PISCES — RAY. 725 



Even if one treads upon it with the shoe on, it affects not only ihe leg, 

 but the whole thigh upwards. Those who touch it with the foot, are seized 

 with a stronger palpitation than even those who touch it with the 

 hand. This numbness bears no resemblance to that which we feel 

 when a nerve is a long time pressed and the foot is said to be asleep ; it 

 rather appears like a sudden vapor, which, passing through the pores, in an 

 instant penetrates to the very springs of life, whence it diffuses itself over 

 the whole body, and gives real pain. The nerves are so affected, that the 

 person struck imagines all the bones of his body, and particularly those of 

 the limb that received the blow, are driven out of joint. All this is accom- 

 panied with a universal tremor, a sickness of the stomach, a general con- 

 vulsion, and a total suspension of the faculties of the mind." 



Reaumur, who made several trials upon this animal, has convinced the 

 world that it is not necessarily, but by an effort, that the torpedo numbs the 

 hand of him that touches it. He tried several times, and could easily tell 

 when the fish intended the stroke, and when it was about to continue harm- 

 less. Always before the fish intended the stroke, it flattened the back, 

 raised the head and the tail, and then, by a violent contraction in the oppo- 

 site direction, struck with its back against the pressing finger ; and the body, 

 which before was flat, became humped and round. 



The electric or benumbing organs are placed one on each side of the gills, 

 reaching from thence to the semicircular cartilages of each great fin, and 

 extending longitudinally from the interior extremity of the animal to the 

 transverse cartilage which divides the thorax from the abdomen, and within 

 these limits they occupy the whole space between the skin of the upper and 

 under surfaces. Each organ is about five inches in length, and at the ante- 

 rior end, about three in breadth ; they are composed of perpendicular 

 columns, reaching from the upper to the under surface, varying in length 

 according to the thickness of the parts of the body, from an inch and a half, 

 to half an inch. The engraving displays the interior of the lower electric 

 or galvanic organ. 



When the fish is dead, the whole power is destroyed, and it may be han- 

 dled or eaten with perfect security. 



THE RAY.i 



Of this fish there are several species ; as, the thornback, starry, sharp- 

 nosed, rough, small-eyed, and undulated rays. 



1 The genus Haia has a rhomboidal disc ; five bronchial openings on each siie leneath ; 

 mouth below; tail slender, with two small dorsal fins near its extremity; teeth small, 

 crowded, and in quincunx order; males with hooked spines on the pectorals. 



61* 



