DASYBATUS BREVICAUDATUS. 385 



deep fold below, beginning in front of the spine and ending at the posterior third 

 of the length; without fold or keel above. A row of several, 1-5 or more, de- 

 pressed, five-pointed, or subcordate, tubercles on the middle of the hack and 

 around these a pavement of depressed scales with flattish or concave five-pointed 

 crowns, this pavement extending over head, trunk and base of tail, a less or 

 greater distance toward margins or spine according to age. Very young 

 smoother; lower surfaces and outer edges of disk smooth. 



The specimen described, brought from southern Celebes by Dr. Thomas 

 Barbour, measured from body to abdominal pores 9s; pores to end of tail 26, 

 and in greatest width 1 if inches. 



Back olivaceous brown, rusty toward edges of pectorals; white below; tail 

 blackish behind the spine, edge of fold black. 



Indian Ocean; Red Sea; East Indies; India. 



DASYBATUS BREVICAUDATUS. 



Trygon thalassia Hutton, 1872, Cat. p. 85. 



Tri/gon brevicaudata Hutton, 1875, Ann. mag. nat. hist., ser. 4, 16, p. 317; 1876, Trans. N. Z. inst., 8, 



p. 216. 

 Dasi/batis brevicaudatus Hutton, 1904, Index fauna N. Z., p. 53; Waite, 1909, Rec. Canterb. mus., 1, 



no. 2, p. 21, pi. 22. 



"Disk broader than long, anterior margins forming a very obtuse angle 

 which is interrupted by a short projection of the snout. Body smooth with a 

 single small oval tubercle in the centre of the back. Tail not longer than the 

 body, with a cutaneous fold along the lower side, but no upper ridge, armed with 

 two serrated spines, the anterior one the smaller, and in front of these a row of 

 large ossifications; sides of the tail with smaller stellate ossifications. Brown 

 above, whitish below. Length of disk 44 inches, breadth 48: tail 32+ inches. 

 Dunedin Harbour. The end of the tail of this specimen is broken off; but it is 

 evident that it could only have extended a few inches further." 



Waite adds to this description : — Mouth with three papillae. Teeth in 

 tw r enty-five rows; each tooth with a shallow transverse excavation. Slaty grey 

 above; an irregular series of white spots along each side between midline and 

 margins in the thoracic region, and two white spots on each side above the 

 abdomen. The length of disk is given as 800 mm. and the width 780 mm. 



New Zealand. 



