240 PISCES. 



Raia, Lin.(l) 

 The Rays form a less numerous genus than the Squali. They are recognized 

 by the horizontally flattened body which resembles a disk, from its union 

 with the extremely broad and fleshy pectorals which are joined to each 

 other before or to the snout, and which extend behind the two sides of the 

 abdomen as far as the base of the ventrals. The eyes and spiracles are 

 seated on the dorsal surface, the mouth, nostrils, and orifices of the bran- 

 chiae on the opposite one. The dorsal fins are almost always on the tail. 

 The ova are brown, coriaceous, and square, the angles extended into points. 

 In the various subdivisions of this genus, we find the Sting-Ray, Spotted 

 Torpedo, Thornback, Skate, &c. The most remarkable subgenus is 



ToaPEDO, Dum. 

 The tall short, but still tolerably fleshy; disk of the body nearly circular, 

 the anterior border being formed by two productions of the snout which in- 

 cline side-wise in order to reach the pectorals; the space between these 

 pectorals, head and branchiae is filled on each side with a singular apparatus 

 formed of httle membranous tubes placed close together like a honeycomb, 

 subdivided by horizontal diaphragms into small cells fiUed with a sort of 

 mucus, and traversed by numerous nerves proceeding from the eighth paii-. 

 It is in this apparatus that resides the electric or galvanic power which has 

 rendered the Torpedo so celebrated; violent shocks are experienced by 

 touching it, and it is most probable that the same power is employed to 

 bewilder its prey. The body is smooth, the teeth small and sharp. 



FAMILY II. 



SUCTORII— CYCLOSTOMI, Dumer. 



The Suctorii, as regards the skeleton, are the most imperfect of 

 fishes, and even of all vertebrate animals. They have neither pec- 

 torals nor ventrals; their elongated body is terminated before by a 

 circular or semicircular jleshy lip, and the cartilaginous ring which 

 supports it results from the soldering of the palatines to the mandi- 

 bularies. The bodies of all the vertebrae are traversed by a single 

 tendinous cord filled with a mucilaginous substance without strangu- 

 lations, which reduces them to the condition of cartilaginous rings, 

 scarcely distinct from each other. The annular portion, a little 

 more solid than the rest, is not however cartilaginous throughout 

 the whole of its circle. They have no ordinary ribs; but the small 



(1) Raia in Latin, Bar/; and B^itos in Greek, are the ancient names of 

 these fishes. 



