144 Gudgei — Notes on Some Beavfort, N. C, Fishes. 



almost identical with those found by the same author in Zygsena blochii 

 above referred to. It is the intention of the writer to give later a fuller 

 description of these structures with illustrations.* 



In 1902 Mr. Coles brought to the laboratory at Beaufort a female 

 bonnet-head 6 ft. long from which S young were obtained. The writer 

 had the good fortune to be present on that occasion and to assist in the 

 dissection. 



Pristis pect hiatus Latham. 

 SAW-FISH. 



The saw-fish has never, so far as the records show, been taken in Beau- 

 fort harbor. It is however occasionally captured at Cape Lookout in deep 

 drift nets used for catching Spanish mackerel, Scomberomorus maculatus. 

 It is a bottom-living fish and is generally found entangled in the lower 

 part of the net. The fishermen dread it very much, partly because of its 

 size and activity, but more because when thoroughly entangled in their 

 nets the only way to get rid of it is to cut out a part of the net and set the 

 creature free. This is of course a very expensive procedure. If, however, 

 only the " saw " is entangled, the fish is hauled alongside, a rope is made 

 fast to the saw and when this is cut off the fish is turned loose. 



In the summer of 1902, there was brought to the Beaufort laboratory a 

 saw 37 inches long having 28 pairs of teeth. Reckoning the saw at about 

 % of the whole, the total length of this fish must have exceeded 12 feet. 



In 1908 Coles took one at Cape Lookout 13 feet 10 inches long. Its 

 saw had 26 teeth on the right and 25 on the left side. On another occa- 

 sion Coles netted another fine specimen but was only able to save the saw 

 which was nearly 4 feet long. A smaller saw in his possession is 34 

 inches long and has 24 teeth on the right and 26 on the left side. He 

 reports that the length of the adult fish at Cape Lookout runs from 13 to 

 15 feet. 



Dasyatis say ( Le Sueur). 



STING-RAY. 



In 1910 a considerable number of Dasyatis say were obtained from the 

 drag-net fishermen in Newport River. These rays, when in the bunt of the 

 net, were generally speared with a beardless harpoon or pike and thrown 

 into my skiff where they were for prudential reasons either deprived of 

 their tails or knocked on the head with a long-handled hatchet provided 

 for the purpose. The shock of these operations usually brought about 

 delivery of the young, particularly if these were pretty far advanced. 

 This took place in five separate cases. 



Some of these young, thus brought into the world, were carried alive 

 to the laboratory in buckets of water. Placed in running gait water they 

 lived 10 hours. They moved around rather freely but had difficulty in 

 staying right side up, lying for hours on their backs ; nor did righting 

 them better matters, for, if they attempted to swim about, they in- 



*A report on this shark was made by the writer at the meeting of the American 

 Society of Zoologists in December, 1911. See Gudger, 1912. 



