INTELLIGENCE, POWER, 



well as to the connective tissue that divides the plates. 

 To these 94 plates are supplied 94 nerves that emerge from 

 the spinal cord. Thus, in the ray, there are 188 nerve muscle 



Vertebral 

 column 



I Brctchictf 

 | plexus 



Spinal 

 nerves 



FIG. 12. Nerve supply to flapper of sting ray. 



mechanisms, each with an end organ, a driving brain, a 

 conducting spinal cord, and nerve fibers that energize the 

 muscle plates. It is as if an eagle had a special nerve- 

 muscle control over each feather of the wing. 



We found that the brains of the sting rays that we col- 

 lected were larger in relation to their body weight than the 

 brains of any other fish except those that weighed under 

 500 grams. The large brain of the sting ray is related not 

 only to gross power but also to finesse in the use of many 



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