TION. 



Class IV. SHAGREEN RAY. 117 



Br. Zool. iii. 87. La Raie chagrin^e. De la Ce- 5. Shagreen. 



Shaw Gen. Zool. v. part ii. p. pede Hist, des Poissons. i. 



275. 81. 



A MET with this species at Scarborough, 

 where it is called the French Ray. 



It increases to the size of the Skate ; is fond 

 of Launces, or Sandeels, which it takes greedily 

 as a bait. 



The form is narrower than that of the com- Descrip- 

 mon kinds : the nose long and very sharp ; the 

 pupil of the eye, sapphirine ; on the nose are two 

 short rows of spines ; on the corner of the eyes 

 another row of a semicircular form ; on the tail 

 are two rows, continued a little up the back, 

 small, slender, and very sharp ; along the sides 

 of the tail is a row of minute spines, intermixed 

 with innumerable little spicule. The upper 

 part of the body is of a cinereous brown, 

 covered closely with minute shagreen-like tu- 

 bercles, resembling the skin of the dog-fish; 

 the under side of the body is white ; from the 

 nose to the beginning of the pectoral fins is a 

 tuberculated space ; the teeth are slender, and 

 sharp as needles. 



V 



