SHARKS AND RAYS OF BEAUFORT, NORTH CAROLINA. 



271 



Yarrow lists the Torpedo, but the form described in his notes, as reported by fishermen, was not a 

 ray, but the " electric toad ' ' (Aslroscopus y-gr<ECum), a form he had not seen. Coues had taken a single 

 specimen of the latter species; this accounts for its inclusion in Yarrow's report. 



A B 



Fig. 25. — A, Teeth, upper and lower jaws, of a male, Narcine brasiliensis, 27.7 cm. long, Cape 



Lookout, N. C; B, teeth, female, 34 cm. long, from same locality. 



Family RAJID^C. The Skates. 

 Genus RAJA Linnteus. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES. 



a. Snout very blimt, broadly rounded; disk rounded, slightly broader than long; teeth in about — 



44 



rows; upper surface of body with rosettes or groups of darker spots ornata. 



aa. Snout produced, angular, disk angular, much broader than long. 



b. Teeth in _ rows; disk and tail rough above; upper surface with numerous dark brown elongated 



spots eglanteria. 



bb. Teeth in ^ — — rows; upper surface smoother than in most skates, marked with scattered, unequal, 

 32-35 ■ H • 



dark brown spots stabuliforis. 



24. Raja ornata Gannan. 



Teeth. — Teeth in about — rows, flat, in pavement; anterior margins rounded, posterior margins with 

 44 



a small median cusplike projection. 



Armature of skin. — Entire upper surface roughened with small spines; lower surface smooth. A row 

 of tubercles above median line of back and tail ; a row on either side of these on back and two on the tail ; 

 a single spine on each shoulder in one specimen, absent in another; a series on each orbital ridge; a 

 group on rostral ridge near tip of snout; spines along anterior margin of disk slightly larger than those 

 on rest of disk. Descriptions of two young males 19.5 and 21 cm. long. 



A female 25 cm. long differs in having three spines on each shoulder, one on forehead between eyes; 

 a group on posterior pectoral lobe, and another near margin of disk opposite eyes. 



Disk broadly rounded, with a slight concavity opposite spiracles, slightly broader than long, its 

 length to hinder angle of pectorals i.i in its breadth, 2.1 to 2.3 in total length; tip of snout obtuse, not 



