i6 Memoirs of the Indian Museum. [Vol. II, 



strongly dilated on the margin of the nostril. Anterior dorsal fin slightly behind 



the pelvic fins, the claspers reaching as far as its anterior margin in the male ; 



both dorsal fins short and high, subequal, separated by several times the length 



of the anterior fin. Denticles minutely granular all over the dorsal surface, barel}' 



enlarged on the mid-dorsal line. 

 Colour of the dorsal surface uniform brownish grey or olive-green in the adult ; sides 



of the snout pale in young specimens ; numerous faint white spots all over the 



dorsal surface of the body in the unborn young. 

 Jaws nearl}- straight. Teeth small, with the transverse ridge so strongly convex that 



when viewed in profile they appear to be almost conical with a flattened base. 



Several adult specimens of this species were obtained by the " Golden Crown" 

 off the entrance to the Ea.stern Channel of the river Hughli in a depth of about 30 

 fathoms in February, 1909, and a small male, which was presented by Mr. J. H. 

 Row and identified by Col. Alcock, has been in the Museum for some years. It was 

 taken in the Mutlah river, which connects the Salt Lakes near Calcutta with the sea. 

 Giinther mentions an adult female of 700 mm. and an adult male of 750 mm. from 

 Japan. A female from the Eastern Channel wnth five young in its oviduct measured 

 500 mm., u'hile an apparently adult male measured 336 mm. The transverse 

 diameter across the pectoral fins was in the former case 187-5 mm. The young from 

 the oviduct of this specimen measured 120 mm. in length and 44 mm. across the disk. 

 Their snouts, although produced, terminated much more abruptly than was the case 

 in the adult, the two sides being nearly parallel. In the mother the length of the 

 snout (measured from the eyes) was contained 5-62 times in the total length, while in 

 the young it was contained 6-66 times. 



R. schlcgelii has been recorded from the east coast of Africa as well as from Chinese 

 and Japanese seas. 



Family RAJID^ (Skates). 

 Head and body forming a rhombic disk, much flattened ; the pectoral fins extending 



to the snout ; tail quite distinct. Skin usually bearing spines and large denticles. 



Tail with a longitudinal fold on each side and a caudal fin, which is degenerate in 



some genera ; dorsal fins present. No electric organ. No serrated caudal spine. 



In Day's works on Indian ichthyology only one member of this family is recorded 

 as occurring in Indian seas, viz., Platyrhina schonleinii . In recent years, however, 

 six species of Kaja (of which four are markedly di.stinct from one another, although each 

 species is founded on a single specimen) have been described by Alcock or Lloyd. A 

 specimen which I take to belong to Alcock 's Ra]a powellii was recently taken in shal- 

 low water off Trivandrum on the west coast of India and has been presented to the 

 Indian by the Trivandrum Museum ; but the members of the family belong essentially, 

 so far as Indian seas are concerned, to the deep-sea fauna. Captain R. E. Lloyd has 

 therefore dealt with them in a paper (to be issued in the Memoirs of the Indian Museum 

 almost simultaneously with this one) on the deep-sea fi.shes taken by the ' ' Investiga- 

 tor ' ' since the publication of Col. Alcock's monograph. No Rajidse have been taken 

 by the ' ' Golden Crown." 



