STING-RAY. 



10!) 9 



H. 1, p. 41; Kr., Danni. Fi.--ke, vol. Ill, p. 1018; Nii.ss., 

 .■^k-tinil. /'«!(, F/.-A.. 1-1. 741; 1!hdt, Vid. Meddel. Nntuvli. 

 For. Kblivn 18(54. p. 27t'i; Pi'm., Hist. Nat. Poi.is., toiii. 

 I. p. (JOO; Gthu, Vat. Brit. Mus., Fish., vol. Vlll, \<. 

 47S: WiNTH., Naturh. Tidskr. Kbhvn, ser. Ill, vnl. XII, p. 

 i;i; MilH., HcKE, Fisch. O.Hs., p. 158; Day, Fish. Gt. lirit., 

 Irel., vol. II, p. 350, tab. CLXXV; Dodeul., Man. Ittiol. 

 .Ueilit., fnsc. Ill, p. 220; Peters., Vid. Meddel. Naturh. 

 For. Kbhvn 1884. p. 160; Lii.u., •Sc, Norg. Fisk., vol. 

 Ill, p. 539. 



Tri/'jon h/iiima, Geoffr., Descr. Egyiit., Poiss., y. 219. t;ilp. 



27, tig. 1. 

 Niija ■Sayi, LesueI'R, Joiirn. .\cafl. Nat. Hist. I'liilad., vol. 1, 



p. 42. Vide Gthr. 

 'J'ri/yoii cuitjaris (= Pastenayiie commune ex Cuv.), Eisso, Env. 



.V,'ri(l., torn. Ill, p. 160; MoR., Hist. Nat. Poiss. Fr., 



toiji. I, p. 448. 

 Tfijijoii Akajei, Mi'Li... Hle, 1. e., p. 165, tab. 5,'!; SiHi.. in 



SiEi'.., Fna Japan., Pise, p. 308. Vide Gthr. 



The Sting-Kay, which is coimiioTi in Southern 

 Europe, is stated to attain rather considerable dimen- 

 sions, at least a length of 2' ^ m. and a breadth of 

 1' J m., though the occurrence of so large specimens 

 has not been authenticated in European waters. Bona- 



PAHTK indeed speaks of Sting-lJays from the Mediter- 

 ranean weighing 10 centners; l)ut Risso says that their 

 average weigiit in tliat sea is about 10 — 1"2 kilo., and 

 according to Dukkui.icis the hirge.st Sting-liays in the 

 fishmarket of Palermo weigh 20 kilo, or more. Schle- 

 GEL states that the Japanese form {Trygon Jkajei) 

 attains a weight of several centners; and the dimen- 

 sions given above are tliose of a s])ecimeii fi'om the 

 ("ape of Good Ho]je, now in the Museum of Psiris. 



It seems rather probable, however, that several 

 species are included in the above list of synonyms. 

 Our material is indeed scanty, consisting of two females, 

 which we iigure here, of about the same size; but even 

 these show divergencies of form uncommon at least in 

 the other Rays. The one, wliicli was probably the type 

 of LiNN.EUs's Raja Fastiiiaca, has a less expanded disk, 

 and apparently comes nearer to the American Trygon 

 Sayi; the other, the only Swedish example of this spe- 

 cies on record, corresponds more closelj' to Bonaparte's 

 and Day's Trygon pasiinata. The most important dif- 

 ferences are expressed in the following percentages: 



Length of the disk in 'i of its breadth ■ 



,. „ he,id to the oeciput in % of the 



., ., ,, first gill-opening , ,. „ „ 



DisL-ince between the caudal spine and the root of the tnil ., „ ., „ 



Length of the snout from the corners of the mouth in % of Ihe length of the head to the 

 Distance between the nostrils in % of that between each of them aud the tip of the snout. 



breadth of the disll 



Speciuie 



in the 



Lund MuRi 



Specimen 



from the 



.Mus. Ad. Frid. 



30.0 

 27.5 



31.G 



57.2 



88.6 

 35.3 



31.5 



:37.a 



63.4 



59.0 



According to Risso the Sting-Ray is a tish of noc- 

 turnal lial>its. liiding itself as we have described above, 

 and hing in w;ut for any prey that may approach; 

 but at night-time it may be taken in gill-nets. When 

 it attacks a fish, it flings its tail round the victim, 

 which it then pierces and tears witli its sting; and it 

 defends itself in tlie same manner from tlie hand tliat 

 would grasp it. Its food consi.sts of tish, crustaceans, 

 and mollusks. <-)n tlie Sicilian coast, according to Do- 

 DEULEix, it approaches land and is taken in numbers 

 from the middle of December till the end of March, 

 dui'iiig wlncli season it contains eggs of but little de- 

 velopment. This is probably the lireeding season, for 

 the more isolated females caught in summer are more 

 or less gravid. The young are born alive. 



From the Black Sea and the Mediterranean the 

 true geograpiiical range of tlie Sting-Ray extends along 



the Atlantic coast of Europe hardly further north than 

 to England. Even there, as well as on the north-west 

 coast of France, it is far from common; and to the 

 north it becomes rarer and rarer. Now and then it is 

 met with (jff the Scotch coast. Schonevelde knew it 

 from Heligoland. Bloch received it from Hamburg. 

 KiioYEK heai-d fishermen sj)eak of its occurrence off 

 Hirsholm. Reinhahdt i-eceived a specimen that had 

 been taken in the autumn of 1862 off Frederikshavn. 

 ScHRADER sent to the Museum of ("openhagen a speci- 

 men that had been caught on June 10th, 1882, on the 

 soutli side of tlic Skaw. From the fishing-village of 

 Ai'ild, at the foot of Mount Kullen in Scania, Baron 

 Gyllexst.jerna received, on the 24th of July, 1849, 

 a specimen which is now preserved in the Museum of 

 Lund. This example (fig. 313) has a disk 34' ., cm. 

 broad and 27' „ cm. in lengtii from the tip of tiie snout 



