550 



RAIID/E. 



CHONDROPTERYG11. 



n AH DA:. 



LONG-NOSED SKATE. 



Raia mucronata, 



,, rostrata, 

 Ltfviruja oxyrhynchus, 

 Raia vomer, 



Long-nosed Skate, COUCH'S MS. 

 BLAINV. Faun. Franc, p. 30. 

 BONAP. Faun. Ital. fasc. xxv. 

 FRIES, Ichth. Scand. 



RAIA. Generic Characters. Form of the body rhomboidal, very much de- 

 pressed; tail long and slender, generally armed on the upper surface with one 

 or more rows of sharp spines ; two small fins near the end of the tail, and some- 

 times a small terminal or caudal fin ; the eyes and temporal orifices on the 

 upper surface of the head ; nostrils, mouth, and branchial apertures, beneath ; 

 teeth flattened, lozenge-shaped, the inner angle elongated in old males. 



THE RAYS, or Skate, as they are popularly called, are 

 remarkable for the rhomboidal form and consequent breadth 

 of their bodies, contrasted with their long narrow tails, frc- 



