lea The raT* 



their parturition ceafes, they are exceedingly poor, nnS. 

 then they improve gradually during the winter and 

 fpring, till May, v.hen they are at their higheft periec^ 

 tion, and when they again begin to undergo the fame 

 funftions *. 



The rays generally frequent thofe parts of the fea 

 where the bottom is black and muddy, where tlicir vora- 

 city leads them indifcriminaiely to dirvour every living 

 animal which they can furprife : But ajrhough their ap- 

 petite is ravenous and indifciiminate, they became more 

 delicate with regard to a baited hook ; they devour be- 

 low any putrid fublTiance whatever, but if the bait has 

 been taken u.p and fufFered to lie for any time in the o- 

 jjeu air, they will not toueh it : they appear by their 

 inauner to perceive the line, and to dread it j but the im- 

 pulfe of their hunger is too great for their caution, and, 

 even though they perceive the danger, if thoroughly 

 hungry, they devour, as if regardlefs of deftrudlion +. 



Both EngVtJI} and Dutch carry on the flilung to a con- 

 fiderable extent ; the feafon at vthich they begin is early 

 in the winter •, and the boats in which the iilliermenput to 

 fea, are of different fizes, according to the diftance of the 

 place where they intend to filh. The velTcls ufed in the 

 Britijh Channel, called cobles, are of one ton burden, 

 rowed with three pair of oars, and admirably conflrucled 

 for encountering a mountain fea. When they go out to 

 filh, every perfon is prorided with three lines ; each man's 

 lines are fairly coiled upon a flat oblong piece of wicker- 

 work, the hooks being baited, 3nd placed very regularly 

 in the centre of the coii. Each line is furnillied v/ith 



tW©' 



* Erit. Zoo!. f Coldrnutli's Nat. Kul. 



