STING RAY. 448 



are defensively or offensively used, the transition to those 

 species of Rays which are still more powerfully armed is 

 easy and natural. 



The Sting Ray was well known to the ancients, who en- 

 tertained many curious notions of the power and venom of 

 its spine ; and this fish is also noticed as an inhabitant of 

 the shores of this country so long ago as the days of Merrett 

 and Sibbald. At present it is more frequently taken on the 

 southern coast than elsewhere, from Sussex even as far west 

 as the county of Cork in Ireland. It appears, however, 

 otherwise to occupy an extensive range, being found in the 

 Mediterranean, and from thence to a high degree of north 

 latitude on the coast of Norway. 



Colonel Montagu, in his notes, mentions obtaining a spe- 

 cimen, taken at Hastings, which was presented to him by the 

 Rev. Mr. Whitear. " At the base of the bony process 

 in the tail of this fish, was a smaller one ready to replace the 

 original if by accident it should be lost ; or possibly this 

 weapon may be deciduous and occasionally discharged." 



Mr. Couch in his MS. says, " This species keeps on 

 sandy ground at no great distance from land, and in summer 

 wanders into shallow water, where it is often entangled in 

 the fishermen's nets, — the only way in which it is usually 

 caught, for it rarely swallows a bait. The manner in which 

 this fish defends itself, shoAvs its consciousness of the formid- 

 able weapon it carries on its tail. When seized or terrified, 

 its habit is to twist its long, slender, and flexible tail round 

 the object of attack, and with the serrated spine tear the 

 surface, lacerating it in a manner calculated to produce vio- 

 lent inflammation." Other authors state that it is capable 

 of striking its weapon with the swiftness of an arrow into its 

 prey or its enemy, when with its winding tail it secures its 

 capture. These spines, as may be supposed, possess no really 



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