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Notice of Myliobatis aquila of Cuvier, or Eagle Ray of Tarrell, 

 ly Dr Johnston. 



"Mr Trayis, surgeon at Scarborough," says Pennant, "liad, in the 

 summer of 1769, the tail of a ray brought to him by a fisherman of 

 that town ; he had taken it in the sea off the coast, but flung away the 

 body." To what species this tail belonged has never been satisfact- 

 orily determined. Pennant himself believed it to belong to the species 

 called by the Brazilians laberete, but the editor of the edition of his 

 work published in 1812, referred it to the Eaia aquila of Linnaeus, 

 which is said to be a native of the Mediterranean. Dr Turton omitted 

 it in his catalogue of the British Fauna ; and in the works of Dr Plem- 

 ing, and of Messrs Jenyns and Yarrell, it stands among the doubtful 

 or undetermined species, the two latter expressing a belief that the 

 tail might be referred to the Raia Griorna, with as much probability as 

 to E. aquila ; and, consequently, Mr Yarrell has given a figure of both 

 these species to enable future inquirers the more readily to determine the 

 question, should an opportunity occur to any of his readers of doing so. 



Aware of these particulars, it was, with no ordinary delight, that I 

 received a perfect specimen of the Raia aquila, on Wednesday last 

 (September 11), which had been found that morning on the shore of 

 our bay near Spittal. It was quite fresh, and in fine preservation ; 

 and proves, as I think, that the conjecture of Mr Travis's fish being 

 the aquila is perfectly correct. There is, at all events, now no doubt 

 that this species is a native of our seas. 



The following is a description of my specimen. Body rhomboidal, 

 expanded laterally, flat, thickish, and raised in the middle, which 

 gradually passes into the thin sides or fins, of a uniform dusky olive- 

 green colour, smooth and even. Head depressed, with a square vertex, 

 or we may compare it to the figure of a horse's hoof, having an oblong 

 space in the centre that represents the hollow part of the hoof ; the 

 front suddenly lowered, round and entire. Eyes lateral, wide apart, 

 roundish, dark grey, overhung by a bony ridge. Behind them there 

 is a large elliptical hole leading to the gills. There is a series of 

 punctures on each side of the head, becoming most distinct and visible 

 on the occiput. Each fin forms a wide triangle with entire plain 

 margins. Posterior fins square, and very small proportionably. Tail 

 once and a half as long as the body, flagelliform, tapering to a point, 

 quadrangular, smooth, furnished with a small fin within two inches 

 of its root, and immediately under this fin the aculeus or string is pro- 

 truded, which is upwards of three inches in length, linear-lanceolate, 

 long, serrated on both sides, the serratures reflected. Yentral siu"face 

 whitish, duskier at the sides, smooth. Teeth transverse, linear-oblong, 

 with a small open piece between the ends of every pair on each side. 



Extreme breadth 21 inches. From the snout to the insertion of the 

 tail 13 inches. Length of the tail 21^ inches. 



