58 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



4. Teeth in about 50 rows; upper surface brown with dark spots Little skate, p. 58 



Teeth in about 90 rows; upper surface usually with two large whitish eye spots near 



the rear angles of the disk'" Spotted skate, p. 60 



5. The front angle of the disk is much blunter than a right angle; the whole upper surface of 



the disk is more or less thorny, with a row of very large thorns along the midline 



behind the shoulders Prickly skate, p. 62 



Front angle of the disk is not blunter than a right angle; smoother species with notice- 

 able thorns only in restricted patches 6 



6. Front angle roughly a right angle with the snout hardly projecting; with stout thorns on 



the midline of the disk as well as of the taU 7 



Front angle more acute than a right angle, with the blunt tipped snout projecting; no 

 thorns in the midline except on the tail Barn-door skate, p. 66 



7. Tip of snout blunt; outer corners of disk bluntly angular; thorns large Brier skate, p. 64 



Tip of snout sharp-pointed; outer corners of disk rounded; thorns small 



Smooth skate. Raja senta, p. 65 



8. No dorsal fins on tail 9 



Tail with a dorsal fin in front of spine Cow-nosed ray, p. 72 



9. Tail rounded above, without a keel Sting ray {Dasybatus marinus), p. 70 



Upper side of tail, behind the spine, with a distinct keel Sting ray (D. haslatus), p. 70 



THE SKATES. FAMILY RAJID^ 



20. Little skate {Raja erinacea Mitchill) 



Common skate; Bonnet skate; Summer skate; Hedgehog skate; Old mahj; 



Tobacco box 



Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 68. 

 Garman, 1913, p. 337. 



Description. — The most diagnostic characters are small size, absence of thorns 

 along the midline of the back, and blunt nose. The anterior angle of the disk is 

 blunter than a right angle and the tip of the snout is rounded, with margins biilging 

 opposite the eyes. The teeth are in about 50 rows. Females have thorns scattered 

 all over the upper surface except on the midline back of the shoulder girdle, espe- 

 cially prominent on head, snout, shoulders, and sides of tail. Males are less spiny, 

 but in both sexes the spines on tail, shoulders, and along either side of the back 

 ridge are especially strong. Males have bands of erectile hooks near the outer cor- 

 ners of the pectoral fins, presumably for holding the female. The outer angles of 

 the pectorals are bluntly angular. The two dorsal fins are close together; the tail 

 is about half the total length. 



Size. — 16 to 20 inches; at the most 2 feet in length. Northern specimens 

 average larger than southern. A specimen 20 inches long is about 12 inches wide. 



Color. — ^Grayish to dark brown, or clouded light and dark brown above, paler 

 at the edges of pectoral fins; usually with many small round darker spots; white or 

 grayish below. 



General range. — Coastal waters off the Atlantic coast of America; Nova Scotia 

 and Gulf of St. Lawrence to Virginia. 



Occurrence in tJie Gulf of Maine. — This, the smallest of our skates, is the com- 

 monest and the most familiar from its habit of coming up into very shoal water in 



^ When this eye spot is laclving, as sometimes happens, it may be necessary to count the teeth to separate the " spotted ' ' 

 from the "little " skate. 



