Supposed gigantic Species of Raia. 395 



the sapphire, to which he has given the name soimonite in 

 honour of the leai'ned mineralogist Mr, SoimonofF. There is no 

 doubt that the University of Cassan will receive specimens of 

 all these objects, which are as precious as they are novel, for 

 its collection. But the advantages of the examinations and 

 discoveries of Mr. Fuchs will not be confined to the University. 

 This learned Professor means very soon to publish his journal 

 to Mount Oural, which will contain not only his observations 

 on the natural history of the country in general, but also 

 the statistics of all that part which he has traversed and ex- 

 plored. 



SUPPOSED GIGANTIC SPECIES OF RAIA. 



From the President of the New York Lyceum of Natural History, to the 

 Members, dated New York, September 11, 1823. 



" On the 9th day of September, 1823, returned from a 

 cruise off Delaware Bay, the fishing smack Una. She had sailed 

 about three weeks before from New York, for the express pur- 

 pose of catching an enormous fish, which had been reported to 

 frequent the ocean a few leagues beyond Cape Henlopen. The 

 adventurers in this bold enterprise have been successful. They 

 have brought, for the enlargement of science and the gratifi- 

 cation of curiosity, an uncommon inhabitant of the deep, 

 which has never been seen on the land before. The creature 

 is one of the huge individuals of the family of Raia ; or perhaps 

 may be erected, from its novelty and peculiarity, into a new 

 genus, between that, the Squalus, and the Acipenser. Its 

 strength was such, that after the body had been penetrated by 

 two strong and well-formed gigs of the best tempered iron, the 

 shank of one of them was broken off and the other singularly 

 bent. The boat containing the three intrepid men, John 

 Patchen, Theophilus Beebe, and William Porter, was con- 

 nected, after the deadly instrument had taken hold, with the 

 wounded inhabitant of the deep by a strong warp or line. 

 The celerity with which the fish swam could only be com- 

 pared to that of the harpooned whale, dragging the boat after 

 it with such speed, as to cause a wave to rise on each side of 

 the furrow in which he moved several feet higher than the 

 boat itself. The weight of the fish after death was such, that 

 three pair of oxen, one horse, and 22 men, all pulling together, 

 with the surge of the Atlantic wave to help, could not convey 

 it far to the dry beach. It was estimated from this (a pro- 

 bable estimate) to equal four tons and a half, or perhaps five 

 tons. The size was enormous ; for the distance from the ex- 

 tremity of one wing or pectoral fin to the other, expanded 

 like the wing of an eagle, measures 1 8 feet ; over the ex- 

 tremity of the back, and on the right line of the belly, 16 



3 D 2 feet ; 



