PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 523 
in species of Syrrhina, length from vent little more than that from snout 
to extremity of ventrals, with a broad cutaneous fold on each side be- 
low, which extends to the ventrals and is continuous with the lower lobe 
of the caudal. Caudal rather large, somewhat more than twice as lon g 
as wide, margins entire. Covered with shagreen above and below. 
Several (three to four) series of sharp, erect, immovable spines along 
the anterior margin of the pectoral, a group of several above the ex- 
tremity of the rostral cartilage, and several on the orbital ridge. A 
vertebral series of larger spines on back and tail extending to the 
second dorsal, a pair near the middle and on each end of each branch of 
the shoulder girdle, and a series on each side of the upper surface of the 
tail parallel with the median. 
In foetal specimens the lateral series on the tail are not developed, 
and the inner pairs on the shoulder-girdle are represented by single 
spines. The upper portion of each spine is iong, narrow, subfusiform, 
depressed, and, resting upon alow, narrow support, appears as if merely 
applied to the skin by a portion of its lower side. 
Disk to end of ventrals 12, width of disk 11.2, vent to end of tail 12.6, 
and total length 22 inches. 
Uniform olivaceous brown, whitish beneath. 
Specimens described from U.S. Nat. Museum. Hab. Southern Cali- 
fornia. 
DISCOBATIDAE, fam. nov. 
Form intermediate between that of the Rajide and LRhinobatide ; 
nearer the latter. ‘Tail less distinct from the body than in the former, 
to which there is also less similarity in dorsals, ventrals, caudal, and 
nasal valves. Oviparous. Provisionally placed as a subfamily of the 
Tthinobatide. 
DISCOBATUS. 
Platyrhina, preoccupied. 
Disk broad, flat, subcircular. Pecturals approximating in front of 
the head. Ventrals separate, entire. Dursals and caudal as in Syr- 
rhina. Nasal valves resembling those of the Rhinobatide ; anterior 
lobes united across the internarial space. HEgg-cases similar to those 
of certain Scylliide. 
D. schinleinii, sp. Miiller & Henle, India. 
D. sinensis, sp. Lacépede, China. 
The species recently described as Platyrhine having been withdrawn, 
the genus contains no American representatives at present. 
