278 THE PLAGIOSTOMIA. 



Rhinobatus philippi. 



Rhinobatus philippi Muller & Henle, 1841, Plagios., p. 119, pi. 39; Dumeril, 1865, Elasm., p. 497. 

 Rhinobatus (Syrrhina) banksii Muller & Henle, 1841, Plagios., p. 123, 192; Dumeril, 1865, Elasm., 



p. 490. 

 Rhinobatus bougairwillii < )gilbt, 1885, Proc. Linn. soc. N. S. W., 10, p. 464. 

 Rhinobatus banksii Gunth., 1870, Cat. fishes Brit, mus., 8, p. 446; Waite, 1899, Mem. Austr. mus., 4, 



p. 38, pi. 3. 



Disk longer than wide, width about one third of the total length. Tail 

 nearly half, and snout to mouth more than one fifth of the entire length. Snout 

 elongate, sharp, angle little greater than 50°. Rostral cartilage narrow, slender, 

 slightly expanded at the end ; ridges approaching closely at the fontanel, thence 

 continuing parallel, groove hardly perceptible anteriorly. Nostrils wide, width 

 less than twice the internarial space; anterior valve reaching half way from its 

 lobe to the inner edge of the nostril and very little turned forward at the end; 

 posterior valve larger in the outer section than the inner and perfectly continu- 

 ous with the lobe. Mouth bow-shaped, more than twice the width of the inter- 

 orbital space, one third the length of the snout. Spiracle large, folds small, 

 inner hardly visible. Scales sharp, rough, increasing in size toward the depressed, 

 compressed, broad-based tubercles in the vertebral series on the shoulders and 

 in front of and above the orbit. Dorsals equal, pointed, concave on the hind 

 margin; base of first dorsal nearly twice its length from the second and three 

 times in the distance from the bases of the ventrals. 



Back yellowish to rusty brown or olive, lighter on the fins, yellowish at 

 each side of the rostral cartilage; lower surfaces white. An angular blotch of 

 blackish below the end of the snout. 



A close ally of R. halavi but separated by the great width of the internarial 

 space, narrower nostrils, and the narrow rostral cartilage in the forward third 

 of the length; it is separated from R. granulatus by greater distance between the 

 nostrils, wider forward end of the rostral cartilage and by more nearly parallel 

 rostral ridges. 



Queensland ; Australia. 



Western Atlantic species. 

 Rhinobatus percellens. 



Plate 55, fig. 4; Plate 56, fig. 7 (heart); Plate 65, fig. 2 (skeleton). 



Puraque Marcgrave, 1648, Hist. nat. Brasil., p. 151. 



Rata percellens Walbaum, 1792, Artedi, p. 525. 



Rhinobatus electricm Schneider, 1801, Bloch Ichth., p. 356. 



