314 THE PLAGIOSTOMIA. 



whitish below, with white margins to disk, ventrals, tail and spiracles, and with 

 a white spot of some size above each pectoral near its end. In general it may be 

 said the back is dusky brown, uniform or white-spotted, and the lower surface 

 white with brown blotches or spots. 



Originally described from Tranquebar; other localities given are Penang, 

 Singapore, Malay Peninsula, Lancavy Islands, Malacca, Hindostan, Canton. 



Narke japonica. 

 Plate 24, fig. 3; Plate 56, fig. 10; Plate 67, fig. 3^. 



Torpedo (^Astrape) japonica Schlegel, 1850, Jap. Pisces, p. 307, pi. 140. 



Astrape japonica Jordan & Fowler, 1903, Proc. U. S. nat. Mus., 26, p. 656; Ishikawa & Matsuura, 

 1897, Cat. fishes, p. 60. 



Disk subcircular; snout short, convex on anterior margin. Nostrils small; 

 anterior valves confluent, free behind the median attachment and extending 

 back over the teeth; posterior valves with prominent free margins, curving back 

 at the outer side of the nostrils then turning in and forward as a partition across 

 the interior. Mouth small, protractile, surrounded by a fleshy lip, included by 

 a deep fold of the skin and divided on both jaws by a prominence in the middle 

 of each jaw. A flattened papilla, commonly lobed at its extremity, stands 

 above the middle of each band of teeth. Teeth small, with a sharp angle rising 

 inward from each crown, in if rows on an adult male of ten and one half inches; 

 lateral series from each side meeting in an angle in front of each band. Eyes 

 very small, prominent. Spiracles larger than the eyes, immediately behind 

 the orbits, with a smooth raised border, without papillae. Gill openings small. 

 Dorsal fin small, rounded; base little more than its length behind the bases of 

 the ventrals and about the same distance from the origin of the caudal. Tail 

 short, length about half of the total, stout, depressed, with a well-developed 

 caudal and with a fold on each side originating opposite the origin of the dorsal. 

 Subcaudal broadly rounded; supracaudal longer, rounded on the hind margin. 

 Ventrals broad, distinct, convex on the outer margin, without an outer angle; 

 origins below the pectorals; claspers short, depressed, very blunt, with a groove 

 along the upper side and also a short slit near the end. A male of eleven inches 

 is functionally mature; a female of fourteen inches contains fully developed 

 young each of which is three and three fourths inches in length. 



Reddish or chocolate-brown above and below, light to very dark, lighter 

 beneath, uniform or spotted with darker, Plate 24, fig. 3. Some individuals have 



