PLAGIOSTOMI : RAIIDjE. 359 



prises fishes with the body very much flattened, the mouth, 

 nostrils, and branchial openings below, and the dorsals, 

 when present, upon the tail. The eggs are brown, cori- 

 aceous, and rectangular, with the angles extended into 

 points. Members of this family are found in all seas, and 

 more than a hundred species are known, from two to six 

 feet or more in length. 



The Genus Torpedo has the space between the pec- 

 torals, head, and the branchiae filled on each side with a 

 singular apparatus formed of little membranous tubes 

 placed close together 



, ,,. .. , . , . Fig. 245. 



and subdivided by hori- 

 zontal partitions into 

 small cells filled with 

 mucus, and traversed 

 by nerves proceeding 

 from the eighth pair. 

 In this apparatus re- 

 sides the electric or 



. . Torpedo, T. occidentalis, Storer. 



galvanic power which 



has made the Torpedo so celebrated. Violent shocks are 



received by coming in contact with it when alive. 



The Genus Cephaloptera contains the Vampire of the 

 Ocean, C. vampirus, Mitch., which attains the width of 

 sixteen or eighteen feet, and ten feet or more in length, 

 and weighs several tons. Dekay states that this monster 

 of the deep has been known to seize the cable of a small 

 vessel at anchor, and draw it several miles with great 

 velocity ! 



SUB-SECTION IX. 



THE ORDER OF CYCLOSTOMES, OR SUCKERS. 



THIS Order comprises chondropterygians which, as 

 regards the skeleton, are the most imperfect of all verte- 

 brates, their vertebrae being simply cartilaginous rings 



