734 PLAGIOSTOMATA-BATOIDEI. 



1. Astrape dipterygia, Plate CXCII, fig. 4. 



Itaja dipterygia, Bl. Schn. p. 359. 



Torpedo dijjtenjgia, Olfers, Torped. p. 2-5, tab. ii, fig. 2. 



Narciiie diptery(jia, Henle, Narcia. p. 38. 



Astrape dipterygia, Miill. and Henle, p. 131 ; Bleeker, Beng. p. 80 ; Cant. Mai. Fish, p. 419 ; Jerdon, 

 M. J. L. and Sc. 1851, p. 149; Dumeril, Rev. Zool. 1852, p. 281, and Hist. Nat. Poiss. p. 523; Day, Fish! 

 Malabar, p. 276 ; Giinther, Cat. viii, p. 454. 



Astrape Japonica, Schleg. Faun. Japon. Poi.ss. p. 307, pi. cxl. 



Di.sk rounded, as wide as long, extending posteriorly to over the anterior margins of the ventrals. 

 Length of tail shorter than that of the body : a low keel along its latei-al edge. Snout short. Spiracles 

 smooth, close to and much larger than the eyes : vent slightly nearer to the head than to the posterior extremity 

 of the caudal fin. Teeth — pointed with tetragonal bases ; they slightly project beyond the margin of the jaws. 

 Fins — ventrals with their angles acute in the young, rounded in the adult. Caudal rounded, its upper and 

 lower portions confluent. Colours — Dull reddish-olive above, whitish below. A white spot near either side of 

 the posterior end of the head, another above the end of the ventral, and generally a third at the root of the 

 caudal : ventral with a white edge. 



Habitat. — Seas of India to the Malay Archipelago, China and Japan. It attains at least ten inches in 

 length. The one figured (life size) was from Madras. 



