SHARP-NOSED SKATE. 
1117 
of the pectoral fins in the male and to his pterygo- 
podia. 
The Shagreen Skate is stated to have been taken 
once on the coast of Sweden. Baron Gyllenstjerna 
received it, according to Nilsson, in October, 1849, 
from the fishing-village of Arild (Mount Kullen). But 
the specimen has disappeared, and with it the certainty 
that no confusion of the species has taken place. Ac- 
cording to Collett a female 9 x / 2 dm. long was caught 
in January, 1880, off the Onso coast, at the entrance 
of Christiania Fjord and consequently on the confines 
of Sweden. Its favourite haunts in Scandinavian wa- 
ters, however, are the rich fishing-banks off Southern 
Norway and the west of Jutland, where the water is 
from 50 to 120 fathoms deep. Iyroyer and Collett 
assign Trondhjem Fjord as the northern limit of its 
range", and to the south it occurs, according to Gun- 
ther, off Madeira and, according to Moreau, in the 
Mediterranean, where it is described, however, as rare. 
Like the other Rays it ascends nearer land in summer; 
in winter it is not taken, except where the fishermen 
follow it to the deep sea. It feeds on all kinds of 
fishes, such as Sharks and Codfishes, as well as on 
crustaceans and mussels 6 . The strong, pointed teeth 
in its jaws are suggestive of considerable voracity. As 
food it is little esteemed both in England (Day) and 
France (Blanciiere c ). 
The systematic name of the Shagreen Skate ( fullo - 
nica, Lat. fullo, a fuller) has reference to the similarity 
between the spiny . skin and the implements used in 
cleaning cloth and the like. It was adopted by Lin- 
naeus from Rondele'G, but was not applied originally 
to this species. It is also probable that the Swedish 
name ( gokrocka = Cuckoo Ray) was borrowed from 
England, though the latter name is ascribed by Couch 
to the preceding species. In Norway, according to 
Ratfike, the Shagreen Skate is called Ncebskate (Beaked 
Skate), a name which, as Iaroyer has remarked, is 
more appropriate to one or other of the following spe- 
cies. In Bo hu si an Fries also heard the name of Gcidsk- 
rocka (Jutland Ray). 
(Fries, Smitt.) 
THE SHARP-NOSED SKATE (sw. hvitrockan or blagarnsrockan). 
RAJA LINTEA. 
Fig. 321. 
Length of the snout from the anterior margin of the eyes about 14 — 18 % of the length of the body or 24 
of the greatest breadth of the disk. Distance between each nostril and the tip of the snout about 21 — 25 
said breadth or more than twice ( 207 — 243 % of) the internasal width, 
median line of the tail and its lateral margins armed with rows of aculei. 
the tip of the tail. Caudal fin rudimentary. 
Syn. Raja Icevis , major (p. p.), Duh., Tr. Pitches, part. II, sect. IX, 
p. 285. 
Raja oxyrinclius ( Sharp-nosed, Ray), Penn., Brit. Zool. (ed. 
1776), vol. Ill, p. 73; Mont., Mem. Wern. Nat. Hist. Soc., 
vol. II, p. 423; Yarr., Brit. Fish., ed. 1, vol. II, p. 424; 
ed. 2, vol. II, p. 556; Couch ( Barton Skate), Fish. Brit. 
1st., vol. I, p. 97, tab. XXI. 
? Raja alba , Lacep., Hist. Nat. Poiss., tom. Y, p. 663, tab. 
20, fig. 1 (+ Raja marginata, ibid.); Mor., Hist. Nat. Poiss. 
Fr., tom. I, p. 412; Day, Fish. Gt. Brit., Irel., vol. II, 
p. 339, tab. CLXVIII; ? = Raja ( Lceviraja ) bramante, 
Sassi, vide Canestr., Mem. Accad. Sc. Torino, ser. 2, tom. 
XXI (1865), p. 361, tab. I, figg. 2—5. 
— 29 % 
% of the 
Aculei faintly grooved. Both the upper 
Second dorsal fin extended nearly to 
Ventral side white. 
Raja Fullonica, Nilss., Prodr. Ichth. Scand., p. 119; Storm, 
Norsk. Vid. Selsk. Skr., Trondhj., 1883, p. 47. 
Raja lintea, Fr., Vet. Akad. Handl. 1838, p. 154; Mull., 
Hi.e, Plagiost., p. 147; Kr., Damn. Fisk., vol. Ill, p. 
1005; Nilss., Skand. Fna , Fisk., p. 738; Malm, Ofvers. 
Vet. Akad. Fork. 1857, p. 193; Gthr, Cat. Brit. Mus., 
Fish., vol. VIII, p. 466 (? + Raja marginata, p. 465); 
Coll., Fork. Vid. Selsk. Chrnia 1874, Tilleegsh., p. 217; 
1882, No. 29, p. 4; Malm ( Leucoraja ), Gbgs, Boh. Fna, 
p. 611; Lillj. (Raja), Sc.. Norg. Fisk., vol. Ill, p. 580. 
Obs. That the blagarnsrocka of Bohuslan (the Norwegian hvid- 
skade) is identical in species with the English White Skate (the French 
“ Storm, who states (Norsk. Vid. Selsk. Skr. Trondhj. 1883, p. 47) that Raja fullonica is very commonly taken in Trondhjem Fjord, 
evidently referred here to the following species, for he says that “the middle row of caudal spines extends far forward on the back”. 
5 Cf. Olsson, Om fiskarnes foda, Lunds Univ. Arsskr., tom. VIII (1871). 
c La Peche et les Poissons , Diet. Gen., p. 666. 
d De Pise., lib. XII, p. 356. 
