1112 



SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 



rieties) of the coininon Starr)- Yl&j, to wliich it is also 

 similar in size. Only six specimens are known, five 

 of them — includinjT a male 62 cm. long — taken by 

 the Knight Errant Exix-dition at a depth of 400—600 

 fathoms between Scotland and tiiu Faroe Islands and 

 now in the British Musenm, tlie sixth a male 52 cm. 

 long taken by the Norwegian North Atlantic Expedition 

 in 459 fathoms of water, oft" the north-west corner of 

 Spitsbergen, and now at Christiania. 



From the common Starry liay it difi^ers principally 

 by the greater number of acnlei in the median line of 

 the back and tail — the ventral side is smooth and 

 quite free from aculei — and bj- the maculation of the 



ventral side. Tliis surface of the body is marked on 

 its white ground with large, almost symmetrical spots 

 and patches of the same dark grayish brown colour as 

 appears on the dorsal side. The species is stated to 

 be further distinguished by more scattered and more 

 pointed jaw-teeih. Tlie form of the body differs so 

 widely in Collett's and Gunther's figures that in this 

 respect the Deep-sea Ray would seem to be a highly 

 variable intermediate form betM'een the Starry Ray and 

 the sharp-nosed species of the genus. The species — which 

 is based principally on a chromatic chai-acter- — evidently 

 requires revision, a task which, having no specimen with- 

 in our reach, we cannot undertake in the present work. 



THE SANDY RAY (sw. sandrockax or spattrockan). 

 KA.JA FALSAVELA. 



Fig. 319. 



Leiiiith of the snout about l()—ll\., % of that of the body or l!)—21 % of the breadth of the disk. Distance 

 between each nostril and the tip of the snout about 16—17 % of the said breadth. Dorsal fins set close tof/ether. 



No row of aculei in the media)/ line of the tail. 



Fig. 319. Young female of the Sandy Ray {Raja fahavela) from Uie Skoger Rack • 3 nat. 



Syn. Raja riihui>, Lacep. (p. p.; ncc Bl.., Gmel.), Hist. Nat. Poiss., 



toiii. I, p. 79, tab. 5 (lig. vera, tlescr. p. p.). 

 Sandji Ray, Coucii, Mag. Nat. Hist. (Charleswouth), vol. II 



(1838), p. 71 (sine noin. system. ). 

 Raja radula, Yarr., Brit. Fish., cti. I, vol. II, Snppl., p. 69 



(nee De La Roche). 

 Raja falsavela, Bnp., Irono<jv. Fna Ital., I'esci, tab. 148, fig. 



1; Canestr., Fii'i ftnl.. /'esci, p. JiG; Gigl., Esp. Intern. 



Pesca Berl. 1880, Sez. Ital., p. 114; DSderl., Man. Ittiol. 



Medit., fasc. Ill, p. 202. 

 Raja ncvi-us. MOll., Hle, Plagiost., p. 138 ( + /?. vadtila, 



p. p., p. 133). 

 Raja civcnlaris. Couch in Yarr., Brit. Fish., ed. 2, vol. II, 



p. 574; Maui, Ofvens. Vet. Akad. Fiirli. 1857, p. 187; 



Couch, Fish. Brit, hi., vol. I, p. 115 i+R. miratetns, 



p. 112); Gtiir, Cat. Brit. Mus., Fish., vol. VIII, p. 4C2; 



