198 



THE VERTEBRATES 



fly, but strike the anal fin with great force against the water 

 in making a leap so that they move swiftly, and thus escape 

 their pursuers. In its structure a flying fish differs little 



from a pike or other ordi- 

 nary fish. 



The rays and skates are 

 peculiar ocean fishes, which 

 lie at the bottom of shal- 

 low-water shores. They 

 feed on crabs, molluscs, 

 and bottom-fishes. The 

 small common skates, 

 "tobacco-boxes", about 

 twenty inches long, and the 

 larger "barn-door" skates, 

 are numerous along the 

 Atlantic coast from Vir- 

 ginia northward. Especi- 

 ally interesting members 

 of this group, because of 

 the peculiar character of 

 the injuries produced by 

 them, are the sting-ray and 

 torpedoes, or electric-rays. 

 The sting-rays have spines 

 near the base of the tail 

 which cause very painful 



Fig. 98. A sea-horse, Hippocampus WOUnds. The tOrpedoeS 



(Natural size, 8^ inches have two large electrical 

 organs, one on each side 

 of the body, just behind the head, with which they 

 can give a strong electric shock. "The discharge from a 

 large individual is sufficient to temporarily disable a man, 

 and were these animals at all numerous they would prove 

 dangerous to bathers." Very different from the typical 



long; after Jordan and Snyder.) 



