The Hijlory of ANIMALS, 309 
the male fifh have a great number of little fpines on them, both on the upper and un¬ 
der fides; thefe are not found in the female, and hence Rondelet and fome others 
have defcribed the male Skaite as a diftind: fpecies, under the name of the Raia fpi- 
nofa: the back, as well as the belly, in this fpecies, is fmooth, but there runs a fingle 
row of fpines along the tail. 
This fpecies is very frequent in the Northern Seas, and was well known to the antients, 
Ariftode, fEiian, Oppian, and Athenseus call it bAk ; Cuba, Audtor, and Albertus call 
it Rayte, Rayche, and Rubus ; Rondelet, Gefner, and Aldrovand, Raia undulata five 
cinerea ; Gefner, jonfton, and Charleton, Raia undulata; and Schoneveldt, Raia lee- 
vis. We call it the Skaite and the Flaire. Ariffotle has diftinguifhed the fexes in this 
fpecies; he calls the male Skaite, BA(^ ; and the female, which has no fpines on the 
fins, BAij. 
Raia tota Icevis . '50 |t 5T0tptB0 3 0? 
The wholly fmooth Raia. Ct&tlip-fifl)* 
This is a large fpecies ; it is confiderably broad, in proportion to it’s length, and it 
is very thick: the whole body, head, and tail are all perfe&ly fmooth ; there is not 
the lead: fign of any fpine or tubercle for the origin of a (pine in any part : it has alfo 
two little fins or pinnules in the middle of the back : by thefe characters it is fuffici- 
ently diftinguifhed at fight from all the other fpecies of this genus. The roftrum is ob¬ 
long and fubacute; the eyes are large and prominent, and there is an aperture behind 
each: the mouth is large, tranfverfe, and well furnifhed with teeth : the apertures of 
the gills are larger than in many of the other fpecies, though they are not immoderately 
fo: the back is fomewhat gibbofe ; the belly is flat, and the fides are terminated by 
broad fins, which ffand in the place of the lateral or pedoral fins of other fifhes: the 
colour on the back is a dufky greyifh, and the belly is white. The fingular property 
of this fifh is, that, when out of the water, it has a power of affeding the hand that 
touches it, in a very remarkable manner: the fhock is inftantaneous, and rderubles that 
given by eledricity, only that the effed lafts longer: the part of the limb affeded, 
which is ufually from the fingers ends up to the elbow, if the hand has touched it, is 
affeded with a fenfation much like that which we call the cramp: this is all that is in 
the power of the fifh, but thofe who have related it, have raifed the effeds into almoft 
miracles. Monfieur de Reaumur has given a long memoir in the Paris Tranfadions, 
in which he has endeavoured to account for the manner in which the effed is produced : 
he refolves it into the inftantaneous adion of a vaft multitude of fmall mufcles on the 
furface of the body of the fifh, which it brings into adion in great numbers at once; 
but there feems fomething more required to the perfedly explaining fo odd a phe¬ 
nomenon. 
The fifh has been known from the earlieft times. Ariftode, fElian, Oppian, and 
Athenaeus call it N*'px»i; Cuba, Narkos; the fame Cuba alfo and fome others call it Rabas; 
the greater number of the Latin writers call it, fimply, Torpedo ; Ray calls it, Torpedo 
Grecis Narce; Willughby, Torpedo Grecis Napn Genuenfibus Batta potta; Gefner, 
Aldrovand, and Jonfton, Torpedo non maculofa j and the fame Gefner, in other places. 
Torpedo maculofa and Torpedo maculofa fupina, making two other imaginary fpecies 
from it’s varieties; Aldrovand calls it Torpedo Safviani maculofa; and Bellonius, 
Torpedo oculata; Rondelet alfo, as well as fome others, has defcribed it under the 
different circumftances of growth and variegatifins in colour, three or four times over, 
under the names of Torpedo, and Torpedinis fpecies fecunda tertia and quarta. It is 
from thefe accidental variations, and fome little diftin&ion between the male and the 
female fifh, that it is not eafy to give a defcription of it, that fhall be accurate in the 
minute particulars. The Italians call it Occhiatella; and we, the Cramp-fifh, or the 
Numb-fifh. 
4 K 
FISHES. 
