68 Bulletin 4J, United States National Museum. 



I. Eye with few or no spines below it; disk ]'„ broader tlian long. 



INORNATA, 103. 



//. Kye witli 1 rows of spines below it; disk ]/^ broader than long. 



EQUATOUIALIS, 104. 



it. Snout bluntisli, its tip little if any projecting; most of upper surface rough 



with prickles; lower surface nearly or quite smooth; nasal cartilage weak. 



m. Color olive brown; the spots, if any, pale; interorbital width 334 in snout. 



PARMIFERA, 105. 



mm. Color dark brown or blackish; wliolc upper surface rough with stellate 

 prickles, 

 n. Shoulder girdle with spines. 



o. Orbital rim with a row of stout prickles; brown, much variegated 

 with black spots aud bars, Hoiiie of tlie spots ocellato. 



STELLULATA, 106. 



00. Orbital rim without spines; pricliles fine; size, very large. 



ALEUTICA, 107. 



nn. Shoulder girdle without spines; color dusky, nearly plain. 



TRACHURA, 108. 



Hi. Snout soft, bluntisli; disk above and below, with close-set, velvety prickles. 



ABYSSICOLA, 109. 



91. RAJA ERINACEA, Mitchill. 

 (Common Skate; Little Skate; Tobacco Box.) 



Form rhomboid, with all the angles rounded; spines largest on the 

 anterior extensions of the pectorals, where they are close set, strong, 

 laterally compressed, and hooked backward; smaller ones are scattered 

 over the head above the spiracles, above and in front of the eyes, aud on 

 the back, the median line of which is comparatively suiooth, without larger 

 median series, except in the young; a triangular patch on the shoulder 

 girdle; inner posterior angles of the pectorals nearly smooth; in the males 

 near the exterior angles of the pectorals are 2 rows of large erectile 

 hooks, pointing backward. Females with groups of small scales on each 

 side of the vent; teeth small, the middle ones sharp in the males; all 

 blunt in the females; jaws much curved; each side of tail with a dermal 

 fold; caudal tins rough, not separate to the base. Color light brown, with 

 small round spots of dark brown ; no pectoral ocelli; females larger than 

 the males. L. 1 to 2 feet. The smallest and commonest of our skates; 

 abundant on our coast, from Virginia northward to Maine, {erinaceus, 

 like a hedgehog.) 



Raia etinacea, Mitchill, Am. Jour. Sci. Arts, xi, 290, 1825, New York; Gauman, /. c, 170; 



Jordan & Gilbert, Synopsis, 41, 1883. 

 Raia ((jlanleria,Gvfsi:BEii, Cat., viii, 402, 1870, not of Lacepede. 



92. RAJA OCELLATA, Mitchill. 



(Big Skate.) 



General form and appearance of the preceding but much larger; the 

 arrangement of spines similar, except that additional rows of spines are 

 present down the back aud along the sides of the tail ; caudal tin not 

 separate, rough with small spines; jaws curved. Color light brown, with 

 rounded dark spots; a translucent space on each side of the snout; near 

 the posterior angle of the pectoral there is usually (but not always) a 

 large white ocellus, with a dark spot in the center and a darker border; 



