SYSTEMATIC CATALOGUE OF FISHES. 41 



ation furnished by the local fishermen that it is not rare in that region. Dr. 

 Coker states that the name "ray" as used by the Beaufort fishermen is restricted 

 to this species, which is also known as "clear-nose". The usual length is 2 feet. 



Family RAJIDiE. The Skates. 



A numerous family of typical rays, having a broad, rhomboidal body; stout 

 tail distinct from the trunk; 2 dorsal fins on tail; pectoral fins extending to but 

 not around snout; no spine on tail; teeth small and paved. One American genus. 



Genus RAJA Linnaeus. Skates. 



In this genus the caudal fin is absent or very small, the ventrals are deeply 

 divided, the teeth are in numerous series in each jaw and differ somewhat in the 

 two sexes, and the male usually has a special patch of spines on each pectoral 

 flap. 



Most of the skates inhabit shoal water, living on the bottom and feeding on 

 bottom animals (fish, crabs, mollusks, etc.). All the species are oviparous, the 

 eggs being in large oblong leathery cases which are attached to stones or marine 

 plants by a long horn at each of the four corners; the dried egg-cases are often 

 found washed up on the seashores. Valuable for food, and caught incidentally 

 in large numbers in seines and traps, and also taken with lines, but only sparingly 

 consumed in the United States; the large fleshy pectoral fins are the parts which 

 are eaten. Most common northward, only sparingly represented on the South 

 Atlantic coast. Only one species has heretofore been recorded from North 

 Carolina, but the brier ray (Raja eglanteria) has recently been collected by the 

 writer at Cape Lookout. These two species may be distinguished as follows: 



a. Teeth in 30 rows; spines few and small, mostly on snout, on anterior border of pectoral 

 fins, about eyes, and on median line of back and tail; color, brown with pale spots. 



loevis. 



aa. Teeth in 50 rows; spines numerous, small, and sharp, on all parts of upper surface; 



color, light brown, with dark markings eglanteria. 



(Raja, ray or skate.) 



15. RAJA L^VIS Mitchill. 

 Barndoor Skate; Winter Skate; Smooth Skate. 



Raja leevis Mitchill, American Monthly Magazine, ii, 327, 1817; New York. Yarrow, 1877, 217; Beaufort. Jor- 

 dan & Evermann, 1896, 71. Linton, 1905, 346; Beaufort. 



Diagnosis. — Disc very wide, 1.5 times length of body to base of tail; tail less than 

 width of disc, 1.15 times length of body; snout long, sharp, its sides concave, its tip rough; 

 lateral angles of disc acute; spines comparatively few and small, a median row on tail and 

 back, a patch on each wing, another about eye and spiracle, and a zone on anterior border 

 of pectorals; teeth in about 30 rows. Color: brownish, with pale spots; white below, (leevis, 

 smooth.) 



This, the largest of the Atlantic skates, is found from Maine to Florida, and 

 is not uncommon in North Carolina. It reaches a length of 4 feet. Small speci- 

 mens were collected by the steamer Fish-Hawk off Cape Lookout on August 14, 

 1902, at station 7310, in 18 fathoms; they had shrimp and bivalve mollusks in 

 their stomachs. 



