138 Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research 



3 b. Rostral projection from front of cranium lacking or only faintly indicated; 

 anterior part of disc supported chiefly by anterior rays of pectorals more 

 or less assisted by ligamentous bands extending forward from front of 

 cranium. 



5 a. Outer margins of pelvics deeply concave or notched, the fins de- 

 finitely bilobed, even when spread wide (Fig. 28 A). 

 Psammobatis Giinther 1 8 70. 

 Western South Atlantic from Cape Frio (Lat. 22^56' S) 

 near Rio de Janeiro southward to Straits of Magellan; 

 Chile, Peru, and vicinity of Cocos I. (Lat. 4°5o' N);i* 

 also southern Australia. 

 5 b. Outer margins of pelvics weakly concave, the fins not definitely 

 bilobed when spread wide (Fig. 28 B). 



Sympterygia Miiller and Henle 1841. 

 Argentina, Chile, Peru; perhaps Ecuador also.*^ 



Genus Raja Linnaeus 1758 



Raja Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., J, 1758: 231; tj'pe species, R. clavata Linnaeus 1758. European seas, designated 

 by Jordan and Gilbert (Proc. U. S. nat. Mus., 5, 1882: 36). 



Generic Synonyms: 



Rata Scopoli, Introd. Hist. Nat., 1777: 464; emended spelling for Raja Linnaeus 1758. 



Dipturus Rafinesque, Caratt. Gen. Spec. Sicil., 1810: 16; type species, Raja batis Linnaeus 1758. European seas. 



Cefhaleutherus Rafinesque, Indice Ittiol. Sicil., 1810: 48, 61; type species, C.maculatus Rafinesque. Sicily. 2* 



Platopterus Rafinesque, An. Nature, 181 5: 93; proposed to replace Raja Linnaeus 1758. 



Dasybatus Blainville, Bull. Soc. philom. Paris, 1816: 112; type species. Raja clavata Linnaeus 1758.^1 



Proplerygia Otto, Nova Acta Acad. Leop.-CaroL, 10, 1821: 112; type species, P. hyposticla Otto.-- Scotland 



near Edinburgh. 

 Dasy batis Blainville, in Vieillot, Faune Fran?., Poiss., 1825: 12; type species. Raja batis Linnaeus 1758. 



European seas; designated by Jordan (Genera Fish., I, 191 7: 134).^' 

 Uraptera Miiller and Henle, S. B. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1837: 117; also Arch. Naturg., (Jahrg. 3) j, 1837: 



400; generic diagnosis but no species named; type species, I] . agassizii Miiller and Henle (Plagiost., 



1 841: 155, pi. 50). Brazil. 

 Laevirajia Bonaparte, Nuov. Ann. Sci. Nat. Bologna, 2, 1838: 203; type species. Raja oxyrincha Linnaeus 



1758. Mediterranean and European seas. 



18. Psammobatis spinosissimus Beebe and Tee-Van 1941 (Zoologica N. Y., 26, 1941: 259), described from vicinity of 

 Cocos Island. 



19. Reported by Tortonese (Boll. Mus. Zool. Anat. comp. Torino, [3] 4^ [89], 1939: 48), but the description is not 

 sufficient for judgement as to specific identity. The type species Sympterygia bonaparti Miiller and Henle 184: was 

 without locality. 



20. Based on an abnormal Skate in which the anterior e-xtensions of the pectorals had remained separate from the sides 

 of the head after birth. Similar monstrosities have been described subsequently under other names, as noted below. 



21. /?<2;'a A<2/!j Linnaeus 1758 was designated as type by Fowler (Bull. U. S. nat. Mus., 100 [jj], 1941: 355). But ifl/w was 

 not among Blainville's list of 22 species, so we propose that K. clavata replace it, since it was among his species. 



22. As Miiller and Henle (Charlesworth Mag. Nat. Hist., 2, 1838: 90, footnote) pointed out long ago, the specimen 

 described and pictured by Otto was a monstrosity of the same sort that had been named Cephaleutherus earlier by 

 Rafinesque 18 10, the anterior part of each of its pectorals forming a narrow ear-like lobe that suggests the cephalic 

 fins of the Devil Rays (Mobulidae). Similar malformations have been reported from time to time. Couch (Fish. 

 Brit. Isles, j, 1867: 96) pictures one with a secondary pectoral lobe on the one side but not on the other. 



23. Jordan credits this genus to De Serville. However, the section on fishes in Faune Francaise seems to have been 

 by Blainville. For dates of publication, see Sherborn and Woodward (Ann. Mag. nat. Hist., [7] 8, 1901: 493). 



