170 FISHES. CHONDROPT. Raia. 



18. T. Pastinaca. Common Trygon. — Tail destitute of fins. 

 Body smooth. 



Aquila piscis, Merr. Piii. 185 — Pastinaca marina, Sibb. Scot. 23. Will. 



Ich. 67 — Raia Pastinaca, Linn. Svst. i. 39G.— Sting Ray, Penn. Brit. 



Zool. iii. 95 — E, Fire Flaire — On the southern coast of England. 

 Length between two and three feet. Body rounded ; thick in the middle. 

 Nose short, pointed. Tail thick at the base, nearer to which than to the 

 extremity is the sjAne., which is depressed, thin on the edges, pointed, and 

 serrated. This spine is renewed annually ; sometimes the new one appears 

 before the old one drops off, in which state it is the Cardinal Trilost of the 

 Cornish fishermen. — With this spine the animal is capable of inflicting a 

 severe wound. 



In the British Zoology, Mr Pennant takes notice of a fish, which he terms 

 the White Ray, and of which he gives the following notice : " ]Mr Travis, 

 surgeon at Scarborough, had, in the summer of 17G9, the tail of a ray brought 

 to him by a fisherman of that toAvn : he had taken it in the sea off the coast, 

 but flung away the body. It was about 3 feet long, extremely slender and 

 taper, and destitute of a fin at the end. I believe it to belong to the species 

 called by the Brazilians Jaberete ; and that it is likewise found in the Sici- 

 lian Seas. I once received the tail of one from that island, corresponding 

 witli the description Mr Travis gave : I must also add, that it was entirely 

 covered with hard obtuse tubercles," Brit. Zool. iii. 88. — The species to which 

 this j)ortion belonged, is considered by the editor of the last edition of the 

 British Zoology, as tlie Raia aqtdla of Linnaeus, now the type of the genus 

 Myhobatis of Dumeril. The tail received by JVIr Pennant from Sicily, seems 

 to have belonged to the Cephaloptera Giorna, Risso, Ich. 14. 



Portions of the caudal spine of a fossil species of this genus have occurred 

 at Highgate, Geol, Trans, ii. 206. 



Gen. XV. RAIA. — Disc rhomboidal. Tail with fins at the 

 extremity. The males with hooked spines on the pecto- 

 rals. 

 * Body above irregularly covered with large deflected spines. 



19. R. clavata. Thorn-back. — Base of the spines broad, 

 entire, the centre projecting, subulate and deflected. 



Thornback, Merr. Pin. 185. Sibb. Scot. 24. Will. Ich. 74. Artedi.lch. 

 Desc. 103. Linn. Syst. i. 397- Penn. Brit. Zool. iii. 93 — Common. 

 Length upwards of two feet. Skin shagreened, freckled above, white be- 

 low. A row of strong prickles down the back, and three rows on the tail, 

 with numerous smaller ones. Teeth of the female granulated, of the male 

 jjointed. The young, termed Maids or Maiden-skate, are generally spotted 

 with white, according to Montagu, who adds, that the " wings were generally 

 not so rough, and sometimes quite smooth about the middle. A variet}' also 

 of this fish had an oblong dusky spot surrounded with white, in the middle of 

 each wing," Wern. Mem. ii. 417. 



20. R. radiata. Starry Ray. — Base of the spines enlai-ged, 

 radiated. 



II. FuUonica, Fab. Fauna Gr. 125 — R. rad. Don. Brit. Fishes, tab. cxiv. 

 — On the nortli coast. 

 Front obtuse ; snout slightly prominent. The spines are of two kinds. 



