1114 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
of the spines, an aculeus or two may sometimes be 
forced in even to the middle of the upper caudal 
surface. 
By the coloration Moreau distinguished between 
three varieties: falsavela, with plain, brownish or red- 
dish gray (clay-coloured) dorsal side; ncevus, with the 
base of each pectoral fin spotted with a large ocellus, 
the middle of which is black but crossed by rather 
broad, yellowish white streaks; circularise with nume- 
rous, but smaller, symmetrically arranged, simple spots, 
light (cream- white) or dark, scattered on the dorsal 
side of the disk. The ventral side is white. 
The Sandy Ray has an extensive geographical 
range, more southern and to the north more pelagic 
than that of the Starry Ray. Its true home in the 
Old World lies in the Mediterranean and the adjoining 
parts of the Atlantic, but it is frequently found even 
so far north as on the fishing-banks off the south-west 
of Norway, where Malm was the first to observe it among 
the take of fish at Jaderen. Even in the Skager Rack 
it has been met with, but only once, so far as is known. 
On the 12th of July, 1879, Theel and Forsstrand 
took two specimens in a deep-sea trawl at a depth of 
370 fathoms, off Arendal, on a bottom of fine, brown 
clay. One specimen was a male 33 cm. long and not 
yet arrived at maturity, the other a female 45 cm. in 
length. Round the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland 
the Sandy Ray would appear to be commoner (Day), 
but in France it is stated to be rare (Moreau). Yet, 
like the Starry Ray, it is apparently an inhabitant of 
the West Atlantic too, where MitchiklV and StorerV 
Baja ocellata and B. diaplianes from the east coast of 
the United States can hardly be distinct in species from 
our Sandy Ray. As Moreau has remarked, the Sandy 
Ray was certainly known to Lacepede; but the name 
he conferred upon it was incorrect and has been so 
misused that it hardly deserves recognition. When the 
synonymy of the species has been fully elucidated, the 
point will be decided whether the systematic name em- 
ployed in America has not most right to employment. 
Where Malm first found the Sandy Ray, it had 
been taken on long-lines in company with all the 
other common Rays of Scandinavian waters, except 
the Starry Ray; and its manner of life is probably 
much the same as that of its congeners. As food, ac- 
cording to Couch, it is little esteemed in England, 
where it is mostly used to bait lobster-pots and crab- 
pots. From spring till the end of autumn it may be 
found on the English coast- in water of a moderate 
depth; during winter it lives farther from land. 
Sectio II. Rajae laeves, Skates. Snout long , tip of the snout acute-angled: length of the snout from the 
tip to the transverse line through the body at the centre of the eyes more than half as long as this trans- 
verse line. 
These Rays possess so-called ordinary aculei only at the eyes and along the spinal column and tail, no 
further ordinary aculei being scattered on the surface of the body. All have pointed teeth. 
A: Ventral side of the body white, without spots. — White Skates. 
These Skates have the two dorsal fins set close together, never with interjacent aculeus. Their under sur- 
face is entirely free from spots, they have ordinary aculei both on the back and the tail, and the lobate pupil- 
lid originating from the iris is absent. In size they are intermediate between the Baja clavatce and the true 
Baja laves. They live at a great depth and seldom approach the coasts of Scandinavia. (Fries.) 
a Trans. Lit., Phil. Soc. N. Y., vol. I, p. 477. 
6 Mem. Amer. Acad. Arts, Sc., Boston, N. ser., vol. IX, ,p. 240, tab. XXXIX, fig. 1. 
