504 
THE OCEAN WORLD. 
spines ; the whole surface, in short, bristles with larger or smaller 
spines, justifying the name of buckler-fish ; for these are not 
given by way of ornament, but defence. The colour of the upper 
surface is generally brown, with whitish spots. The tail, which 
exceeds the body in length, presents towards the end two small 
dorsals, terminating in a caudal fin. 
Ray-fish of all kinds are inhabitants of the deep sea, but they 
change according to the seasons. While stormy weather prevails, 
they hide themselves in the depth of the ocean, where they lie in 
ambush, creeping along the bottom But they do not always live at 
the bottom. They rise occasionally to the surface tar from the shore, 
eagerly chasing other inhabitants of the deep, lashing the water with 
Fig. Uaf’. TJie Cramp-Iiili ( Torpedo marmorata). 
their formidable tails and fins, springing out of the water, and making 
it foam again under their gambols. 
When pursuing their prey the rays deploy their great pectoral fins, 
which resemble wings, and are aided by a very delicate and mobile 
tail ; they heat the waters in order to fall unexpectedly upon tlieir 
prey, as the eagle stoops upon its victim. It may thus be called the 
king of fishes, as the eagle is the king of birds. 
The Cramp-fish, Torpedo marmorata (Fig. 350), has considerable 
analogy with the Eaia. Its flattened body forms a roundish disk, beyond 
which its rays form large pectoral fins ; but the humeral girdle which 
carries them, carries also, in a great hollow, a most singular organic 
apparatus, which possesses the property of producing violent electrical 
