SKAtE. 
observed that the auricle of the heart, (or that part of it to 
■which the blood is returned from the veins, before it again 
enters the heart for a renewed circulation,) was in continual 
action, although the other portion of that organ remained at 
rest. At nine o’clock in the evening, and twenty-five hours 
after its capture, this pulsation eontinued at the rate of five 
throbs in a minute, and probably for several hours following; 
thus also afibrding proof that the auricle is the last part 
of the body to die, as it is believed to be the first to shew 
signs of life. In other instances the heart has been removed 
from the body, and in that condition the pulsations of its 
muscular structure have continued for the space of twenty- 
four hours. 
The Skate is never the special object of the fisherman’s 
search, and when it chances to take the hook it may give 
him perhaps a greater amount of trouble than the prize can 
repay. As if sensible of danger, it will lie as still as if the 
line had got entangled with a rock; in which case the only 
resource is patience, for an attempt to raise it from the ground 
will only have the effect of causing it to remain more still. 
If, however, the head be raised, the body will follow, and 
the fish ascends like a kite into the air, the effort of the 
fisherman being directed to gather in his line in such a 
manner, so that the fish shall not be able again to turn its 
head downward; which, if it did, no strength he could employ 
would interrupt its descent. 
The value of this fish as an article of food is very differently 
thought of in different parts of this kingdom and of Europe. 
Pdsso says it is not a common fish at Nice, but that it is 
held in high estimation, and Lacepede also speaks of it as a 
delicacy. But the most favourable accoi n' is by Willoughby, 
who records a remarkable instance, in which, owing probably 
to excellent cookery and exquisite sauce, a single fish of this 
sort, weighing two hundred pounds, dressed by the cook of 
St. John’s College, in Cambridge, was found to have satisfied 
the appetites of one hundred and twenty learned gentlemen. 
Lacepede says that it is salted and dried for exportation in 
many places, and particularly in Holstein and Sleswick, and 
in that state it is sent to Germany for sale. In our own 
.lountry we have seen it, thus prepared, in the market at 
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