648 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. xxvi. 



Snout 71 in head; space between spiracles If in snout; space between 

 nostrils -ii in snout; Qy^ 7 in snout. 



Di.sk very broad, much bi'oader than long-. Head orcatly flattened; 

 snout confluent with pectorals; ej'cs small; mouth nearly' straig-ht, and 

 not quite as wide as space between outer margins of e3"es; teeth 

 numerous, small, and flattened, or molar-like; nostrils laroe, ol)lique 

 toward mouth, and cither equal to space ])etween; interor])ital space 

 flattened, even a trifle concave, and a supraoral ridge on each side, 

 somewhat l)r()ad; spiracles directl.y l)chind eye, and rather round and 

 deep. Gill-openings small. 



Upper surface of body very rough with small i)rickles; a median 

 series of small bucklers from behind the head to first dorsal, and 

 between the latter and second dorsal; several small bucklers over eye 

 in front, and over the spiracles; several bucklers on each side of the 

 body near the base of pectoral; lower surface of the body vei-y flnely 

 roughened. 



Dorsals small and posterior on tail, alike in shape, and posterior a 

 littl(> larger; origin of first dorsal nearer that of ventrals than tip of 

 caudal; second dorsal a short distance from first, its origin a little 

 nearer tip of ventral than tip of caudal; pectorals very broad, and 

 with snout form a very blunt angle in front; space between ventrals 

 below greater than snout; caudal equal to snout and eye. Sides of^ 

 tail below, with a fold on each side, running" from ventrals to caudal 

 Caudal peduncle very short. 



Color in alcohol muddy brown above, white l)elow; bucklers ove 

 eyes, and spiracles, together with those on sides, and the first four of 

 the median row, cream white. 



Length 20| inches. 



This description from an example taken at Hiroshima. 



Coasts of Japan and China; not rare. We have specimens obtained 

 at Wakanoura and Hiroshima. 

 ♦ {sinensis^ Chinese.) 



37. RAJA Linnaeus. 



Raja LINN.EUS, Syst. Nat., 10th ed., 1758, p. 231 {hatis). 



Dlpturus Rafinesqite, Caratteri Alcnni Generi, 1810, p. 16 {hatis). 



Platopteruti Rafinesuue, Analyse de la Natui'e, 1S15, p. 93 (hatis). 



Dasyhatus Blainville, Journ. Phys., 1816, p. 260 {communii^). 



Propterygia Otto, Nova Acta Acad. Cses. Leop. Carol. Nat. Curios, 1824, p. Ill 



{hijposticta; monstrous example, with fins not adnate to head). 

 Lieriraja Bonaparte, Fauna Italica, XXV, 1839, p. 130 {oxyrhynchus). 

 Uraptera MfiLLER and Henle, Plagiostomen, 1838, p. 155 {agassizi; species witli- 



out caudal fin). 

 jBo<is Bonaparte, Cat. Metod., 1846, p. 12 {radnia; no description). 

 Malacurhinus Garman, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., XI, 1881, p. 236 {plutonia; 



species with imperfect rostral cartilage; probably recognizable as a valid 



genus when the species are better known). 

 Raia various authors, change of spelling. 



I 



