184 



SPINE-TAILED ELIPESURUS. 



Elipesiirus spinicauda. 



PLATE XXIIL 



Schomh. Drawings, No. 36. 



" This ray was found in the Rio Branco at Fort 

 San Joaqium, and here it is called Kareenaree; it 

 was eighteen inches long, but very thin, and was 

 without the homy spine which is generally found 

 on this genus; a number of spiny excrescences 

 cover the tail, which is much shorter than usual ; 

 it is of an ochreous colour ; the eyes are prominent, 

 and nostrils very large ; like others of the species, 

 they dig holes in the sand, in which they lie flat, 

 and there await their prey. They are used for food, 

 but are not preferred to others, and in the dry season, 

 when other fish are plentiful, they are seldom 

 killed. They are about eighteen inches by fourteen 

 and a half or fifteen, in diameter." 



The form is altogether remarkable in the short or 

 deficient tail, an organ among the rays which is 

 generally in one way or other marked by consider- 

 able developments. These seem to be here confined 

 to the strong spiny excrescences which cover its base, 



