FAMILY RAIIDiE PASTINACA. 373 



R. eglanteria, Bosc. (Les. lb. Vol. 4, p. lOo) Reddish, sprinkled with small spot.s A longitudinal 

 series of 9 - 12 simple spines on each sidi; of tlie lateral tin. Width 10 inches; length nineteen. 

 Delaware Bay and Souihcrii Coast. 



GENUS PASTINACA. Cuvicr. 



Tail slender, vjitJwut fms, hut armed ivilh u?ie or mure long spines, which arc denlated on 

 the edges. 



THE WHIP STINGRAY. 



PaSTINAC* ilJSTATA. 

 ri..\TE LXV. FIG. 211. (FEMALE ) 



R. ctntrouray Prickhj-taUed Stuig-ray. MiTcHiLL,* Trans. Lit. and Pliil. Soc. Vol. I, p. 479 (male') 



Characteristics. Uniform olive-brown above ; white beneath. Upper surface partially smooth. 

 Tail longer than the body, and armed with two or more spines. Width 

 of the body three feet. Length of body and tail five to eight feet. 



Description. Body quadrilateral, rounded on the pectoral angles ; its transverse and longi- 

 tudinal diameters nearly equal ; its vertical diameter, in the thickest part, between si.x and 

 seven inches. Snout subacutely pointed, and slightly salient from the lateral margins. Eyes 

 obliquely oval, nine inches and a half from the tip of the snout, and seven inches apart. Tem- 

 poral orifices oval, oblique, contiguous to the eyes, and an inch and a half long. Nostrils 

 small, five inches apart ; the nasal lobes sinuous, truncate. Teeth small, flat, lozenge-shaped, 

 and arranged in quincun.x. The upper surface of the body smooth, and covered with a dark- 

 colored mucilaginous slime. From a point slightly anterior to the centre of the body, com- 

 mences a triple longitudinal series of small horny tubercles, descending along and on each side 

 of the medial line for a short distance on the anterior portion of the tail. Tail long, cylindrical, 

 rough, tapering and flexible towards the end. At the distance of thirteen inches from the 

 base of the tail, on its upper surface, is a small flattened pointed spine, with a row of while 

 acute teeth on its edges, directed downward when the spine is erect. Three inches posterior 

 to this, is another spine of a similar shape and armature, but more formidable from its length, 

 which is five inches, with a deep groove on one side and a corresponding keel on the other; 

 posterior to this large spine, is another an inch and a half long, and similar to the preceding. 



* I make tliis reference with due reserve, for the following embraces all that Mitchill has said ujion the .suliject : 

 •' Raia centroura, Pricldij-laitcd Slinsi-Tay. A very lar^e species, found on the coast of Loni; island, with a tail of live 

 feet or more in lengtli ; covered all over with jirickly shields or scales, and anneil on its n|i|«'r side wilh two naked 

 bones of four inches long, inversely serrated." 

 I find no other notice of this species amon^ his iiuUtifarious contrilnitions to the nia^'azines of the day. The prickly 

 shields in the above note can rell'r only to the tail. 



