149 
this; the mid-line of the tail beneath is also clouded. The orifices 
of numerous pores are black, forming dots. 
’ A colour variety of this species was taken at Station 89. It is 
bright olive-green above, with brownish-grey markings in the form 
of subcircular spots about the size of the eye. They are of fairly 
uniform dimensions, and there is no trace of white spots, nor of the 
large oval markings characteristic of the normal form. 
This variety is illustrated on the accompanying plate, and, though 
the dark spots are not only conspicuous but striking, they have appa- 
rently the same actinic value as the ground; they consequently do 
not appear on the negative, an ordinary plate uncorrected for colour- 
values. 
Length of specimen described, a young male, 500 mm. I measured. 
examples up to 1,670mm. Embryos, in two stages, are illustrated on 
Plate XIX, figs. 2 and 3. 
Mr. H. Nielson, engineer of the Government steamer “ Hinemoa,” 
has kindly given me a photograph of a female skate which measured 
74 ft. in length (2,530 mm.). It was taken in Anita Bay, Milford 
Sound, and two eggs enclosed in their cases were removed from the 
body. Crayfishes were found in the stomach. 
The armature of the adult differs from the young, as usual with 
members of the genus. A stuffed specimen in the Museum obtained 
at the Chatham Islands presents the following dermal characters : 
The roughened areas in the young become distinctly spinous, and are 
somewhat extended. A broad spine- bearing band extends from the 
snout to the tail. The median and posterior part of each pectoral 
is smooth. Four rows of large inwardly directed spikes occur within 
the angle of each pectoral. The tail, in addition to the median row of 
spikes, bears a row on each side also. 
At Station 22 an example was obtained minus the snout. The 
tissues had so overgrown the parts left by what was probably an 
accident that, apart from the pecularity, there was no suggestion of 
abnormality. 
Eggs were taken at Stations 7, 15, 16, 18, 22, 26, 29, 31, 32, 48, and 
50, in the South Island, and at 70, Chatham Islands, but a single one 
only was trawled off the North Island (at Station 84), though skates 
were freely obtained. 
The egg-cases are of the usual quadrangular shape, with a pair 
of long “ horns” in front, and a shorter, thicker pair behind. One 
side of the case is convex, while the other is concave ; the lateral edges 
are quite thin, but are bent over towards the concave side, which, 
naturally, becomes the lower surface when the case is placed on the 
ground. (Plate XXI fig. 2). 
In the egg-case of Cephaloscyllium the spiracule are, as already 
‘described, longitudinal slits. In that of Raja nasuta the orifices are 
at the extremities of two tubes running on the inner edge of the anterior 
“horns,” and opening at about the middle of their length. The 
