340 THE INHABITANTS OF THE SEA. 



the liver torn out. If the gull by chance succeeded in carrying 

 his prey off the rock, he and his partner set up a triumphant 

 cackling, as if deriding the disappointed lad." 



The Eays resemble the side-swimmers by the flatness of their 

 form, but differ widely from them in many other particulars. 



Like the sharks and sturgeons, they 

 belong to the cartilaginous fishes, and 

 as their branchiae adhereto the cells, 

 these respiratory membranes are not 

 furnished with a gill-cover, but com- 

 m^^gggfa^**, municate freely with the water by 

 "* aaK " ' means of five spiracles on either side. 



Thornbaok. * 



More unsightly fishes can hardly be 

 conceived. The rhomboidal broad body, the long narrow tail 

 frequently furnished with two and sometimes three small fins, 

 and mostly armed with one or more rows of sharp spines along 

 its whole length, the dirty colour, and the thick coat of slime 

 with which it is covered, render them pre-eminently disgusting. 

 Their mode of defending themselves is very effectual, and forms 

 a striking contrast to the helplessness of the flat fish. The point 

 of the nose and the base of the tail are bent upwards towards 

 each other, and the upper surface of the body being then con- 

 cave, the tail is lashed about in all directions over it, and the 

 rows of sharp spines frequently inflict severe wounds. 



Eleven species of rays are found on the British coasts, some, 

 like the skates, with a perfectly smooth skin ; others, like the 

 thornback, with an upper surface studded with spines, and some, 

 like the sting-ray, with a tail still more powerfully armed with a 

 long serrated spine : a formidable weapon, which the fish strikes 

 with the swiftness of an arrow into its prey or enemy, when with 

 its winding tail it makes the capture secure. The lacerations in- 

 flicted by the tropical sting-rays produce the most excruciating 

 tortures. An Indian who accompanied Eichard Schomburgk on 

 his travels through Gruiana, being hit by one of these fishes while 

 fording a river, tottered to the bank, where he fell upon the 

 ground and rolled about on the sand with compressed lips in an 

 agony of pain. But no tear started from the eye, no cry of 

 anguish issued from the breast, of the stoical savage. An Indian 

 boy wounded in the some manner, but less able to master his 

 emotions, howled fearfully, and flung himself upon the -sand, 



