386 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



HABITAT IN OCEANO. 



"Totum corpus ad 15 pedes longum, supra uigricaus, seu leucophfeo- 

 griseum, abdomine albicante. Caput antice planum. Rostrum ad 5 pedes 

 longum, spinis validis uumero utrinque 18-24. Os dentibus granulatis 

 instructum. Oculi magui iride aurea. Pone oculos foramina diio oblonga. 

 Spiracula quinqae. Pinna dorsalis prima ventralibus opposita, altera inter 

 primam & caudte apicem media. Pectorales latfe longfeque. Caudalis 

 brevior quam congeribus. 



This species and the following grow to the largest size of any which 

 hsve yet come under the inspection of the natiiralist, some specimens 

 measuring 15 feet in length. 



The head is rather flat at top, the eyes large, with yellow irides, behind 

 which is a hole, which some have supposed may lead to an organ of 

 hearing.* 



* Nos foramina hsec meatus auditorios esse credimus. Willughb. 



The mouth is well furnished with teeth, but they are blunt, serving rather 

 to bruise its prey than to divide it by cutting. Before the mouth are two 

 other foramina, supposed to be the nostrils. The rostrum, beak or snout, 

 is in general about one-third of the total length of the fish, and contains 

 in some eighteen, in others as far as twenty-three or twenty-four spines on 

 each side; these are very stont, much thicker at the back part, and chan- 

 nelled, inclining to an edge forwards. The fins are seven in number, viz.: 

 two dorsal, placed at some distance from each other; two pectoral, taking 

 rise just behind the breathing-holes, which are five in number; two ven- 

 tral, situated aimost underneath the first dorsal; and lastly the caudal, 

 occupying the tail both above and beneath, but longest on the upper part. 

 The general color of the body is a dull grey, or brownish, growing paler 

 as it a]3proaches the belly, where it is nearly white." (Latham, Trans. 

 Linn. Soc, 1794, p. 277.) 



Mr. Latham thus describes his 



"Pristis pectinatus: 

 Pr. rostro spinis angustioribus utrinque ad 34. Tab. 26, fig. 2. 

 Pristis seu Serra, Gesner Aq., fig. in p. 728 (spin. 34), Id. Ic. An., p. 171- 



Mus. Besler, tab. 17, f. 3 (spin. 28). Id. f. i (caput, spinis, 25). 



Aldr. Get. f., p. 692. Johnst. Pise, p. 8, t. iii (spin. 28). Bias. 



Anat., p. 466, t. 49, f. 13. Bloch, Deutsch. p. 37, t. 120 (rostr. ar- 



cuat.). Knorr, Delic, p. 56, t. H. 4. Olear. Kunst., p. 38, t. 25, f. 



i. Pontop. Hist. Norv. ii, p. 240. (spin. 25.) 



HABITAT IN OCEANO. 



Corpus a priore non multum differt. Rostri spin^ longiores, & minus 



validsB, numero variant a 25 usque ad 34. Pinnpe posticse magis excavatte. 



This and the former species have been confounded hitherto by naturalists. 



