24 NATURAL HISTORY. 



taste for pearl oysters. Their flesh is said by Dr. Day to be 

 " considered nourishing," but is not much thought of here; the 

 large liver is used to make oil of, and the fins pass for shark- fins in 

 the trade. 



After them comes the wonderful little family of the Torpedos, or 

 electric rays. These have very much the outlines of a somewhat 

 flattened tadpole, and nothing' could suggest electricity less than 

 their appearance. But they can give a shock sufficient to make a 

 man sing out. 



We have but two species, Astrape dipterygla, which is brown and 

 white, and has one dorsal fin, and Narcine timlei, with two dorsals, 

 and a sort of dull tortoise-shell coloration. We have both in our 

 Museum, and I have had living specimens of both. They appear 

 to live on the edges of reefs, feeding on small Crustacea and molluscs, 

 and I do not think that they can have much use for their curious 

 power in foraging. It may, of course, protect them to some extent 

 against larger fish. Neither species gets beyond eighteen inches 

 long. I doubt if Astrape ever exceeds a foot. 



The native fishermen call both species " Gingina," which is their 

 name for any tingling sensation, such as that caused by a blow on 

 the nerve of the elbow, or, as we say, the " funny-bone. >: The 

 name may therefore be translated " tingling-fish." They use the 

 creatures, characteristically enough, in a time-honoured practical 

 joke, concealing them amongst other fish in a bucket, which is then 

 handed over to one of the boys who are always marauding about 

 the ports. The small boy is sure to stick his hand among the fish, 

 and as sure to drop the bucket with a yell, amid the roars of his 

 neighbours. Then all the little boys get together, and try to take 

 the torpedo out of the bucket, just as you may see boys at home, 

 who have got a toy electric machine, doing with a sixpence in a 

 basin of water. The fish soon exhausts his battery, and can then 

 be handled with impunity. 



After these torpedos come the Raiidce, or rays proper, represented 

 in India by one fish, Platyrhina schonleini, which I have not 

 found here ; and then an important family, the Trygonidce, or sting- 

 rays, called in Maratha " Phakate." These are all lozenge- shaped 

 creatures, generally broader than long, bar the tail, which is long 

 and whip-like, and often armed with one, two, or three caudal spines 

 long, sharp, and bar-bed all down both sides like some sort of a 

 cannibal harpoon. The natives say that they wind the tail round 



