170 CLASSIFICATION OF FISHES. 



the bottom of the sea^ among weeds and mud, and thus 

 watch for. their prey : hence it may be safely inferred 

 that habits, somewhat similar, belong to the rays. 

 The unusual development, however, of their pectoral 

 fins, places it beyond doubt, that they can pursue their 

 prey with a swiftness surpassing that of all other fishes ; 

 an inference which is further strengthened, when we 

 remember that these swallow-like fish stand at the head 

 of the fissirostral type of the class Pisces, corresponding 

 to the swallows among birds, and the Xatantia among 

 Mammalia. Some of the species grow to an immense 

 size, — a circumstance that may be accounted for by the 

 supposition that cartilaginous fish continue to grow as 

 long as they live. A species of skate, common to the 

 British seas {Rata latis^ is frequently caught of im- 

 mense dimensions, sometimes weighing two hundred 

 pounds. But this is nothing to another individual of 

 this family, which is stated to have been caught in the 

 West Indian seas, whose length was twentv-five feet, 

 while its greatest breadth is stated at thirteen ; the tail 

 alone measuring fifteen feet. The sting rays, of which 

 this last was probably a species, are, perhaps, the largest 

 in their dimensions of the whole family. Two spe- 

 cimens of the Pterocephalus massena Sw. of the Me- 

 diterranean, were caught near Nice, and seen by Risso, 

 ' which measured twelve feet long, and twenty-seven in 

 circumference; the weight of the female was 1250 

 pounds, but that of the male only 800. The Pteroceph. 

 BanJxsianus is a still more gigantic monster; for although 

 its weight was not ascertained, it is said to have required 

 no less than seven yoke of oxen to drag it on shore. 

 There is some evidence, also, that these monsters of the 

 deep, hke the sharks, are destructive to mankind. 

 Colonel Hamilton Smith relates, that he once witnessed 

 the destruction of a soldier off Trinidad, by one of these 

 immense Pterocephali. It would seem that the soldier 

 wished to desert, and, being a good swimmer, he had 

 jumped into the sea from the vessel, which then lay at 



