64 REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 



Season in R. I. : Not very common. The original type specimen described 

 by LeSueur was taken in 1824, from Rhode Island. (LeSueur, Jour. 

 Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., IV, 1824.) De Kay mentions specimens from Rhode 

 Island. (De Kay, New York Fauna, 1842, 376.) Mr. John O. Le-wds of 

 Wickford says that several have been taken in traps in Narragansett 

 Bay, near Saunderstown. 



20. Rhinoptera bonasus (Mitchill). Cow-nosed Ray; Sting Ray. 



Geog. Dist.: Cape Cod to Florida. Taken at Woods Hole, (Smith 1898), 

 and Nantucket, (Sharp and Fowler, 1904), and at Stratford, Connecti- 

 cut (Linsley, 1844). 



Season in R. I.: An immense school of these fishes once seen off Block 

 Island by Captain Mason, of Tiverton. Said to have been more com- 

 mon formerly. 



Reproduction: Viviparous, breeding season lasting over five or six 

 months. 



Food: Chiefly molluscs; also Crustacea, crabs, and lobsters. 



Size: 100 pounds. 



ACIPENSERID^. The Sturgeons. 

 31. Acipenser Sturio (Linnaeus). Sturgeon. 



Geog. Dist.: Ascends rivers of Atlantic coast of Europe and America; 

 common from New England to Carolina. Reported from rivers and 

 coast waters of Maine and Massachusetts and from Long Island Sound. 



Season in R. I.: Rather common in traps off Sakonnet from May to 

 November. Said to have been more common formerly; 25 years ago 5 

 or 6 were caught in traps at a time. Small specimens two or three feet 

 long now occasionally taken in summer in Narragansett Bay. Common 

 at Block Island. 



