FURTHER NOTES ON NEW JERSEY FISHES. 131 



back and spread them over the fields to manure their soil. Such 

 places were very foul-smelling, on account of the desiccating 

 bodies. We noticed, besides all the skates mentioned, herring, 

 mossbunkers and flounders. The waste of the latter, especially, 

 was deplorable, as in a number of cases large examples of the 

 summer flounder of about 2 feet in length were found rotting 

 along with the others. Several herring were sometimes used 

 to a hill to force the corn. The buzzards and crows have plenty 

 of food in such places, and along the beach, where there is always 

 a great variety of rotting animal life, insects also abound in pro- 

 fusion. A number of large examples of both sexes of this skate 

 were seen along the bay shore at Green Creek, June 9th, 1907. 



Raja eglanteria Lacepede. 

 Common Speckled Skate. 



A single example, about 28 inches long, was seen among the 

 other skates at Green Creek, Cape May county, May 5th, 1907. 

 H. Walker Hand and H. W. Fowler. Mr. Hand says they prefer 

 sandy bottoms, with croakers and sea robins, and for this reason 

 may be unusual in Delaware Bay. Sometimes reported from the 

 pounds in June. Reported at Barnegat Pier on July 30th, 1907. 



Egg cases, most likely belonging to this species, were found 

 on the beach at Ocean City Point on August i6th, 1907. This 

 skate was reported to be the most abundant species at Beesley's 

 Point, Somers Point and Ocean City, and in Great Egg Harbor 

 Bay during the past summer. 



Family DASYATID^. 

 (Dasybatidce. ) 



Dasyatis centroura (Mitchill). 



Sting Ray. 



During the past summer sting rays have been very scarce in 

 the bay along the Cape May county shore, and but few have been 



