254 Papers from the Marine Biological Laboratory at Tortiigas. 



In 1880, Gunther published his "Introduction to the Study of Fishes," 

 but therein adds little to our knowledge of this ray. His figure (text-fig. 2) 

 is a mere outline drawing, but is one of the best for general appearance which 

 we have. Judged by my specimens, the ventrals are too long and too 

 rounded, the spine too large, the depression over the brain too accentuated, 

 while the absence of spots from the anterior part of the body is especially 

 noticeable. The snout is good and the eyes, it should be noted, are almost 

 invisible, as in the living fish. The same figure is given in this author's 

 (1886) article on Rays in the ninth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. 



After giving the general characters of the family Myliohatidce and of the 

 genus Aetobatus, Jordan and Evermann, in their great work "The Fishes of 

 North and Middle America" (1896), thus describe Aetobatus narinari: 



Disk twice as broad as long, its anterior borders a little convex, posterior concave, 

 outer angles pointed. Cephalic fin about one-third broader than long. Teeth of lower jaw 

 straight or more or less angularly bent. Tail three or four times length of disk. Brown 

 with small round pale spots (Dumeril). Tropical seas, north on the Atlantic coast to 

 Virginia: not very common on our shores. Narinari, a Brazilian name. 



Their figures, both dorsal and ventral, are herein reproduced as text- 

 figures 3 and 4. They were made from a preserved (alcoholic?) specimen 

 taken near Cedar Keys, Florida, and deposited in the United States National 

 Museum. Beyond calling the reader's attention to the parallel dark markings 

 on the dorsum, which are not mentioned in the text, criticism is deferred 

 until later. 



The writer has elsewhere (Gudger, 1910) published measurements and 

 brief descriptions of two spotted sting rays taken at Beaufort in 1909, 

 and of another taken at an earlier date. The largest of the three (sex 

 unknown) was taken by some fishermen in the deeper part of the outer 

 harbor in September 1901. Its body was 2 feet 2 inches long and 4 feet 

 wide, while the tail was 4 feet 8 inches long. The second, a female, was 

 taken by the writer in a seine on June 12, 1909, at the Narrows of Newport 

 River, a wide-mouthed tidal estuary whose lower reaches form part of 

 Beaufort Harbor. When just out of the water, its measurements were as 

 follows: length, snout to the tip of the ventrals, 18 inches; width over 

 pectorals 26 inches; length of tail 40^ inches. 



The third specimen, also a female, was, on July 3, 1909, brought to the 

 Fisheries Laboratory by Mr. Russell J. Coles, of Danville, Virginia. A 

 few days previously he had caught it on a hook in the Bight of Cape Lookout, 

 and rightly thinking it to be an unusual form, had preserved.it in a tank of 

 formalin loaned him by the laboratory and had brought it in for identifica- 

 tion. This fish was 23^ inches wide and 16 inches long, with a tail meas- 

 uring 353^ inches. A fourth specimen, of the same sex as the preceding, 

 also taken at Cape Lookout (in 1906), is recorded in the card catalogue of 

 fishes at the Laboratory, but no measurements are given. 



In 1910, I had the good fortune to get three fine specimens of this fish, 

 at the capture of two of which I was present, while the third was brought to 



