The Rev. R. T. Lowe on the Fishes of Madeira, 423 



AcANTHiDiuM pusiLLUM. " GciXa negru.^' A, totum atrum, 

 pusillum : rostra crassiusculo : dent'ibiis inferiorihus uniseriatis : 

 spiraculis oculo remotiuscidis. 



Centrina? nigra, nob. olim in Proceed. Zool. Soc. 1833, p. 144*. 

 Syn. Mad. Fish in Trans. Zool. Soc. p. 194. Rariss. 



Four individuals of this curious little shark have now occurred, 

 agreeing equally in the foregoing characters and in their dimensions, 

 varying in length only from eleven to twelve inches. The second 

 dorsal fin is somewhat forwarder or more distant from the origin of 

 the tail than in the next species. 



The condition of the teeth, and constancy of size, both indicate 

 an adult fish; and a comparison of the present species with the 

 fcetal and adult state of the following, in these two points alone 

 demonstrates Acanthidium pusillum to be no stage oi A. calceus. 



AcANTHiDiuM CALCEUS. " Supata.** A. imrpureo-fusciim, sub' 



tus pallidius : rostro plano-depresso : dent'ibus inferioribus 



biseriatis : spiraculis oculo, pinnaque dorsali secunda caudce 



approximatis. 



Centrina Salviani, Syn. Mad. Fish in Trans. Zool. Soc. p. 194 : 



nee aliorum. Rarior. 



This shark very much resembles in its general aspect Scymnus 

 wic«e/iS25, Risso, the " Gata" of Madeira : but is at once distinguished 

 by the spines in front of the two dorsal fins, which, as in A.pusil- 

 lum, are both recurved, and ought, had I attended to the excellent 

 figures copied by Willoughbyfrom Salviana of Centrina nigra, Cuv., 

 instead of allowing myself to be deceived by a miserable figure of 

 LacepMe's, alone to have preserved me from the blunder of referring 

 to that species for the present shark, the usual size of which exceeds 

 by a few inches only three feet. 



Fam. Raiid^e. 

 Raia oxyrhynchus, Will., Ichth. p. 71. — " Raia." 

 Sharp-nosed Ray, Penn., Ed. 1. iii. 83. No. 31. Yarr., Brit. 

 Fish. ii. 424. 



Two male individuals only have occurred : the largest, measuring 

 three feet in width from wing to wing, was furnished on the back 

 with patches of strong hooked spines or prickles, much as in the 

 figure in the British Fishes ; but the second example, scarcely two 



* A serious erratum has been caused here by the transposition of a sen- 

 tence. The paragraph referred to should stand thus : " It (Centrina ? 

 nigra) is intermediate in characters between Centrina, Cuv., and Acanthias, 

 Risso, having the teeth of the former genus as well as the backward posi- 

 tion of the second dorsal (rectius ventral) fin, and the form of body of the 

 latter." 



