BT ALLAN R. MCOUIiLOCH. 461 



Jackson only in linvinf; the folour-markins: on the back more elaborate, the 

 darker raarkinjrs and tlio spots being more developed than is usual. 



Family DASYATIDAE. 



Dasyatis kuhlii Miiller & Henle. (Plate sxxix.. figs. 1-21. 



BIue-Kpotted Stingaro?. 



Trygon kuhlii. Miiller & Henh', Plagiost.. 1841. p. 1G4, PI. li, fig. 1; Day, Fish. 

 "India, 1878, p. 7.39. PI. fxciii.. fig. 2; Ogilbv, Cat. Fish. Austr. Mus.. 1888, 



p. 19. 

 Dasyatis kuhlii, Waite, Mem. N.S. Wales Nat. Club, ii., 1904, p. 11. 

 Dasybatus kuhlii, Garman, Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool., xxxvi., 1913, p. 395; 



Ogilby. Mem. Qld. Mus., v., 1916, p. 87. 

 (Raya) Neotrygon trigonoides, Castelnau, Proc. Zool. Soc. Vict., ii., 1872, p. 121. 



Description of a half -grown male, 243 mm. wide (PI. xxxix., fig. 1). Pectoral 



disc rhomboid, its anterior and exterior angles obtusely pointed, the posterior 

 angles sharper; the length is 1.27 in the breadth. Snout thick and short, its 

 length less tlian the distance between the spiracles. Eye laige, almost as long 

 as the spiracle, the length of which is equal to half the interspiracle width. Skin 

 smooth except for four flattened spines on the vertebral line which are close 

 together above the shoulder-girdle. Width of the moutli 1.6 in its distance from 

 the end of the snout. Upper dental lamina undulous, forming a median "and 

 two lateral prominences; the teeth are mostly tubercular, but there is a seriea 

 •f larger pointed ones on the convex fold of each side : teeth of the lower 

 jaw in a broad band, llattened, and with minute points directed backward. A 

 broad fringe of tentacles behind the upper jaw, and two papillae behind the 

 lower. Nostrils elongate, each with a free postero-interior lobe; nasoral valve 

 with the posterior margin sinuous and fringed. Posterior gill-opening a little 

 before the middle of the pectoral disc. Ventrals rather elongate, obliquely 

 rounded behind; claspers small, not reaching the level of the end of the ventrals. 

 Tail much longer than the body, with two long spines inserted about their own 

 length behind the ventrals; a short fold on the upper surface behind the end 

 of the spines, and a longer one on the lower surface commencing below the 

 insertion of the spines and becoming gradually lost towards the end of the tail. 



Colour. — Light pinkisli-brown, with numerous large bluish ocelli having 

 indefinite darker margins ; numerous blackish spots are scattered irregularly over 

 the back which are most i)lentiful around the eyes. A darker band crosses the 

 interorbital region, and appears as an ill-defined blotch on each side of the 

 eyes. Tail darker, becoming blackish terminally, with irregular lighter and 

 darker patches. Lower surfaces uniformly coloured. 



A young male, 177 mm. wide (PL xxxix., fig. 2), only differs structurally 

 in having the snout a little more pointed and the claspei-s of much larger size; 

 these extend for half their length beyond the ventral margins; tliere are six 

 vertebral tubercles. The back is rather darker in colour, and has no liglit 

 bluish ocelli; the black spots are much more numerous, and closely cover the 

 greater part of the pectoral disc. The darker band across the eyes is much 

 more pronounced, and there are other dark patches on the shoulders, on the 

 nape, and across the snout before the eyes. 



Variation. — A fine series of twelve specimens. 129-305 ram. wide, shows 

 that this species undergoes the remarkalile colour change with growth described 

 above and illustrated on the accompanying ])late. The smaller sjiecimens are 

 profusely speckled with rounded blackish spots as in the yoinig male figured, 



