318 ANOMALOUS CARTILAGINOUS FISHES. 



and spines, like the shield-orb. Each of these animals 

 have their peculiar weapon of offence : the centriscus 

 wounds with its spine ; the ostracion poisons with its 

 venom ; the orb is perfectly impregnable, but the flesh 

 is deadly poison to eat. 



I shall conclude this account of cartilaginous fishes 

 with the history of an animal that scarcely comes under 

 the name ; but as Father Labat has ranked it under this 

 description, his authority is sufficient to establish its 

 fame. The galley fish, to the eye of a careless specta- 

 tor, might appear a transparent bubble swimming on 

 the surface of the deep ; or like a bladder beautifully 

 painted, where the most vivid colours were to be seen. 

 Notwithstanding this appearance, it is an actual body 

 composed of cartilages, and a thin skin filled with air, 

 which keeps the animal floating on the surface of the 

 waves in whatever direction the wind happens to drive. 

 It has eight broad feet, with which it swims or rather 

 expands to catch the air, as with a sail; and the skin 

 is covered with a slimy substance, of so pungent a qua- 

 lity as to corrode the part to which it is applied. 



CHAP. VI. 



OF SPINOUS FISHES. 



THE third general division of fishes is into that of the 

 spinous or bony kind, and these are obviously distin- 

 guished from the rest, by having a complete bony co- 

 vering to their gills, by their being destitute of lungs, 

 by their bones being sharp and thorny, and by their tails 

 being placed in a situation perpendicular to the body. 



From the great variety which this class contains, it 

 is difficult to give an accurate description of them all ; 



