DASYBATUS KUHLII. 395 



three papillae at the bottom. Tip of snout produced, blunted. Outer and 

 posterior angles rounded. Spiracles larger than the eyes. Ventrals obliquely 

 truncate, angles blunt . 



Tail little longer than the body with a short low keel behind the spine above, 

 and a more distinct and longer one below. 



Skin smooth in very young; larger examples with tubercles on the middle 

 of the back above the shoulder girdle, and more advanced stages with a vertebral 

 row of backward-directed tubercles from the back of the head, largest on the 

 base of the tail in front of the caudal spine, and with a parallel row on each 

 shoulder. 



Yellowish brown, darker with age; white below with darker edges; tail dark. 



Japan; China. 



DASYBATUS KUHLII. 



Trygon kuhlii Muller & Henle, 1841, Plagios., p. 10-4, pi. 51, f. 1; Schlegel, 1S.50, Jap. Pisces, p. 308; 



Bleeker, 1852, Verh. Bat. gen., 24, Plagios., p. 73; Dumeril, 1865, Elasm., p. 603, Gunth., 1870, 



Cat. fishes Brit, mus., 8, p. 479; Day, 1878, Ind. fishes, p. 739, pi. 193, f. 2; Garman, 1885, Proc. 



U. S. nat. mus., 8, p. 40; Annandale, 1909, Mem. Ind. mus., 2, p. 34; Gunther, 1910, Siidsee 



fische, 3, p. 494. 

 Raja Irigonoides Castelnau, 1872, Proc. Zool. & acclim. soc. Victoria, 1, p. 121. 

 Dasybalus kuhlii Garman, 1885, Proc. U. S. nat. mus., 8, p. 40. 

 fDasybatus varidens Garman, 1885, Proc. U. S. nat. mus., 8, p. 40. 

 Dast/atis kuhlii Jord. & Fowler, 1903, Proc. U. S. nat. mus., 26, p. 659. 



Disk rhomboid; anterior margins slightly convex, meeting at a very blunt 

 angle on the end of the snout; outer margins nearly straight, outer angles blunt, 

 posterior of about 90°. Snout short, not produced. Eyes prominent. Spir- 

 acles as large as the eyes. Mouth waved, with two papillae at the bottom; 

 teeth small, unequal, a larger sharper series on each of the convex bends in the 

 upper jaw. Ventrals rather elongate, obliquely rounded behind. Tail about 

 twice as long as the body in young, above with a short low fold behind the spine, 

 below with a deeper longer one gradually disappearing at some distance from the 

 end of the tail. Skin smooth on the young, later a vertebral series of depressed 

 tubercles appears from the shoulder girdle forward, to be still later continued 

 backward to the caudal spine. 



Back brownish with blue black-edged spots, and smaller spots of black, 

 scattered over the disk and with a blackish band, containing numerous small 

 spots of black and including a light band between the forward parts of the eyes, 

 crossing the head to the bases of the pectorals. Tail blackish with irregular 

 rings of white in the distal portion. Lower surface whitish with darker edges. 



