igoQ-] N. Annandale : Report on the Batoidei. 37 



Urogyntiius aspcrrimus (Bloch and Schneider). 



Disk slightly broader than long, broadly arched in front but with a somewhat pro- 

 jecting snout, very thick vertically in the middle, sloping up abruptly from the 

 anterior part of the pectoral fins to the top of the head. 



Tail longer than disk, sometimes with a low cutaneous fold on the ventral surface. 



Colour uniform greyish brown on the dorsal surface. 



Skin tough, very richly supplied with slime-glands. The head, back and tail are 

 densely covered with prominent bony tubercles, among which are scattered 

 numerous spiny denticles with more or less stellate bases. These are particularly 

 numerous on the tail and on the superciliary part of the head. The pectoral 

 fins are covered with spiny denticles which have smooth circular bases. In the 

 dried skin the area on which the bony tubercles are present is clearly marked ofl" 

 from that occupied by the .spines with circular bases, but in the fresh .specimen the 

 bases of all the scales are more or less completely concealed in the epidermis 

 and in the enormous amount of slime with which the skin is coated. 



Month. — The upper jaw is divided by a shallow concavity on either side into three 

 nearly equal convex projections. The middle part of the lower jaw, however, is 

 nearly straight, there being a slight concavity on either side. The teeth are of a 

 dark purple-brown ; the}^ are nearly oval (transversely) in shape and have the 

 exposed surface minutely but deeply sculptured. On the floor of the mouth there 

 are three long finger-shaped processes situated close together in the middle. 



The only specimen I have seen fresh was captured by the ' ' Golden Crown ' ' in 

 August, 1908, off Chittagong, but there are several stuffed ones in the Madras Museum. 

 The one taken by the ' ' Golden Crown ' ' had lost the greater part of its tail owing to 

 what appeared to be a slanting cut from above as with an axe. The wound had, how- 

 ever, healed. The following are the measurements of this specimen, which was a 

 female : — 



Length of disk . . ... . . . . . . 112-5 cm. 



Diameteracrossdi.sk .. .. .. • ■ 97"5 ,. 



Distance between eyes . . . . . . ■ ■ -375 ,, 



Tip of snout from eyes . . . . . . ■ • ^375 ,j 



Urogymmis Uevior, sp. nov. 

 {Description of type (a stuffed skin) in the Madras Museum.] 



Disk broadly oval if the pelvic fins are included, almost as wide as long without them, 

 truncated in front as a whole, but with a short projecting snout. 



Tail longer than disk, without cutaneous folds. 



Skin. — Dorsal surface of pectoral fins, head and anterior part of body covered 

 with small, round, blunt tubercles, which become gradually smaller from the 

 centre of the body outwards towards the edge of the ])ectoral fins, where they 

 are almost granular. Behind the scapular region these tubercles are mixed with 

 short spines, which have stellate bases and become more numerous on the base 



