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 RAY 223 this country, is to extract the oil from the liv- er, which, with that from this organ in sharks, is employed for various domestic and medici- nal purposes. The European sting ray is com- mon in the Mediterranean and on the south- ern Atlantic coast ; it was well known to the ancients, who thought it capable of inflicting poisoned wounds ; it twists its long tail around its prey or its enemies, causing very severe lacerated wounds ; its flesh is not eatable. The spines of some of the species of this genus are used by savages as arrow and spear heads. In the family myliobatidoi or eagle rays, the head is more elevated than in the other families, projecting as far as the gills, without fin rays on its sides, but with a kind of cephalic fin in front of the skull making the point of the disk ; the pectorals are very large and wing- like ; the tail is long and slender, with a small dorsal and strong spine ; the mouth is trans- verse, with the dental plates reaching far back into the cavity of the mouth ; the teeth are like a mosaic pavement, large and even, in several rows forming a convex surface ; the eyes and spiracles are on the sides of the head, and a broad ridge runs between the two ; the interrupted pectorals on the sides of the head are a family character. In the genus mylioba- tis (Cuv.) the nasal membrane is square, and the pectorals end in an angular projection ; the teeth form long hexagonal plates in the mid- dle, with two or three short or equal rows on the sides. The M. acuta (Ayres) is found on the Massachusetts coast and in Long Island sound, and attains a length of about 4 ft. ; the 'body is smooth and reddish brown above, whitish below; tail very slender and armed with spines. The eagle ray of the Mediter- ranean (M. aquila, Risso) grows large ; the wounds made by its spines are much dreaded by fishermen. Several species are found in the seas of the warm parts of the globe. In rhi- noptera (Kuhl) the nasal membrane is notched ; the central teeth are the largest, the three lateral rows growing smaller and smaller ex- ternally. In aetolatis (Mull.) the nasal mem- brane is lobed, which would embrace many species of rhinoptera aa usually defined, and the pectorals are rounded ; the teeth form a single row of simple arched plates, without lateral rows. In zygobatis (Ag.) the nasal lobes and the pectorals are as in the preceding genus ; the central rows of teeth are much the largest, the first lateral about half as large, and the two external very much smaller. In go- niobatis (Ag.) the palate is broadest behind, and the plates are obtusely angular, with their rounded edges forward. There is hardly a family of fishes in the classification of which more confusion reigns than that of the rays ; naturalists see them only in rare instances, and almost always single specimens at a time ; there can be little doubt that the two sexes of the same species have in some instances been made into distinct species. Even our most common rays are very imperfectly known, and 699 VOL. xiv. 15 the genus raia embraces many species which are not congeners. For details on the embry- ology of the rays, see Prof. J. Wyman's paper in "Memoirs of the American Academy," vol. ix., 1867, and Mr. Putnam's in the "American Naturalist," vol. iii., 1870. EAT, a N. "W. county of Missouri, bordered S. by the Missouri river ; area, about 570 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 18,700, of whom 1,833 were colored. It has an undulating surface, covered with forests and prairies, and a gen- erally fertile soil. It is intersected by the St. Louis, Kansas City, and Northern railroad. The chief productions in 1870 were 187,736 bushels of wheat, 1,245,233 of Indian corn, 177,461 of oats, 39,114 of potatoes, 6,610 tons of hay, 190,355 Ibs. of tobacco, 42,374 of wool, 122,774 of butter, and 11,085 gal- lons of sorghum molasses. There were 9,009 horses, 2,155 mules and asses, 5,469 milch cows, 11,176 other cattle, 20,580 sheep, and 38,523 swine ; 2 flour mills, and 13 saw mills. Capital, Richmond. RAY, Isaac, an American physician, born in Beverly, Mass., in January, 1807. He gradu- ated at the Harvard medical school, and began the practice of medicine in Portland, Me., in 1827. In 1829 he removed to Eastport, Me., in 1841 was appointed superintendent of the state insane hospital at Augusta, and in 1845 superintendent of the Butler hospital for the insane at Providence, R. I., which office he filled till 1866. He subsequently removed to Philadelphia. He has published "Conversa- tions on Animal Economy" (Portland, 1829); "Medical Jurisprudence of Insanity" (Boston, 1838 ; 5th ed., enlarged, 1872) ; " Education in relation to the Health of the Brain" (1851); and "Mental Hygiene" (1863). RAY, John (or WHAT, as he at one time spelled his name), an English naturalist, born near Braintree, Essex, in 1628, died in 1705. He graduated at Trinity college, Cambridge, be- came a fellow in 1649, professor of Greek in 1650, and mathematical tutor in 1652. His health being impaired, he travelled over the greater part of England, Wales, and Scotland, studying their botany and zoology. At the restoration he took orders, but never held any church preferment, and two years later re- signed his fellowship, as he could not consci- entiously subscribe to the act of uniformi- ty. After this he resided chiefly at Middleton hall, in Warwickshire. From 1663 to 1666 he travelled with Mr. Willughby on the conti- nent, and he published an account of this tour in 1673. In 1667 he was elected a fellow of the royal society. Among his most impor- tant works are : Catalogue Plantarum Anglics (1670), the foundation of all English floras ; Methodm Plantarum Nova (1682), in which he proposed a new method of classification, which, altered and amended by himself, formed the basis of the method of Jussieu ; and Eis- toria Plantarum (3 vols., 1686-1704). He edited Willughby's works on the animal king-