Curious Creatures in Zoology

by John Ashton

The Sting Ray.

Pliny mentions the Sting Ray, and ascribes to it marvellous powers, which it does not possess:—“There is nothing more to be dreaded than the sting which protrudes from the tail of the Trygon, by our people known as the Pastinaca, a weapon five inches in length. Fixing this in the root of a tree, the fish is able to kill it; it can pierce armour, too, just as though with an arrow, and to the strength of iron it adds all the corrosive qualities of poison.”