21. TRYGONID.E DASYATIS. 47 



with half spots of paler. Tail with four dark blotches above, forming 

 half rings. (Caudal spine wanting in all the specimens examined.) Vir- 

 ginia to Brazil ; not uncommon. 



(Eaia maclura Le Sueur, Journ. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1817, 41 ; Duuidril, Hist. Nat. 

 Poiss. i, G14 ; Gunther, viii, 487.) 



6O. P. BJiarinoratii Cooper. 



Disk about twice as broad as long, covered with perfectly smooth skin. 

 Tail 3 in length of disk, with a rather small cutaneous fold above and 

 below, the lower fold the longer, the upper about as deep. Interor- 

 bital space a little shorter than the snout. Snout slightly prominent, 

 but forming a very obtuse angle. Olive-brown, nnely mottled every- 

 where with darker, the dark forming reticulations around pale roundish 

 spots. Tail without dark rings. Caudal spine much smaller than in 

 other sting rays ; present in all specimens examined. Coast of Califor- 

 nia from Point Concepcion southward ; common. 



(Cooper, Proc. Cal. Ac. Nat. Sci. iii, 112.) 



4O. DASYATIS Raiiuesque. 

 Sting Hays. 



(Tryyon Adanson.) 



(Rafinesque, Caratteri di Alcuui Nuovi Gen. 1810, 16: type Dasijatis ujus Rafinesque = 

 Raia pastinaca Linmeu.s. ) 



Disk oval, flat, with rounded angles. Tail very long and slender, 

 whip-like, without tin, but often with one or two vertical membranace- 

 ous folds. A strong serrated spine toward the base of the tail. Skin 

 more or less spinous or prickly, rarely smooth. Teeth small, paved. 

 A few papilla? usually present in the mouth behind the lower jaw. 

 Sting rays of large size, abundant in warm seas. Many of the spiuous 

 species are nearly or quite smooth when young. (oa<rt'>-, shaggy or 

 rough; /SSrt'c, a skate; hence properly 2)asybatis.} 



* Upper caudal fold obsolete; lower well developed. (Jlcntilri/f/on Miiller & Henle.) 



<> I . I). ccBBt rums (Mitchill) Jordan & Gilbert. Common 8li;i;/ Ray ; Clam Cracker; 

 Stingaree. 



Disk a little broader than long, its anterior angle obtuse. Tail rel- 

 atively stout, about one-third longer than the disk. A well-developed 

 fold below, but the upper fold reduced to a mere trace. Disk perfectly 

 smooth in the young, with more or less of tubercles along the median 

 line of the back and the scapular region in the adult. Buccal papillae 

 3. Width of mouth about half its distance from the tip of the snout. 



