146 TlMEHRI. 



canus), and our huntsmen were sent across through the 

 forest on the southern side of the Potaro, to meet the 

 boat higher up on the Essequebo, into which river we 

 passed early on Tuesday morning. The change from 

 the dark water of the Potaro to the clear water of the 

 Essequebo was most striking, and towards the right 

 bank, where the currents are strong, a sharp line of 

 demarcation exists between them. With the exception 

 of an ocelot, the hunters only succeeded in procuring 

 the more usually occurring animals ; but along the river, 

 however, we were fortunate in getting two very fine 

 sting-rays, a male and female, apparently of two differ- 

 ent species, both of which were shot by the captain with 

 the bow and arrow. 



The bodies of these specimens were quite thick for 

 their kind, being more than three inches at the centre, but 

 quite thin at the edges. In shape they were nearly 

 circular (with the tail inserted within the general out- 

 line), the larger female specimen being about two feet 

 in diameter, though owing to repeated, and, in some 

 parts, quite recent bites from the perai and other 

 enemies, great junks of flesh were wanting at the edge, 

 and thus gave an irregular outline; while the tail, which 

 is quite short in comparison with those of their marine 

 congeners, is rendered ridiculously short by being 

 bitten off by perai quite close to the poison spine — a 

 destructive weapon placed at about half the diameter of 

 the body from the insertion of the tail. . The upper sur- 

 face was covered with small spines with stellate bases ; 

 but these increased greatly in size towards the tail, along 

 which they were arranged in a distinct line along the 

 top and sides. The poison spine in the larger specimen 



