FISHES. 223 



er the electricity accumulated in their batteries is pretty 

 much expended on the horses some of them, perhaps, 

 being killed by it the Eels are captured with impunity. 

 378. There is an aberrant genus of the Ray family 

 which has a similar apparatus, the situation of which is 

 seen in Fig. 176, in the two elevations extending from the 





Fig. 176. Torpedo. 



eyes about half way down the body. This fish is found 

 chiefly in the Mediterranean, where its powers are well 

 known and are much feared. The apparatus is represent- 

 ed in Fig. 177 (p. 224), the batteries on each side being 

 at e. On one side is seen the nerve, which, branching out 

 from the brain, c, to the battery, is the means by which 

 the animal can work it at pleasure. The batteries are 

 composed of multitudes of tubes pressed one against an- 

 other like the cells of a honeycomb, and filled with a 

 thick fluid. The true Rays have on the tail and other 

 parts barbs or prickles with which they can inflict wounds. 

 They are shaped much like the Flatfish ( 373). But in 

 their case the upper side is really the back and the under 

 side is the belly ; and they are symmetrical, having the 

 eyes on the upper side, and the mouth, nostrils, and gill- 



