512 Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research 



New York;!'^ a few miles off Block Island at the entrance to Long Island Sound;^'* 

 and on the southeast part of Georges Bank, where a pair of Mantas, judged to be 18—19 

 feet wide, were encountered late in August 1949, so close at hand that their cephalic 

 fins and purplish color were noted."' 



Synonyms and Western Atlantic References: 



Devil Fish^'^ Catesby, Nat. Hist. Carolina, J, 1731 : XXXII (capture, Carolina); Elliott, Carolina Sports, 1846: 

 16-94; also 1859 (capture, nos., S.Carolina); Gill, Smithson. misc. Coll., 52, 1909: 161 (ills.). 



Raja birostris, rostro bifido, Walbaum, P. Artedi Genera Pise. Emend. IchthyoL, 3, 1792: 535 (diagn. by ref. 

 to: the Diabolus marinus of Willughby [Hist. Pise, Append., 1686: 5, pi. 9, fig. 3] no local.; the Devil 

 Fish of Catesby [Nat. Hist. Carolina, J, 1731: XXXII] Carolina; and the Divel Fish of Pennant 

 [.Arctic ZooL, Suppl., 1787: 104] no local, [probably a Mobula\. 



Raja birostris DonndorfF, Zool. Beitr., J, 1798: 876 (diagn. by ref. to Walbaum, 1792).!"' 



Cephaloptera giorna Lesueur, J. Acad. nat. Sci. Philad., 4, 1824: 115, pi. 6 (descr., color, size, embryo, off Dela- 

 ware Bay and Savannah, Georgia). 



Cephalopterus vampyrus Mitchill, Ann. New York Lye, i, 1824: 23, pi. 2, fig. i (descr., size, off Delaware 

 Bay); Oken, Isis, Heft lo, 1832: 1063, pi. 28, fig. 4 (same spec, as in Mitchill, 1824); Bridge, Cambr. 

 Nat. Hist., 7, 1904: 466 (size, W. Indies). 



Cephalopterus manta Bancroft, Zool. J., 4, 1829: 453 (descr., meas., color, habits, Jamaica). 



Manta americana Bancroft, Zool. J., 4., 1829: 454 (to replace Cephalopterus manta Bancroft). 



Ceratoptera lesueurii Swainson, Nat. Hist. Fish. Amphib. Rept., 2, 1839: 320 (diagn., ill., N. Amer.). 



Ceratoptera johnii Miiller and Henle, Plagiost., 1841: 186, 198, pi. 59 (descr., meas., embryo, Jamaica). 



Cephaloptera vampirus DeKay, Zool. N. Y., 4, 1842: 377, pi. 67, fig. 219 (descr. after Lesueur, 1824 and 

 Mitchill, 1824). 



Cephaloptera diabolusVilendeTine.i, in Cuvier, Regne Anim., Poiss., Atlas, 1839-1843: pi. 1 19 (ills., N. Amer.).!*" 



Cephaloptera, no specific name, Gosse, The Ocean, 1845: 174; 1856: 210 (capture, size, La Guayra, Vene- 

 zuela). 



Brachioptilon hamiltoni Newman, Zoologist, 7, 1849: 2396 (Gulf of Mexico). 



Cephaloptera elUotti Holmes, Charleston [S.Carolina] Mercury, June 24, 1854 (S.Carolina; not seen). 



Diabolicthys elHotti Holmes, Proc. Elliott Soc. nat. Hist., r, 1859: 43, pi. 3 (color, teeth, tail, swimming, nos., 

 capture, refs., S. Carolina). 



Ceratoptera vampirus Dumeril, Hist. Nat. Poiss., I, 1865: 660 (descr.. New York specimen from Milbert); 

 Yarrow, Proc. Acad. nat. Sci. Philad., 29, 1877: 216 (listed, near Beaufort, N.Carolina). 



Ceratoptera vampyrus Giinther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., 8, 1870: 498 (descr., refs., embryo, Jamaica, same specimen 

 as in Miiller and Henle, 1841); Uhler and Lugger, Rep. Comm. Fish. Md., ist ed., 1876: 185; 2nd 

 ed., 1876: 157 (listed, near entrance to Chesapeake Bay). 



Ceratoptera birostris Goode, Proc. U. S. nat. Mus., 2, 1879: 120 (listed, E. coast Florida); Goode and Bean, 

 Proc. U. S. nat. Mus., 2, 1879: 155 (listed, off Pensacola, Florida); Proc. U. S. nat. Mus., 5, 1882: 

 240 (listed. Gulf of Mexico). 



Manta birostris Jordan and Gilbert, Bull. U. S. nat. Mus., 16, 1883: 52 (descr., trop. Amer. to N. Carolina 

 in Atlant. and to San Diego, Calif in Pacif); True, List Vert. Anim. S. Carolina, in Handb. S. Carolina, 

 1883: 160 (listed, S. Carolina); Jordan, Rep. U. S. Comm. Fish. (1885), 1887: 800 (listed, W. Indies, 

 also trop. Pacif.); Henshall, Bull. U. S. Fish Comm., 9, 1891: 384 (listed, Florida); Lonnberg, Oefvers. 



175. Dumeril, Hist. Nat. Poiss., i, 1865: 661. 



176. Gudger (Science, N. S. 55, 1922: 339). Manta has been reported near the entrance to Chesapeake Bay also (Uhler 

 and Lugger, Rep. Comm. Fish. Md., ed. i, 1876: 185; ed. 2, 1876: 157) but without supporting evidence. 



177. Reported by Captain Henry W. Klimm while out after swordfish. 



1 78. Anglers have referred to Manta as Devil Fish in many accounts of experiences with them. The citations included 

 here were selected because they contain especially valuable information. 



179. Whitley (Aust. Zool., 8, 1936: 180) has pointed out that the species is to be credited to DonndorfF, 1798 because 

 the name as used by Walbaum, 1792 was not binomial. 



180. The dates at which the individual plates appeared is not definitely known; see Sherborn (Ann. Mag. nat. Hist., 

 [9] 10, 1922: 555, 556) and Whitley (Aust. Zool., 8, 1936: 179). 



