kleback of our ponds wears sharp spines, and knows well
how to use them. Even the terrible Pike will not swallow such a
dangerous mouthful unless driven by hunger.

Sea-fish are the most hunted of all living things. From the day they
leave the egg, enemies lurk on all sides to gobble them up. The weak
ones are eaten, and none of them has the chance to die of old age! So we
find a defence of spines and prickles worn by many sea-fish. Spines on
the fins are the commonest, and no doubt help to keep away enemies; but
some fish go one better than that, and wear a complete suit of spines.

The Porcupine-fish, as his name tells us, is one of these. He is a small
fish, living in warm seas. No doubt he has many enemies, eager to meet
him and eat him. But, when they see this little fish puff out his sides
like a balloon, and when pointed spines rise up all over the balloon,
they think better of it! They leave him alone; and the Porcupine-fish
goes back to his usual shape, the spines lying flat until wanted again.
He is sometimes called the Sea-hedgehog or Urchin-fish, and well
deserves his name.

Many of the Skates or Rays wear terrible spikes. The Starry Ray (p. 52,
No. 7) is not easy to handle, dead or alive, for he has spines all over
his body. The Thornback is another ugly fellow of this family, having
spines on his back and a double row of them down his tail. Fishermen are
careful to avoid the lash of this armed tail. The Sting Ray shows us
still another weapon. At the end of its long tail it has a horrible,
jagged three-inch spike. As this fish likes to bury itself in wet sand,
bathers sometimes tread on it. In a flash the tail whips round! A
poisonous slime covers the spike, causing great pain to the unlucky
bather.

Several poisonous fish are common near our coast. You may have seen the
one called the Great Weaver, also its small cousin, the Sting Fish. The
Weaver is dreaded by fishermen; for the spines on its back fin, as well
as the one on its gill-cover, cause poisoned wounds. They are grooved,
to hold a very poisonous slime.

Some fish have the power to kill their prey, and stun their enemies, at
a distance! Instead of a spiny defence, they are _armed with
electricity!_ The best-known sea-fish of this sort is the Electric Ray,
also called the Cramp Fish or Torpedo (_see_ p. 48). It is a clumsy fish
about a yard long, and very ugly. Being too slow to catch its swift prey
in fair chase, it stuns them with an electr