232 Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research 



(29 fath.). It is known from the northern part of the Gulf in the offings of Pensacola 

 and Cape San Bias, Florida and in the southern part on Campeche Bank. 



Reference : 



Raja kntiginosa Bigelow and Schroeder, J. Wash. Acad. Sci.,^ (12), 195 1 : 383 (descr., ill., Gulf of Mexico). 



Raja lintea Fries 1838 

 Figures 49, 50 



Study Material. Female, 1,050 mm long, and adult male, 970 mm, from Iceland 

 (British Museum [Natural History]). 



Distinctive Characters. R. lintea falls in the group in which there is a single row of 

 large thorns along the median belt of the disc and in which the thorns of the median 

 row along the tail are much larger than those of any other rows. Among Skates of the 

 western North Atlantic, it is closest to R. hyperborea and R.jenseni in general appearance 

 and in the arrangement of thorns. But it is sharply marked off from both of these by 

 a considerably larger number (47—51) of thorns in the mid-dorsal row from nuchal 

 region to first dorsal fin and by its longer and narrower snout, the distance from its tip 

 to the level of the front of the orbits being considerably greater than the distance be- 

 tween the outer edges of the spiracles (shorter than that in R. hyperborea and in R.jenseni). 

 R. lintea does not bear a close resemblance to any Skate so far described either from 

 boreal latitudes in the western South Atlantic or from the Bering Sea-Northeast Siberian 

 region of the Pacific. 



Description. Proportional dimensions in per cent of total length. Male, 970 mm, 

 and female 1,050 mm, from Iceland (specimens from British Museum [Natural History]). 



Disc: extreme breadth 65.7, 64.0; length 54.3, 54.3. 



Snout length: in front of orbits 14.8, 16.5; in front of mouth 16.3, 18.2. 



Orbits: horizontal diameter 3.6, 4.0; distance between 5.1, 4.1. 



Spiracles: length 2.6, 2.6; distance between 8.0, 8.1. 



Mouth: breadth 10.4, lo.o. 



Nostrils: distance between inner ends 8.6, 9.3. 



Gill openings: lengths, ist 1.3, 1.2; 3rd 1.4, 1.5; 5th 0.9, 0.9; distance between 

 inner ends, ist 15.5, 15.3; 5th 9.7, 9.7. 



First dorsal jin: vertical height 3.3, 2.6; length of base 4.9, -. 



Second dorsal jin: vertical height 2.4, 2.4; length of base 4.6, 4.3. 



Pelvics: anterior margin 9.0, 9.5. 



Distance: from tip of snout to center of cloaca 5 1 .0, 53.2 ; from center of cloaca 

 to ist dorsal 38.8, 37.2; to tip of tail 49.0, 46.8; from rear end of 2nd 

 dorsal base to tip of caudal 0.5, 0.4. 



Interspace between: ist and 2nd dorsals 2.0, 0.0. 



Disc about 1.2 times as broad as long, the maximum anterior angle in front of 

 spiracles about 85-90°; tip of snout rounded, rather markedly protruding in male but 



