another in the midline, nearly reaching month, no 

 groove connecting nasal apertures with mouth; 

 mouth broad, strongly arched; well-developed 

 labial folds along the inner sides of the jaws ex- 

 tending about one-fourth the distance toward the 

 symphysis, no labial folds along outer margins of 

 jaws; orbital opening elongate, slitlike, a well-de- 

 veloped fold below the eye, not touching eyeball; 

 spiracle small, its diameter less than one-fifth 

 length of eye, located slightly below level of eye 

 and at a distance about one-third the eye's lon- 

 gitudinal diameter from corner of eye ; third gill 

 slit above origin of pectoral, fourth, and fifth gill 

 slits over pectoral; first dorsal fin slightly larger 

 than second, its origin over the posterior half of 

 base of pel vies and slightly nearer tip of snout 

 than tip of caudal fin; pelvic fins united along 

 their inner margins for about half the distance 

 from cloaca to fin tips ; pectorals broad, their free 

 corners rounded, distal margins nearly straight. 



Bases of typical denticles of dorsolateral sur- 

 faces separated from one another by distances one 

 to four times the diameter of their bases; denticles 

 three pointed, the central point long and heavy, 

 lateral points weak and quite small with a strong 

 central ridge, most denticles nearly erect, much 

 longer than wide, their points directed upward 

 and posteriorly; belly denticles similar; a few 

 denticles of the edges of fins flattened, leaf-like, 

 and without lateral points. 



Teeth similar in the upper and lower jaws, three- 

 cusped with an additional pair of lateral denticles 

 on some teeth: the central cusp of teeth of the 

 midportion of the upper jaw about twice as high 

 as lateral cusps; teeth toward the angles of both 

 jaws and in the lower jaw with somewhat lower 

 central cusps; about three series of teeth func- 

 tional, in about 25 + + 25/25 + + 25 rows. 



Color pattern as described in preceding key 

 and diagnosis. 



Notes. — 8. mendi specimens were collected with- 

 in the general geographical range of S. retifer and 

 adjacent to the areas in which 8. torrei have been 

 found. It is possible that all three species occupy 

 different habitats. Species of Scyliorhinus taken 

 by exploratory fishing vessels off the southeastern 

 States and in the Caribbean have been, with one 

 exception, collected from depths between 180 and 

 914 m. Along much of the Atlantic coast this is 

 a relatively narrow strip (fig. 1). In the Florida 



Straits region, a wider band of sea-bottom falls 

 within this depth range and supports a remark- 

 ably diverse fauna of sharks and rays. Collections 

 in the area in general suggest that many of these 

 have quite restricted distributions, possibly due 

 to narrow habitat preferences. 



S. meadi is named for Giles W. Mead, who first 

 called my attention to a specimen of the species. 



Scyliorhinus boa Goode and Bean, 18% 



Figures 15 and 27 ; tables 1, 3, and 4 



Scylliorhinus boa Goode and Bean, Spec. Bull. U.S. Nat. 



Mus., p. 17, 1S96 (type locality, Blake station 291, off 



Barbados). 

 Catalus haeckelii Miranda-Ribeiro. Mem. Mus. Nac. Rio 



de Janeiro, 14 :163, pi. 8, 1907. 

 Scyliorhinus fernandezi Weibezahn, Novedades Cient. 



Mus. Hist. Nat. La Salle, Caracas, Ser. Zool. No. 9: 



3-7, 1953. 



Goode and Bean (1896, p. 17) did not intend to 

 describe the species but did, in fact, satisfy the re- 

 quirements of a valid description by publishing a 

 name and a diagnosis based on the single 6-inch 

 specimen collected off Barbados which is the type 

 (Harv. Mus. Comp. Zool., 1335). They note a 

 general correspondence in color with 8. retifer 

 and state that in approximately the track of the 

 narrow lines observable in Garman's specimen (S. 

 retifer) may be found various spots and blotches 

 of blackish-brown. The similarity to a basic color 

 pattern in each of the Atlantic American species 

 has been mentioned. In the 14 specimens of 8. 

 boa examined and reported in table 3 and a few 

 other specimens that have been examined, the 

 color pattern is consistent in the absence either 

 of the reticulating black lines or of continuous 

 unbroken black lines around saddles that charac- 

 terize specimens of 8. retifer at all ages. Also 

 none of the specimens of 8. boa examined have 

 white spots in the saddles as do all of the specimens 

 of 8. hesperius examined. 



The pattern of spots in S. boa, however, does 

 vary considerably. The dorsal saddles or their 

 outlines are obscure in one. specimen, and small 

 black spots are quite numerous and randomly dis- 

 tributed over the dorsal and lateral surfaces. In 

 most of the specimens the saddles and lateral 

 blotches are outlined by discrete black spots, more 

 or less round and much smaller than the eye. The 

 spots extend on to the upper surfaces of the 

 pectoral and pelvic and are present on the dorsal 



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