90 iVILD NEIGHBORS CHAP. 



stingaree (which sometimes reaches a length of ten 

 feet) bears upon its top, near the root, a long, sharp 

 and barbed spine, with which it is able to inflict 



deep and danger- 

 ous wounds, when 

 aroused to self-de- 

 fence. Some acrid 

 or poisonous sub- 

 -^ ^?- ^ stance seems to en- 



.S' ,y^ ter the lacerations 



«"^ thus made, and fish- 



Armed Tail of the Sting-ray. . , 



ermen pierced m 



the feet or hands by this species, or by the 



tropical whip-ray, as often happens, find their 



wounds slow and painful in healing. 



Something of the same kind, but even worse, is 

 the stabbing apparatus of the surgeon-fish of 

 Florida and the West Indies. " Each side of the 

 tail," says Goode, " is provided with a sharp, 

 lancet-like spine, which, when at rest, is received 

 into a sheath, but it may be thrust out at right 

 angles to the body, and used as a weapon of 

 offence ; sweeping the tail from side to side as 

 they swim, they can inflict very serious wounds, 

 and I have seen in the Bermudas large fishes, con- 

 fined in the same aquarium-tank with them, cov- 

 ered with gashes inflicted in this manner." 



In the philosophy of animal coloring brought 

 about by natural selection, which has been elabo- 

 rated by Alfred Russell Wallace, Mr. Poulton, and 



