APPENDIX. 
487 
slightly rounded ; lateral line straight. Length ten to fifteen 
inches. Upper surface olivaceous-brown, obscurely spotted with 
patches of a deeper hue ; scales small, roundish, ciliated, rough 
to the touch ; the upper side apparently reticulated ; fins tipped 
with purplish-brown stripes. Lower side dull white, mixed with 
faint purple. Iris yellow. 
It is hardly required to say much of this, almost cosmopolitical fish, 
which is, for its delicacy, prized as well at the Cape as elsewhere. It 
is not common, however, in the colony, and it rarely surpasses the 
length of twelve inches, although there are instances known of indi- 
viduals measuring a foot and a half. 
IlAIDiE. 
43. Rhinobatus Annul atus. A. Smith. (Zandkruiper.) 
— Body convex above, level below, tapering from head to tail. 
Head flat, nearly three-sided ; eyes small ; teeth crowded, paved, 
blunt ; clusters of small thorns between the eyes, and minute 
spines along the dorsal line. Dorsal fins two, close to the cau- 
dal, which is oval, ventral fins small; skin rough, like sha- 
green. Length two feet and upwards. Upper side yellowish- 
grey, with a greenish shade, sprinkled all over with white 
eye-like spots; under surface faint flesh-red, bordered with 
white. 
This fish which always dwells in localities, where the bottom of the 
sea is level and sandy, is rather scarce in Table Bay. Its flesh is ten- 
der and delicate. 
44. Raia Maculata. Montag. (Bog; Scate ; Spotted Ray.) 
Body rhomboid, horizontally flat on both sides ; snout narrow, 
pointed, blunt ; mouth, nostrils, and gills, on the under surface 
of the body. Teeth in many rows in both jaws ; sharp, pointed, 
conical, and curved in the male ; paved, broad, and flat, in the 
female. Tail long, thin, three-sided, furnished all along its edges 
with three lines of strong, hooked, but irregular spines, and with 
two small dorsal fins towards its end. Both surfaces more or 
less smooth, but snout and upper margin of the large pectoral 
fins, armed with clusters of hooked spines in the male, and with 
curved tubercular denticles in the female. Male provided with 
cylindrical cartilaginous appendages (claspers) to each ventral 
fin. Female larger than the male. Length two and a half feet 
and more. Colour above, pale yellowish-brown, sprinkled with 
numerous, irregular, faint, bluish-grey, spots. Under surface 
somewhat rough, greyish-white, tinged with purple. 
A good table fish, and a fore-runner of bad weather. It is caught 
with the net. 
