TO. 1324. ELASMOBRANCHIATE FISHES— JORDAN AND FOWLER. 665 



Museum, said to be from Japan (coll. Jamrach). The record is very 

 ioubtful, but the species, if occurring in Japan, may be recognized 

 )y the anterior position of the dorsal tin, nearly over the root of the 

 centrals and by the very broad disk. It was not seen by us. 



(Named for Dr. Jean Nieuhof, of Batavia, died in 1671, once gover- 

 lor of Ceylon, author of Voyages par nier et par terre a differens 

 ieux des Indes Orientales, with 20 plates of fishes. 



Family XXII. MOBULID^. 



SEA DEVILS. 



Rays of enormous size, with the disk broader than long, and the 

 oectoral fins not continued on the sides of the head, the anterior or 

 •ephalic portion being separate, developed as 2 long horn-like or 

 jar-like appendages. Mouth wide, terminal or inferior. Teeth very 

 miall, flat or tubercular, in many series; those of the upper jaw some- 

 Limes wanting. Eyes lateral. Nostrils widely separated, their valves 

 inited, forming a flap as wide as the cleft of the mouth. Tail long 

 k,nd slender, whip-like, with a single dorsal fin at its base, and with or 

 Without a serrated spine. Ventral fins not emarginate. Skin more or 

 less rough. Males without differentiated spines on the pectorals, the 

 ^exes similar. Ovoviviparous. Largest of all rays and among the 

 largest of all fishes; thenspecies few, found in the tropical seas. 



|Qt. Teeth in botli jaws; mouth inferior Mobula, 43 



43. MOBULA" Rafinesque. 



Mohiihi Rafinesque, Indice d'lttioi. Sicil., 1810, p. 61 {anrlrulain=edentula). 

 Apltnmis Kafinesuue, Indice d'lttioi. Sicil., 1810, p. 62 {fabroni^edentulns). 

 Cephalopterus Dumeril, in Risso Ichthyol., Nice, 1810, p. 14 {gionia=edentula; 



not of (Jeoffroy St. Hilaire, 1809, a genus of birds). 

 Dkerobahis BhAiNviLhE, Jour, do Phys., 1816, p. 262 {mobular=^edeni:ula). 

 Cephaloptera (Dumeril) Cuvier, Regne Animal, 1st ed., II, 1817, p. 138 {giormi). 

 j Fterocephala Swainson, Nat. Hist. Fishes, II, 1839, p. 321 {giorna) . 



Head free from pectoral fin, truncated in front, with the cephalic 

 tin 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 

 Islender, with a dorsal fin between the ventrals; the serrated spine 

 [present or absent. Species about 5, in tropical seas, reaching an 

 [enormous size and therefore not well known. 



(Jfohtdar is a name said to l)e used for the European species, Mobula 

 edentida (Briinnich), "le diable des Caraibes," in the Azores.) 



c The name Aodon, accepted for thi.g genus by Jordan and Evermann, was origi- 

 nally based on a shark of the Red Sea, Aodon viassosa, said to have microscopic, 

 : serrated teetli, and very large pectoral fins. It may belong to the Scglorhinidie. 

 1 Proc. N. M. vol. xxvi— 02 45 



