LECTURE VIII. 
7S 
seas. We have accounts of an animal of this kind 
taken on the coast of Barbadoes, which required 
seven yoke of oxen to draw it along. 
But the most curious species of Ray is the 
Torpedo, which is the Raja Torpedo of Linnaeus, 
an inhabitant of the European seas, and some- 
times taken on our own coasts, though much more 
common about those of France and Italy. The 
body of the Torpedo is of a rounded shape, and 
of a dull reddish-brown colour, with four or five 
large round dusky spots, and of a pale or white 
colour beneath; the tail is of moderate length, 
and terminated by a slightly rounded fin. The 
Torpedo possesses a similar electric or galvanic 
power with the Gymnotus before described, and 
has been celebrated both by ancients and moderns 
for its wonderful faculty of causing a sudden numb- 
ness or painful sensation in the limbs of those who 
handle it. The particular organs forming its 
electric or galvanic battery have been accurately 
described by Mr. Hunter in the Philosophical 
Transactions, and as the general history of the 
animal is now so well known, I shall at present 
content myself with saying, that the Torpedo 
from the first moment of its birth begins to exer- 
