of the Fishery Hoard for Scotland. 
303 
The Homelyn — or sandy ray (11 maculata), is said by Couch to lay Its 
purses in very shallow water. The purses are stated to be smaller than 
those of the preceding species ; a fact I cannot confirm, for they appear 
to differ in no respect from those of the thornyback. The only lot of 
purses I have received came to me on April 11. 
As Day states, the starry ray (R. radiata) is essentially northern. I 
have never seen a purse of this species from a fish caught in the Forth, 
but it is quite possible that some are obtained there, for the starry ray, 
though not abundant, is often caught in the Firth of Forth.* All the 
purses of the starry ray which I obtained 1 owe to Mr G. Sim, A.L.S., of 
Aberdeen. 
Day says nothing of its breeding season. The purses are plentiful at 
Aberdeen in February and March, and coutinue to be got until June at 
least. 
The cuckoo or sandy ray (R. circularis) is said by Day (vol. ii. p. 349) 
to prefer sheltered bays. 
In such places I should presume that it deposits its eggs, for they are 
extremely sensitive and difficult to bring to development. Couch makes 
some erroneous statements regarding the breeding period. According to 
him, it deposits its eggs in December, but yet in July he saw uue with 
eggs, some of which appeared almost ready to be shed. In my lists I find 
records of purses of this species received from February to June, and I 
cannot determine that they were more plentiful in any one of the live 
months than in the others. 
This species is common at Aberdeen, but the largest purse of R. 
circularis I have as yet seen was taken from a fish caught off Dunbar. 
The Egg -Cases or 1 Purses 1 of Skates. 
There is no description extant of the ' purses ' of the skate common to 
our seas. As the egg of each species has, as a rule, a form of purse which 
is characteristic of the species, it may be of use to give a description of the 
purses of the five species of skate which I have had opportunities of inves- 
tigating. There are many points in the structure of the purses which, 
apart from other facts of anatomy and development, point to a shark-iike 
ancestry of modern skates. The purse of R. circularis (the cuckoo or 
sandy ray) is the most shark-like of any of those I have examined. This 
remark applies to its form, size, and transparency. Least shark-like are 
the purses of the blue skate (R. batis) which are by far the largest 
purses of the lot. The smallest purses I have seen are those of the 
starry ray (R. radiata), while those of the thornyback and spotted 
skate occupy an intermediate position between the extremes of the series. 
The description given of the purse of the thornyback ray (R. clavata) 
appears to apply completely to that of the spotted ray (R. maculata). 
Of the latter form only one small lot of purses f came into my hands. 
The best proof of their practical identity with those of R. clavata is 
furnished by the following statement. When received by me they were 
placed with three purses of R. clavata in one of the hatching boxes, and, 
on receiving information in a later letter from Mr Sim, of their true 
nature, an attempt to distinguish them from the purses of the thornyback 
was made, but without success. Until some of those purses are near the 
time of hatching, it will be impossible to distinguish between those of the 
two species contained in the one box. 
* On June 26th two purses of the starry ray were obtained from a skate caught 
off Dunbar. 
t I have to thank Mr G. Sim, A.L.S., for these. As he is perhaps the best living 
authority on the fishes of the Scottish coast, his statement that tho purses were taken 
from B. maculata is absolutely trustworthy. 
