STING EAY. 283 



the purpose both of an offensive and defensive 

 weapon : it is annually cast, and as it frequently 

 happens that the new spine has arrived at a con- 

 siderable size before the old one has been cast, the 

 animal is occasionally found with two, in which 

 state it has been sometimes erroneously considered 

 as a distinct species. This fish is said not to grow 

 to so large a size as many others of the genus : it is 

 an inhabitant of the Mediterranean, Atlantic, and 

 Indian seas, and is numbered among the edible 

 Rays. On account of the danger attending the 

 wounds inflicted by the spine, it is usual with the 

 fishermen to cut off the tail as soon as the fish is 

 taken ; and it is said to be illegal in France and 

 some other countries to sell the animal with the 

 tail still adhering. It is hardly necessary to ob- 

 serve that the spine is perfectly void of any venom- 

 ous quality, though formerly supposed to contain a 

 most active poison j and that the effects sometimes 

 produced by it are entirely those arising from deep 

 puncture and laceration, which, if taking place in 

 a tendinous part, or among the larger nerves and 

 blood-vessels, have often proved fatal. Oppian, 

 iElian, Pliny, and others have related in terms of 

 considerable luxuriance the effects of this animal's 

 powerful weapon : and a general description may 

 be found in Aldrovandus : it was supposed to be not 

 only poisonous in the living animal, but to preserve 

 its poison when taken from the fish and affixed to the 

 head of an arrow or a spear : it was said to wither 

 the most flourishing plant by its touch, and even 

 to cause trees to die, by striking the bark with its 



