386 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 14 



HABITAT IN OCEANO. 



" Totum corpus ad 15 pedes longuin, supra nigricans, seu leucophaso- 

 griseum, abdoniine albicante. Caput antice planum. Eostrum ad 5 pedes 

 longum, spinis validis numero utriuque 18-24. Os dentibus granulatis 

 instructum. Oculi niagui irideaurea. Pone oculos foramina duo oblonga. 

 Spiracula quinque. Pinua dorsalis prima ventralibus opposita, altera inter 

 primam & caudre apicem media. Pectorales lata 3 longreque. Caudalis 

 brevior quam congeribus. 



This species and the following grow to the largest size of any which 

 hive yet come under the inspection of the naturalist, some specimens 

 measuring 15 feet in length. 



The head is rather flat at top, the eyes large, with yellow irides, behind 

 which is a hole, which some have supposed may lead to an organ of 

 hearing.* 



* Nos foramina h«c meatus auditorios esse credimus. Willughb. 



The mouth is well furnished with teeth, but they are blunt, serving rather 

 to bruise its prey than to divide it by cutting. Before the mouth are two 

 other foramina, supposed to be the nostrils. The rostrum, beak or snout, 

 is in general about one-third of the total length of the fish, and contains 

 in some eighteen, in others as far as twenty-three or twenty-four spines on 

 each side; these are very stout, much thicker at the back part, and chan- 

 nelled, inclining to an edge forwards. The fins are seven in number, viz.: 

 two dorsal, placed at some distance from each other; two pectoral, taking 

 rise just behind the breathing-holes, which are five in number; two ven- 

 tral, situated aimost underneath the first dorsal; and lastly the caudal, 

 occupying the tail both above and beneath, but longest on the upper part. 

 The general color of the body is a dull grey, or brownish, growing paler 

 as it approaches the belly, where it is nearly white." (Latham, Trans. 

 Linn. Soc, 1794, p. 277.) 



Mr. Latham thus describes his 



" Pristis pectinatus : 



Pr. rostro spinis angustioribus utriuque ad 34. Tab. 26, fig. 2. 



Pristis seu Serra, Gesner Aq., fig. in p. 728 (spin. 34), Id. Ic. An., p. 171- 

 Mus. Besler, tab. 17, f. 3 (spin. 28). Id. f. i (caput, spinis, 25) 

 Aldr, Cet. f., p. 692. Johnst. Pise, p. S, t. iii (spin. 28). Bias. 

 Anat., p. 466, t. 49, f. 13. Bloch, Deutsch. p. 37, t. 120 (rostr. ar- 

 cuat.). Knorr, Delic, p. 56, t. H. 4. Olear. Kuust., p. 38, t. 25, f. 

 i. Pontop. Hist. Norv. ii, p. 240. (spin. 25.) 



HABITAT IN OCEANO . 



Corpus a priore non multum differt. Kostri spina- longiores, & minus 



validse, numero variant a 25 usque ad 34. Pinnre posticre magis ejeavatae. 



This and the former species have been confounded hitherto by naturalists. 



