Note 74 — Chapter VI

The sting-ray is so often referred to by Pacific voyagers that some description of it is necessary. This fish—probably of the genus Urogymnus or Pteroplatea—belongs to the family of the Trygonidæ, the whip-tailed or sting-tailed rays, so called because the thin, pliable tail is armed with a series of bony spines, as much as 8 or 9 inches long, which have proved very useful to primitive man on the Pacific and Indian Ocean coasts (where the sting-rays are often stranded) as a ready-made lancehead or dagger point. The skin of some species of sting-ray is covered with bony tubercles. The rays or skates are distantly related to sharks, but are specially remarkable for being broad and flat—occasionally broader than they are long—owing to the immense development of the fin flaps at the sides.