44 GENUS RAJA. 



shorter than the hiferior one, arising from near the tip of 

 the spine, inferior one arising opposite to the base of the 

 spine. 



The largest specimen I have seen was eighteen inches 

 long, exclusive of the tail; sixteen or seventeen inches 

 in the greatest width, and four or five inches thick. 

 These dimensions varied somewhat in several individuals 

 which I examined on the bay shore of Egg Harbour^ 

 New Jersey. 



3. 7?. quadriloha. Body rhomboidal, gibbous; snout 

 divided transversely and vertically into four lobes; the 

 transverse dividing groove gradually disappearing over 

 the jiiw on each side. Teeth tabular. Tail armed with a 

 serrate spine. 



Body gibbous on the middle of the back^ glabrous; 

 pectoral fin narrowed towards a point on each side; colour 

 brownish, olivaceous; beneath flat, white, somewhat red 

 near the tips of the fins. Head distinct, sloping, grooved 

 longitudinally above, neck with several protuberances. 

 Eyes lateral, vertical, equidistant from the spiracle and the 

 tip of the superior lobes, pupil very small, black, iris yel* 

 lowish; spiracle large. Inferior lobes of the middle of the 

 nose, rather longer than the others; superior ones obtuse, 

 roundish. Nostrils equidistant from the tip and middle of 

 the nose; tip of the nose fiat, a little dilated, truncate, den- 

 ticulated, covering the superior jaw, the lateral fold conti- 

 nued a short distance below the angles of the jaw. Mouth 

 wide, with several ranges of flat, wide teeth, of different 

 dimensions, central teeth largest, lateral ones diminishing 

 towards the angles of the mouth, those of each row being 

 but a moiety of the preceding ones; jaws applied to each 

 other by a transverse obtuse elevation in the middle, Brart^ 



