentleman, for nearly 
a quarter of a century, has been a practical fisherman. 
“In answer to your first question, my father came to live on 
the south side of this harbor, called Long Point, in 1819. Previ- 
ous to that time I never saw acramp-fish. It happened that year, 
and four or five years after, that cramp-fish were found uncom- 
monly plenty. I should think at this place there were found 
from sixty to eighty per year. Since that time they have been 
very scarce, and for the last ten years previous to this, I think 
the whole number found would not exceed thirty; this yeat 
about a dozen have been found. They are found here in the 
months of September, October, and November, and at no other 
