THE SKATE. 
106 
is filled with a copious colle&ion of clear glutinous mat- 
ter, through which all the nerves that are diftributed to 
the different parts of the body, appear tranfparent. A- 
mong thefe are feen the optic and olefaftory nerves ; the 
latter proceed through the apertures, all along to the 
nofe, and afford full proof that this animal poffeffes the 
fenfe of fmelling. 
‘‘The Sharp Nofed Skate *. 
"V^itxouGHBY describes a fifli of this fpecies, which he 
examined at Rome in 1664 : They are frequently taken 
on the Britijh coafts ; and are diftinguiihed from the for- 
mer by their long, narrow, and lharp pointed nofe, not 
unlike the end of a fpontoon f. The mouth is very 
large, and furnilhed with a number of fmall (harp teeth, 
bending inwards : The tail is thick, and terminates in 
two fmall fins. 
This is fuppofed to be the bos of the ancient natura- 
lifts, a fiih they deferibe as of an enormous fiz.e %. Op - 
pian gives an account of its fondnefs for human flelh, 
and the method it takes of deftroying men, by overlay- 
ing them, and keeping them down with its vaft weight, 
till they are drowned. Other writers give the fame re- 
lation, and confirm the character of thefe anthropophagi §< 
in tiie fouth they are fo well known, that the perfons 
• employed 
* Raia oxyrinchus, Lin. Syft. Idem, Willoughby. 
f Pennant's Brit. Zool. 
| E VQttja\oi rrstv}ttrftv fM* Hllcilt. 
5 fide Phile 4e propriet. anitn. et Ulloa’s voy. i. 13^. 
