THE RAY. 2G3 



517. They obtained it on the N. E. coast. It was soon aftenvards ob- 

 tained on the Dublin coast, by jVIr. IM'Coy * and Dr. R. BaU. Captain 

 Portlock also informed me that he had seen a specimen which was pro- 

 cured in Dublin Bay. 



The Sting Ray, Commox Trygon, or Fire-Flaire, 

 Tri/gon jMstinaca, Cuv., 



Was stated by Templeton to be " occasionally taken on the coast." 



Mr. Bernard JTcenan says he has several times heard the Carrickfer- 



gus fishers speak of a fish like that figured by Yarrell, vol. ii. p. 588, and 



is jDretty sure of having himself seen one. 



In Smith's Cork, 1st ed. p. oOo, the following note occurs : — 

 Pastinuca maruia prima, Rond., Will. The Great Skate or Fire-Flare, 



Will. Tab., c. i. f. 4, proves this to be a true Raia. 



The Cork Fauna includes Trxnjon pastinaca, on the authority of Smith's 



Cork, and probably erroneously. 



Mr. Good informed Dr. R. Ball that a number of Sting Rags were 



taken at one haul of a traul-net, in the winter of 1846-7, on the Wa- 



terford coast. 



The Eagle Ray, Mgliohatis aqnila, Cuv. ? 



Mr. M'Calla informed me that a large specimen of this fish was taken 

 at Ai-dfry, in a bag-net set for salmon, but on my calling his attention to 

 the specific characters, he stated his inability to determine the species. 



The Horned Ray, Ce^jhahiitera Giorna, Risso, 



Has a place in the general British Catalogue, from a single individual 

 taken on the southern coast of Ireland, the following notice of which was 

 contributed by me to the Zool. Society, in 1835. See the Proceedings 

 for that year. 



" Cephahptera, Dum. A fish of this singular genus, taken about 5 years ago 

 on the southern coast of Ireland, and thence sent to the Royal Society of Dub- 

 lin, is at present preserved in their Museum. In breadth it is about 45 inches. 

 The specimen being imperfect, and the characters of some of the species being 

 ill-defined, I hesitate applying to it a specific name. It somewhat resembles 

 the Ceph. Giorna, as figured by Risso." 



Mr. M'Coy having commented on the foregoing remarks, I made the 

 following communication to the Annals Nat. Hist. vol. xx. p. 173 : — 



"In a ' Note on the Irish species of Cephaloptera { PterocepJiala) , by Fred- 

 erick M'Coy, M. G. S. and N. H. S. D. &c.,' published in the Annals for March 

 last (vol. xix. p. 176), the writer seems to consider that it is not tlie Ccji/i. 

 Giorna, Risso, and recommends that the genus Pterocephala, into which it 

 would come, should be adopted. He remarks that — ' On examining this very 

 interesting specimen, I found that ahhough obviously a Vteroceplwla, yet it 

 presented most important dift'erences from the C. Giorna, both in outline, pro- 

 portions, shape of the fins, and form of the wing-like appendages to llie head 

 * * * ; [it] seems referrible to that described many years ago * * * and figured 

 by Lacepede under the name of Raja Fabroniana.' 



" The writer then proceeds to point out in detail the various difl"ercnces be- 

 tween Cephalojitera Giorna and Baia Fabroniana. 



* It is the uimamed sp. of ray in his paper, in Gth vol. Ann. Nat. Hist., p. 

 405. 



