PLATE XCIX. 
Gcj. Kaempf. Jap.p. 1 55. 
Fire Flaire. Ray syn . pise. 24. 
Sting Ray. Penn. Brit. Zool. 3. p. 71. n. 6. 
The Common Sting Ray is known by having the tail destitute of 
any fin, and being armed with a strong serrated spine of a bony' 
texture. The Raja Aquila has a similar spine on the tail, but the 
tail itself is furnished with a fin at the tip. There are also some 
others of the Ray tribe that are armed in like manner with spines, 
but differ in other respects specifically. Gmelin admits two varieties 
of our Raja Pastinacea, the Altavela of Willughby and Ray, having 
two dorsal spines serrated anteriorly, and the Uarnak of Forskall, 
the body of which is spotted. — As the Sting Ray sheds its spine 
annually, and the new spine appears before the old one drops off, w© 
have suspected that the Altavela may be only the common kind, at 
that precise period when both spines appear ; and with respect to^the 
Uarnak or spotted kind, we believe this depends only on the age of 
the fish, all the smaller ones we have seen having been more or less 
variegated with spots when first caught, and even sometimes we have 
observed the same in those of the largest size. The general colour 
of the upper surface, when perfectly fresh, is a light brown, par- 
taking of a testaceous hue, and tinged in parts with blueish ; some 
time after death the whole becomes more dusky, The lower surface 
is white. Its length in general from two to three feet. 
In point of figure the Sting Ray bears some resemblance to the 
Skate ; like that fish its skin is perfectly smooth, but the body is of a 
more rotundate form in the contour, and exceeds it considerably in 
thickness. The flesh is rank and disagreeable, so much indeed that 
