84 THE OCEAN. 
battle ensues; the two combatants swim round and 
round each other with the greatest rapidity, biting, 
and endeavouring to pierce each other with their 
spines, which on these occasions are projected. I 
have witnessed a battle of this sort which lasted 
several minutes before either would give way; and 
when one does submit, imagination can hardly con- 
ceive the vindictive fury of the conqueror; who, in 
the most persevering and unrelenting way, chases his 
rival from one part of the tub to another, until fairly 
exhausted with fatigue. They also use their spines 
with such fatal effect, that, incredible as it may ap- 
pear, I have seen one during a battle absolutely rip 
his opponent quite open, so that he sank to the bot- 
tom, and died. I have occasionally known three or 
four parts of the tub taken possession of by as many 
other little tyrants, who guard their territories with 
the strictest vigilance, and the slightest invasion in- 
variably brings on a battle.”* The Sting-rays (Zry- 
gon), which are furnished with a hard and sharp spine 
with toothed edges, near the base of the tail, are ac- 
customed to twist their long and flexible tail around 
their enemy, while they inflict severe wounds with 
the barbed spine. The Common Skates (Raia), on 
the other hand, which have the tail studded with 
rows of curved horny thorns, when irritated, are said 
to bend the body nearly into a circle, and to dash 
about the armed tail with violence in all directions. 
The goodness of God is manifest in the gregarious 
habits of most of those fishes which constitute an im- 
portant article of human food, in the innumerable 
* Mag. Nat. Hist. iii. 329. 
