NATURAL HISTORY. 35 
with many feet with gill-tufts, the head bearing a 
pair of hooked nippers. The rag-worm is very 
fragile and perishable, in consequence of which 
great care is necessary, both when digging it and 
placing it on the hook, in order to avoid a break- 
age at one of the joints. It can only be kept in 
damp weed away from the light, and it is advisable 
‘to remove the dead worms (which assume a livid’ 
tint) as soon as possible. 
Of rays and skates, depressed members of the 
shatk sub-class, our seas have a number ; 
nor will it be necessary to consider the 
characters of the homelyn, thornback, mavis and 
the rest. AJl that concerns the amateur is that 
moderately large specimens of these cartilagenous 
fishes are from time to time hooked close in shore, 
when care should be taken to avoid a blow from 
the tail, which in some species is armed with 
curved spines that inflict a most painful wound. 
These rays, which hover like birds of prey over 
the flat fish lurking in the sand, have the curved 
mouth, like the allied sharks, beneath the head, 
though they are not observed to turn on their side 
in the same manner when seizing prey. The more 
usual method for them is to dig up the sand with 
their shovel-like snout, and snap up the flat-fish 
and crustaceans as they are forced from cover. It 
is noticeable that, like the flat-fish, rays and skate 
are very deceptive in the matter of weight, and 
a comparatively small fish will, owing to the 
resistance of the water, put an immense strain 
on the rod. The liver of the rays is, especially 
when a trifle decayed, much valued as bait for 
bass. 
Rays 
D2 
