RHINOBATiN^, OR SNOUT RAYS. 



185 



A^:. 





•vv^^v 







many of the torpedos. Of our British species Mr. Yar- 



rell says, that it some- 

 times is caught of the 

 weight of 100 Ihs. ; 

 that it is very voraci- 

 ous, and feeds on the 

 «.:^: ..,^«5^,:,n.-.j-^:- <,-^ -'..-.w>-. smaller flat fish, which, 



^^^^:>^^^'' '%^^il/ "^ like itself, swim close 



to the bottom ; occa- 

 sionally, like them, 

 alsOj hiding itself on 

 the loose soft soil that floats over it. We cite this re- 

 mark^ because it is in further confirmation of our belief 

 that the PleuronectidcB represent the Raidce, not only in 

 the disk-like shape and compression of their bodies^ but 

 also in their food and modes of Ufe. 



(l64.) The third and last aberrant division of the 

 rays is represented by the genus Rhinobates, of which 

 the annexed cut of R, Ruppellii Sw. {^fig. 24.) is a very 



e--; 





good example of the whole. This group has also been 

 divided into five sub-genera, of which there is only one 

 species in each ; but the characters appear to us so 

 slightly defined, that we cannot at present adopt them. 

 Nevertheless, one of them, named PlatyrhinaM. and H., 

 is described as having " the body orbicular;" in which 

 case it is much more probably a sub-genus of the Tor- 

 pedincB than of the present group ; an orbicular body 

 being one of the primary distinctions of those fishes. 

 Certain it is^ however,, that the typical form of the sub- 



