402 THE PLAGIOSTOMIA. 



Urobatis sloani. 

 Plate 28; Plate 53, fig. 3 (pelvis); Plate 69, fig. 4-5 (skeleton). 



Pastinaca marina Sloane, 1725, Hist. Jam., 2, p. 277, pi. 246, f. 1. 



Leiobatus sloani Blainv., 1816, Bull. Soc. philora., p. 121. 



Trygon jamaicensis Cuv., 1817, Reg. anim., 2, p. 137; 1829, ibid., p. 400. 



Trygonobatus torpedinus Desmarest, 1823, Mem. Soc. Linn. Paris, 2; Bory, 182S, Diet, class, hist. 



nat., 14, p. 449; ibid., 16, p. 131, pi. 116. 

 Raia sloanii Bancroft, 1830, Zool. journ., 6, p. 83. 

 Urolophus torpedinus Muller & Henle, 1841, Plagios., p. 173, pi. 56, f. 1 ; Poey, 1858, Memorias Cuba, 



2, p. 360; Dumeril, 1865, Elasm., p. 628; Gunth., 1870, Cat. fishes Brit, mus., 8, p. 485; Carman, 



1885, Proc. U. S. nat. mus., 8, p. 41. 

 Urolophus jamaicensis Jobs. & Everm., 1896, Bull. 47, (J. S. nat. mus., p. 81. 



Disk longer than broad, anterior half little wider, margins all convex, tip 

 of snout hardly produced, bluntly rounded. Head small, of little prominence. 

 Eyes small, orbital length about equal the interorbital width. Spiracles larger 

 than the eyes. Mouth small, distance from end of snout two and one third 

 times that between the nostrils, with five papillae at the bottom, upper velum 

 with a prominent fringe, lower fringe weak. Teeth broader than long, lozenge- 

 shaped, on the crown, sharp in males, in If rows in eight inch specimen, || in 

 fourteen inch. Basal portion of tail depressed, with a rudimentary fold at each 

 side; distal portion compressed; origin of supracaudal fin at end of the spine, 

 and of subcaudal below its base; spine inserted about mid length of the tail; 

 entire length of tail about equal that of disk. Skin rough with small spines on 

 head, dorsum, and top of tail to upper edge of caudal; outer portions of disk, on 

 pectorals and ventrals, and lower surfaces are smooth. 



Brownish thickly covered with round spots of yellow, small on middle of 

 disk and larger toward margins, and on ventrals and caudal. 



Sloane says of the species " it had several asperities on the skin, and was of a 

 brown color with yellow spots here and there"; this description of the markings 

 agrees with that of the form, shown on Plate 28, common around Haiti. The 

 young as taken from the oviduct are shown Plate 28, fig. 2, 3. 



Urobatis vermiculatus, var. now 

 Plate 29. 



In most respects this form is not to be distinguished from that common 

 about Jamaica and Haiti and, probably, the islands to the eastward. U. sloani 

 is more brown than yellow ; it is spotted with round yellow spots. U. vermiculatus 

 is more yellow than brown ; it is vermiculate with brown and the brown is not 

 confined to the upper surfaces. The vertebral region in this form is darker 



