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Notice of the MYLIOBATIS AQVILA ofCuvier, or Eayle Ray of YarreM, 

 by Dr Johnston. 



" Mr Travis, surgeon at Scarborough," says Pennant, " had, in the sum- 

 mer of 1769, the tail of a ray brought to him by a fisherman of that 

 town ; he had taken it in the sea off the coast, but flung away the body." 

 To what species this tail belonged has never been satisfactorily deter- 

 mined. Pennant himself believed it to belong to the species called by the 

 Brazilians laberete, but the editor of the edition of his work published 

 in 1812, referred it to the Raia aquila of Linnaeus, which is said to be a 

 native of the Mediterranean. Dr Turton omitted it in his catalogue of 

 the British Fauna ; and in the works of Dr Fleming, and of Messrs 

 Jenyns and Yarrell, it stands among the doubtful or undetermined spe- 

 cies, the two latter expressing a belief that the tail might be referred to 

 the Raia Giorna, with as much probability as to R. aquila ; and, con- 

 sequently, Mr Yarrell has given a figure of both these species to enable 

 future inquirers the more readily to determine the question, should an 

 opportunity occur to any of his readers of doing so. 



Aware of these particulars, it was, with no ordinary delight, that I re- 

 ceived a perfect specimen of the Raia aquila, on Wednesday last (Sep- 

 tember 1 1 ), which had been found that morning on the shore of our bay 

 near Spittal. It was quite fresh, and in fine preservation ; and proves, 

 as I think, that the conjecture of Mr Travis's fish being the aquila is per- 

 fectly correct. There is, at all events, now no doubt that this species is 

 a native of our seas. 



The following is a description of my specimen. Body rhomboidal, 

 expanded laterally, flat, thickish, and raised in the middle, which gradu- 

 ally passes into the thin sides or fins, of a uniform dusky olive-green colour, 

 smooth and even. Head depressed, with a square vertex, or we may 

 compare it to the figure of a horse's hoof, having an oblong space in the 

 centre that represents the hollow part of the hoof; the front suddenly 

 lowered, round and entire. Eyes lateral, wide apart, roundish, dark grey, 

 overhung by a bony ridge. Behind them there is a large elliptical hole 

 leading to the gills. There is a series of punctures on each side of the 

 head, becoming most distinct and visible on the occiput. Each fth forms 

 a wide triangle with entire plain margins. Posterior fins square, and very 

 small proportionably. Tail once and a half as long as the body, flagel- 

 liform, tapering to a point, quadrangular, smooth, furnished with a small 

 fin within two inches of its root, and immediately under this fin the 

 aculeus or sting is protruded, which is upwards of three inches in length, 

 linear-lanceolate, long, serrated on both sides, the serratures reflected. 

 Ventral surface whitish, duskier at the sides, smooth. Teeth transverse, 

 linear-oblong, with a small open piece between the ends of every pair on 

 each side. 



Extreme breadth 21 inches. From the snout to the insertion of the 

 tail 13 inches. Length of the tail *2\> inches. 



