102 



FISHES DIAGRAM 5. 



bladder is cut into small pieces, and dried in the sun. Isinglass is 

 also employed in cooking to make jellies, but it is most valuable 

 for manufacturing purposes. The sturgeon is very rare in Britain , 

 and if one happens to be caught in the Thames, it becomes a 

 perquisite of the Queen. 



The Ray. The ray is a flat fish like the turbot and the plaice ; 

 but it is enough to look at one for a moment to perceive that in 

 the ray the white side is really the belly, and the brown side the 

 back. The mouth, placed under the pointed head, is in its usual 

 place, and the intestines are really in the middle of the body. 



The rays sometimes grow to a considerable size, and their 

 mouth is armed with pointed teeth crowded together. They live 

 chiefly on crabs. 



The rays, instead of laying a great number of small eggs, like 

 those of other fish, lay only a few, and these have a very peculiar 

 form. They are nearly square, and flat- 

 tened, with the four angles prolonged 

 into a point. The egg is protected by 

 a skin, which is sometimes satiny in ap- 

 pearance. The yolk is as large as that 

 of a hen's egg, and floats in a transparent 

 albumen. In some countries these eggs are called sea-cushio?is, 

 and sea-mice; mice, because they are silky like the skin of a 

 mouse, and cushions because they have actually very much the 

 appearance of a small cushion with four ribbons at the corners. 



The Torpedo. A fish is found on the coast of England and 

 France, which somewhat resembles a ray, and discharges very 



strong electric shocks when it is 

 molested; this is the torpedo. 

 Several fish can give similar 

 shocks, but those of the torpedo 

 are the most formidable : they 

 paralyse the arm, and if the ani- 

 mal is vigorous, the effect pro- 

 duced by its electric discharge is 



Egg of Ray. 



Torpedo. 



