282 STING RAY. ' 



Great Dog-Shark, of the skin of which is prepared 

 the substance known by the name of shagreen : 

 colour above cinereous brown, beneath white. Na- 

 tive of the European seas. 



JVith slendey^ tail, generally armed xvith a spine. 



STING RAY. - 



Baja Pastinaca. H. subolimcea, suhtus albida, cauda tenuis 



apterygia, armata. 

 Subolivaceous Ray^ whitish beneath, with slender, finless, 



armed tail. 



Raja Pastinaca. R. corpore glabra, aculecylongo anterius serrato 



in Cauda et dorso apterygio. Lin. Syst. Nat. 

 Raja Cauda apteiygia, aculeo sagittate. Block, t. 82. 

 Sting Ray. Pemi. Brit. Zool. 



Shape subrhomboidal, but somewhat approaching 

 to ovate, the pectoral fins being less pointed than 

 in some of this division : snout pointed : body more 

 convex than in the preceding rays : colour of the 

 whole animal above yellowish olive, with the back 

 darkest, and approaching, in some specimens, to a 

 blueish brown : beneath whitish : tail without fin, 

 of considerable length, very thick at the base, and 

 gradually tapering to the extremity, which is very 

 slender : near the middle it is armed, on the upper 

 part, with a very long, flattened, and very sharp- 

 pointed bone or spine, finely serrated in a reversed 

 direction on both sides : with this the animal is 

 capable of inflicting very severe wounds on such as 

 incautiously attempt to handle it 3 and it answers 



