SK-ATE. 449 



themselves in the paternal relation excellent peres de fa- 

 mille ; displaying a forethought and storge for the young 

 posterity truly admirable, and almost as boundless as the 

 element in which it works. This phUoprogenitiveness 

 of the parent outlasts the weak and helpless state of in- 

 fancy, and exerts itself in training the adolescent fish in ' 

 the art of providing for his own wants. Theirs then is 

 a very peculiar storge : one of a patient, almost moral 

 character ; without partiality, and given without stint to 

 all alike, 



Chacun a son part, et tous I'ont tout entier. 



Wrapt in domestic bliss, old and young lie together 

 many fathoms deep, far out of sight, tUl, urged by the 

 call of hunger, they quit these loved retreats, muster in 

 fuU force, and start on a foray. Under the guidance of 

 an unerring instiact, 



Wticli forms the phalanx aad which leads the way, 



the impetuous cohort speeds forward as one fish ; nor is 

 there a moment's pause nor slacking speed till the ob- 

 ject which set it ia motion is discerned : as soon as a 

 migratory horde of fish is seen scudding in advance, chase 

 is given, and the army of skates dash at once upon the 

 quarry, and carry it ofi' to some ocean eyrie to feast un- 

 molested. 



The singular habit which many of the rays adopt, of 

 hovering with outspread fins* and fixed eyes evidently 

 on the look-out for game, and also of wheeling ia explo- 

 ratory circles through the watery expanse with the like 

 view, added to the unfishlike practice of pouncing upon 



* Aristotle, mistaking these wide-spread appendages for parts 

 of the body proper, asserts that rays have no fins, but move en- 

 tirely by hendAng the sides of the ho&y. After the lapse of many 

 centuries, however, the case of Ray v. Aristotle being impartially 

 tried, the decision of antiquity has been quashed, and the re- 

 possession of fina granted to the plaintiff. 



