214 DIVISION I. VERTEBRAL ANIMALS.—CLASS IV. PISCES. 
water by means of five spiracles on either side. The rhomboidal, broad 
body, the long, narrow tail, frequently furnished with two, and sometimes 
three, broad fins, and mostly armed with one or more rows of sharp spines 
along its whole length, the dirty color, and thick coat of slime with which 
it is covered, render them pre-eminently diseusting. Their mode of defend- 
ing themselves is very effectual, and forms a striking contrast to the help- 
lessness of the flat-fish. The point of the nose and the base of the tail are 
bent upwards towards each other, and, the upper surface of the body being 
then concave, the tail is lashed about in all directions over it, and the rows 
of sharp spines frequently inflict severe wounds. 
Two species are found in our waters : — 
Rh, Ocellata, —The Ocellated Ray. This species weighs about two hun- 
dred pounds ; the upper part of the body is of a light brown, sprinkled with 
circular, black spots of various size; the belly is white. 
RR. Batis. —The Skate. This species is about the size of the last. The 
flesh is hard, but not unwholesome, and is highly prized by some. ‘Thomas 
Willoughby makes mention of a single Skate of two hundred pounds 
weight, which was sold in the fish market at Cambridge, England, to the 
cook of St. John’s College, and was found sufficient to dine the whole so- 
ciety, consisting of more than a hundred and twenty persons. 
The Skates are yery voracious; their food consists of any sort of fish, 
mollusk, annelid, or crustacean, that they can catch. So powerful are their 
muscles and jaws, that they are able to erush the strong shell of a crab with 
the greatest ease. 
“But our Atlantic Rays are far from equalling the colossal dimensions of 
the Sea Devil of the Pacific. This terrific monster swims fast, and often 
appears on the surface of the ocean, where its black, unwieldy back looks 
like a huge stone projecting above the waters. It attains a breadth of twelve 
or fifteen feet, and Lesson was presented, by a fisherman of Borabora, with a 
tail five feet lone. The Society Islanders catch the hideous animal with 
harpoons, and make use of its rough skin as rasps or files in the manufac- 
ture of their wooden utensils. 
“Creatures so voracious and well armed as the Rays would have attained 
a dangerous supremacy in the maritime domains had they equalled most 
other fishes in fecundity. Fortunately for their neighbors, they seldom 
produce more than one young at a time, which, as in the shark, is enclosed 
in a four-cornered capsule ending in slender points, but not, as in the for- 
mer, produced into long filaments.” 
Trycon.—The Sting Rays. They have on the tail a strong spine, 
notched on both sides. 
The South American Sting Ray causes the most excruciating tortures with 
