CHAPTER VI 
ENORMOUS RAYS, OR DEVIL-FISH 
Rays, which are somewhat closely related to the sharks, though 
so different to the casual observer, are characteristic of all seas, 
but especially perhaps of the tropical waters of America, 
where some of them attain to enormous weight. The sting- 
rays, of which the one depicted in this volume is a variety, 
armed with formidable serrated spikes at the base of the tail, 
are in some cases fearsome creatures, while many of the 
family are provided with the means of numbing their victims 
with an electric discharge. The whip ray, however, though 
carrying spikes above the tail, is a harmless and indeed beau- 
tiful creature. At the same time, its frantic leaps when driven 
wild by the suckers that adhere to its disc are sufficiently 
alarming to those unaccustomed to its ways. 
To see a kite-shaped creature with a long and whip-like 
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