MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 235 



Differing fix)m R. eglanteria, which it resembles in shape, in a somewhat 

 shorter snout and in coloration. 



Disk, including ventrals, 9.5 ; width 9 ; tail from vent 9.6 ; and total length 

 16.25 inches. 



Light yello^vish brown, sprinkled with small spots of brown intermixed with 

 others of white. On the base of each pectoral a little behind the shoulder 

 girdle there is a transversely oblong spot of brown, half an inch in diameter, 

 surrounded by a ring of small spots forming a sort of rosette. Uniform white 

 beneath. Named for Lieut. Seth M. Ackley, U. S. N., to whose energy and en- 

 thusiasm we were indebted for much valuable assistance. 



Yucatan Banks. 



Raja ornata. 



Var. nov. E. Ackley i. 



Disk, including the ventrals, little broader than long, anterior margins con- 

 vex at the extremities of the pectorals ; tail depressed, becoming quite slender 

 backward, with a narrow cutaneous fold on each side. Rostral angle obtuse. 

 Snout not produced beyond the convex margins on each side of it. Rostral 

 cartilage slender, acute. Mouth medium, moderately curved, width one and 

 one third times in the distance from the end of the snout. Teeth small, smooth, 

 in forty-four series in the upper jaw (young male). Eyes large, interorbital 

 space more than three times in their distance from the end of the snout. Spi- 

 racles smaller than the eye. Ventrals medium ; posterior portion elongate, 

 anterior small. Dorsals small, separate. Hinder margin of pectorals rounded. 

 A vertebral series of spines on back and tail ; one lateral series on each side of 

 this on the back, and two on the tail ; a series on each orbital ridge ; a single 

 spine on the forehead between the eyes ; a group of several above the end or 

 the rostral cartilage ; a spine on each shoulder ; a group near each ventral on 

 the hinder angle of the pectoral, and a group on the anterior extremity of the 

 latter. Entire upper surface rough ^vith small sharp asperities ; smooth below. 



Disk to end of ventrals 4.5, width 4, tail from vent 4.6, and total length 8 

 inches. 



Light brownish, freckled with lighter, marked with scattered rosettes or 

 groups of small spots of darker. One of these groups stands on the pectoral a 

 little back of the shoulder, a couple near the hinder angle, and one opposite, or 

 a little behind the spiracle. White beneath. Several spots on the tail ; one 

 at the base of each dorsal. 



One specimen off Alligator Key, Florida ; 138 fathoms. 



Three specimens, Lat. 32° 24' N., Lon. 78° 44' W ; 142 fathoms. 



Of the latter, one has only the vertebral series of spines well developed ; an- 

 other has the vertebral and one lateral on each side ; and the third has the 

 three series and scattered spines in the second lateral. One has a third dorsal 

 considerably in advance of the usual pair, near the middle of the length of the 

 tail. Tail extending behind the dorsals in a slender point. At present it 



