n6 MARINE AND FRESHWATER FISHES 



a transparent fluid of jelly-like consistence. Finer trans- 

 verse partitions or septa " the electrical plates " subdivide 

 the hexagonal compartments into smaller chambers which 

 subserve the purpose of store cells, after the manner of a 

 Leyden jar, and in these the electricity, converted from 

 excess nervous energy, is stored up for use. There can be 

 but little doubt that the Torpedo employs its formidable 

 battery for disabling and securing food which it is too 

 inactive to capture by ordinary means. 



This interpretation is substantially supported by the fact 

 that large active fish, such as Salmon of four or five pounds 

 weight, Eels and other species, have been taken from the 

 stomachs of full-grown Torpedoes, showing no trace of 

 a struggle, as would have been inevitably apparent had 

 the captor been an Angler, Monk-fish, or other ordinary 

 ground-frequenting species of similar size. Several casts 

 of the Torpedo, some illustrating the aspect and position of 

 the electric apparatus, will be found in the Buckland 

 Museum. Of the typical Skates and Rays, genus Rata, as 

 many as eight species are included in the British list, these 

 varying among each other chiefly with respect to their 

 markings, the greater or less development upon their upper 

 surface of defensive spines, and in the contour of their 

 snout-like anterior regions. The species that have to be 

 thus enumerated are, the Thornback Ray (Raia clavatd), 

 No. 217; the Spotted Ray (R. maculatd), No. 218; the 

 Starry Ray (R. radiata), No. 219 ; the Sandy Ray (R. cir- 

 cularis), No. 220 ; the Common or Blue Skate (R. batis), 

 No. 221 ; the Bordered Ray (R. marginatd), No. 222 ; the 

 Shagreen Ray (R. fnllonicd), No. 223 ; and the Long-nosed 

 Skate (R. vomer), No. 224. All of these Rays exhibit in 

 common that remarkable method of locomotion, through 

 the flapping action of their large pectoral fins, which 



