Trailing the Sea-Bat 



When the tide was at the ebb the black vampire, 

 as the men called it, was high and dry, and was paced 

 off. It was thirteen feet from tip to tip, ten feet 

 long from its mouth to the base of its tail, which 

 was about seven feet in length. It is impossible to 

 convey any adequate idea of the appearance of this 

 devil-fish, sea-vampire, this Mania brevirostra of 

 science, which is so difficult to take that it more often 

 runs away with boats than is captured, and of whose 

 habits very little is known. Indeed, vampire fishing 

 will never be a popular sport except among those 

 who delight in an element of danger with their 

 pastimes. 



Mr. G. E. Northrop, of Chicago, captured a very 

 large sea-bat in the Gulf of Mexico in the summer of 

 1898, and in a letter to the writer described it as 

 remarkable sport. The fish gave a hard fight, towing 

 the heavy boat a long distance. Unfortunately the 

 photographs of this fish turned out unsatisfactorily, 

 though they gave some idea of the monster. 



The big ray was almost jet black upon its upper 

 surface, the back being rough ; the under surface was 

 white, with gray cloud effects here and there, giving it 

 a marbled appearance. Popular fancy has given the 

 fish a sting above the base of the tail, but this is a 

 misnomer; it is without the serrated lance which 

 marks many of the tribe which I took in these waters, 

 one of which wounded a companion by striking its 

 lances across his foot. 



