RAIID^E. 345 



Breeding. Begins to germinate in June, and brings forth its young in July 

 and August (Pennant). Eggs deposited May and June (Couch), and it has been 

 said that the number of females is in excess of that of the males. The remarks 

 made at page 337, of how the common skate have been captured during coition, 

 have been found at Mevagissey to likewise apply to this species. 



Diseases, Sfc. Couch, writing from Cornwall in 1862, observed that its 

 numbers have much lessened of late years : the cause of which is supposed to be 

 the increased practice of fishing with beam trawls ; by which not only the young 

 ones, too small to be used as food, are destroyed, but the ground is torn up and 

 the food on which the fish must subsist dispersed, with the destruction of shelter 

 necessary for the perfection of the eggs. 



As food. Good eating when not too large, for as in all these fish they 

 become coarse with age : they are best during the autumn and winter months. 

 In Ireland it is said to be the most preferred of all of the genus as food. It is 

 often salted by fishermen, and is best preserved under heavy pressure. In some 

 parts of Scotland it is not salted, but merely subjected to great pressure and 

 kept dry. 



Habitat. Is found around the coasts of Europe, and extends round France, 

 into the Mediterranean. Abundant in the Orkneys and Shetlands (Low) : 

 sometimes taken in great numbers off Banffshire (Edward) : Aberdeen (Sim) : 

 frequent at St. Andrew's (Mcintosh) : common in the Firth of Forth (Parnell) : 

 and in fact on both coasts of Scotland and Ireland, in which last country it is 

 found in almost every sandy bay. Abundant in Yorkshire (Yorkshire Vertebrata) : 

 common in Norfolk (Lowe) : along the south coast is numerous off Devonshire 

 (Parhtt), and common off Cornwall. Swansea (Dillwyn), and is in fact found 

 round our coasts. 



The specimen (fig. 1) is a male 36 inches long, stuffed and in the National 

 collection : the monstrosity (fig. 2) is likewise in the same collection. 



7. Raia maculata, Plate CLXXII. 



Rata asterias, Rondel, lib. xii, p, 350, c. fig. Fuller 's ray, Pennant, Brit. Zool. 

 (Ed. 1776) iii, p. 86 (Ed. 1812) p. 116 {male) ; Shaw, Zool. v, p. 275. 



Raia rubus, Donovan, Brit. Fishes, i, pi. xx ; Turton, Brit. Fauna, p. Ill ; Fleni. 

 p. 171. 



Rata miraletus, Donovan, I.e. v, pi. ciii ; Turton, p. Ill j Jenyns, Manual, 

 p. 518 ; Yarrell, Brit. Fishes (ed. 2) ii, p. 570 (ed. 3) ii, p. 570. 



Raia maculata, Montagu, Wern. Mem. ii, p. 426 ; Jenyns, I.e. p. 514 ; Parnell, 

 Wern. Mem. vii, p. 434, t. xliii ; Yarrell, Brit. Fishes (ed. 1) ii, p. 429, c. fig. ; 

 Thompson, Nat. Hist. Ireland, iv, p. 260 ; Schlegel, Dieren Neder. p. 199, pi. xx, 

 f. 2 ; Giglioli, Catal. Pesc. Ital. p. 54. 



Raia fidlonica, Turton, p. 111. 



Raia oculata, Fleming, p. 172. 



Raia asterias, Midi, and Henle, pp. 139, 194, pi. xlvi, f. 2 (excl. syn.) ; 

 Dumeril, Ich. i, p. 543 (excl. syn.) ; A. Moreau, Poiss. de la France, i, p. 429. 



Raia oxyrhynchus, White, Catal. p. 138. 



Spotted ray, Couch, Fish. Brit. Isles, i, p. 104, pi. xxiv. 



The width of the disk is one-fifth more than its length, or it equals its length 

 as well as a distance equalling the extent of the snout. The tail of about equal 

 length to that of the disk, but in some young it is shorter. The front edge of the 

 disk is a little more than that of the hind edge, it is undulated in its outline, and 

 projects beyond a straight line drawn from the end of the snout to its outer angle, 

 which is somewhat rounded : posterior edge of disk convex. Eyes of moderate size, 

 rather less than their distance asunder : the width of the interorbital space equals 

 2^- to 2 1 in the length of the snout. Spiracles rather larger than the orbit: mouth 

 wide, equalling about half the length of the head. Teeth pointed in both sexes, 

 even in the young, in which there are from 65 to 70 rows in either jaw, in large 

 specimens the number of tin se is increased. Nostrils one-fourth more distant 

 from the end of the snout than they are apart, and having a short valve. Skin 



