in Ichthyology; a flat fish mentioned by Ulloa and others, as exceedingly hurtful to the pearl-fishers, and which seems to be the same with that which Pliny has described under the name of nubes or nebulosa: Ipsa ferunt (Urinatores) et nubem quandom crepitescere super capita, planorum piscium fumissem, promentem eos, ardentemque a reciprocando, et ob filos praecutos lineis annexos habere se; quia nisi perfusae ita, non refedant caliginis et pavoris, ut arbitratur, opere. Nubem enim five nebulam (cuius nomine id malum appellunt) inter anima- tia haud ullam repertit quisquam. (Plin. Hist. lib. ix. cap. 46.) The account given of this cloud by those divers is much the same with that which the divers in the American seas give of the manta; and the name of the cloud is perfectly applicable to it, as it really seems to be a cloud to those who are in the water below it: the swimmers likewise carry long knives, or sharp sticks, for the purpose of dispersing this animal. It is not improbable, that this fish has made its way into those seas from those of the old world, in the same manner as some others appear to have done. The strength of this fish is so great, that it will not only strangle a man whom it embraces or winds itself about, but it has even been seen to take the cable of an anchor and move it from the place where it had been cast. It has been called manta, because, when it lies stretched upon the sea, as it frequently does, it seems like a fleece of wool floating upon the water.