40 NATURAL HISTORY. 



spotted. The teeth carry little barbs, rising from an expanded base. The mouth is small, and the jaw- 

 bones slender. The nostrils are closer to the sides of the mouth than is usual with the Rays. The eyes 

 are small, deeply imbedded, and directed upward. The spiracles are small and oval, and placed directly 

 behind the eyes. The intestine is remarkably short, being less than half the length of the stomach. All 

 the animal's movements are slow, and it prefers soft and muddy ground. Pennant remarks that it is 

 eaten on the coasts of France, but Galen believed that when used as food the person eating it became 

 stupid and dull. In the Middle Ages it was often prescribed for the cure of headaches. This species 

 is distributed throughout the Mediterranean, and is found all over the eastern part of the Atlantic 

 and the Indian Ocean. There is a second British species (Torpedo hebetans), which also occurs in 

 the Mediterranean and adjacent parts of the Atlantic. It has the ventral fin more rounded, and 

 separated from the pectoral fin, and has the body of a dark chocolate-brown above, and white on the 

 under side. There are four other known species of the genus Torpedo, which frequent the Red Sea, 

 the east coast of Africa, and the Mediterranean. The five other genera of this family all frequent 

 tropical and sub-tropical seas, and are widely distributed on both sides of America, and range as far 

 north as Japan, and as far south as Australia. 



The genus Narcine has the tail longer than the disc, and has the spiracles immediately behind the 

 eyes. The teeth, which are almost flat, sometimes are marked with a median point. There are four 

 species. In tropical America Narcine brasiliensis is met with penetrating into fresh waters. 



The genus Hypnos has a remarkably short tail, body entirely naked, and tricuspid teeth with 

 slender points. Only one species is known, which has minute eyes. The upper part of the body is 

 black, and sometimes spotted with white. It is found only in the Australian seas. 



Discopyge is another genus with the body entirely naked, but the tail is better developed and 

 distinct from the circular disc. The teeth are flat. The ventral fins are united, and the vent is in 

 the middle of the length of the body. Only one species is known from the coast of Peru. 



Astrape has pointed teeth, and only one dorsal fin on the tail. There are two species of this 

 genus. 



Temera is a genus which differs from Astrape only in having entirely lost the dorsal fins, and 

 in having blunt teeth. 



FAMILY IV. EAJIDJE (THE RAYS). 



The family of Rays is distinguished by having a broad rhombic disc formed by the pectoral fins 

 extending to the snout. The skin is covered more or less with spines, which ai*e short and sharp, and 

 have a broad thick base. The electric organ is absent, and the tail never carries a bony spine. 

 There are four different genera, which have these characters in common, but three of them are only 

 known from single species, and are limited to the seas of India and China and the southern coasts of 

 South America. In the genus Raja the tail is always well distinguished from the disc. The caudal 

 fin is either absent or but very slightly developed. The teeth may be either blunt or pointed, but, 

 like the dermal spines, differ in form with sex. The number of species in British seas has probably 

 been over-estimated, and may not exceed eight, though most authors enumerate a dozen; ti-nd 

 altogether about twenty-five species are known from various parts of the world. The True Skate of 

 the British fishermen (Raja batis) is one of the most abundant fishes of the British coasts. It is 

 found almost everywhere in the south, and has been taken as far north as the Orkneys. It ranges 

 round the shores of the German Ocean, and attains a large size. A stuffed female in the British 

 Museum is five feet and a half broad and six feet and a half long. A specimen weighing 200 

 pounds was on one occasion dressed by the cook of St. John's College, Cambridge, and found 

 sufficient for 120 members of that society who sat down to table. When caught in the Mediterranean 

 it is valued as a delicacy, and in Schleswig-Holstein it is salted and dried for the German market. 

 The fishermen of the southern coast of England esteem it chiefly for bait, since when stale it is always 

 successful with Lobsters and Crabs. When caught on the hook it is almost impossible to raise it, as 

 the animal usually lies still and keeps its head down, but when once the head is raised the fish rises 

 in the water like a kite in the air. In the breeding season Bloch declares that each female is followed 

 by several males. The purse in which the eggs are contained has an oblong shape, and a length of 

 four or five inches. The eggs are dropped in pairs, and left to take their chance of development, and 

 if dropped near to shore they are often washed up on the beach in rough weather. They are most 



