46 CHONDROPTERYGII. BATOIDEI. 



and confluent with its lower edge. Colour body and fins reddish 

 brown above, with numerous irregularly sized chocolate-coloured 

 spots ; lower surface white. Pupil triangular, apex below. Iris 

 golden. In the immature the spots have a white margin. Some 

 examples are marked all over with large brown blotches much 

 wider than the ground-colours ; in others no spots at all exist. 

 These differences in colour do not depend on sex or age. 



Hob. Seas of India to the Malay Archipelago. This fish attains 

 at least eighteen inches in length. 



2. Genus ASTRAPE, Miiller & Henle. 



Tail with a fold on either side. Spiracles close behind the eyes, 

 which last are minute. Nasal valves confluent, forming a large 

 quadrangular flap. Teeth flattened or with a central elevation, 

 the dental plate extending slightly beyond the outer edge of the 

 jaws. A single dorsal fin on the tail ; caudal well developed. An 

 electric apparatus on the side of the head between it and the pec- 

 toral fin. 



Geographical Distribution. Seas of India to the Malay Archi- 

 pelago and China, also the Cape of Good Hope and Madagascar. 



49. (1.) Astrape dipterygia. (Fig. 19.) 

 Raja dipterygia, SI Schn. Syst. Ich. p. 359. 



Astrape dipterygia, Day, Fisk. India, p. 734, pi. cxcii, fig. 4 (see 

 synon.). 



Zinzina, Marathi ; Timiri tiki, Tel. 



Disk rounded, as wide as long, extending posteriorly to over the 

 anterior margins of the ventrals. Tail shorter than the body ; a 



Fig. 19. Astrape dipterygia. 



low keel along the lateral edge of the former. Snout short. Spi- 

 racles smooth, close to and much larger than the eyes ; vent slightly 

 nearer to the head than to the posterior extremity of the caudal 

 fin. Teeth pointed, with tetragonal bases ; they project slightly 

 beyond the margin of the jaws. Fins ventrals with their angles 

 acute in the young, rounded in the adult. Caudal rounded, its 



