134 PEOCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



base of each pectoral, each surrounded by a pale ring and in turn by 

 anotlier dark one. Head with black cross-bars. The two sexes entirely 

 similar in color. 



This species is not uncommon in the Bay of Monterey. We have 

 obtained eight examples, which agree with each other very closely. 

 One of these is a female, about 18 inches in length, in which the ovaries 

 are immature. The other females are about 30 inches in length, and 

 the ovaiies are fully matured, containing eggs. The males are about 

 30 inches long, likewise bearing evidences of maturity. These speci- 

 mens are now in the United States National Museum. This species is 

 readily distinguished from the two others known from the Pacific coast 

 by its obtuse snout and its rough skin. 



The Rata binoculata Girard is the common skate of the Pacific coast, 

 and is brought in in large numbers to the San Francisco markets. In 

 color it is uniform light brown, with a black ring near the base of each 

 pectoral, and usually a dusky crescent on each ventral. The pectoral 

 ocellus is often obscure, and sometimes can hardly be traced in pre- 

 served examples; in living specimens it is generally conspicuous. 



The skin in the male is entirely smooth above, except the anterior edge 

 of the pectorals, the bony part of the snout, and the larger spines on 

 the front part of the pectorals, the supraocular region, a few (one to 

 six) on the scapular region, and a series along the median line of the 

 tail. There are two or three detached spines usually along the side of 

 the tail. The claw-like pectoral spines are also present. The females 

 have, in addition, a lateral series of spines on the tail and some i)rickles 

 on the posterior i)art of the pectorals, the larger spines found on the 

 pectorals of the male being wanting. The actual length of the snout 

 in E. binoculata is not much greater than in B. stellulata, but its form 

 is different, the disk being anteriorly acuminate, bounded by concave 

 lines, its length being more than three times the interocular space. 

 Male and female examj^les of this species, with ripe eggs, or well- 

 developed clasi)ers, are about two feet long. 



Still another ray is known to us from a female example from Mon- 

 terey about 30 inches in length. It agrees witli B. binoculata in every 

 respect, except in the form of the snout, which is extremely long, 

 acuminate, and pointed, its length nearly four times the interorbital 

 width. The anterior outline of the disk on each side of the snout forms 

 a nearly uniform concave curve, it being scarcely at all undulated. 

 These differences are shown by the aj)pended table of measurements. 

 We consider this at present a variety of Raia binoculata^ although such 

 variations in the length of the snout are unusual in the same species. 



Still another form is known to us from two exami)les, a male and a 

 female, each about 6 feet in length, taken at Monterey. This form must 

 be considered as the Raia cooperi Girard, as the very imperfect descrip- 

 tion of the latter species agrees in all essential respects with these 

 specimens. 



