REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 47 



Habitat: Open water, following schools of pelagic fishes. 



Reproduction: Viviparous. 



Food: Fishes, especially herring, mackerel, and scup. Also Crustacea and 



jelly fishes. 

 Size: Two to 3 feet. 



RAJID.^. The Skates. 



11. Raja erinacea (Mitchill). Summer Skate; Old Maid. 

 Geog. Dist. : Virginia to Maine. 



Season in R. I.: Very abundant every^vhere from May to November. 

 Reproduction: Eggs common in August and September. 

 Food: Usually Crustacea and annelids, but bivalve molluscs, squids, and 



small fishes are frequently found in the stomach. 

 Size: Average 1 to 2 feet. One young specimen, 2 inches long, taken in 



trap in the Bay, October 9, 1905. 



13. Raja ocellata (Mitchill). Big Skate; Winter Skate. 

 Geog. Dist. : Atlantic coast northward from New York. 

 Season in R. I.: Very rare in summer. Scattering specimens taken in the 



Bay in the fall. 

 Food: Squids, annelids, Crustacea. 

 Size: Average, 3 feet. 



13. Raja laevis (Mitchill). Barndoor Skate. 

 Geog. Dist.: New England to Florida. 



Season in R. I.: Rare in summer when it is probably in deep water, but 



common in spring and from August to October. 

 Reproduction : Eggs found occasionally in September. 

 Food: Crustacea. Lobsters have frequently been found in their stomachs. 

 Size: Four feet. 



NARCOBATID^. The Electric Rays. 



14. Tetranarce occidentalis (Storer). Torpedo; Cramp fish. 

 Geog. Dist. : Cape Cod to Cuba. 



Season in R. I.: Caught off Sakonnet not uncommonly in midsummer, 

 where it has become rather common in the last four or five years. They 

 run through July and August, coming one or two at a time. 



