56 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Disk quadrangular, about one sixth wider than long, anterior 

 margins nearly straight, posterior and inner borders convex, 

 outer and posterior angles rounded; snout not protruding be- 

 yond the lines of the margins, ventrals rounded; tail strong, 

 rather more than one and one half times the length of disk, 

 with a strong serrated spine, bearing a short, low cutaneous 

 expansion behind the spine on the upper side, and a longer, little 

 wider one below, ending nearly opposite; upper jaw undulated, 

 lower prominent in the middle; teeth small, smooth in young 

 and females, sharp in adult males; three papillae at the bottom 

 of the mouth, and one at each side; body and tail nake'd. Color 

 olive brown in adult, reddish or yellowish in young; lower sur- 

 face whitish. New York to Florida and Brazil. (After Garman) 



According to Garman, a young female measured from snout 

 to tail 7.1, length of tail was 11, and width of pectorals 8.2 

 inches. 



Le Sueur's type was from the New Jersey coast. Mtiller and 

 Henle mention six specimens in the Museum of Natural History 

 at Paris, which were sent from New York by Milbert. The 

 species has not been reported recently in New York waters. 



Genus PTEROPL.ATEA Miiller & Henle 



Disk much broader than long, its anterior margins meeting 

 in a very obtuse angle, its outer angles more or less acute, the 

 form, therefore, transversely rhombic; tail very short and 

 slender, shorter than the disk, without fin, armed with a very 

 small serrated spine or without spine; skin smooth or very 

 nearly so. Size large. 



31 Pteroplatea maclura (Le Sueur) 



Butterfly Ray 



If a ia mart urn LE SUEUR, Jour. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. I, 41, 1817. 



Pastinaca maclura DE KAY, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 375, pi. 65, fig. 213, 1842. 



Pteroplatea maclura MULLER & HENLE, Plagiostomen, 169, 1841; GUNTHER, 

 Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus. VIII, 487, 1870; JORDAN & GILBERT, Bull. 10, 

 U. S. Nat. Mus. 46, 1883; JORDAN & EVERMANN, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. 

 Mus. 86, 1S96; SMITH, Bull. U. S. F. C. XVII, 90, 1S9S. 



Disk almost twice as broad as long, covered with smooth skin 

 (or with minute granulations according to Le Sueur), the snout 



