240 



HISTORY OF THE FISHES OF MASSACHUSETTS 



FAMILY XXIX. RAIID^. 



Body very much flattened out, resembling a disk. Pectorals very large, uniting 

 front with the snout, and extending backward to near the base of the ventrals 

 more or less long and slender. Mouth, nostrils, and branchial openings, beneath. Ey 



Tail 



and temporal orifices, abo\ 



Dorsals (when present), almost always on the 



GENUS I. KAIA. Lin. 



Di.sk rhomboidal 



Tail slender ; with two small dorsals near the tip, and sometimes 



the vestige of a caudal fin. Teeth slender, close set, arranged in quincunx 



Raia diaphanes, Mitchill. 



The Clear-nosed Ray. 



(Plate XXXIX, Fig. 1.) 



iia diaphanes, Clear-nosed Ray, Mitch., Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc. N. Y. I. p. 478 

 Raia ocellata, The 0<< Hated Ray, Mtch., Stoker, Eeport, p. 191. 

 Rata diaph'ines, Clear-nosed Raff, Dekay, Rep. p. 366, pi. 77, fig. 215. 



<< 



n 



u 



if 



tt 



it 



Linsley, Cat. of Fishes of Connecticut. 

 Storeb, Synopsis, p. 510. 



its entire 



Color. The body above is of a light brown color, thickly sprinkled over 



rface with more or less circular black spots or blotches, varying in their size from one 



golden and 



half of a line to two lines in diameter; beneath, white. Pupils black, irides 

 stellated. 



* 



Description. In this species the pectorals are rounded ; in front of them is a concavity 

 on the sides of the head, which is preceded by a slight convexity of the margin. Snout 

 obliquely projecting, blunted at extremity, with an emargination on each side. The 

 length of the head is equal to about one-seventh the length of the body ; its width across 

 the pectorals more than half the length of the body ; its width directly back of the eyes 

 across occiput, as long again as the length of the head ; the distance between the eyes is 



equal to one third the length of the head. The eyes are prominent, horizontally oval. 

 The temporal orifices are situated obliquely, directly back of the eyes, and shorter than 

 they. The length of the mouth is rather more than one third , the length of the head. 

 An aperture extends from the exterior angle of the mouth to the nostrils, which are 

 situated directly in front of the mouth, large, and protected by -fleshy elongations. The 



