TORPEDO. 
GENERIC CHARACTER. 
Body broad, flat, and thin. 
Five apertures beneath on each side the neck. 
Mouth beneath the head, transverse, and closely set with 
teeth. 
SPECIFIC CHARACTER. 
R. tota laevis. Linn. Syst. Nat. Gmel. 1. 
p. 1504. 
Quite smooth. 
Raja dorso monopterygio, cauda brevi apice 
pinnate, laevis, inermis, rostro subobtuso. 
Gronov. Zooph. no. 152. 
Will. Ichth. p. 81. t. D. 4. Penn. Brit. Zool. 3. 
p. 89. no. 36. pi. 10. Shaw Gen. Zool. 5. 
p. 297. pi. 146. 
The wonderful power in this fish, to benumb the 
hand that touches it, has been known for many 
ages, and noticed by most writers. The antients 
admired the effect without attempting to explain 
the cause ; and that this singular faculty might be 
rendered still more astonishing, they gave to it an 
influence which it by no means possesses. Thus 
Pliny assures us that the torpedo, even when touched 
Raja Torpedo. 
Torpedo. . . 
