THE RAT. lOI 



at the bottom, in the unfathomable caverns of the o- 

 cean, where thej probably continue growing for ages. 

 The utmoft balk of the ray cannot therefore be afcertain- 

 ed ; but it has been fuppofed, that they are the largefl: 

 inhabitants of the fea *. When, however, they furpafs 

 the fize commonly obferved by the fifhermen, they be- 

 come totally unfit for food ; the negroes, and ftarved fa- 

 vages of America, indeed, cut them up, even of the largefl 

 iize ; and the tenderer parts, when faked, are reckoned a« 

 mong their delicious morfels. 



Thefc fifh generate in March and April ; at which time 

 they fwim near the furface of the water, feveral of the 

 males purfuing one female : With fuch avidity of defire 

 do they engage in the work of procreation, that the fifh- 

 ermen frequently draw up both male and female flill ad- 

 hering together, though only one has taken the baitf. 

 The females are prolific to an extreme degree, there 

 having been no lefs than three hundred eggs taken out 

 of the body of a fingle ray. Thefe eggs, containing the 

 fcetus, acquire a tough horny covering after defcending 

 into the womb; for while they continue in the ovariuv:^ 

 'they are attached to it, like the fmall eggs in the body 

 of a hen ; after they drop into the womb, the formation 

 of the animal becomes vifible, and the fliell is formed by 

 the concretion of the fluids of that organ ; when come to 

 their proper maturity, the young are excluded, but never 

 above one or two at a time, and at the interval of three 

 or four hours. The females begin to cafl their purfes, as 

 the fifliers term it, in the month of May, and continue 

 producing young till September. In Oflober, when 



their 



* Qoldfmltb,'* Nat, Hift* t Biltifli ZooL- 



