480 Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research 



Mag. nat. Hist., (6) I, 1882: 282 (abnormal dentition, see p. 467); Bateson, Materials for Study of 

 Variation, 1894: 259, 260, fig. 69 (same jaw as in Woodward 1882); Schreiner and Ribeiro, Arch. 

 Mus. nac. Rio de }., 12, 1903: 82 (listed, Rio de Janeiro); Ribeiro, .A.rch. Mus. nac. Rio de J., 14, 1907: 

 193, 211, pi. 20 (descr., refs., photo, Brazil); Engelhardt, .'\bh. bayer. Akad. Wiss., Suppl. 4 (3), 1913: 

 104 (range); Garman, Mem. Harv. Mus. comp. ZooL, j6, 191 3: 447, pi- 48, figs. 1-3, pi. 54, fig. 5, 

 pi. 55, fig. 10, pi. 57, fig. 5, pi. 59, figs. 9, 10, pi. 74, figs. 1-3 (descr., ills., teeth, pelvis, vertebrae, heart, 

 gills, skel.); Ribeiro, Rev. Mus. pauL, 10, 1918: 708 (listed, Santos, Brazil); Fauna brasil., Peixes, 2 

 (l) Fasc. I, 1923: 48 (same as in Ribeiro 1907); Gudger, J. Elisha Mitchell Sci. Soc, 4g, 1933: 82 

 (abnormal dentition); White, Bull. Amer. Mus. nat. Hist., y^, 1937: 91 (no. heart valves, after Garman 



I9'3)- 

 Not Myliobatis jussteui Cuvier, Regne Anim., 2, 1829: 401, footnote 3 (name by ref. to ill. by Jussieu [Mem. 



Acad. Sci. Paris (1721), 1723: 75, pi. 4, fig. 12], jaw with seven rows of teeth, from China). 

 Not Zygobatis jussieui Agassiz, Poiss. Foss., J, 1835: pl.t), fig. 8; J, 1838: 79, 328 (teeth, ill. after Jussieu 



1723, of jaw from China). 

 Not Z,ygoiates jussieui Agassiz, Poiss. Foss., J, 1843: 328 (same as Zygobatis jussieui Agassiz 1838). 



Family MOBULIDAE^'' 

 Devil Rays, Devil Fishes^* 



Characters. Myliobatoidea with disc thinner vertically than that in Myliobatidae, 

 tapering forward to wedge-like anterior margin, thus streamlined for easy swimming 

 when mouth is closed. Tail much longer than body, tapering to lash-like tip, with or 

 without serrate-edged spine (or spines). Head noticeably broad, its dorsal surface flat or 

 only slightly convex transversely. Outer anterior margins of pectorals entirely inter- 

 rupted on sides of head just posterior to eyes, the anterior division of each pectoral 

 forming a separate narrow ear-like lobe, the so-called cephalic fin, curving forward from 

 front of head, its transverse axis nearly vertical ; the two cephalic fins widely separated 

 one from the other; their basal attachments to head extending from below spiracle 

 upward and forward to upper anterior extension of cranium; supported by numerous 

 slender and flexible radial cartilages closely crowded in single series. Dorsal fin on base 

 of tail. No caudal fin. Orbits not prominent. External openings of spiracles much smaller 

 than eyes, directed rearward, firm-edged and apparently not at all expansible, but pre- 

 ceded anteriorly by a well marked groove along side of head. Nostrils entirely separate 

 from mouth. Mouth either terminal or on lower surface of head; nearly straight, and 

 very broad, as is space between nostrils; a transverse curtain on roof of mouth, smooth- 

 edged or with finely fringed margin; no papillae either on roof or on floor of mouth. 

 Gill openings much longer than eye, and much longer than in the Eagle, Duck-billed, 

 or Cow-nosed Rays (Myliobatidae, Rhinopteridae, cf. Fig. 113B with 105F). Teeth 

 in both jaws or in only one, minute, in many series, forming a band. 



Skin, apart from tail spines, either naked or more or less rough with small tubercles 

 or prickles. Other external characters as in suborder Myliobatoidea. 



Front of cranium moderately concave in broadly arcuate contour, a rounded prom- 



57. Classed by Whitley (Aust. Zool., 8 [3], 1936: 165) as a superfamily, Mobuloidea. 



58. The basis for these common names was the fancied resemblance of the forward-pointing cephalic fins to the horns 

 in medieval representations of the devil. 



