92 Bulletin 4J, United States National Museum. 



Cephalopterm, {Vvutmi.) Vix&fiO, Irlithyol. Nice, 14, 1810, (3ionia = edraii/Zn; not of Gcoffroy St. 



Hilaire, 1809, a genua of birds). 

 Dicerohaiuc, Blainvii.lk, Jovir. de Pliys., 1810, 262, (mohular = cdcHlxda). 

 Cephahplera, (Di'm£eii.) Ci'Vieii, Rogno Animal, Ed. 1, il, 138, 1817, (fjioma). 

 Aodon, LAcfePKDE, Hist. Nat. Pois.?., Edition Pillot, II, 55, 1830, {mnssussa). 

 Plerocephala, SWAINSON, Nat. Hist. Fishes, ii, 321, 1839, {yiorna). 



Head free from pectoral fin, truncated in front, with tlie cephalic fin on 

 each side developed as a straight, horn-like appendage pointing forward. 

 Nostrils widely separated. Mouth inferior, wide. Teeth in both jaws 

 very small, flat, or tubercular, in many series. Tail very slender, with a 

 dorsal fin between the ventrals ; the serrated spine present or absent. 

 Species about 5, iu tropical seas, reaching an enormous size and therefore 

 not well known. (« — .without; wSoiV, tooth ; lfo?)H?«r is a name said to be 

 used for the European species, Aodon edentuliis (Briinnich), in the Azores, 

 " diable des Caraibes.") 



138. AODON HYPOSTOMUS, (Bancroft). 



Skin smooth; mouth inferior; anterior margin of pectoral straight; 

 the spiracles situated in a groove under anterior base of pectoral fin. 



This species, described from Jamaica, is very imperfectly known, and 

 may be the same as Aodon olfersi (Miiller &. Henle), afterward described 

 from Brazil, (i'tto, below; ctto^c, mouth.) 

 Cephalopterns hypostcmms, Bancroft, Proc. Comm. Zoiil. Soc, 1830, 134, Jamaica. 



59. MANTA, Bancroft. 



Manta, Bancroft, Zoiil. .Tour., 1828-1829, iv, 444, (mania = birostnii). 

 Ceraloplera, Mi'LLEK & Heni.e, Plagiostonien, 186, 1838, {vampjjrus = birostris). 

 BraehutptUon, Newman, Zoologist, 1849,74, (ham iltoni = birostris). 

 Dia})olichthys, Holmes, Proc. Elliott Soc. Nat. Hist., 185G, 39, (elliolU=hirosti-is). 



Disk broader than long, its exterior angles acute, the posterior margins 

 of the pectorals concave. Head truncate in front; the cephalic fins long, 

 turned forward and inward. Mouth large, terminal. Teeth minute, 

 present in lower jaw only. Tail whip-like, often (always?) without ser- 

 rated spine. Skin rough, with small tubercles. Two species known. 

 (manta. blanket, "a name used at the pearl fisheries between Panama and 

 Guayaquil to designate an enormous fish much dreaded by the divers, 

 whom it is said to devour after enveloping them in its vast wings." 

 Dumeril.) 



139. MANTA BIROSTRIS, (Walbaum). 



(Sea Devil ; Devil Fisn ; Manta.) 



Disk not quite twice as broad as long. Tail about as long as the disk. 

 Teeth in about 100 longitudinal series, which are separated by distinct 

 interspaces. Skin of body and tail everywhere coVered with small stellate 

 tubercles, rendering the surface very rough. Brownish, the margins of 

 the disk darker. Tropical waters of America; north to New Jersey and 

 San Diego ; not rare on the Florida coast. Reaches a width of about 20 

 feet, one of the most enormous of aquatic vertebrates. {Ms, two ; rostrum, 

 snout.) 



