THE FISHES OP MALARAK. 



275 



white, more especially in tho immature : there aro traces of tubercles in the mesial line only, before 

 the eyes, at the posterior border of the air-holes and on a level with tho scapular constriction j 

 they are always blunt, excepting in the immature, when they are spinous. 



Colours— Brown inclining to reddish-violet along the border of the disk and the region 

 of the snout. 



Habitat — Seas of India, and of the Cape of Good Hope. 



* Rhinoratus granulatus. 



? Rhinoratus rhinobatus, Bl. Schn. p. 353. 



Rhinobatus granulatus, Cuvier, Rfeg. An. 2nd Ed. t. ii. p. 396 ; Gray, Catal. Brit. 

 Mus. p. 95; Bhjth, Journ. Asiatic Soc. 1860, xxix. p. 36. 



Disk equal to about \ of the total length : its width is § of the length. 



Snout much elongated : its length is double as long as the distance between the external 

 angles of the nostrils, and five times or more of that between the superciliary ridges. Keel on 

 snout visible in the immature, but absent or only present at its base in the mature. Openings of 

 the nostrils equal to the space between them, or a little shorter, and nearly double the interval 

 which separates their external margins from the edge of the disk. There are two cutaneous pro- 

 longations at the posterior border of the air-holes. 



S ca l es — Very small in the lateral regions, and scarcely elevated : they become more numerous 

 and larger on the keel of the snout, between the eyes, on the anterior borders of the vertical fins, 

 and in the mesial region where they occupy a considerable space : at these various places they 

 become granulations more or less obtuse, the largest of which constitute tubercles. They are 

 more developed in the immature. 



Colours — Greenish grey. 



Habitat — Seas and estuaries of India. 



Fam. RALE. 



Raies, Dumeril. 



Group.— TORPEDINES. 



Sub-Group.— With two dorsal fins. 

 Genus NARCINE, Henle. 



Disk orbicular, elliptical, or angular, anteriorly rounded and provided with a broad keel. Mouth 

 small, protractile, surrounded by a circular fold of skin which terminates superiorly in the frenulum of the 

 nasal valve. Nasal valve straight, having a central projection, and occasionally being slightly produced 

 laterally, so that it appears trifid. A labial cartilage above and below. Lips not fixed to the jaws, but 

 moveable : a membraneous valve behind the upper jaw. Spiracles immediately behind the eyes : their 

 margins smooth. Teeth in quincuncial order, with a central point : they project beyond the margins of 

 the jaws in the form of an elliptical plate. Tail equal to or longer than the disk. Two dorsal fins, the 

 anterior behind the ventral and generally smaller than the posterior. 



2 n2 



