8 
Mr. Bell's Description of 
nued on almost to the tail. It is strong and broad, like the 
dorsal, and projects a little farther backward than it. 
The mouth is small, and each jaw contains five rows of 
small teeth, about the thickness of hog's bristles, and of equal 
thickness throughout their length. The grinding, or cutting 
surfaces of the front, second, and third rows, in both jaws, 
are divided into three points. The two inner rows are pointed, 
and bent a little backward. 
The stomach was empty, so that I had not an opportunity 
of ascertaining its food. The intestinal canal was long, like 
that of fish which feed on vegetables ; and the oesophagus was 
thick set with pyramidal bodies, like the oesophagus of the 
turtle. 
The skeleton is very singular, many of the bones having tu- 
mours, which, in the first fish I saw, I supposed to be exostoses 
arising from disease ; but on dissecting a second, found the 
corresponding bones had exactly the same tumours, and the 
fishermen informed me they were always found in this fish ; 
I therefore conclude them to be natural to it. 
In Mr. Hunter's collection are two or three of these 
bones, but I never knew what fish they belonged to ; they 
were supposed to be from the back of some of the large 
rays. 
What advantage can arise from these large tumours is dif- 
ficult to say. Those on the spines of the vertebrae seem to an- 
swer no evident purpose, nor those at the origin of the dorsal, 
and anal fins. The particular form of the sternum, to which 
the ventral fins are joined, seems to be intended to give 
greater surface for the attachment of the muscles, and to in- 
crease their action. 
