

ASSACHUSETTS 



245 



Length of specimen here described, a male, from the snout to the commencement of 

 the tail three feet and a half; from the snout to the end of the tail nine feet. 

 Length, five to nine feet. 

 Remarks. 



I 



Previous to ^publication of my "Report on the Fishes of -lfa*a ehusetts, 



that 



species of sting-ray inhabited 



Thus, Dr. Yale, then of 



Holmes Hole, wrote me: "I have seen frequently in this harbor and have assisted in tak 



g them ; but, owin 



poisonous nature when wounded by their sting, we have 



been rather cautious about taking them into the boats, so that we seldom see one on 



shore 



One or two individuals in this vicinity have come well nigh losing then lives by 



In July and August they are abundant on the flats in the harbor 



harpoon. In October, 1840. 1 received 



wound from them 



here." When captured they are taken by the harpoon, 

 from Dr. Yale the head and tail of a species, which I supposed to be Mitch ill's Raia cen- 

 troura, — and afterwards another tail of this species was sent me from Holmes Hole. In 

 September, 1857, my friend E. W. Carpenter, M. D., of Chatham, Cape Cod. sent me the 

 fine specimen from that place which has enabled me to present the above description 

 and accompanying figure. 



Massachusetts, Storer. Connecticut, Linsley. New York, Mitchill. 



GENUS III. MYLIOBATIS. Dum. 



Head projecting from the pectorals, and the latter more broad transversely than in the 

 other Rays, which gives them somewhat the appearance of a bird of prey with the wings 

 extended, and has caused them to be compared to the eagle. Their jaws are furnished 

 with broad, flat teeth, arranged like the squares of a pavement, and of different propor- 



accorcling to the species ; their tail, extremely 



terminated in a point, and 



armed like that of a trygon, with a strong spine, serrated on both sides, and has above 

 toward its base, in front of the spine, a small dorsal. 



Sometimes there are two or more 



spmes. 



Myliobatis acuta, Ayres. 



Hie Smooth-tailed Sting-Bay. 



9 



(Plate XXXIX. Fig. 4.) 



Myliobatis bispinosus, Storer, Proceed. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist 



a 



a 



a 



a 



.. 



a 



Hist 



290 



Myliobatis acuta, Lixslky, Cat. of Fishes of Connecticut 



<< 



it 



Synop 



Color 



The whole body and head above, reddish brown ; tail lighter at the base, but 



rly black toward the tip ; beneath, whitish 





