FISHES OF THE EAST ATLANTIC COAST. 159 



for an hour, and I had got my team well in hand, when it sulked and 

 stopped on the bottom. The boatman would punch it with a pole 

 and start it again. Finally it got the boat into deep water where the 

 pole could not reach it, and as we lay there anchored in the channel 

 ; schooner came up the river before the wind, and to avoid being 

 run down we had to cut loose from our fish. 



New-comers to Florida, and especially those froni the West, who 

 hav ? never seen anything larger than a catfish or pickerel, are at 

 first much interested in the capture of sharks and rays, but after a 

 while the sport loses its zest, and we are glad to cut loose from these 

 unmanageable monsters, with as little loss of time and tackle as 

 may be. 



The largest stingray I ever saw captured was taken by a young 

 native fisherman of twelve years old, with a hand line. It was ten 

 and a-half feet lon^, and must have weighed 150 pounds. I have 

 killed them of sixty or seventy pounds, on a rod. 



The whipray, or eagleray Raia aquila (Linn.) Is about the 

 same size as the stingray, but a much more active fish. When 

 hooked it is impossible to check it at all- -away goes fish and tackle. 

 It is often seen sporting on the surface and leaping from the water. 

 Tail very long and slender. Food like that of other rays, principally 

 mollusks. It also goes by the name of clam-cracker ; is much less 

 abundant than the stingray. 



