CHAP. V. DEFENCES OF FISH. 14? 



objects of great terror. This is a long, bony, and rather 



flattened process, 

 (fig. 47.). placed 

 on the tail, of great 

 hardness, and very 

 sharp, the sides of 

 which are armed with numerous barbs. So perfectly does 

 this weapon resemble the head of an Indian spear, that 

 it might be easily mistaken for such by an unpractised 

 eye. Whether the fish, at the time of inflicting a 

 wound with this instrument, discharges some poisonous 

 liquid, or whether the effect produced by the laceration 

 of the flesh, in withdrawing this natural spear, indis- 

 poses the wound to heal kindly, certain it is that the 

 most fatal consequences have attended the sting of these 

 rays ; and the fishermen of the Mediterranean, where 

 one of the species is found, persist in declaring that 

 jts sting is poisonous. 



(166.) It may be generally concluded, that, when- 

 ever fish are armed with bony spines, either upon the 

 body, the tail, or the fins, these instruments are em- 

 ployed in self-defence. One of the great characters, 

 indeed, of the sub-typical group of the whole class is, 

 to have the fins supported upon bony rays, most of 

 which are acutely pointed, while those of the typical 

 circle are soft, and incapable of doing any injury. The 

 scorpion fish (Scorpcena) derive their vulgar name, not 

 from possessing a sting, but from the terrific appear- 

 ance of the spines in the head. In others, as the 

 genus Acanthurus, there is, on each side the tail, a 

 single large spine, not unlike that of a rose bush, with 

 the point directed towards the head ; by this position, 

 the fish, if swimming past its adversary, can tear up 

 an open wound, for a considerable length, along the 

 body of its enemy. The common sting-bull ( Trachinus 

 J)raco) has the spinous rays of the first dorsal fin very 

 acute ; and with these it can inflict wounds which are 

 accompanied by immediate, and often dangerous, in- 

 flammation, extending all up the arm and shoulder. 

 L 2 



