TORPEDO RAY. SQ? 



with a row of small processes or appendages, ex- 

 tending some distance up the sides of the body 

 and edges of the pectoral fins. Native of the Ame- 

 rican seas. 



It may be doubted whether this be any thing 

 more than a variety, or, perhaps, sexual difference 

 of the preceding Ray ; and it is remarkable that in 

 Willughby's figure of the Sea-Devil the tail, as 

 before observed, is marked by a series of small 

 appendages, though it does not clearly appear 

 whether they are meant to be represented as be- 

 longing to one side of the tail or to the under part. 



Of a rounded shape. 



TORPEDO RAY. 



Raja Torpedo. R. suhfusca Ictmsj dorso utrinque poris perfusis 

 sparsis. 



Brownish smooth Ray, with the back marked on each side by 



scattered pores. 

 Raja Torpedo. R. tota Icevis. Lin. Syst. Nat. 

 Torpedo. Flin. Bellon. Gesn. Rondel. Aldr. Jonst. Redi, 



Will. SfC. SfC, 

 Cramp Ray. Penn. Brit, ZooU 



The Torpedo has been celebrated both by anci- 

 ents and moderns for its wonderful faculty of causing 

 a sudden numbness or painful sensation in the limbs 

 of those who touch or handle it. This power the 

 ancients, unacquainted with the theory of elec- 

 tricity, were contented to admire, without attempt- 

 ing to explain ; and, as is usual in similar cases, 

 magnified it into an effect httle short of what 



