1 849 .] Catalogue of Malayan Fishes. 1397 



Sub-Gen. Rhinobatus, Mailer und Rente t 1841. 



The upper nasal valve does not extend to the inner angle of the 

 nostril. 



Rhinobatus (Rhinobatus) ligonifer, Cantor. 

 Plate XIV. 



(Young ?) Keel of the snout, head, body and fins above greenish 

 ash-grey ; snout and abdominal surface white. Iris pale golden of the 

 general colour ; pupil broad cordate, black. 



Habit. — Sea of Pinang, Malayan Peninsula, Singapore. 



Total length : 1 foot 4-f inch. 



This species greatly resembles Rhinobatus thouini,* but differs from 

 the latter as described by M. M. Miiller and Henle, in the following 

 characters. The lateral margins of the snout, a little from the apex 

 are deeply bent inwards, and nearer the apex they are similarly, but less 

 distinctly, bent a second time. The apex thus somewhat resembles 

 the figure S. The keel is not smooth, but covered to the very point 

 with small distant recurvous thorns, like those of the rest of the upper 

 part of the body. The shallow furrow of the keel extends consider- 

 ably in front of the eyes. Each spiracle carries two distinct denticu- 

 lations. The pectinations of the nostrils vary from 85 to 90, (in i?. 

 thouini about 60). The teeth vary from 75 to 80 in a series (in R. 

 thouini about 60). The scapular region carries an outer-, and a larger 

 inner thorn. In R. thouini the inner thorn is the smaller of the two. 



The keel is most contracted a little in front of the eyes, the breadth 

 being about -jL- of the length. From thence it slowly widens towards 

 the 8-shaped apex, which is about \ of the length of the keel. The 

 shallow lanceolate furrow commences between the eyes and extends as 

 far beyond them as the basal sixth of the keel. The posterior margin 

 of the spiracle carries a smaller internal, and a larger external denti- 

 culation. The distance between the nostrils is one half of the length 

 of each nostril, and it slightly exceeds the distance between the lateral 



* Raje thouin, Lacep. I. PI. 1, Fig. 3-5. — Raja thouiniana, Shaw : V. 318. PI. 

 147 .—Rhinobatus thouin, Cuv. R. A. II. 396. ( 2 ) .—Rhinobatus (Rhinobatus) 

 thouini, M. und H. 120. 



