FISHES OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS AND ADJACENT SEAS 417 



and lower plate more flattened, largest upper teeth each side of 

 middle little broader than long; nostrils simple, deep pits, inter- 

 narial about equals dentarj width; interorbital 1% to 1%, nearly 

 level. Gill openings moderate, equidistant, last smallest. Spiracle 

 twice eye, deep, edges entire. 



Skin of young smooth, with age finely and closely roughened all 

 over middle of disk, 1 or 2 caudal spines present, second larger or 

 nearly long as head. 



No dorsal; anal as broad cutaneous fold 2 or 3 times deep as tail 

 and extends more than half way to its slender tip; pectorals form 

 partly quadrangular disk, angles obtuse and hind edges nearly 

 straight; ventral short, wide, obtuse, hind edges convex; claspers 

 short, narrow, slenderly pointed. 



Back uniform brown. Below whitish. Anal fold blackish. 



Bed Sea, Arabia, Seychelles, India, Ceylon, Burma, Malay Penin- 

 sula, Pinang, East Indies, Philippines, Indo-China, Melanesia, 

 Micronesia, Queensland, New South Wales. A well-marked species, 

 readily known by its deep anal fold. According to Whitley the type 

 of Taeniura atra measures 899 mm. and is still in the Australian 

 Museum. The types of Taeniura mortoni are lost, though the Aus- 

 tralian Museum has a specimen from Macleay's Burdekin River 

 collection which agrees with his brief description, as follows: 



Disk covered with minute spines and 3 or 4 round flattened 

 tubercles in line of back on scapular region; sides of disk smooth 

 or finely granular. Tail lA longer than body, with broad rayless 

 fin beneath extending to extremity; disk subcircular. Disk dark 

 brown in center, sides pale color. 



7448. Bolalo Bay. December 21, 1908. Length, 780 mm. 

 5531. Catbalogan. April 16, 1908. Length, 400 mm. 

 8291. Sorsogon market, Luzon. March 12, 1909. Length, 900 mm. 

 U.S.N.M. No. 39082. Burdekin River, Queensland. Australian Museum. Length, 

 1,070 mm. 



DASYATIS GRUVELI Chabanaud 



Dasybatus (Pastinachus) gruveli Chabanattd, Bull. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, p. 



45, fig. 1, 1923 (type locality: Gulf of Siam) ; Service Oceanogr. Peches 



Indo-Chine, l* Note, p. 6, 1926 (Gulf of Siam). 

 Dasyatis gruveli Fowler, Proc. 4th (1929) Pacific Sci. Congr., Java, p. 505, 



1930 (reference). 



Snout angle very obtuse, snout equals interorbital; eyes very pro- 

 truded, somewhat larger than their apertures, longitudinally equals 

 % mouth length; upper jaw forms sharp angle at symphysis drawn 

 in reversed V with branches curved in obtuse angle and lower jaw 

 strongly undulated; teeth yellowish, many smaller upon middle of 

 upper jaw; oral papillae 4, median pair very close together; 

 interorbital flat. 



