90 Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research 



median sectors of lips, to which the tooth bands extend, marked at either 

 end by a deep transverse groove. 



Diplobatis Bigelow and Schroeder 1948, p. 123. 



Genus Torpedo Houttuyn 1764 



Torpedo Houttuyn, Nat. Hist. Dieren, Planten en Mineral., 6, 1764: 453; type species, generally accepted as 

 Raja torpedo Linnaeus 1758. Mediterranean. 



Generic Synonyms: 



Narcobatui Blainville, Bull. Soc. philom. Paris, 18 16: 121 ; type species. Raja torpedo Linnaeus 1758; designated 



by Jordan (Genera Fish., I, l<^\1\ 95)-^^ 

 Narcobatis Blainville, in Vieillot, Fauna Fran^., Poiss., 1825: 43; emended spelling for Narcobatus Blainville 



1816. 

 Narcacion Gill, Ann. N. Y. Lye, 7, 1862: 387; diagnosis, no species mentioned.*- A revival oi Narcacion Klein 



1777- ^ 

 Tetronarce Gill, Ann. N. Y. Lye, 7, 1862: 387; type species. Torpedo occidentalis Storer 1843. 

 Gymnotorpedo (subgenus) Fritsch, Arch. Anat. Physiol., Leipzig (1886), Physiol. Abt., 1886: 365; type species. 



Torpedo occidentalis Storer 1843, designated by Jordan (Genera Fish., /f., 1920: 435). 

 Fimbriotorpedo (subgenus) Fritsch, Arch. Anat. Physiol., Leipzig (1886), Physiol. Abt., 1886: 365; type species, 



Torpedo marmorata Risso 1 8 10. Mediterranean. 

 Tetranarce '\oxdi3Xi and Evermann, Rep. U. S. Comm. Fish. (1895), 1896: 222; Jordan, Genera Fish., J, 1919: 



307; emended spelling for Tetronarce Gill 1861. 

 Tetronarcine Tanaka, J. Coll. Sci. Tokyo, 2J, igio: 2; type species, T. tokionis Tanaka. Japan. 

 Eunarce (subgenus) Fowler, Proc. Acad. nat. Sci. Philad., 62, 1910: 472; type species, Torpedo narke Risso 



1 8 10, Meditterranean, probably equals Raja torpedo Linnaeus 1758. 

 Notostrape Whitley, Rec. Aust. Mus., 18, 1932: 372; type species, N.macneilli Whitley, New South Wales; 



probably not distinguishable from Torpedo fairchildi Hector (Colonial Mus. Geol. Surv. N. Z., 1872: 



83, pi. 12, fig. 134). Not seen. 



Generic Characters. Disc broader than long and arcuate laterally, its anterior mar- 

 gin either slightly convex, nearly straight, or even slightly concave along median 

 sector; length in front of orbits not greater than distance between outer ends of spiracles 

 or between outer edges of eyes. Snout soft to the touch. Tail with a low fold along each 

 side; its length from center of cloaca to termination considerably less than distance 

 from cloaca to snout; its length from tips of pelvics more than twice as great as apparent 

 breadth of mouth. Base of first dorsal wholly or partly above bases of pelvics. Second 

 dorsal noticeably smaller than first dorsal. Caudal subtriangular, about as large in 

 extent below its axis as above, its axis slightly raised. Pelvics with at least their tips free 

 from sides of tail. Eyes well developed, pigmented and functional, though small. 



41. The list of species mentioned by Blainville 18 16 in his original diagnosis of Narcobatus did not include Raja torpedo, 

 but it did include R. unimaculatus, presumably of Risso 1810, which equals Raja torpedo Linnaeus 1758. The de- 

 signation of the latter as type of the genus was therefore justified. 



42. The earliest post-Linnaean use of Narcacion was by Klein (Neuer Schauplatz, 4, 1777: 726); type species Raja 

 torpedo Linnaeus 1758. But the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature has ruled (Opin. Rend., 

 Smithson. Publ., No. 1938, 1910: 51; Smithson. misc. Coll., 7 [3], 1925: 27) that neither Klein's generic names, 

 nor the revivals of them by Walbaum (P. Artedi Genera Pise. Emend. Ichthyol., 1792) are permissible. Hence, 

 Narcacion must date from Gill, who seems to have been the first to define the genus subsequently. 



