The Spotted Eagle Ray. 271 



Since Annandale's later notes on A. narinari (1910) go far toward 

 clearing up the vexed question of color, I can not do better than quote them 

 in extenso: 



In Edinburgh and London there are Indian specimens that agree closely with American 

 and South Sea specimens in the British Museum, while an old female from the Madras 

 coast differs in more respects than one from all other specimens I have seen. It appears, 

 however, that if very old and very young individuals, in both of which the spots are obscure 

 or absent, are omitted from consideration, three colour varieties may be distinguished, as 

 follows: 



Van A. Entire dorsal surface of disk including snout, spotted. 



Var. B. Spots on the dorsal surface confined to the post-spiracular part of the disk. 



Var. C. Spots confluent into short transverse streaks. 



Var. B is the common variety in the northern parts of the Bay of Bengal, but is by no 

 means confined to Indian seas. Var. A is found off the Coromandel and Malabar coasts 

 as well as in the Atlantic and South Pacific; while Var. C is probably liable to occur in 

 diverse places as an individual sport. 



The large female recently taken by the Golden Crown is practically devoid of spots, 

 which appear to have become almost obsolete. Very young individuals are also unspotted; 

 but in them the spots are just beginning to appear. 



In this connection it should be noted that every specimen taken thus 

 far by Coles or myself belongs to Annandale's variety A, being spotted all 

 over the dorsal surface, snout included. So far as I know no Atlantic or 

 Gulf Coast specimen has ever been taken which would belong to variety B. 

 Variety C at first blush would seem to offer an explanation for the stripes 

 or bands sometimes found on our specimens, but it seems to have streaks 

 only and not spots. In this connection mention should be made of Mylio- 

 hatis asperrimus, a beautiful ray from the Bay of Panama, which has its 

 dorsal surface marked off by 8 to 10 transverse bluish-white bars and by 

 numerous round, white spots. This ray was first described by Jordan and 

 Evermann (1898), but they quoted the then unpublished paper of Gilbert 

 and Starks, which appeared in 1904 under the title "The Fishes of Panama 

 Bay" and which contains an elegant figure of the ray. 



I have been able to find but four records for young specimens of Aetobatus 

 narinari. Jordan (1895), in his "Fishes of Sinaloa," says that he has had 

 five "large" specimens, each 15 inches long exclusive of the tail. Seven 

 Beaufort rays run in length 16, 18, i83^, 19, 26, 263^, and 36 inches; while 

 four from Key West measured 23, 24, 243^, and 44 inches. Of these only 

 the last of each set can be called large. Neither Jordan's specimens nor 

 the smaller ones noted above can be so designated, and it is quite certain 

 that all were very young. The males of all my specimens, save the big 

 one from Key West, had very short claspers, indicating immaturity. This 

 one was 5 feet 2 inches wide and had claspers 3^ inches long. These, 

 however, are considerably shorter than such appendages on a Dasyatis ray 

 of the same size. 



As corroboratory evidence of the youth of these rays the following 

 facts may be cited. Elsewhere (Gudger 1910) the writer has reported the 

 bringing into the world by Caesarian operation of two young Rhinoptera 



