Fishes of the Western North Atlantic 237 



lund. (1871), 7, 1871-1872: 12 (listed); Collett, Forh. VidenskSelsk. Krist. (1882), 29, 1883: 4 (depth, 

 Jaederens-Rev, near Stavanger, Norway); Lilljeborg, Sverig. Norg. Fisk., (7) J (2), i8gi: 580 (descr., 

 but not synonyms, off Bohuslan, and Norwegian fishing banks; but ref. to Kattegat probably Skagerrak 

 in reality); Collett, Forh. VidenskSelsk. Krist., 1905: [7], 122 (diagn., depth, banks offjaederen, Norway, 

 Skagerrak); Smitt, Hist. Scand. Fish., 2nd ed., 1895: 1117 (descr., ill., but not synonyms, otFS. Norway, 

 but ref. to Bohuslan probably Skagerrak); Jensen, in Schiodte and Hansen, Zool. Danica, 2 (12), 1907: 

 338, pi. 32, fig. 2 (descr., ill., size, range, depth); Engelhardt, Abh. bayer. Akad. Wiss., Suppl. ^ (3), 

 1913: 102 (range); Garman, Mem. Harv. Mus. comp. Zool., j6, 1913: 329 (descr., but color probably 

 not correct); Jensen, Mindeskr. Steenstr. Fods. Kbh., 2 (30), 1914: 26, 38, fig. 12 (refs., descr., color, 

 ills, teeth, depths, temps., chart of distrib., W. Greenland); Clark, Rep. Fish. Bd. Scot. (1926), i, 1926: 

 45, pis. 25—27 (descr., ills, egg case and adults, of. other species, range); Faune Ichthyol. Cons. int. Explor. 

 Mer, 1930: pi. not numbered (descr., ill., range); Jensen, Spol. Zool. Mus. Hauniensis, 9, 1948: 46 

 (W. Greenland). 



Leucoraia lintea Malm, Goteborgs och Bohuslans Fauna, 1877: 611 (descr., depth, banks off S. Norway). 



Raja ingolfiana Lutken, Danish Ingolf Exped., 2 (i), 1898: 3, pi. I (descr., ill., depth, temp, off Holstenborg, 

 W. Greenland); Garman, Mem. Harv. Mus. comp. Zool., j6, 1913: 327 (descr., local., after Lutken, 

 i898).«9 



Not Raia lintea Barnard, Ann. S. Afr. Mus., 21 (i), 1925: 72 (equals Rata leofarda von Bonde and Swart 

 [Fish. Mar. biol. Surv. S. Afr., Rep. 3 (1922), Spec. Rep. 5, 1924: 7, pi. 20, fig. 2] S. Afr.; see Norman 

 [Discovery Rep., 12, 1935: 44]). 



Raja mollis Bigelow and Schroeder 1950 

 Figure 51 



Study Material. Juvenile male, 262 mm long (type), from lower part of continental 

 slope, south of southern Nova Scotia, Lat. 4i°53' N, Long. 6 5° 3 5' W,'" 858 fathoms, 

 in U. S. National Museum. 



Distinctive Characters. R. mollis is characterized by the following features: a com- 

 paratively short tai^i a wedge-shaped anterior contour, no conspicuous thorns anywhere 

 on its disc posterior to the scapular region or on its tail, and rostral projection from its 

 cranium soft from base to tip. In general form and in prickliness of the upper and lower 

 surfaces of the tail and of the upper surface of its disc, it resembles R. spinicauda, as well 

 as females and juvenile males oi R. senta. But it differs noticeably from R. senta in lacking 

 large thorns anywhere on its disc posterior to the scapular region at a size at which the 

 shoulder and mid-dorsal thorns are a conspicuous feature of i?. senta. Equally convenient 

 external field marks for R. mollis., as contrasted with R. spinicauda, are the considerably 

 greater length of its tail, the prickliness of the entire breadth of the lower surface of its 

 tail (not only the outer edges), the lack of large mid-dorsal thorns on its tail, and the 

 fact that its two dorsal fins are confluent. In the softness of the rostral projection from 

 its cranium it appears to be unique among the members of the genera Raja and Breviraja 

 known from the western Atlantic. Raja abyssicola Gilbert 1895, known from one speci- 

 men from 1,588 fathoms off the coast of British Columbia, and R. stellulata Jordan and 

 Gilbert 1880, from southern California to Alaska, appear to parallel R. mollis in this 

 last respect. But each of them has a mid-dorsal row of thorns on the disc and on the tail. 



69. Spelled Raia. 70. Albatross Station 2072, September 2, 1883. 



7 1 . Not longer from axils of pelvics to first dorsal fin than from axils of pelvics to front of orbits. 



