[ 181 J 



The "Bottle-nose Ray" {? R. alba, Lacep.) 

 and its Egg-purse. 



By 

 Ernest W. L. Holt. 



For a number of years our tanks have from time to time contained a 

 very large and easily-recognised Skate-purse, but its specific identity 

 has remained a matter of uncertainty. Fishermen attributed it to the 

 " Bottle-nose ray," a species not to be found, so far as I am aware, in 

 ichthyological works. 



In the spring of 1897 I happened to be on the Plymouth fish- 

 quay, when a large ray was landed from the Bay of Biscay. It was 

 pronounced by the universal consensus of piscatorial opinion to be the 

 " Bottle-nose." I have since seen several other specimens, and, by 

 extracting the purses, have ascertained that the opinion of fishermen 

 respecting their origin was perfectly correct. 



With regard to the fish itself, it is a well-marked species, but its 

 correct nomenclature is involved in considerable confusion. It is the 

 "Burton Skate" of Couch, the Ii. alha of Day, though I am far from 

 certain that all the records compiled by the last-named author really 

 refer to the fish with which we are dealing. Smitt concludes that it is 

 identical with the ray known to him as E. lintca, but this seems also 

 uncertain. 



Possibly B. marginata, which almost certainly applies to the young of 

 the " Bottle-nose," may prove to be the name which has given rise to 

 least confusion, but as I have not at present access to the older literature 

 of the subject, I do not propose to deal seriously with the synonymy. 



Calderwood has given in this Journal (N.S., ii., 1892, p. 283) a 

 description of a female specimen, which is probably sufficient to ensure 

 its recognition. To define it very roughly, the "Bottle-nose" may be 

 said to be a very large, thick ray, with a moderately long and very 

 sharply-pointed snout. Apart from the male sexual spines, which 



