100 THE RAT, 



With regard to their dietical ufes, thefe lifhes are vefj 

 different ; fome of them affording a plentiful fupply of 

 falubrious food, while others are noxious and terrible ; 

 ■with refpe6l, however, to their nature, appetites and 

 conformation, the fimilitude among them is perfect and 

 entire. 



Of all the larger fifh, the rays are the mofl numerous ; 

 and their numbers are in a great meafure owing to their 

 iize, and to the proteftion of thofe frightful fpines which 

 nature has afforded them. There is none of the rapaci- 

 ous tribes, except, perhaps, the cachalot and white fhark^ 

 that has a fwallow fufficiently large to receive them j 

 and even thefe are, probably, often deterred from their 

 purpofes of deftru£lion by the armour with which their 

 prey is covered *. Of fome the fize is fuch as to defy all 

 the powers of deflruftion which even the (hark himfelf 

 is known to pofTefs: In Effgland {ome have been taken 

 upwards of two hundred pounds weight ; but that is far 

 inferior to their enormous bulk in other parts of the 

 world. Near the ifland of Guadaloupe in the Weji Ifi' 

 dies, a ray was killed, thirteen feet eight inches in 

 breadth, and twenty-five from the fnout to the tip of the 

 tail. This member itfelf contributed largely to this pro- 

 digious dimenfion ; for it was twenty inches broad at itg 

 infertion, and tapered to a point, by which it terminated 

 iifteen feet behind the body of the animalf. 



The fifhes of this genus probably attain to a much 

 larger fize, than that of any individual that has ever yet 

 been examined : It is only the fmalleft of the kind that 

 approach the fliores ; the larger continue forever prowling 



at 



* Goldfmith's Nat, Hift. f Labut. 



