84 THE OCEAN. 



battle ensues; the two combatants swim round and 

 round each other with the greatest rapidity, biting, 

 and endeavouring to pierce each other with their 

 spines, which on these occasions are projected. I 

 have witnessed a battle of this sort which lasted 

 several minutes before either would give way; and 

 when one does submit, imagination can hardly con- 

 ceive the vindictive fury of the conqueror; who, in 

 the most persevering and unrelenting way, chases his 

 rival from one part of the tub to another, until fairly 

 exhausted with fatigue. They also use their spines 

 with such fatal effect, that, incredible as it may ap- 

 pear, I have seen one during a battle absolutely rip 

 his opponent quite open, so that he sank to the bot- 

 tom, and died. I have occasionally known three or 

 four parts of the tub taken possession of by as many 

 other little tyrants, who guard their territories with 

 the strictest vigilance, and the slightest invasion in- 

 variably brings on a battle."* The Sting-rays {Try- 

 gon), which are furnished with a hard - and sharp spine 

 with toothed edges, near the base of the tail, are ac- 

 customed to twist their long and flexible tail around 

 their enemy, while they inflict severe wounds with 

 the barbed spine. The Common Skates (Baia), on 

 the other hand, which have the tail studded with 

 rows of curved horny thorns, when irritated, are said 

 to bend the body nearly into a circle, and to dash 

 about the armed tail with violence in all directions. 



The goodness of God is manifest in the gregarious 

 habits of most of those fishes which constitute an im- 

 portant article of human food, in the innumerable 



* Mag. Nat, Hist. iii. 329. 



