60 Bulletin 47, United States National Museum. 



ray-like sharks, closely approaching the PRISTID.E and RHINOBATID^E. As 

 above noticed, the Batoidei seem to be descended from the Cyclospondylous 

 sharks. 



Suborder SARCURA. 



(THE THICK-TAILED RAYS.) 

 Family XXII. PRISTID^E. 



(THE SAWFISHES.) 



Body elongate, depressed; pectoral fins moderate, the front margin 

 quite free, not extending to the head; snout produced into a very long, 

 thin, flat blade, which is armed with a series of strong, tooth-like pro- 

 cesses placed in sockets along each edge ; teeth in jaws minute, obtuse; 

 gill openings moderate, inferior; spiracles wide, behind the eye; nostrils 

 inferior; no tentacles; no nictitating membrane; dorsal fins large, with- 

 out spine, the first nearly opposite the ventrals. Caudal well developed, 

 bent upward ; a fold along each side of tail. A single genus, with 5 or 

 more species, inhabiting warm seas on sandy shores, sometimes ascending 

 rivers. A family of sharks, PRISTIOPHORID.E, similarly armed with a 

 "saw," occurs in the Pacific Ocean. (PRISTID.*;, Griinther, vm, 43&-4S9.; 



44. PRISTIS, Latham. 



Pristis, LATHAM, Trans. Linn. Soc., n, 276, 1794, (pristis). 



Prisiobalus, BLAINVILLE, Journ. Phys., 1816, 262, (antiquorum=prislis). 



Myrumteon, GRAY, Proc. Zoiil. Soc., 1864, (higginsi, based on a fragment of a rostral process). 



Characters of the genus included above. (irpiaTrjc, the ancient name, 

 meaning one who saws.) 



a. Rostral teeth in 18 to 20 pairs; first dorsal chiefly before ventrals; caudal with a small 



lower lobe. PERROTTETI, 79. 



aa. Rostral teeth in 24 to 32 pairs; first dorsal opposite ventrals; caudal without lower lobe. 



PECTINATUS, 80. 



79. PRISTIS PEBROTTETI, Valenciennes. 



First dorsal fin chiefly in advance of ventrals ; second dorsal much 

 smaller than first ; caudal with a small lower lobe ; root of pectoral 

 before first gill opening, its outer angle a right angle. Saw with 18 to 20 

 pairs of teeth, well separated and not trenchant behind. (Giinther.) 

 Tropical se.as, north to Mazatlan on the Pacific coast ; also said to occur 

 in the West Indies ; not so common as the next. It may be that our 

 Pacific species is distinct from the true perrotteti, first obtained in Africa. 

 (Named for M. Perrottet, a French naturalist, who obtained the types.) 



Pristi* perroUeti, VALENCIENNES MS., MULLER & HENLE, Plagiostoinen, 108, 1838, Senegal River; 

 GONTHER, Cat., vm, 436, 1870. 



80. PRISTIS PECTINATUS, Latham. 



(COMMON SAWFISH; PEZ SIERRA.) 



First dorsal over ventrals ; second dorsal scarcely smaller than first ; 

 no lower caudal lobe. Saw with 24 to 32 pairs of teeth, the posterior 

 farther apart than the anterior. L. 10 to 20 feet. Tropical seas ; north 

 to West Indies and Florida ; abundant in the Gulf of Mexico ; ascending 

 the lower Mississippi, (pectinatus, comb-toothed.) 



