FOUND IN THE FRITH GF FORTH. 553 



rounded with a whitish liquor, like rich cream, of 

 a bland taste ; the eyes of it were very large and 

 ugly ; the animal moved its tail slowly from side 

 to side, but shewed no other motion. 



R. oxyrhinchus. Sharp-nosed Ray ; White-skate; 

 Friar-skate ; May-skate } or Mavis-skate, 

 This is now and then got, when the nets are 

 shot near the mouth of the Frith. It is generally 

 of a pretty large size, of a whitish colour, and ve- 

 ry thin, the thinnest proportionally of the ray 

 tribe. Its spontoon-shaped nose readily distin- 

 guishes it. 



R. rubus. Rough ray ; Hommelin. 



This occurs sometimes, especially when trawl- 

 nets are employed, which sweep along the bottom. 

 It resembles the thornback ; but has pointed teeth, 

 while those of the thornback are obtuse. 



R. clavata. Thornback ; Thorny-hack, 



This is the most common species of ray here, 

 and the one most generally sold in our market un- 

 der the name of skate, — which is here a generic 

 denomination for the ray-tribe. It is readily di- 

 stinguished from the true skate, by a row of 

 strong spines running down the back. The young 

 both of the thornback and the skate are denomi- 

 nated Maiden-skate : those of the latter are some- 



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