NAJRCINE TASMANIENSIS. 301 



N. brunnea sharper angles on ventrals dorsals and caudal than exist on other 

 species of the genus. 



Back warm chocolate-brown, without spots, margins of disk and edges of 

 fins light; lower surfaces creamy white. 



Off the coasts of India. 



Narcine firma, sp. nov. 



Disk subovate, wider than long, narrowing from opposite the gill apertures. 

 Snout long, broadly rounded in front. Nostrils near the mouth; anterior valves 

 short, confluent in a broad flap with three prominences on the hind margin, 

 median larger, and with a shallow notch on each outer edge a short distance in 

 front of the corner ; posterior valves better developed than those of N. brasiliensis, 

 fold wider behind the nostril and passing along the hinder half of the outer side 

 of the nostril; from the projection into the nostril it passes back into the longi- 

 tudinal fold curving backward outside of the angles of the mouth but distinct 

 from that going completely around the jaws. Mouth small, protractile; teeth 

 bands narrow, about half the width of the mouth, posterior ending in a right 

 angle, rows on a seventeen inch male specimen §§, each tooth with a strong 

 acuminate cusp on the margin toward the cleft, inward. Eyes very small. 

 Spiracles larger than the eyes, without papillae on the edges. Ventrals rather 

 narrow, triangular, outer angle blunted; claspers short, depressed, blunt. 

 Dorsals subequal, base of first dorsal about equal its distance behind the ends 

 of the ventral bases, or twice its distance from the second dorsal; base of second 

 dorsal longer. Tail, from vent, one half of the total length or little more, de- 

 pressed, strong, with lateral folds from the middle of the first dorsal. Caudal 

 less than twice as long as deep; subcaudal portion narrow, obliquely rounded; 

 supracaudal longer, somewhat pointed. Total length 17, length of disk 7f, 

 snout to vent 8j, and width of disk S\ inches. 



Colors too faded for description. 



The rostrum is stouter than in any other species of the genus; the snout is 

 broad shovel-shaped, and the pectorals end opposite the eyes. 



Colombo, Ceylon. Capt. Putnam. 



Narcine tasmaniensis. 



Narcine tasmaniensis Richardson, 1841, Proc. Zool. soc. London, pt. 9, p. 22; Trans. Zool. soc. London, 

 3, p. 178, pi. 11, f. 2; Dumeril, 1865, Elasm., p. 517; Gunth., 1870, Cat. fishes Brit, mus., 8, p. 452; 

 Waite, 1S99, Mem. Austr. mus., 4, p. 41. 



