TORPEDO. CYCLOSTOMATA ; LAMPREY. 63 



eggs, and it is an excellent article of food. The Torpedo, or 

 Electric Ray ( 542), is occasionally met with on the Channel- 

 coast of England ; but it is more common in warmer seas, espe- 

 cially the Mediterranean. It is peculiar, not only from the 

 possession of the electric apparatus, but also on account of the 

 fiddle-shaped form of its body (Fig. 263). The Myliobates re- 

 ceives its common name of Sea-eagle, from having the pectoral 

 fins of extreme breadth, so that it much resembles a bird of prey, 

 with its wings expanded. It inhabits the depths of the ocean, 

 and attains a very large size ; in a specimen caught in the West 

 Indian seas, the length of the body was 10 feet, its greatest 

 breadth 13 feet, and the length of the tail 15 feet. 



ORDER IX.CYCLOSTOMATA. 



585. The Fishes of this Order are the least perfect of the whole 

 class, in regard to the construction of their skeleton ; and are, 

 therefore, at the bottom of the whole series of Vertebrated ani- 

 mals ; which they may be correctly regarded as connecting with 

 the Invertebrated sub-kingdoms. So far are they from having 

 a jointed vertebral column, that this is replaced, in the highest 

 among them, by a sort of cylinder of cartilage, which represents 

 the bodies of the vertebrae, but which does not show any defi- 

 nite division into segments ; and in the lowest, this cylinder has 

 not even the firmness of cartilage, but consists of a membra- 

 nous bag, containing a gelatinous semi-fluid substance. There 

 are no ribs, nor are there either pectoral or ventral fins ; there is, 

 in some, however, a kind of fin beneath the tail, but this has no 

 rays. The body is usually prolonged, and nearly cylindrical ; 

 and terminated by a circular mouth adapted for sucking. In 

 the Lampreys there are seven gill-openings on each side ; there 

 are strong teeth in the ring formed by the pair of jaws ; and the 

 inner part of the disc, which may be considered as the lip, is 

 also beset with hard tooth-like tubercles. The tongue, which 

 moves backwards and forwards like a piston, and which is the 

 principal instrument in the act of suction, is also furnished 



