Rhymes of a Rolling Stone

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1823 edition. Excerpt: ...the Cape of Good Hope, and Coromandel. The torpedoes or cramp rays, which form the second sub-genus, have the head flattened in the form of a quoit, the mouth large, short and fleshy. These forms ally them on one side to the rhinobatos, and on the other to the rays properly socalled. The torpedo rays are celebrated for the faculty which they possess of giving violent shocks to those who touch them. The organ which performs the part of an electrifying machine is an apparatus of tubes divided by diaphragms into little hexagonal cells situated near the head, before the pectoral fins. The torpedoes give shocks to the animals which disturb them; and it appears that in this manner they benumb those which they intend to make their prey; they have no other weapons. Torpedoes are to be found in almost all the seas. The largest, and that which gives, the most violent shocks, lives upon the coast of the Cape of Good Hope. The torpedo with five spots,'the marbled torpedo, and the torpedo of Galvani inhabit our coasts, but it is only lately that they have been distinguished from their congeners. The other species of the genus ray have the body extremely depressed, and very wide, with a long fdiform tail. Their teeth, which are of different forms, serve to distinguish the subgenera; in certain species the tail is smooth, in others it is armed with long prickles, furnished on each sidewith very deep notches These weapons are not venomous, but they inflict wounds which it is very difficult to cure. The thorn-back (raja clavata, and the rough ray (r.Tubus), which are common in our markets, are the species most esteemed as food. Of those which inhabit our seas, the skate (raja batis, Lin.,) arrives at the greatest size; it has been known to weigh more than...