692 



of Natural 



it nestles in secrecy and security. The ex- j 

 cavation is made by means of the beak and j 

 claws. It is a winding gallery, rounded at ] 

 the bottom, and terminating in a sufficiently 

 wide lodging, lined with pliant fibres, and 

 dry moss and cotton. Four or five gray, 

 brown-spotted eggs are laid, and the young 

 are fed within the cave till they are full- 

 fledged. 



Mr. Gosse remarks that the inhabitants of 

 Jamaica are not in the habit of domesticating 

 many of the native birds ; else this is one of 

 the species which would become a favourite 

 pet. In a state of liberty, however, it at- 

 tracts the admiration even of the most unob- 

 servant, and an European is charmed with 

 it. As it sits on a twig in the verdure of 

 spring, its grass-green coat is sometimes un- 

 distinguishable from the leaves in which it 

 is embowered, itself looking like a leaf, but 

 a little change of position bringing its throat 

 into the sun's rays, the light suddenly gleams 

 as from a glowing coal. Occasionally, too, 

 this crimson plumage is puffed out into a 

 globose form, when its appearance is par- 

 ticularly beautiful. 



TORNATELLA. A genus of Mollusca 

 found on the shores of the Indian Ocean 

 and Senegal ; and one species (TornateUa 

 fasciata) inhabits our own coasts. The shell 

 is oval, spirally grooved ; spire short, con- 

 sisting of few whorls, and usually striped 

 transversely ; aperture long, narrow, rounded 

 anteriorly ; outer lip simple, inner lip slightly 

 spread ; columella spiral ; no epidermis. 

 Several fossil species occur in the London 

 clay and inferior oolite. 



TORPEDO. A genus of fishes belonging to 

 the JiaiidcK family ; distinguished for their 

 powers of imparting electric shocks to what- 

 ever animals thej r may come in contact with. 



The TORPEDO (Torpedo Vulgaris), called 

 also the Cramp-fish and the Electric Ray, is 

 thus described by Pennant : head and body 

 indistinct, and nearly round; greatest breadth 

 two-thirds of the entire length ; thickness 

 in the middle about one-sixth of the breadth, 

 attenuating to extreme thinness on the 

 edges ; mouth small ; teeth minute, spicular ; 

 eyes small, placed near each other ; behind 

 each a round spiracle, with six small cu- 

 taneous appendages on their inner circum- 

 ference ; branchial openings five in number ; 

 skin everywhere smooth : two dorsal fins on 

 the trunk of the tail ; tail one-third of the 

 entire length, tolerably thick and round; 

 the caudal fin broad and abrupt ; ventrals 

 below the body, forming on each side a 



quarter of a circle ; colours, cinereous-brown 

 above, whitisli beneath. Mr. Yarrell (who i 

 calls this the Old British Torpedo) says, | 

 " The electrical powers of the Torpedo are i 

 so well understood by the different names i 

 that have been applied to it, as well as by 

 the various and voluminous accounts that 

 have been published, that it is unnecessary 

 to repeat what has already appeared so often 

 in print elsewhere. The situation of the 

 apparatus or structure from which these 

 species derive their extraordinary power is 

 indicated by the two elevations, one of which 

 is placed on each outside of the eyes and 

 temporal orifices, and extending to the la- 

 teral external rounded edges. The apparatus 

 occupies the whole of the space between the 

 upper and under surface of the body, and is 

 composed, as shown by the figures of Walsh 

 and Pennant, of a great number of tubes ar- 

 ranged perpendicular to the plane of the 

 upper and under surfaces, which, when ex- 

 posed by a transverse section, have very 

 much the appearance of a portion of honey- 

 comb. The tubes contain a mucous secretion, 

 and the structure is largely provided with I 

 nerves derived from the eighth pair. It is 

 said that when the shock is given, the con- 

 vex part of the upper surface is gradually j 

 depressed, the sensation is then felt, and the 

 convexity suddenly returns. The whole use [ 

 of the electrical apparatus and power to the I 

 fish can only be conjectured. That it serves | 

 as a means of defence is very probable ; that i 

 it also enables a slow, inactive fish to arrest 

 and obtain as food some of the more active 

 inhabitants of the deep, is also probable." 



At the meeting of the British Association, 

 held at Oxford in June, 1847, Sir R. II. 

 Inglis, the president, in referring to the ex- 

 periments of the Tuscan philosopher, Mat- 

 teucci, on the existence of electrical currents 

 in all living animals, made this important i 

 observation : " The delicate experiments ' 

 of Matteucci on the Torpedo agree with those \ 

 made by our own Faraday upon the Gym- \ 

 notus elcctricus, in proving that the shocks 

 communicated by those fishes are due to i 

 electric currents generated by peculiar elec- | 

 trie organs, which owe their most immediate 

 and powerful stimulus to the action of the , 

 nerves. In both species of fishes the elec- | 

 tricity generated by the action of their , 

 peculiar organized batteries besides its ; 

 benumbing and stunning effects on living 

 animals, renders the needle magnetic, de- > 

 composes chemical compounds, emits the 

 spark, and, in short, exercises all the other 

 known powers of the ordinary electricity 

 developed in inorganic matter, or by the ar- 

 tificial apparatus of the laboratory." 



The electric powers of the Torpedo, it ig 

 said, by no means affect its flesh; for it is 

 frequently eaten in the south of Europe. It 

 is a native of the Mediterranean and many 

 other seas, and sometimes, though rarely, 

 found on the British coasts. [See GYM- 

 MOIUS.] 



TORSK. The name of a fine fish (Brosme 

 vulgaris) closely allied to the Cod, and 

 found abundantly in the Shetland Islands, 

 where it is much prized. 



