386 
The Animal-Lore of 8'hakspeare’s Time. 
The power of imparting an electric shock possessed by 
the torpedo, or cramp-fish, was known to the ancients. 
Oppian, the “ Izaak Walton ” of classical authors, gives 
a full account of the mode by which this fish defends 
itself against its enemies. The torpedo, or electric ray, 
is found occasionally on the British coasts. Montaigne 
illustrates by the action of the torpedo the knowledge 
which animals have of their respective faculties, and the 
ingenuity which they display in putting these faculties 
to the best possible use. 
“ The cramp-fish,” he writes, “ has this quality, not only to benumb 
all the members that touch her, but even through the nets transmit a 
heavy dulness into the hands of those that move and handle them; nay, 
it is further said, that if one pour water upon her, he will feel this num- 
ness mount up the water to the hand, and stupifie'the feeling through 
the water. This is a miraculous force; but ’tis not useless to the cramp- 
fish; she knows it, and makes use on’t, for to catch the prey she 
desires, she will bury herself in the mud, that other fishes swimming 
over her, struck and benum’d with this coldness of hers, may fall into 
her power.” {Essay liv.) 
The Tbornback, mentioned by Harrison in bis list of 
British fish, was very abundant. It was 
much used as an article of food. It was sub¬ 
jected to heavy pressure, salted, and dried for winter 
consumption. 
The name maid was given to several fish of the ray 
species, but was generally applied to young skates. The 
name skate, says Couch, is derived from the Saxon word 
skitan, to reject, and was probably bestowed on this fish 
on account of its being thrown aside as worth less, at least 
for the market. The fishermen sometimes reserved it for 
their own use. Willoughby records an instance of a 
skate weighing two hundred pounds, dressed by the cook 
of St. John’s College, Cambridge, which proved suffi¬ 
cient to satisfy the appetite of one hundred and twenty 
gentlemen. 
