NORTH SEA INVESTIGATIONS. 181 
trawling and lining cannot be carried on together. in one limited 
area without injury to the latter industry. 
As to the haddock fishery, I was told that the trawlers still en- 
croach so much on the territorial haddock grounds that not much 
benefit has been felt by the liners. These grounds lie further out 
than those on which the soles are chiefly caught, so that the sole- 
fishery is not affected by this poaching. The matter is therefore of 
less general importance, but owing to the amount of undersized fish 
on the ground it could not but be beneficial to enforce the bye-law 
in its entirety. 
If]. Tae Buonpe (Raia blanda, Hour ann Catperwoop, MS.), a 
SPECIES HITHERTO CONFOUNDED WITH R. maculata, Monvraau. 
In collaboration with Mr. Calderwood, I have been engaged, since 
I first entered the Association’s service, in attempting to revise the 
British Rajide, and one result of our efforts has been the discovery 
of a species which has hitherto escaped separate description. It 
seems, therefore, advisable to put forward a brief diagnosis at once, 
reserving a full description to another occasion. 
The species was first met with by one of us on the west coast of 
Ireland, but the large size of the only specimens obtained rendered 
it impossible to define it im a satisfactory manner. Recently, 
however, we have had the good fortune to obtain a nearly complete 
series from the North Sea, and there can be no doubt of its 
distinctness. 
In the appended diagnosis especial stress is laid on those points 
which serve to distinguish the species from the closely allied R. 
maculata. 
Size—Reaches a width of over 30 inches ; males become sexually 
mature at a width of 24 inches or more ; the egg-purse about 5} 
inches long, exclusive of attachment processes. 
Shape.—Anterior profile obtusely rounded, the extremity of the 
snout projecting in a short semicircular process, except in adult 
males, where it is more or less conical, never sharply pointed. 
Anterior margin with two salient curves, varying in degree 
according to age and sex. ‘T'ail rather broad anteriorly, and dis- 
tinctly flattened in old examples. 
Proportions—Width of the disc about twenty-five per cent. 
greater than its length, and about thirty per cent. less than the 
total length ; the tail slightly the longer in males. The length of 
the snout from 4} (in young) to nearly 5} times (in adults), and the 
distance from the tip of the snout to the coracoid from 24 to 2,8 
times in the width of the disc. The distance between the nostrils 
