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DESCEIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF STING-EAY 
(TEYGON) FEOM SOUTH AFEICA. 
By J. D. F. Gilchrist, D.Sc, F.E.S.S.Af. 
(Eead May 15, 1912.) 
Three species of the " Pijl-staart or " Sting-ray" (Trygon) have been 
recorded from South African waters. The following is a description of 
a fourth, which seems to be a new species. It is a large fish about 6 feet 
in total length and 4 feet in breadth, and does not seem to be very 
abundant. It was caught by Mr. W. F. E. Schreiner by rod and line 
off the rocks at St. James in False Bay. 
The disc is broader than long, the anterior border is rounded with no 
projection of the snout. The tail is slightly shorter than the body. Teeth 
with transverse lamellae. There are no tubercles on the back of the body 
nor on the fins, but a number occur on the tail, where they are small and 
numerous ; they are found on the dorsal surface of the tail from about its 
middle backwards, and on its ventral surface they begin slightly further 
back. Towards the extremity they occur not only on the dorsal and 
ventral aspect, but completely round this region. There are seven large 
spines in a row in the dorsal surface of the tail ; the first five gradually 
increase in size from half an inch in the case of the first to 3 inches in the 
fifth ; the sixth is much larger, being 11 inches in length ; behind the sixth 
and partly concealed by it is the seventh, which is again small, being 
1 inch in length. A low cutaneous flap, 12|- inches long, occurs on the 
under surface of the tail, beginning below the root of the largest spine 
and ending near its free extremity ; it is not continued to the end of the 
tail, falling short of it by about 3 inches ; the greatest depth of this flap 
occurs in its anterior portion, where it is three-fourths of the diameter of 
the tail above it. 
The colour of the fish is uniform dark slate above and white 
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