MISCELLANEA 



FISHES. 



Note on Trygon kuhlii. — A large gravid female measur- 

 ing 34-5 cm.' across the disk was captured off the Madras coast on 

 the 15th of Januar}^, 1914. It lived in the Marine Aquarium, 

 Madras, till the 13th of March. 



In the aquarium it was habituall}' sluggish, lying buried in 

 sand with only the eyes, the spiracles and a portion of the tail 

 visible above the surface. The large spiracle, which except when 

 fully opened is a narrow slit, extends from near the anterior level 

 of the eye to a point about one-third of its own length behind 

 that organ. The upper margin of the spiracle, i.e. the one 

 nearest the eye, forms behind that organ a projecting fold. Both 

 the eye and this fold are employed in closing the spiracular 

 aperture when sand and other foreign bodies drop from above or 

 when the water is agitated. This curious arrangement serves 

 both for the protection of the eye and for the exclusion of foreign 

 objects from the spiracle. Normally the spiracles are kept wide 

 open for purposes of respiration, causing a prominent erection of 

 the eyes considerably above the surface of the head. This gives 

 the ray a most grotesque appearance. 



The colour of the dorsal surface of the disk is chocolate brown 

 during life with a few scattered blue ocelli, but changes after 

 death, becoming slate-coloured* in preserved specimens. 



Like other species of Trygon, T. kuhlii is vi/iparous. On 

 the I2th of March the above specimen gave birth to two young, 

 both of which were males. Immediately after birth the 3'oung 

 died and the mother died on the following day. 



Description of the Young. 



The young differ in size as will be seen from measurements 

 given below : — 



Specimen A ^. Specimen B (^ . 



1 The measurement was taken from " point to point "; if measured with a 

 tape across the back it is 35'5 cm. The usual size appears to be about 32 cm. 

 See Mem. Ivd. Mus., \'ol. II, No. i, page 34. 



2 Op. ctt., vol. II, part i, page 35. 



