170 FISHES. CHONDROPT. Raia. 
^ 18. T. Pastinaca. Common Trygon. — Tail destitute of fins. 
Body smooth. 
Aquila piscis, Merr. Pin. 185. — Pastinaca marina, Sibh. Scot. 23. Will. 
Ich. 67. — Raia Pastinaca, Linn. Syst. i. 396. — Sting llay, Penn. Brit. 
Zool. iii. 95 — Fire Flaire — On the southern coast of England. 
Length between two and three feet. Body rounded ; thick in the middle. 
Nose short, pointed. Tail thick at the base, nearer to vfhich than to the 
extremity is the spine., which is depressed, thin on the edges, pointed, and 
serrated. This spine is renewed annually ; sometimes the new one appears 
before the old one drops off, in which state it is the Cardinal Trilost of the 
Cornish fishermen. — With this spine the animal is capable of inflicting a 
severe wound. 
In the British Zoology, Mr Pennant takes notice of a fish, which he terms 
the White Bay., and of which he gives the folloAving notice : “ Mr Travis, 
surgeon at Scarborough, had, in the summer of 1769, the tail of a ray brought 
to him by a fisherman of that town : he had taken it in the sea off the coast, 
but flung away the body. It was about 3 feet long, extremely slender and 
taper, and destitute of a fin at the end. I believe it to belong to the species 
called by the Brazilians Jaberete ; and that it is likewise found in the Sici- 
lian Seas. I once received the tail of one from that island, corresponding 
with the description Mr Travis gave : I must also add, that it was entirely 
covered with hard obtuse tubercles,” Brit. Zool. iii. 88. — The species to which 
this portion belonged, is considered by the editor of the last edition of the 
British Zoology, as the Raia aquila of Linnseus, now the type of the genus 
Myhobatis of Dumeril. The tail received by Mr Pennant from Sicily, seems 
to have belonged to the Cephaloptera Giorna, Risso., Ich. 14. 
Portions of the caudal spine of a fossil species of this genus have occurred 
at Highgate, GeoL Trans, ii. 206. 
Gen. XV. RAIA. — Disc rhomboidal. Tail with fins at the 
extremity. The males with hooked spines on the pecto- 
rals. 
Body above irregularly covered with laige deflected spines. 
4 19 . R. clavata. Thorn-back. — Base of the spines broad, 
entire, the centre projecting, subulate and deflected. 
Thornback, Merr. Pin. 185. Sibh. Scot. 24. Will. Ich. 74. Artedi., Ich. 
Desc. lok Linn. Syst. i. 397* Penn. Brit. Zool. iii. 93.— Common. 
length upwards of two feet. Skin shagreened, freckled above, white be- 
low. A row of strong prickles down the back, and three rows on the tail, 
with numerous smaller ones. Teeth of the female granulated, of the male 
pointed. The young, termed Maids or Maiden-skate., are generally spotted 
with white, according to Montagu, who adds, that the “ wings were generally 
not so rough, and sometimes quite smooth about the middle. A variety also 
of this fish had an oblong dusky spot surrounded with white, in the middle of 
each wing,” Wern. Mem. ii. 417. 
20. R. radiata. Starry Ray. — Base of the spines enlarged, 
radiated. 
R. FuUonica, Fab. Fauna Gr. 125.— R. rad. Don. Brit. Fishes, tab. cxiv. 
— On the north coast. 
Front obtuse ; snout slightly prominent. The spines are of two kinds. 
