Mr Lament's Account of a Colossal Ray or Skate. Ill 
size was enormous ; for the distance from the extremity of one 
wing or pectoral fin to the other, expanded like the wing of an 
eagle, measures 18 feet; over the extremity of the back, and, 
on the right line of the belly, 16 feet; the distance from the 
snout to the end of the tail, 3 4 feet; length of the tail 4 feet; 
width of the mouth 2 feet 9 inches. The operation of combat 
and killing lasted nine hours. The achievement was witnessed 
by crowds of citizens on the shores of New Jersey and Dela- 
ware, and by the persons on board the flotilla of vessels in the 
bay and offing. During the scuffle, the wings, side-flaps, or vast 
alated fins of the monster, lashed the sea with such vehemence, 
that the spray rose to the height of 30 feet, and rained around 
to the distance of 50 feet. 11 
In the month of February last, the following interesting ac- 
count of the capture of the colossal skate or ray was sent to me 
by my former pupil Lieutenant Lamont of the 91st Regiment. 
4£ The first appearance of an animal of this species, since I 
have been here (about 18 months) was about two months ago, 
when I was called out to the beach by some of the inhabitants, 
whom I found, on going there, to be assembled in great numbers, 
to see what they called the Sea Devil. I confess my curiosity was 
not less excited than theirs, when I saw floating close to the sur- 
face of the water, about 20 yards from me, a large mass of living 
substance, of a dark colour, but of the shape and size of which 
I could not, at the time, form any proper idea, it being so very 
different from any thing I had ever before seen or heard of* 
farther than that I supposed it to have been many times the size 
of what I now believe it was. No time was lost in setting out in 
pursuit of him, with harpoons, &c. ; and it was not long before 
he was come up with, and struck with one of the harpoons ; when 
he made off* with great velocity, towing the boat after him. As 
he seemed to incline chiefly to the surface of the water, 6 or 7 
I more harpoons were (with the assistance of several canoes that 
had come up) successively plunged into him, and all the boats 
made fast to each other, which he was obliged to pull after him, 
with several people in each. Such, however, was the great 
strength of this animal, that, after being fast, in the manner I 
have described, for upwards of 4 hours, and taking the boats out 
to sea attached to him, to a distance of about 10 miles from the 
h 2 
