112 Dr. MitcMll on the Hedgehog-Ray. ^^til 



reason of its great levity in the required direction ; but if it be 

 forcibly impelled downwards from the surface, as from the extre- 

 mity of a condensing syringe, it can only be driven to a short 

 distance, and it is then forced back towards the pipe. This 

 case appears to me to be analogous to that of the gas, which, if 

 I am not mistaken, it serves to illustrate and explain. The 

 upright position of the vessel admits, in the case referred to, of 

 the escape of some of the gas unburnt ; but when the burner is 

 inverted, the flame, for reasons already assigned, returns upon 

 the stream of gas, and the combustion, which was before imper- 

 fect, is then complete. 



How far the fact may be susceptible of a practical application, 

 I am not at present prepared to offer an opinion ; but the con- 

 sumption of the gas is, by this mode of burning, very consider- 

 able, and I have not yet been able to determine that there is in 

 the combustion of gas under the ordinary pressure, any increase 

 of illuminating power obtained by inverting the burner. 



Article VIII. 



The Hedgehog- Rai/ — a species of Fish taken occasionally near 

 Nev) York, in the Atlantic Ocean, and now, as is believed^ 

 for the Jirst time described. By Samuel L. Mitchill, M. and 

 LL. D. &c.* 



The fish brought me this morning by Capt. Enos Woodruff, 

 was taken bj him with a hook and hue, in the sea, off Barnegat, 

 where the water was seven fathoms deep. It had been 

 wounded so slightly that he kept it alive for several days, and 

 he supposed it might have been living yet, had it not perished 

 in consequence of the highly electrical state of the atmosphere 

 during the late shower, accompanied by remarkably bright 

 lightning, and loud thunder. His belief is, according to the 

 opinion prevailing among fishermen, that the thunder killed the 

 fish . 



The animal undoubtedly belongs to the great family of Raja, 

 which comprehends the Rays, Skates, Torpedoes, and most 

 of the other horizontally flat fishes not appertaining to the 

 Pleuronectes, or flounder tribe. 



When drawn from its element, it had the appearance, for 

 some minutes, while its vital energy remained, and it was yet 

 pendant from the hook, of a hedgehog : that is to say, a con- 

 traction of the muscles had taken place, by which the approx- 

 imated margin, or circumference, from the several parts, 

 resembled a bowl, or basket, of which the belly was the inner, 



* American Journal of Science, 



