Trailing the Sea-Bat 



in this position falling upon the back. Sometimes 

 the act would be performed in deep water, the flash 

 of the white ventral side alone telling the story of 

 the turn; again the water would boil at the surface, 

 the horns appear and the huge fish would roll com- 

 pletely over until its tail lashed the air in its descent. 

 So commonly was this trick performed that more 

 than one of the fishes taken by Mr. Elliott was 

 harpooned in the belly. 



It is believed that specimens measuring nearly 

 thirty feet across have been seen. Mitchell refers to 

 one caught in the West Indies which required six 

 oxen to drag it up the beach; but the average ray 

 taken on American shores, which the sportsmen 

 may expect to find in the summer months from 

 Port Royal Sound to Garden Key and up the west 

 coast of Florida, and in Lower California, will 

 rarely exceed eighteen or twenty feet in width large 

 enough to afford some of the most exciting experi- 

 ences in the annals of sport with the spear at sea. 



So rare is this great game, so difficult to take, that 

 every catch is an incident worthy of being placed 

 on record. While this chapter was being written, 

 a devil-fish was taken off Aransas Pass, Texas, which 

 so well illustrates the remarkable staying qualities 

 of the animal that I take the liberty of copying an 

 article by Mr. W. G. Sterett, which appeared in the 

 Dallas (Texas) News, describing the sport, or rather 

 battle between the devil-fish, which for its size made 



23 



