SHAIU'-NOSEI) SKATK. 



1117 



of till' pcctdriil iiiis ill tlic male and to his ptcrvffo- 

 [lodia. 



The Shagreen Skate is stated to have been taken 

 once on the coast of Sweden. Baron Gyli.exst.ierxa 

 received it, accordiiiu- to Nilsson, in (October, 1X49, 

 from the fisliing-villuge of Arild (Mount Kullen). l>ut 

 the specimen has disappeared, and with it the certainty 

 that no confusion of the species has taken place. Ac- 

 cording to CoLLETT a female 9' j dm. long was caught 

 in January, 1880, off the Onso coast, at the entrance 

 of Christiania Fjord and consequently on the confines 

 of Sweden. Its favourite haunts in Scandinavian wa- 

 ters, however, are the rich tishing-banks off Southern 

 Norway and the west of Jutland, where the water is 

 from .50 to 120 fathoms deep. Kroyer and Collett 

 assign Trondhjem Fjord as the northern limit of its 

 range", and to the south it occurs, according to Gun- 

 THER, oft' Madeira and, according to Moreau, in the 

 Mediterranean, where it is described, however, as rare. 

 Like the other Rays it ascends nearer land in summer; 

 in winter it is not taken, except where the fishermen 



follow it to the dee]> sea. It feeds on all kinds of 

 tislies, sucli as Sharks and Codiishes, as well as on 

 crustaceans and mussels''. The strong, pointed teeth 

 in its jaws are suggestive of considerable voracity. i\s 

 food it is little esteemed both in I'.ngland (I)av) and 

 France (IW.a.nchere'')- 



The systematic name of the Shagreen Skate {fiillo- 

 nica, Lat. fullo, a fuller) has reference to the similarity 

 between the spiny skin and the im])lements used in 

 cleaning clotli and the like. It was adoptcHl 1)\- Lix- 

 N^EUS from Rondelet', but was not a])i)lied originally 

 to this sjjccies. It is also probable that the Swedish 

 name (c/dkrocf>a = Cuckoo l!ay) ^vas borrowed from 

 England, though the latter name is ascribed by Couch 

 to the preceding species. In Norway, according to 

 Rathke, the Shagreen Skate is called Ncehskate (Beaked 

 Skate), a name which, as Kroyer has remarked, is 

 more appropriate to one or other of the following spe- 

 cies. In Bohuslan Fries also heard the name of Godsh- 

 rocka (Jutland Ray). 



(Frie.s, Smitt.) 



THE SHARP-NOSED SKATE (sw. hvitrocka.\ ou blagarnsrockan). 

 R.\JA LINTEA. 



Fig. 321. 



Lenrith of the snout froDi tlie anterior marqin of the eyes ahoat 14 — 18 % of the length of the liodij or 24 — 29 % 

 of the greatest hreadtli of the disk. Distance heta-een each nostril and the tip of the snout ahout 21 — 25 % of the 

 said breadth or more than fivice {207 — 243 % of) the internasal ividth. Acidei faintly grooved. Both the iqyper 

 median line of the tail and its lateral margins armed with rows of aculci. Second dorsal fin extended nearly to 

 tlie tip of the tail. Caudal fin rudimentary. Ventral side white. 



Syn. Raja lavi's, major (p. p.). Dun., 7V. Peches, part. II. sect. IX, 



p. 285. 

 Raja oxyrinclius {Sliarp-nosed Bay), Penn., Brit. Zool. (ed. 



1776), vol. III. p. 73; Mont., Mem. Wern. Nat. Hist. Soo., 



vol. II, p. 423; Yabr., Brit. Fisli., ed. 1, vol. II, p. 424; 



ed. 2, vol. II. p. 556; Couch {Burton Slcate), Fisli. Brit. 



Is!., vol. I, p. 97, tab. XXI. 

 f Raja alba, Lacep., Hist. Nat. Poiss., torn. V, p. 663, tab. 



20, fig. 1(4- Raja manjinata, ibid.); Mor., Hist. Nat. Poiss. 



Fr.. tom. I, p. 412; D.\Y, Fish. Gt. Brit., Irel, vol. II, 



p. 339, tab. CLXVIII; ? = Raja (Lceviraja) bramante, 



Sassi, vide Canestr., Mem. Accad. Sc. Torino, ser. 2, tom. 



XXI (1865), p. 361, tab. I, figg. 2—5. 



Raja Fullonica, NiLss., Prodr. Idith. Scand., p. 119; Storm, 

 Norsk. Vid. Selsk. Skr., Trondhj., 1883, p. 47. 



Raja lintea, Fr., Vet. Akad. Handl. 1838, p. 154; Mull., 

 Hle, Plagiost., p. 147; Kr., Damn. Fisk., vol. Ill, p. 

 1005; NiLSS., Skand. Fna, Fisk., p. 738; Malm, Ofvers. 

 Vet. Akad. Forh. 1857, p. 193; Gthr, Cat. Brit. Mus., 

 Fish., vol. VIII. p. 466 {f + Raja marginata, p. 465); 

 Coll.. Forli. Vid. Selsk. Chrnia 1874, TilL^gsh., p. 217; 

 1882, No. 29, p. 4; Malm {Leucoraja), Gbgs, Boh. Fna, 

 p. 611; LiLL.1. (Raja), Sv.. Norg. Fisk., vol. III. p. 580. 



Obs. That the blagarnsrocka of Bohuslan (the Norwegian hvid- 

 skade) is identical in species with the English White Skate (the French 



".Storm, who states (Nori<k. Vid. Selsk. Skr. Trondhj. 1883, p. 47) that Raja ftdlotiica is very commonly taken in Trondhjem Fjord, 

 evidently referred here to the following species, for he says that "the middle row of caudal spines extends far forward on the l.aik". 

 ^ Cf. Olsso.n, Om fiskarnes fOda, Lunds Univ. Arsskr.. tom. VIII (1871). 

 ' La Pijche et les Poissons, Diet. Gen., p. 666. 

 "' De Pise, lib. XII, p. 356. 



