538 DR. DAVY ON THE TORPEDO. 



have been in Malta, though I have examined more than two hundred Torpedos, I 

 have found five only in which the young were arrived at, or near, this stage. Of 

 these, three were brought alive. I shall give some particulars, chiefly of their broods, 

 as they may not be considered uninteresting in themselves, and as they may tend to 

 illustrate the slow growth and some of the peculiarities of this extraordinary fish. 



The first live Torpedo that I obtained in this state was an Occhiatella, on the 12th 

 of September. It was fourteen inches long, and eight inches and a half wide ; and 

 after the extraction of the foetal fish it weighed one pound three ounces. It had been 

 caught rather more than an hour, and was in a small bucket full of salt water. I 

 immediately set about preparing an apparatus to try its electricity, which occupied 

 me about five minutes : but it was too late — the fish was then motionless. As soon 

 as the apparatus was ready, I opened the cavity of the abdomen, hoping that if 

 gravid, as asserted by the fisherman, the young might be still alive. From each 

 uterine cavity three fish were extracted, but they were all dead ; neither in air nor 

 in salt water did they show the slightest signs of irritability, though they had no 

 appearance of being bruised or in any way injured. The size of each was nearly the 

 same ; the only difference I could perceive was a little variation in the magnitude of 

 the external yolk-bag: in two it had all but disappeared — it was smaller than a 

 barleycorn ; in the other two it was a little larger, and in the two others perhaps a 

 little larger still. The internal yolk was very large, and about the same size in all. 

 Their organization generally appeared to be complete, even to their teeth. 



The next fish that I obtained near its full time was a Tremola, on the 29th of Sep- 

 tember. It was eighteen inches long and thirteen wide. It had been caught an 

 hour or two before, and was in a very languid state, having been put into a vessel 

 containing only just sufficient water to cover it. It was tried on the multiplier, but 

 it did not affect the needle. When moribund, the abdomen was opened, and I ex- 

 tracted with the hand, without experiencing any shock, from the two uterine cavities, 

 twelve foetal fish ; and one which had been expelled before, and was alive and swim- 

 ming about, made thirteen. They were all nearly of the same size ; and of all of 

 them, the external yolk-bag had very nearly disappeared, the portion remaining being 

 less than a small pea. Most of them appeared inanimate ; two or three only moved 

 their tails very slightly, and the margins of the pectoral fins. They were as soon as 

 possible transferred to fresh sea-water. After about two minutes, one or two of them 

 began to move their water-valves *. I was now called away, and rather more than 

 four hours elapsed before I returned. On my return I found them all freely respiring, 



pedos brought me, caught in the sea, in which the internal yolk-vesicle was large ; and, in one instance, I found 

 them in utero, with this vesicle greatly reduced in size, so as to suggest the idea, which Aristotle adopted, 

 that the young of the Torpedo, after birth, return at will into the uterus ; an idea which cannot be held, on 

 account of its anatomical impossibility. (Aristotle, Hist. Animal., vi. cap. 10.) 



* I apply this term to the valves which are situated at the openings behind the eyes, the office of which 

 appears to be, tc force water into the gullet, to supply the branchiae ; which water, in regular respiration, passes 



