324 THE PLAGIOSTOMIA. 



continued on the tail and are interrupted more or less completely above the 

 abdomen. The median hne on the tail is nearly naked. 



Rusty brown, uniform or with small darker spots and with or without small 

 dark bordered symmetrically placed spots of white or yellow behind the ends 

 of the girdle, the number of these ocelh varying from one to a dozen or more, as 

 in R. diaphanes from the East coasts of the United States. Many individuals, 

 mostly young ones, have a rounded spot of black vermiculated or marbled with 

 yellowish at each shoulder. 



A large species reaching a length of more than four feet. 



Off the coasts of Europe and Madeira. 



Raia miraletus. 



Raia aspera stellaris Jonst., 1649, Pise, p. 3G, pi. 10, f. 4. 



Raia oculata Willughby, 1686, Pise, p. 72; Ray, 1713, Pise, p. 27. 



Raia dorso venlroque glabris Artedi, 1738, Ichthyologia, S>ti., p. 101, Gen., p. 72, no. 7. 



Raia miraletus Linne, 1758, Syst., 1, p. 231; 1766, Syst., 1, p. 396; Brunnich, 1768, Ichthy. Massilien- 

 sis, p. 2; BoNNATERRE, 1788, Ichth., p. 3, no. 4, Gmelin, 1789, Linne Syst., 1, p. 1507; Walbaum, 

 1792, Artedi, p. 529; Lacepede, 1798, Poissons, 1, p. 75; Risso, 1810, Ichth. Nice, p. 4; Rafi- 

 NESQUE, 1810, Ind. itt. Sic, p. 47; Ris.so, 1826, Hist, nat., 3, Poissons, p. 149; Bonaparte, 1841, 

 Icon. Fauna Ital., Pesci, p. 483, pi. 62; Mt;LLER& Henle, 1841, Plagios., p. 141; Dum^ril, 1865, 

 Elasm., p. 548; GtJNTH., 1870, Cat. fishes Br. Mus., 8, p. 460. 



Raia biocularis Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1827, Descript. Egypt, 1, pi. 24, f. 2. 



Raia quadrimaculata Bonaparte, 1841, Icon. Fauna Ital., Pesci, p. 485, pi. 63. 



Disk rhomboid, outlines somewhat resembling those of R. eglanteria, of 

 Plate 23, but snout more produced and pointed, forward margins slightly waved, 

 outer angles nearly 90°, hinder angles broadly rounded, greatest width about 

 one fourth more than length without ventrals. Mouth curved, width about 

 two thirds of the distance from the end of the snout; teeth small, with sharp 

 cusps obliquely directed inward, median sharper and more erect in males, in 

 about 42 rows. I;ength of orbit one third of snout length, greater than inter- 

 orbital width. Back smooth, except on the head, the anterior ends of the pec- 

 torals and the snout above and below. Snout rough with small spines above 

 and below; top of head rough. Front upper ends of pectoral rough, with a 

 large group of larger spines opposite the eyes; a group of several tubercles in 

 front of each eye and another behind it; a large spine on the front end of the 

 vertebral column; three series of tubercles on the tail, the median reaching the 

 second dorsal; males with series of tenacula near the outer angles of the pectorals. 

 Aside from the mentioned spines the body is smooth above and below. Claspers 

 narrower and more pointed than those of R. eglanteria, Plate 23. 



Upper parts reddish brown with numerous more or less ocellate small 



