1909.] 
37 
N. Annandale : Report on the Batoidei. 
Urogymnus asperrimus (Bloch and Schneider). 
Disk slightly broader than long, broadly arched in front but with a somewhat pro- 
jecting snout, very thick vertically in the middle, sloping up abruptly from the 
anterior part of the pectoral fins to the top of the head. 
Ta^nonger than disk, sometimes with a low cutaneous fold on the ventral surface. 
Colour uniform greyish brown on the dorsal surface. 
Skin tough, very richly supplied with slime-glands. The head, back and tail are 
densely covered with prominent bony tubercles, among which are scattered 
numerous spiny denticles with more or less stellate bases. These are particularly 
numerous on the tail and on the superciliary part of the head. The pectoral 
fins are covered with spiny denticles which have smooth circular bases. In the 
dried skin the area on which the bony tubercles are present is clearly marked off 
from that occupied by the spines with circular bases, but in the fresh specimen the 
bases of all the scales are more or less completely concealed in the epidermis 
and in the enormous amount of slime with which the skin is coated. 
Mouth . — The upper jaw is divided by a shallow concavity on either side into three 
nearly equal convex projections. The middle part of the lower jaw, however, is 
nearly straight, there being a slight concavity on either side. The teeth are of a 
dark purple-brown ; they are nearly oval (transversely) in shape and have the 
exposed surface minutely but deeply sculptured. On the floor of the mouth there 
are three long finger-shaped processes situated close together in the middle. 
The only specimen I have seen fresh was captured by the ‘ ‘ Golden Crown ’ ’ in 
August, 1908, off Chittagong, but there are several stuffed ones in the Madras Museum. 
The one taken by the ‘ ‘ Golden Crown ’ ’ had lost the greater part of its tail owing to 
what appeared to be a slanting cut from above as with an axe. The wound had, how- 
ever, healed. The following are the measurements of this specimen, which was a 
female : — 
Length of disk 
. . 112-5 cm 
Diameter across disk 
•• 97-5 ,, 
Distance between eyes 
•• 23-75 ,, 
Tip of snout from eyes 
• . 23-75 „ 
Urogymnus Icevior , sp. nov. 
[Description 0/ type {a stuffed skin) in the Madras 
Museum.] 
Disk broadly oval if the pelvic fins are included, almost as wide as long without them, 
truncated in front as a whole, but with a short projecting snout. 
Tail longer than disk, without cutaneous folds. 
Skin . — Dorsal surface of pectoral fins, head and anterior part of body covered 
with small, round, blunt tubercles, which become gradually smaller from the 
centre of the body outwards towards the edge of the pectoral fins, where the}’ 
are almost granular. Behind the scapular region these tubercles are mixed with 
short spines, which have stellate bases and become more numerous on the base 
