THE TORPEDO. 323 



gons reaching from surface to surface, very much 

 resembling a honey- comb. The animal can give 

 electrical shocks with this instrument at pleasure. 

 Besides being employed as a means of defence and 

 for disabling the animals on which it preys, Mr. 

 Couch is of opinion that the electric shock, by de- 

 priving animals killed by it of their organic irrita- 

 bility, disposes them to pass more speedily into a 

 state of decomposition, by which the digestive powers 

 are enabled to act upon them more effectually. 



(Sp. 233.) T. noblliana. New British Torpedo. 

 Various notices have been published of a species of 

 torpedo found in the British seas, which seems to 

 differ in several important points from that last re- 

 ; ferred to. A specimen of one of these came into 

 Mr. Yarrell's possession, and when C. L. Bor.aparte, 

 Prince of Canino, was examining his collection, that 

 distinguished naturalist immediately said that it was 

 the T. nobiliana of his Fauna Italica. Mr. Yarrell 

 is of opinion that it is identical with the T. Walshli 

 of Thompson (Annals of Nat. Hist. vol. v. p. 292;, 

 and probably with the T. emarginata of M'Coy, as 

 noticed in the sixth volume of the Annals of Nat. 

 Hist. It has been taken on the coast of Devonshire, 

 near Swansea, and also in Ireland. The particular 

 marks by which it may be known from the pre- 

 ceding, and also from the other continental species, 

 will be found in the Synopsis. 



Gen. CXVIII. RAIA. The typical genus, from 

 which the family derives its name, is of great ex- 

 tent, including many well-known fishes, remarkable 



