60 Bulletin 47, United States Natiotial Museum. 



ray-like sharks, closely approaching the Pristid.e and Rhixobatid.e. As 

 above noticed, the Batoidei seem to be descended from the Cyclospondylous 

 sharks. 



Suborder SARCURA. 



(The Thick-tailed Rays.) 

 Family XXII. PRLSTID.E. 

 (The Sawfishes.) 

 Body elongate, depressed; pectoral fins moderate, the front margin 

 quite free, not extending to the head; snout produced into a very long, 

 thin, flat blade, which is armed with a series of strong, tooth-like pro- 

 cesses placed in sockets along each edge ; teeth in jaws minute, obtuse; 

 gill openings moderate, inferior; spiracles wide, behind the eye ; nostrils 

 inferior; no tentacles; no nictitating membrane; dorsal fins large, with- 

 out spine, the first nearly opposite the ventrals. Caudal well developed, 

 bent upward; a fold along each side of tail. A single genus, with .5 or 

 more species, inhabiting warm seas on sandy shores, sometimes ascending 

 rivers. A family of sharks, Pristiophorid.e, similarly armed with a 

 "saw," occurs in the Pacific Ocean. (Pristid.e, Giinther, viii, 436-4,39.; 



44. PRISTIS, Latham. 



PWsd's, Latham, Trans^. Linn. Soc, ii, 276, 1794, {prislis). 



Pristobatiis, Br.AiNVU.i,E, Journ. Pliys., 181G, 2G2, {anUqHorum=;prislis). 



Mijriontenn, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1864, {hipginsi, based on a fragment of a rostral process). 



Characters of the genus included above. (7rp/(Trr;f, the ancient name, 

 meaning one who saws.) 



a. Rostral teeth in 18 to 20 pairs; first dorsal chiefly before ventrals; caudal with a small 



lower lobe. perrotteti, 79. 



aa. Rostral teeth in 24 to 32 pairs; first dorsal opposite ventrals; caudal without lower lobe. 



PECTINATUS, 80. 



79. PRISTIS PERROTTETI, Valenciennes. 

 First dorsal fin chiefly in advance of ventrals ; second dorsal much 

 smaller than first; caudal with a small lower lobe; root of pectoral 

 before first gill opening, its outer angle a right angle. Saw with 18 to 20 

 pairs of teeth, well separated and not trenchant behind. (Giinther.) 

 Tropical seas, north to Mazatlan on the Pacific coast ; also said to occur 

 in the West Indies; not so common as the next. It may be that our 

 Pacific species is distinct from the true perrotteti, first obtained in Africa. 

 (Named for M. Perrottet, a French naturalist, Avho obtained the types.) 



PrMs pcrrnlteti, VALENCIENNES MS., MiJLLER & Henle, Plagiostomeu, 108, 1838, Senegal River; 

 GiJNTHER, Cat., vui, 436, 1870. 



80. PRISTIS PECTINATUS, Latham. 

 (Common Sawfish; Pez Sierra.) 

 First dorsal over ventrals ; second dorsal scarcely smaller than first ; 

 no lower caudal lobe. Saw with 24 to 32 pairs of teeth, the posterior 

 farther apart than the anterior. L. 10 to 20 feet. Troi)ical seas ; north 

 to West Indies and Florida; abundant in the Gulf of Mexico; ascending 

 the lower Mississippi, {pectinatus, comb-toothed.) 



