86 Bulletin 47, United States National Museum. 



127. DASYATIS SAY, (Le Sueur). 



(SOUTHERN STING RAY.) 



Disk quadrangular, \ wider than long, anterior margins nearly straight, 

 posterior and inner borders convex, outer and posterior angles rounded. 

 Snout not protruding beyond the lines of the margins. Ventrals rounded. 

 Tail strong, rather more than \\ times the length of the disk, with a 

 strong serrated spine, bearing a short, low, cutaneous expansion behind 

 the spine on the upper side, and a longer, little wider one below, ending 

 nearly opposite. Upper jaw undulated; lower prominent in the middle. 

 Teeth small, smooth in young and females, sharp in adult males; 3 pa- 

 pillae at the bottom of the mouth, and 1 at each side. Body and tail 

 smooth. Color olive brown in adult, reddish or yellowish in young; lower" 

 surface whitish. Closely resembles the European species, D. pastinaca. 

 In D. say, the anterior margins form a more blunt angle at the end of the 

 snout, which is less prominent at the apex, the outer and posterior extrem- 

 ities of the pectorals are rounder, the posterior margins are more convex, 

 the disk is broader toward the ventrals, and the tail is longer ; in D. pas- 

 tinaca the lateral and hinder angles of the pectorals and the lateral angle 

 of the ventrals are marked by blunted corners ; a single small rounded 

 tubercle on the middle of the back. Carolina to Brazil, common in Florida, 

 occasional northward to New York. (Garman.) (Named for Thomas 

 Say.) 



Raja say, LE SUEUR, Jour. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., I, 42, 1817, New Jersey. 

 Myliobalis sayi, BE KAY, N. Y. Fauna: Fishes, 376, 1842. 

 Trygonsayi, DUMERIL, Elasmobranches, 603, 1870. 

 Dasibatte sayi, JORDAN & GILBERT, Synopsis, 69, 1883. 



54. PTEROPLATEA, Miiller & Henle. 



Pteroplatea, MULLER & HENLE, Plagiostomen, 168, 1838, (allavela). 



Disk much broader than long, its anterior margins meeting in a very 

 obtuse angle, its outer angles more or less acute, the form, therefore, 

 transversely rhombic. Tail very short and slender, shorter than the 

 disk, without fin, armed with a very small serrated spine, which is often 

 wanting. Skin smooth or very nearly so. Size rather large. Warm 

 seas. The species are closely related. (Trrepbv, fin; Trlaruc, broad; an 

 ancient name of P. altavela-.) 



a. Spiracle without tentacle. 



b. Front of disk with a row of close-set paler spots or half spots. 



c. Disk scarcely twice as broad as long; upper surface finely marbled with grayish 

 mottlings, besides specks; tail with 4 cross blotches. MACLURA, 128. 



cc. Disk twice as broad as long; upper surface with thick-set dark points. 



CREBR1PUNCTATA, 129. 



bb. Front of disk without distinct pale spots; dark markings above forming reticulations 

 around pale spots; tail without dark cross blotches. MARMORATA, 130. 



128. PTEROPLATEA MACLURA, (Le Sueur). 



(BUTTERFLY RAY.) 



Disk scarcely twice as broad as long, covered with perfectly smooth 

 skin. Tail about i as long as the disk, with a very slight dermal fold 

 above and below. Snout a little projecting, so that the anterior edge 



