SIZE, ETC. OF THE TORPEDO. 183 



is not irritated, it has been affirmed that it may be 

 touched, or even handled (?), without being provoked 

 to exert its electric power. 



(162.) There can be no doubt that several species 

 have been confounded under the common name of 

 Torpedo electrica, which likewise possess the same pro- 

 perties ; but whether all those of the same external 

 form are likewise electric, is very uncertain. Two 

 species evidently inhabit the British seas — one of which 

 is spotted, the other not : both, however, are of rare oc- 

 currence. A specimen mentioned by colonel Montagu, 

 taken off the coast of Tenby in Wales, weighed about 

 100 lbs.* It has been thought that the torpedo is 

 a slow and inactive fish ; and that, consequently, these 

 powers have been given it for more readily procuring its 

 food, by killing such small fish as pass near it. That this 

 electric power is so used, as well as for a means of 

 defence, is highly probable : but it appears to us that 

 there is nothing in the structure of this fish to render it 

 slow or inactive ; on the contrary, the great develop- 

 ment of the pectorals, and even of the ventrals, 

 clearly shows that these fishes must be endowed with 

 the power of swimming, for a short distance, with great 

 rapidity, — fully as quick as any of the true rays or 

 thornbacks. Nor do we think the following sensible 

 observations of Mr. Couch militate against what we 

 here advance : — cf One well known effect of the electric 

 shock is to deprive animals killed by it of their organic 

 irritability, and, consequently, to render them more 

 readily disposed to pass into a state of decomposition ; 

 in which condition the digestive powers more speedily 

 and effectually act upon them. If any creature, more 

 than others, would seem to require such a preparation 

 of its food, it is the torpedo, the whole canal of whose 

 intestine is not more than one half as long as the 

 stomach." f Recently \ , this genus has been divided 



* Yarrell's Fishes, vol. ii. p. 411. 



+ Ibid. vol. i. p. 412. 



% Muller and Henle's arrangement. Mag. Nat. Hist. No. xiv. p. 90, 



N 4 



