516 



R A I A. 



females get the name of maid, maiden, or lady. They 

 are larger than the male?, and more numerous, or, at 

 all events, there are many more of them caught. It 

 has heen supposed that the males are polygamous ; 

 and it is highly probable that they are so, but there 

 are no means of establishing or disproving the fact 

 by observation. 



Skate are most plentiful upon those parts of the 

 coasts where the fry of fishes which spawn in num- 

 bers on the shallows are considerably advanced ; and 

 . the structure of the teeth shows that the mature ones 

 are fully as well adapted for eating fish as for bruising 

 shells and crusts, though the power of their jaws is 

 quite equal to the latter. 



The grey skate appears to be more numerous on 

 the east or leeward coasts of the British islands than 

 on the west or windward coasts. On the north-east 

 of Scotland it is particularly abundant, and the fishers 

 salt and dry great numbers of them, but in that state 

 they are very inferior to the recent fish ; in these 

 places they are but little esteemed as food, so that a 

 large one may be had for a few pence; but this is 

 perhaps as much owing to the abundance of fish of 

 better quality as to anything else. White fish, had- 

 dock especially, if they can be had recent, are always 

 the better the more simply they are dressed ; but as 

 the flesh of skate consists of long fibres, not of flakes, 

 it requires more of the culinary art to render it palat- 

 able. It keeps longer, however, than the more deli- 

 cate fishes, and thus it might be made a very cheap 

 fish for inland consumption. 



WHITE SKATE (72. oxyrhynchus). This species 

 grows to a still greater size than the former, mention 

 being made of specimens weighing nearly half a ton, 

 but, amt is thicker in proportion, its lineal dimensions 

 are not so great. The male is furnished with spines 

 on the upper surface, near the margins of the pectoral 

 fins, opposite the eyes and vent-holes ; and again 

 with three rows near the margin of each produced 

 lobe of the pectorals, or "wing," as it maybe called. 

 The ventral fins are small, the claspers are very large, 

 and the tail is furnished with a row of spines along 

 the mesial line, and one on each side. The shape of the 

 body, or disc, is quite different from that of the grey 

 skate. The posterior margins of the pectoral fins, up 

 to the greatest lateral extent, form a semiellipse ; 

 the extremities of the fins are rounded, and the ante- 

 rior line upon each side is convex on the middle part, 

 and concave at the greatest breadth, and near the 

 snout. The mouth is also narrow and pointed ; the 

 upper surface is of a plain bro.wn colour, without the 

 greyish tinge which characterises the other ; and the 

 under side is white, which gets it the name of the 

 white skate ; but it is known by different names in 

 different parts of the country. The eyes are near to 

 each other, and furnished with thin sharp spines at 

 the inner edge of each ; the vent-holes are close 

 behind the eyes, and both they and the nostrils are 

 protected by valves as* in thte others. The teeth are, 

 . in the mature specimens, still more produced and 

 pointed inwards than in the grey skate, indicating 

 that this one is still more piscivorous. 



They are powerful swimmers, keeping much 

 to the deep water for great part of the year, especially 

 the larger ones, but approaching nearer to the coast 

 in summer and the early part of autumn. In-shore 

 they are not so numerous as the grey skate, but they 

 appear to be fully more so at some distance off; and 

 when the fishermen wish to have them in numbers, in 



the early part of the season, they set their lines farther 

 to sea than they do for grey skate. Of the skate 

 which are salted and dried in the northern parts of 

 Scotland many belong to this species, and in that 

 state they are better than the grey ones ; the smaller 

 .specimens of both are found at a moderate distance 

 from the shore all the year round, and they are the 

 best for the table in the recent state, if they have 

 reached maturity. At the places where numbers of 

 skate, of whatever species, are salted and dried, the 

 livers are boiled into oil, which is said to answer as 

 well as cod oil in the dressing of leather. 



HOMELYN SKATE (R. maculatd). This is also called 

 the spotted ray, the narrow ray, the sand ray, and 

 various other names. The spots are on the back, of 

 a darker colour than the ground, and ocellated or 

 marginated ; but they are subject to variation. The 

 shape is different from that of either the grey or the 

 white ; the snout is pointed, but not produced; the 

 front sides of the pectorals are concave opposite the 

 eyes; they end laterally in rounded angles, and are 

 then nearly straight to the hinder part, where they 

 form rounded lobes, deeply indented at their union 

 with the body; the spread of the pectoral fins is about 

 one-fourth greater than the length of the body; the 

 eyes are rather large, fortified by spines in front and 

 rear, and there are some hard tubercles and small 

 spines on the snout, especially that of the male ; the 

 spines on the mesial line begin about the middle of 

 the length of the body, and gradually become larger 

 and more curved toward the rear as they approach 

 nearer to the middle length of the tail, after which 

 they become smaller again, but not so small as they 

 are on the back ; besides this single row, very old 

 males acquire another row on each side, though 

 smaller than the middle ones ; the females have 

 the spines and tubercles on the head less conspicuous, 

 or altogether wanting ; the colour of the upper part 

 is nearly that of brown sand when wet, but the name 

 of sand ray is given on account of the rough tubercles, 

 like grains of sand, which appear on the anterior part 

 of the male. 



This species is by no means rare on the south and 

 southerly coasts, and it is one of the species which 

 are most frequently and abundantly brought to the 

 London market, where the grey and the white skate 

 are not so common. It does not grow to so large a 

 size as either of these, or, at all events, those that are 

 taken are in general smaller, though they are thick, 

 and firm in the flesh ; it is also, frequently at least, 

 captured in a different manner. In the northern 

 fisheries the trawl-net is not used, at least in the cap- 

 ture of skate, the price obtained for them not being 

 equal to the* expense ; thus, excepting on the shores, 

 none but surface fishes are taken with nets there. 

 Both the trawl-net, and the "great-line," as that 

 which is laid in the deep-sea fishing is called in the 

 north, have these advantages. The net is more cer- 

 tain in its capture ; but both the net itself, and the 

 working of it, are more expensive than the line ; 

 besides its cheapness the line can be laid in deeper 

 water than the net can be worked, and thus it has 

 the chance of capturing larger fish, and capturing 

 them in eood condition when they have got to sea- 

 ward, beyond the reach of the nets. Fishing to the 

 greatest'advantage would thus require the use of both 

 on the same coasts, and for the very same kind 

 of fish. 



The variations which occur in the markings of the 



