DISTRIBUTION AND GENERAL NOTES ON THE SPECIES 265 



of the (usually) larger females, and by close packing of the schools of the latter, especially when 

 gravid (Ford, 1921, pp. 483-5 i Hickling, 1930a, pp. 537-8 ; Steven, 1933) : 



2 



WS72 I WS96 2 WS810 



WS77 2 WS108 3 WS811II I 



WS78 I WS223 



WS90 5 WS245 



WS91 I WS246 



WS92 2 WS787 



WS94 5 WS797C 



WS95 13 WS802A 



WS834 4 



WS837 I 



WS862 I 



WS86i(BTS) I 



Of fifty-three specimens, twenty-six were males and twenty-seven females; sex ratio 49-1% 33- 

 Raja multispinis Norman. The holotype of this new species was taken in the trawl at St. WS851 m 



the southern region, depth 221-197 m. < u j ' 



Raja scaphiops Norman. Two specimens were obtained in the north, in deep water over the edge 

 in winter. Five specimens were subsequently secured from four southern stations, one on the edge 

 and three in deep water (Figs. 9, 18). This species was taken only by the trawl : WS218 (2), WS250 (i), 

 WS8i8A(i),WS8i9B{2\WS824{i). . ,, • u 



Raja albomaadata Norman. Seven specimens of this new species were trawled at six southern 

 stations Two of these were on the edge of the shelf, the others all in deep water. None was taken 

 in 'Other gear'. Only the positive records are indicated in Fig. 9, along with the other rare deep- 

 water species. The negative records for the more common R. doello-juradoi, shown in the same figure, 

 can of course be taken as negatives for the others provided that they are sufficiently remote from the 

 appropriate positive symbols. It has not been easy to achieve this where more than one species 

 occurred at one of several closely spaced stations. Specimens of R. albomaculata were obtained at the 



following stations : 



WS-'d^ I WS824 I WS868 I 



WS817B I WS839 2 WS875 I 



Raja brachyurops Fowler. This was the commonest ray of the trawling surveys It occurred with 

 moderate frequency in all three regions; most frequently, in relation to the total of hauls m which it 

 might have been taken, in the intermediate region. Most of the richer hauls were in the southern 

 region, and the total of numbers taken in each region showed marked and progressive diminution 



towards the north (Fig. 12, Tables 7 and 8). j . 1 .^^ ^Uct 



When the data relating to the depth distribution of this species are treated as a whole, we see that 

 it had a wide range extending into deep water over the edge of the shel ; but the ^^P^^f^^^^^ 

 polygon shows two maxima, one over the edge and the other in much shallower water on the shelf 

 (Fig 18). The distribution charts (Fig. 12) show that this may be due to seasonal moveoient on to the 



hJf in summer and down into deep water m winter. Such a movement -"l^^^e ^logons to t^^^^ 

 known in some European species, e.g. R. cla.ata, R. radiata and R. >/W« which show ^ le in 

 the aduh stages) a movement into the North Sea in summer, but are found chiefly - deeper wat r to 

 the north and west at other seasons (Meek, 1916, pp. 41-3)- More recently Steven (1932, P- ^o) ha 

 shown that R. clavata appears to hatch out in shallow water, that the dispersal of young and adolescent 

 fishi greater depths is'Lw (Steven, 1936), but that in the English Channel adults are rarely found 

 inshore except in spring just prior to the deposition of eggs. , , . 



If an an logous movement takes place in R. brackyurop. we should expect our deep hauls to contain 

 a hig'r proportion of large ind.viduals than the shallow hauls, taking the year as a whole, though the 



re^d might be masked by a few good catches of adults m shallow water durmg then m.grat.on. 



