270 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 
late Matthias Dunn of Meva- 
gissey seriously urged on the 
Admiralty to dynamite them 
in the interests of the fishing 
industry. Most of the sharks 
deposit their eggs in the 
curious oblong vessels known 
by those who pick up the 
disused cases on the fore- 
shore as “purses”; and 
these attach themselves to 
rocks and stones by long 
tendrils that cling to every 
support. A number of 
species (the Porbe.vgle and 
Tope among British kinds), 
how'ever, bring forth their 
young alive. 
Between the Sharks and 
Rays there is a curious and 
interesting link in the form 
of the Monk-fish, or Angel- 
fish, which is common on 
all sandy shores, and a fre- 
quent victim of the trawl. Such local names as Mongrel-skate and Shark-ray indicate a wide- 
spread acceptance of its intermediate position between the two groups under notice. Like some 
of the sharks already noticed, it produces living young, and its maximum size may be 
set down as at any rate over 7 feet. The w'riter measured and weighed one trawled in 
Bournemouth Bay during the summer of 1896. Its length was nearly 4^- feet, and its w'eight 
rather less than 50 lbs. 
Like many of the rays, this 
species feeds to a great ex- 
tent on flat-fishes. 
In outward form the 
monk-fish, though it is in 
reality more nearly allied to 
the sharks, brings us by an 
easy transition to the flattened 
R.\YS, with their long whip- 
like tails and pointed snouts. 
There are a dozen, or rather 
more if we count casual visi- 
tors, of these skates and rays 
in British seas, the largest 
being the great E.\GLE-RAY, 
examples of which have been 
recorded of the enormous 
weight of 1,000 lbs. Many 
of the smaller kinds are 
studded with sharp spines, 
curved in some species, and 
the THORNB.A.CK owes to 
Thcto by IV. Havillt- Ktnt^ F.Z.S.~\ [Milford-on-Ssa 
WHIP-TAILED STING-RAY 
Sting-rays are abundant in tropical seas 
Photo by W. Saville-Kent., F.Z.S.'\ [^\lilford-on-Sea 
HORNED OX-RAY, OR DEVIL-FISH 
This species and its allies attain enormous proportions. One taken at Barhadoes required sc'ven 
yoke of oxen to dra^cv it 
