46 FISHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



inflicting a serious wound. The skin is smooth. Three American genera, all 

 represented on the North Carolina coast. 



Key to genera of eagle rays. 



i. Snout produced, rounded; teeth broad, in single series Aetobavus. 



ii. Snout short; teeth in several series. 



a. Snout entire ; Myliobatis. 



aa. Snout concave Rhinoptera. 



Genus AETOBATUS Blainville. Eagle Rays. 



Body very wide, the wings pointed; cephalic fin forming a rounded projection 

 on the snout; teeth plate-like, in a single row; eyes on side of head. One Atlantic 

 coast species. (Aetobatvs, eagle ray.) 



21. AETOBATUS NARINARI (Euphrasen). 

 "Devil-fish"; "Sting-ray"; "Lady-ray"; Spotted Sting-ray. 



Raia narinari Euphrasen, Svenska Vetenskaps Akademien, nya handlingar, xi, 217, 1790; Brazil. 



Aetobatus narinari. Yarrow, 1877. 216; Beaufort. Jordan & Gilbert, 1879, 386; Beaufort. Jordan & Ever- 



mann, 1896, 88, pis. xv, xvi. figs. 37, 37a. 

 Stoasodon narinari, Jordan, 1886, 26; Beaufort. 



Diagnosis. — Disk twice as wide as long; outer angle of wings acute; posterior angle 

 rounded; cephalic fin .33 broader than long; ventrals rounded; tail 2.5 to 4 times as long as 

 body, with a large barbed spine at its base. Color: above brown, with numerous small, 

 round, pale spots and transverse parallel dark lines; below white, {narinari, a Brazilian 

 name.) 



The range of this tropical species extends northward on the Atlantic coast 

 to Virginia. Under the names ''sting-ray" and " lady-ray" it is recorded by Dr. 

 Yarrow from Beaufort as very common and reaching a large size. A specimen 

 caught by fishermen in a seine on Shark Shoal, Beaufort harbor, in September, 

 1901, was 4 feet wide and 2 feet 2 inches long, the length of the tail being 4 feet 

 8 inches. 



Genus MYLIOBATIS Lum^ril. Eagle Rays. 



Body as in Aetobatus; cephalic fin a convex fleshj^ appendage in front of 

 snout; a median row of very broad teeth, flanked by several rows of smaller, 

 narrow teeth; dorsal fin small; one or two serrated caudal spines. One species on 

 Atlantic coast. {Myliobatis, grinder ray.) 



22. MYLIOBATIS FREMINVILLEI LeSueur. 

 Eagle Ray. 



Myliobatis freminvillei LeSueur, Journal Academy Natural Sciences Philadelphia, iv. 111. 1824; Rhode Island. 

 Jordan & Gilbert, 1879, 386; Beaufort. Jordan, 1886, 26; Beaufort. Jordan & Evermann, 1896. 89. 



Di.\Gxosis. — Body much broader than long, its width equal to tail; central row of teeth 

 4 to 6 times broader than long; 3 rows of teeth on each side of main row; a whitish swelling 

 over each eye; skin smooth. Color: above reddish brown; tail blacki below white. (Named 

 for the French naturalist, Fr^minville.) 



The range of this species is from Massachusetts to Brazil. It is recorded 

 from Beaufort, but is apparently not common in North Carolina. It does not 

 attain a very large size. 



