236 



J. D. Anisits. 



complete ci qui vient surtout de ce qu'ils ont employe comme prin- 

 cipal caractere le nombre des rangees d'aiguillons ä la queue, la 

 quel varie selon l'äge et la sexe, et ne peut servir ä distinguer 

 les especes. Celui des dents aigues ou mousses n'est pas sür non 

 plus et il est souvent douteux dans l'application. 



In Smitt, Scandinavian Fishes, Tom. Text part. II p. 1 1 1 7 

 fand ich folgende Bemerkung bei der Beschreibung von The sharp- 

 nosed Skate (Hvitrockan or Blagarnsrockan) Eaja lintea Feies 

 1838 p. 154/ 



Observ. That the blagansrocka of Bohuslän (the nor- 

 vegian hvid-skade) is identical in species with the English White 

 Skate (the French, raie blanche) is extremely probable, though 

 so large specimens have never been found in Scandinavia as further 

 south, nor has the juvenile form (Eaja marginata) refered by 

 Moeeau to the said species been met with in Scandinavian waters. 

 Fries too was of this opinion, for he conbined Montagu's Eaja 

 oxyryhnchus and his own Eaja lintea. In recent times (Dumeeil 

 Hist. nat. Poiss Tom. I p. 565 Note; Günthee and Day) it has 

 been proposed again to separate them; but the best description 

 (Moeeau 1. c. and Dodeelein [Manual Ittiol. Medit. fasc. III p. 165] 

 seem to favour the opinion that the are identical, if we bear in 

 mind the significance within the genus of the alteration of growth 

 and the extern al dilferences, of sex. 



Da ich glaubte, diese schwierige Frage durch noch genauere 

 Durchsicht der einschlägigen Literatur klären zu können, so zog 

 ich auch noch eine ganze Reihe weiterer Autoren mit heran, dabei 

 stellte sich aber heraus, daß die Konfusion in dieser Gattung noch 

 viel größer ist als ich ursprünglich annehmen konnte. 



So fand ich in der Originalarbeit von G. Rondelet, Doct. medici 

 Libri de Piscibus marinis Lugduni apud Matthiam Bonhomme 

 MDLIIII. (1554) p. 344. De piscibus Liber XII. Caput V: 



„De Raia laevi. Dicitur a Graecis XewJßaTo?, a Latinis raia 

 laevis, ab Hispanis Linda, a cute laevi et pellucida. Sunt qui rasam 

 vocent a glabra cute. Nostri non a cutis levitate, sed a colore 

 fumat et Fumado appellant. Sunt enim colore fusco quem enfumat 

 vocamus, quod eo colore sint quo fumigantur, prius quam maxime 

 denigrentur. Est igitur raia laevis piscis planus, cartilagineus 

 corpore tenui et in amplissimas alas expanso. Cute glabra laevis- 

 que id est, ab aculeis nuda, praeterquam in locis prope oculos quorum 

 interque; acules munitus est, item exepta media dorsi linea et cauda. 

 In illa infixi sunt aculei parvi, rarique in cauda tres aculeorum 

 ordines, qui rariores tenuioresque sunt quam in alijs generibus. 



