RA-IID^. 337 



smooth, except in front of and above the eyes of the young ; a row of strong 

 spines along the centre of the tail, and usually a lateral row on either side of the 

 tail pointing externally or even anteriorly. In males there is the usual patch 

 'of spines on each wing with the points directed inwards ; while in some females, 

 especially old ones, the skin is rough. Colours — subject to considerable 

 variation, brownish or grayish above and stained with brown (never white) 

 beneath, where numerous black spots appear, which are the orifices of the tubes 

 of Lorezini. In the young (which I have purposely figured) there may be a large 

 ocellated spot on either wing, and many more smaller ones. Malformations are 

 not uncommon, and mostly in the form of a deep fissure along the anterior profile 

 which divides the line of continuity from the snout to the outer angle of the 

 pectoral fin. 



Varieties. — Ray remarked upon some being streaked with black. 



Names. — The skate, or true skate ; also blue skate in Scotland and gray skate in 

 England ; Flanie and skider, Northumberland ; Tinker, due to its colour, at 

 Lyme Regis ; also flaire, dinnan, or blunt-nosed dinnan, Aberdeen. Cath for, 

 morcath, and Rhaien, Welsh. Be Vleet, Dutch. Le Baie batis, French. 



Habits. — A resident at the bottom of the sea, usually on soft, sandy, or muddy 

 ground at some distance from the land, but is not so common as the flapper or 

 homelyn. It becomes less numerous to the north. Is very tenacious of life and 

 capable of sustaining a great amount of injury. Fishermen assert it to be rather 

 particular in regard to its food, and Sir J. Dalyell found that a young one he kept 

 would eat nothing but whiting. Couch found in one a fishing frog weighing 6 lb. ; 

 in another two large plaice, a lobster, a couple of mackerel, a thornback ray about 

 18 inches long, and half a salmon, which appeared quite fresh as if but lately 

 devoured. One, 5 ft. across, was exhibited at Gravesend, in December, 1881, 

 which had a dog-fish 2 ft. in length, a small skate, and a lobster inside its 

 stomach, it being a large consumer of Crustacea. Mr. Dunn, of Mevagissey, 

 informs me of a stone, nearly a pound in weight, which has been taken from 

 the stomach of one of these fish. One 7 ft. long, in the Dublin University 

 Museum, had inside it a large hake. 



Means of capture. — Long lining or trawling. It takes a good deal of trouble 

 to capture after being hooked, as it often entangles the line to a rock, where it 

 fixes itself like a sucker, and can only be raised by first elevating its head and 

 thus allowing the water to get beneath it. Subsequently its head must be kept 

 well up, as if it again gets down to the rock the probabilities are the fish will be 

 lost. The skate is frequently taken off the Irish coast having a hook in one 

 of its fins, for the natives of Ireland, when they find them on their lines, cut 

 them off close to the hook sooner than be troubled with unhooking the fish. These 

 hooks are so common near the end of the fin that it has been inferred that the 

 skate has used the waving motion of the fin to bring the bait near its mouth, and 

 so doing has got the hook into its body. 



As bait. — Whiting, or other fish. 



Breeding.* — They " generate in March and April, at which time they skim near 

 the surface of the water, several of the males pursuing one female ; and adhere 

 so fast during coition, that the fishermen frequently draw up both together, 

 though only one has taken the bait. The females begin to cast their purses, as 

 the fishermen call them (the bags in which the young are included), in May and 

 continue doing so till September. In October they are exceedingly poor and thin, 

 but in November they begin to improve and grow gradually better till May, when 

 they are in the highest perfection. The males go sooner out of season than the 

 females" (Pennant.) Off the Irish coast the females are said to cast their eggs 

 from May to September, and the young appear some time during the following 

 spring (Pamell). Couch gives an instance, on the authority of a fisherman, 

 wherein the purse had become diseased before extrusion, and the embryo, about 

 twice the usual size of fresh born ones, was contained within the oviduct, and 

 the only anomaly perceptible was that its eyes appeared to be obscure. 



* For the developmcnt'of this species, see Wyman, Mem. Amer. Acad. 1864, ix, p. 31, and An. 

 and Mag. Nat. Hist. 1864, xiv, p. 399. 



22 



