264 HISTORY OF THE FISHES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



FAMILY XXIX. RAIID^E. 



Body very much flattened out, resembling a disk. Pectorals very large, uniting in 

 front with the snout, and extending backward to near the base of the ventrals. Tail, 

 more or less long and slender. Mouth, nostrils, and branchial openings, beneath. Eyes 

 and temporal orifices, above. Dorsals (when present), almost always on the tail. 



GENUS I. EAIA. Lin. 



Disk rhomboidal. Tail slender ; with two small dorsals near the tip, and sometimes 

 the vestige of a caudal fin. Teeth slender, close set, arranged in quincunx. 



Raia diaphanes, Mitchill. 



The Clear-?iosed Bay. 



(Plate XXXIX. Fig. 1.) 



Raia diaphanes, Clear-nosed Ray, Mitch., Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc. N. Y. I. p. 478. 

 Raia ocellata, The Ocellated Ray, Mtch., Storer, Report, p. 191. 

 Raia diaphanes, Clear-nosed Ray, Dekay, Rep. p. 366, pi. 77, fig. 215. 



" " " Linslet, Cat. of Fishes of Connecticut. 



" " " Stores, Synopsis, p. 510. 



Color. The body above is of a light brown color, thickly sprinkled over its entire 

 surface with more or less circular black spots or blotches, varying in their size from one 

 half of a line to two lines in diameter ; beneath, white. Pupils black, iricles golden and 

 stellated. 



Description. In this species the pectorals are rounded ; in front of them is a concavity 

 on the sides of the head, which is preceded by a slight convexity of the margin. Snout 

 obliquely projecting, blunted at extremity, with an emargination on each side. The 

 length of the head is equal to about one-seventh the length of the body ; its width across 

 the pectorals more than half the length of the body ; its width directly back of the eyes 

 across occiput, as long again as the length of the head ; the distance between the eyes is 

 equal to one third the length of the head. The eyes are prominent, horizontally oval. 

 The temporal orifices are situated obliquely, directly back of the eyes, and shorter than 

 they. The length of the mouth is rather more than one third the length of the head. 

 An aperture extends from the exterior angle of the mouth to the nostrils, which are 

 situated directly in front of the mouth, large, and protected by fleshy elongations. The 



