1874.] 177 [Garman. 



ones, so disposed as to leave a space between them on the dorsum. 

 This space is, to a greater or less extent, occupied by scales in the 

 young. A triangular patch of small scales is found on the shoulder- 

 girdle. The inner and posterior portions of the pectorals are nearly 

 or quite free from spines in the males; near the exterior angles, 

 arranged in lines parallel to the outer border, they have a couple of 

 rows of large erectile hooks, pointing toward the ventrals, which, 

 when at rest, lie in channels below the surface. On each side of the 

 vent the adult females have groups of small scales which seem to be 

 more noticeable about the time of laying the eggs. The teeth are 

 small, in about fifty rows in the upper jaw and forty-eight in the 

 lower; the central ones are sharp in the males ; all are blunt in the 

 females. The jaws are much curved. A membranous expansion 

 extends down each side of the tail. The caudal fins are not sepa- 

 rated to the base, and are rough, with small scales ; a narrow mem- 

 brane extends from the posterior to the end of the tail. The hook in 

 the claspers fits neatly in a crotch of equal height. The prongs of 

 the crotch are of about the same length; the inner is on the stem. 



Color light brown, with rounded spots of darker; lower surface 

 white. Those specimens coming from the southward have the spots 

 most distinct. Specimens from the north are larger. The males are 

 smaller than the females. Size of female, from Nahant: L. 20, 6,10. 

 W. 12. Teeth |f . Size of male, from mouth of Connecticut Eiver: 

 L. 161 41, 7|. W. 91 Teeth f£ 



2. Raja ocellata. 



Raja ocellata Mitchill, Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc, N. Y., Vol. i, 

 p. 477, 1815. — Storer, Report on the Fishes of Mass., p. 191, 1839. 

 — Dumeril, Elasmobranchs, Tom. i, pt. n, p. 539, 1870. 

 Var. diaphana. 



Raja diaphana DeKay, N. Y. Fauna, pt. in, p. 366, pi. 67, fig. 218, 

 1842. — Storer, Synopsis Fish. North America, p. 258, 1846. — 

 Storer, Hist. Fish. Mass., p. 264, 1867. 



The appearance of both sexes of this species, the second in size of 

 our skates, is quite similar to that of the female of the preceding. 

 On the anterior margin of the pectoral of the male the indentation 

 is less marked, and the change from the large spines of the anterior 

 extension of the pectoral to the smaller ones on its outer border less 

 abrupt than in erinacea. With the exception of additional rows 

 down the back and along the sides of the tail, the distribution of the 

 spines is about the same. Young examples have strong buckler-like 



PROCEEDINGS B. S. N. H. — VOL. XVII. 12 JANUARY, 1875. 



