SKATES. 
85 
l>y what is called the boat share, which commonly amonnts to 
a fifth part of the fish sold in the market: for the remainder 
fie has a common share with his men. But other fishes will 
come to the hook besides those which find a place at fashionable 
tables, or the public are accustomed to buy, and which, 
indeed, are intrinsically as valuable as any which have a ready 
sale. The Grey Gurnard, Scad, Comber, Power, the Wrasses, 
Cogfish, Rays, and Skates, are in this class, and by the fish- 
ermen they are collectively known by the name of rabble-fish, 
as being rejected from the market; and they consequently fall to 
the lot of the fishermen themselves, who take them for the 
subsistence of their families, without deducting any portion 
for boat share. The Skate is the largest, and, on the whole, 
the most important of these rejected fishes, and the Saxon 
Word Skitan, to reject, is expressive of the fact of its being 
So. The same word is the parent of several expressions still 
in common use, as significant of being thrown out, aside, or 
rejected; such as to scout an opinion, a scout thrown out from 
an army to obtain intelligence, and scatter, to disperse widely 
abroad. In the West of England a sJdt is a lampoon thrown 
out at random against anyone who may choose to take it up. 
Ray may be derived from the word reoh, which signifies 
rough, and is indeed the ancient form of that word. In its 
simple form it is applied to the Common Thornback, which 
IS the most valued of the tribe. 
