Ad. s. Jensen : The Selachians of Greenland. 



33 



enough they give this animal, as they call it, the name Kollwsiuternak, and it has un- 

 doubtedly been this form, which the Greenlanders had in mind, when they led Fabricius 

 to set up Zeus Gallus (Fauna Groenl. Nr. 116). Some Greenlanders give this ray egg 

 the name Kanalik"". 



Fig. 10. Sketch of the egg-case of a large species of Raja (spinicauda?) from Juhanehaab dis- 



trict, reduced (Va)- It was undoubtedly the "fish" which the Greenlanders cailed "Kollwsiuternak'' 



and which Fabricius recorded, from their descriptions, as ''Zeus Gallus'\ 



This equally surprising and striking interpretation was undoubtedly known to 

 Krøyer, when he wrote in his work "Danmarks Fiske" (III, 1852 — 53, p. 958, note **), 

 that it was the egg-capsule of a large species of ray, which the Greenlanders referred to 

 by the name Kollwsiuternak and which Fabricius records in his fauna with 

 the systematic name Zeus Gallus. 



Fig. 11. In the middle a piece of a dried egg-case of Raja spinicauda?, magnified ("h) to show 



the spinous structure of the capsule-wall. To the side are represented some of the denticulated 



spines with which the case is densely covered, magnified ^°h. 



Krøyer was aware, that the egg-capsules in question could not belong to the only 

 species of ray known from Greenland at that time {Raja radiata), and he imagined that 

 they were of Raja batis. 



The two egg-capsules referred to are still preserved in the Zoologicai Museum; one 

 of them is represented in fig, 10. In the dried condition they are ca. 115 mm long without 

 the threads and Ca. 80 mm broad and have a remarkable structure ; the longitudinal 



5 



