392 



Survey of Fishing- Grounds, West Coast of Ireland, 1890—1891. 



It occurs commonly on the Faroe " banks," and off the coast of Iceland, but 

 we are not certain that it has been taken below the 100-fathom line in these 

 localities. The southern limit of its known horizontal range is Madeira. In the 

 British Islands it appears to be more plentiful on the coast of Devonshire than 

 elsewhere ; it is certainly not abundant on the east coast, but Couch* has recorded 

 examples from 50 fathoms in the Moray Firth, while a single specimen has been 

 met with by one of us in the shallow water of Findhorn Bay in that locality. 

 On the whole the Shagreen Ray would appear like R. oxyrhynchus, to affect 

 rather deep water around the British coast. 



Baia microcellata (Montague). The Owl Ray. (Littoral). 



Raia microcellata, 



Diagnosis of Species, 



Montagu, " Wern. Mem.," ii., p. 430. 



Fleming, p. 171. 



Jenyns, "Manual," p. 515. 



MiJLLER & Henle, p. 142. 



Yarrell, " Brit. Fishes" (ed. 3), ii., p. 567. 



Day, ''Fish. Great Brit.," ii., p. 346. 



MoREAU, " Poiss. de la France," i., p. 417. 



Holt, "Report. Roy. Dub. Soc," 1892, p. 305. 



Couch, "Fish. Brit. Isles," i„ p. 107. 



-Anterior edge of the disk slightly undulating, scarcely 

 passing in front of a straight line drawn from tip of snout to angle of pectoral fin. 

 Extremity of snout projecting slightly. Width of the disk about 26 per cent, 

 greater than its length, and about 30 per cent, less than the total length, which 

 is about 7 times the length of the snout. Length of the eye about b\ times in 

 the length of the snout, and from 2 to 3| times in the distance between the 

 interorbital ridges. Spinacles of greater diameter than, and placed close to, the 

 eyes. 



Teeth of adult males pointed, of females obtuse. Both upper and under- 

 surfaces of disk and tail covered with asperities. A median dorso-caudal row of 

 spines in both sexes. Two lateral caudal rows in females ; adult males with a 

 single lateral row, always very imperfect, frequently altogether absent either on 

 one or both sides. Colours — upper surface brown, inclining to madder or lilac, 

 with a number of pale purplish streaks and spots arranged, on the wings, in a 

 manner roughly parallel to the anterior and posterior margins of tlie disk : a few 

 pale blotches over the abdomen, frequently accompanied by darker markings. f 



* "British Fishes," i., p. 118. f All markings are lost in specimens preserved in alcohol, or by drying. 



