lowish; body olive, paler below; fins obscure, with an oblong conical process at the base of the ventral fins; twenty-nine rays in the anal fin; length about two feet. They abide in the deepest parts of rivers, lakes, and ponds. The scales are large and of a bright colour; the tail has the form of a crescent. They spawn in May, but when they are near that time, they hide themselves so curiously in the ooze at the bottom of the water, that they are very seldom found with either soft or hard roe in them, so that in some countries the name is often used to denote sterility. The flesh is not comparable to that of the carp.

THE body of the Minow is of a blackish green, with blue and yellow variegations; the abdomen silvery; scales small; ten rays in the ventral, anal, and dorsal fins; tail forked, and marked near the base with a dusky spot. Its length about three inches.

This beautiful and well known fish is frequent in clear gravelly streams and rivulets in many parts of Europe. In Britain it is observed to appear in March, and is seldom seen after October. The Minow is gregarious; it spawns in June, and is, indeed, found in roe during the greater part of the summer. It is easily tamed; and, in captivity, may be taught to pick flies or filaments of beef from the hand.

Is a species of the Ray. This fish had long been disregarded in this country as a coarse, bad-tasted food, but it appears now upon our best tables. Its flesh is white, firm, and good. In some parts of the continent, where these fish are caught in great abundance, they are dried for sale. The best season for skate is the spring of the year. The body is broad and flat, of a brown colour on the back, and white on the belly; the head is not distinct from the body, so that this fish, and all belonging to this genus, are apparently acephalous, or without a head. Dr. Monro has remarked, that in the gills of a large Skate there are upwards of one hundred and forty-four thousand subdivisions, or folds; and that the whole extent of this membrane, whose surface is nearly equal to that of the whole human body, may be seen, by a microscope, to be covered with a network of vessels, that are not only extremely minute, but exquisitely beautiful. The tail of the Skate is long and generally prickly: the eggs are often found on the beach after a storm, in the shape of a square bag, with two horns at each end, as here represented.

In this the embryo is contained, and grows till it has acquired strength enough to burst through its prison. The colour of the bag is maroon, and the substance like thin brown parchment or leather. The female begins to drop her eggs singly in the month of May, and continues to exclude them for several months, to the number of two or three hundred.

The Skate sometimes attains a very large size. Willoughby speaks of one so huge, that it would have served one hundred and twenty men for dinner. Some naturalists are of opinion that these fishes are the largest inhabitants of the deep, and that the smallest of them only come near the surface of the water; the biggest remaining flat at the bottom of the sea, where an unfathomable depth secures them against the wiles of man.

The Kraken, mentioned by Pontoppidan, the learned bishop of Bergen, is perhaps one of the kind; but we cannot give much faith to the report, as it is supposed that this enormous bulk, which inhabits the bottom of the seas about the Norway coasts, is three or four miles in breadth; and that, when it moves and palpitates on the ooze, it heaves the tide so vehemently, that the fishermen are obliged to steer away as fast as they can, to avoid being upset by the commotion of the water!

The Thornback resembles the Skate in its general appearance, the principal difference consists in the latter having sharp teeth, and a single row of spines upon the tail, while the former has blunt teeth, and several rows of spines both upon the back and tail. A Thornback was caught near the island of St. Kitt's in the year 1634, which measured twelve feet in length, and nearly ten in width. The flesh of the Thornback is inferior to that of the Skate. It is sometimes eaten in England, but is generally sold at a low price. The young ones, however, which have the denomination of Maids, are reckoned delicate eating.

Is a very wonderful marine animal, endowed by Providence with an electric power, for exciting which, it is provided with a natural apparatus. It gives a smart shock to a person who handles the fish, similar to that produced by the electrical machine. The body of this fish is nearly circular, and thicker than any other of the Ray kind, to which it belongs. They are sometimes so large as to weigh betwixt seventy and eighty pounds. The skin is smooth, of a dusky brown colour,

and white underneath. The ventral fins form on each side, at the end of the body, nearly a quarter of a circle. The tail is short, and the two dorsal fins are near its origin. The mouth is small, and, as in the other species, there are on each side below it five breathing apertures.

The shock imparted by the touch of the Cramp-fish, as the Torpedo is vulgarly called, is often attended with a sudden sickness at the stomach, a general tremor, a kind of convulsion, and sometimes a total suspension of the faculties of the mind. Such power of self defence has Providence allowed this animal! Whenever his enemy approaches him, he emits from his body that benumbing charm, which sets the other at rest instantly, and thereby he gets time to escape. But it is not a sure means of defence only, as, through it, the Torpedo benumbs his prey, and easily seizes

upon it.

S

THE ELECTRICAL EEL

HAS been gifted by Providence with the same power as that of the preceding fish. It is about three feet in length, and twelve inches in circumference, in the thickest part of the body. The head is broad, flat,