314 THE PLAGIOSTOMIA. 



whitish below, with white margins to disk, ventrals, tail and spiracles, and with 

 a white spot of some size above each pectoral near its end. In general it may be 

 said the back is dusky brown, uniform or white-spotted, and the lower surface 

 white with brown blotches or spots. 



Originally described from Tranquebar; other localities given are Penang, 

 Singapore, Malay Peninsula, Lancavy Islands, Malacca, Hindostan, Canton. 



Narke japonica. 

 Plate 24, fig. 3; Plate 56, fig. 10; Plate 67, fig. 3-1. 



Torpedo (Aslrape) japonica Schlbgel, 1850, Jap. Pisces, p. 307, pi. 140. 



Astrape japonica Jordan & Fowler, 1903, Proc. U. S. nat. Mus., 26, p. 656; Ishikawa & Matsdura, 

 1897, Cat. fishes, p. 60. 



Disk subcircular; snout short, convex on anterior margin. Nostrils small; 

 anterior valves confluent, free behind the median attachment and extending 

 back over the teeth; posterior valves with prominent free margins, curving back 

 at the outer side of the nostrils then turning in and forward as a partition across 

 the interior. Mouth small, protractile, surrounded by a fleshy lip, included by 

 a deep fold of the skin and divided on both jaws by a prominence in the middle 

 of each jaw. A flattened papilla, commonly lobed at its extremity, stands 

 above the middle of each band of teeth. Teeth small, with a sharp angle rising 

 inward from each crown, in if rows on an adult male of ten and one half inches; 

 lateral series from each side meeting in an angle in front of each band. Eyes 

 very small, prominent. Spiracles larger than the eyes, immediately behind 

 the orbits, with a smooth raised border, without papillae. Gill openings small. 

 Dorsal fin small, rounded; base little more than its length behind the bases of 

 the ventrals and -about the same distance from the origin of the caudal. Tail 

 short, length about half of the total, stout, depressed, with a well-developed 

 caudal and with a fold on each side originating opposite the origin of the dorsal. 

 Subcaudal broadly rounded ; supracaudal longer, rounded on the hind margin. 

 Ventrals broad, distinct, convex on the outer margin, without an outer angle; 

 origins below the pectorals; claspers short, depressed, very blunt, with a groove 

 along the upper side and also a short slit near the end. A male of eleven inches 

 is functionally mature; a female of fourteen inches contains fully developed 

 young each of which is three and three fourths inches in length. 



Reddish or chocolate-brown above and below, light to very dark, lighter 

 beneath, uniform or spotted with darker, Plate 24, fig. 3. Some individuals have 



