106 FISH GALLERY. 



terranean, it has been found occasionally on the south coast of 

 England. 

 [Case 41.] The family of RhinieUe contains only one species, the "Angel-fish" 

 or " Monk-fish " (R/tina squatina) (Case 41), which approaches the 

 Rays as regards form and habits. Within the temperate and tropical 

 zones it is almost cosmopolitan ; it does not exceed a length 

 of five feet ; it is viviparous, producing about twenty young at 

 a birth. 



The Pristiophorkhe (Case 41) resemble so much the common 

 Saw-fishes as to be easily confounded with them, but their gill- 

 openings are lateral, and not inferior. They are also much smaller 

 in size, and a pair of long tentacles are inserted at the lower side 

 of the saw. The four species known occur in the Australian and 

 Japanese seas. 



B. Batoidei : Rays. 



The true Rays lead a sedentary life, moving slowly on the 

 bottom, rarely ascending to the surface. They progress solely 

 by means of the pectoral fins, the broad and thin margins of 

 which are set in an undulating motion, identical with that of the 

 dorsal and anal fins of the Phurunectidce, or Flat-fishes. They 

 are exclusively carnivorous, like the Sharks, but unable to pursue 

 and catch rapidly-moving animals. 



The Saw-fishes, Pristidce (Case 41), agree with the Rays in the 

 position of their branchial clefts. They are abundant in tropical, less 

 so in subtropical seas. They attain to a considerable size, specimens 

 with a saw of 6 feet long and 1 foot broad at the base not being of 

 uncommon occurrence. The saw, which is their weapon of defence, 

 renders them most dangerous to almost all the other large inhabitants 

 of the ocean. Its skeleton consists of three, sometimes five, rarely 

 four, hollow cylindrical tubes, placed side by side, tapering 

 towards the end, and incrusted with an osseous deposit, as shown 

 in a preparation in Table-case C. The teeth of the saw are 

 implanted in deep sockets of the hardened integument. The teeth 

 proper, with which the jaws are armed, are much too small for 

 inflicting wounds or seizing other animals. Saw-fishes use this 

 weapon in tearing pieces of flesh off an animal's body or ripping 

 open its abdomen ; the detached fragments or protruding soft parts 



