into the water, a sharp knife; which, if the fish offers to assault him, he endeavours to strike into its belly; on which it generally swims off. The officers who are in the vessels keep a watchful eye on these voracious creatures; and, when they observe them approach, shake the ropes fastened to the negroes, to put them on their guard. Many of them, when the divers have been in danger, have thrown themselves into the water, with knives in their hands, and hastened to their defence: but too often all their dexterity and precaution have been of no avail.

THOUGH this large and fine tasted fish is of a form terrible to view, it is perfectly harmless; the body, which is from six to eighteen feet in length, is pentagonal, and armed from head to tail with five rows of large bony tubercles, each of which ends in a strong recurved tip; one of these is on the back, one on each side, and two on the margin of the belly: the snout is long and obtuse at the end, and has the tendrils near the tip: the mouth, which is beneath the head, is somewhat like the opening of a purse, and is so formed as to be pushed suddenly out, or retracted: the upper part of the body is of a dirty olive colour: the lower parts silvery; and the tubercles are white in the middle: the tendrils on the snout, which are some inches in length, have so great a resemblance in form to the earth-worms, that, at first sight, they might be mistaken for them. By this contrivance, this clumsy toothless fish is supposed to keep itself in good condition, the solidity of its flesh evidently showing it to be a fish of prey. It is said to hide its large body among the weeds near the sea coast, or at the mouths of large rivers, only exposing its tendrils, which small fish, or sea-insects, mistaking for real worms, approach for plunder, and are sucked into the jaws of their enemy. It has been supposed by some to root into the soil at the bottom of the sea or rivers; but the tendrils above

mentioned, which hang from its snout over its mouth, must themselves be very inconvenient for this purpose; and as it has no jaws, it evidently lives by suction, and, during its residence in the sea, marine insects are generally found in its stomach. From its quality of floundering at the bottom of rivers, the sturgeon has received its name from the Germans, the word stoeren signifying to wallow in the mud.

Sturgeons are found both in the European and American seas. At the approach of spring, they leave the deep recesses of the sea, and enter the rives to spawn; and from May to July the American rivers abound with them. As they are not voracious fishes, they are never caught by baits, but in nets composed of small cords, and placed across the mouth of the river, but in such a manner, that whether the tide ebbs or flows, the pouch of the net goes with the stream.

THERE are about twenty species of the ray, of all of which the torpedo, or electric ray, is the most remarkable, as it possesses some very distinguishing peculiarities. In the general structure of its body, it has not been found to differ materially from the rest of the rays: the electric, or benumbing organs, are placed one on each side of the gills, reaching from thence to the semicircular cartilages of each great fin, and extending longitudinally from the interior extremity of the animal to the transverse cartilage which divides the thorax from the abdomen: and within

these limits they occupy the whole space between the skin of the upper and under surfaces: each organ is about five inches in length; and, at the anterior end, about three in breadth; they are composed of perpendicular columns, reaching from the upper to the under surface, varying in length according to the thickness of the parts of the body, from an inch and a half to half an inch. The head and body of the torpedo are distinct from each other, and nearly of a circular form; the skin is smooth, of a dusky brown colour above, 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 dorsal fins are placed near its origin: the mouth is small, and, as in other species, there are on each side below it, five breathing apertures.

The electric rays are found in many of the European seas, and the fishermen often discover it in Torbay, and sometimes of such a size as to weigh eighty pounds. They are partial to sandy bottoms, in about forty fathoms of water, where they often bury themselves by flinging the sand over them, by a quick flapping of all the extremities. In Torbay they are generally taken like other flat-fish, with the trawl-net: and instances have occurred of their seizing a bait. They bring forth their young in

autumn.

This fish's benumbing, or torporific quality, is one of the most potent and extraordinary faculties in nature. The ignorant stranger might imagine he is only handling a skate, when he is instantly struck numb.-Upon touching the torpedo with the finger, it frequently, though not always, happens, that the person feels an unusual pain and numbness, which suddenly seizes the arm up to the elbow, and sometimes to the very shoulder, or head.

Its chief force is at the instant it begins; it lasts but a few moments, and then vanishes entirely. If a man do not actually touch the torpedo, how near soever he holds his hands, he feels nothing; if he touch it with a stick, he feels a faint effect; if he touch it through the interposition of any pretty thin body, the numbness is felt very considerably; if the hand be pressed very strong against it, the numbness is the less, but still strong enough to oblige a man speedily to let go.

The engraving displays the interior of the lower electric, or galvanic organ.

THE head of this fish is broad, flat, and thin; and the horns, which occupy the place of eyes in other species, are armed with short crooked spines, like teeth, and are probably weapons of defence: the eyes lie on each side of the head near the mouth: the head and body are entirely covered with a skin resembling leather; and the tail-fin slightly forked.

This fish is of a very dark green colour, the sides are somewhat lighter. Another remarkable peculiarity in this fish is the dorsal-fin: it is close to the head; and its front ray is long, stiff, dentated like the horns, and is probably an instument of defence also: the belly is short and thick; and the lateral line goes meandering along the middle of the body, and puts out branches each way. This species grows to a considerable size; its flesh is eatable, but not much sought after. It is found near the shores of Asia and Surinam.

One of these fish caught at Surinam, on examination, was observed to have its mouth filled with yellow eggs, in none of which, however, could be found a fish completely formed; from which it is concluded, that the silure, to defend her eggs from the voracious tribes, hatches them instinctively in her mouth. But she is supposed, at times, to emit them from her mouth, when in search of food to appease her appetite, and when satisfied, to them into her mouth again.

Of the silure tribe, there are upwards of thirty different species, of which our limits will not allow us to give a description.

M 3

THE mouth of this curious fish is wide, but without teeth; the head is flattish in the middle, but over each eye there appears a serrated ridge rising from it: the gills on each side have sharp horny spurs on their edges tending backwards, by which it derives its latter name: the body is almost as wide as it is deep, and the under side is of a silverish colour, tinged with red: the upper side is of a dusky brown, sprinkled with small black spots, with some large clouds of black. It has a lateral line from head to tail, and also two fins on the back, one on the belly behind the vent, and tail-fin: two narrow fins, or feelers, are placed under the fore part of the belly, of a whitish colour, each having only three spines.

The fish is found in the Mediterranean sea, and in several parts of the ocean: it keeps near the shores, and lies concealed among sea-weed, to prey on small strayed fishes.

THE head is large, quadrangular, and covered with a rough helmet, which ends in two spines above, and in five smaller ones below: the mouth opens up wards;