328 FISHES. [Chap. X. 
less, as the ray has no gland for secreting any venomous 
fluid. The apprehension may, however, have originated 
in the fact that a lacerated wound such as would be 
produced by a serrated spine, is not unlikely to assume 
a serious character, under the influence of a tropical 
climate. The species figured on the last page is brownish- 
olive on the upper surface, with numerous greenish- 
white round spots, darkening towards the edges. The 
anterior annulations of the tail are black and white, the 
posterior entirely black. Its mouth is transverse and 
paved with a band of flattened teeth calculated to crush 
the hard shells of the animals on which it feeds. It 
moves slowly along the bottom in search of its food, 
which consists of Crustacea and mollusca, and seems 
to be unable to catch fishes or other quickly moving 
animals. Specimens have been taken near Ceylon, of 
six feet in width. Like most deep-sea fishes, the ray 
has a wide geographical range, and occurs not only in 
all the Indian Ocean, but also in the tropical tracts of 
the Atlantic. 
Another armed fish, renowned since the times of 
iElian and Pliny for its courage in attacking the whale, 
and even a ship, is the sword-fish (Xvphias gladius). 1 
Like the thunny and bonito, it is an inhabitant of the 
deeper seas, and, though known in the Mediterranean, 
is chiefly confined to the tropics. The dangerous weapon 
with which nature has equipped it is formed by the pro- 
longation and intertexture of the bones of the upper jaw 
into an exceedingly compact cylindrical protuberance, 
1 JElian tells a story of a ship similar accident on the coast of 
in the Black Sea, the bottom of Mauritania. In the British Mu- 
which was penetrated by the sword seum there is a specimen of a plank 
of a Xiphias (L. xiv. c. 23) ; and of oak, pierced by a sword-fish, and 
Pliny (L. xxxii. c. 8) speaks of a still retaining the broken weapon. 
