416 COLONEL MONTAGU ON NEW AND RARE 



this be the Manta of the South Seas, where un- 

 doubtedly its size is vastly encreased, well may it 

 be the terror of the pearl divers. 



Raia maculata. 



Skin smooth, except round the margins of the 

 pectoral fins ; the upper part covered with dis- 

 tinct roundish spots of dusky-brown : teeth sharp- 

 pointed : tail armed with usually three rows of 

 spines. 



Raia rubus. Gmel p. 1507 ?^Bloch, 3. tab. 83, 84 ? — 



Donovan, Fishes, ii. tab. 20. foem. 

 Rai miraletus. Donovan^ Fishes, v. tab. 103. foem. 

 Fuller Hay. Br. Zool. iii. p. 86. mas. 



It must remain doubtful, whether this species 

 was originally described as Rubus, though it is 

 certain, some authors have referred to that fish for 

 it. That it is not the Rubus of Pennant, does 

 not admit of a doubt, and it is as certain that it 

 is the Fuller Ray of that waiter. Donovan has 

 figured two varieties of this species ; the first he 

 refers to the Rubus, the other to the Linnaean 

 miraletus. Under the difficulty of collecting the 

 synonyms of a species which appears to have been 

 so confounded w^ith others, I have thought pro- 

 per to select it as a genuine species, and to give it 

 a name derived from the most essential character, 



