118 
SHAGREEN RAY. 
situated at the origin of the hack; and a double row of stout 
spines, with recurved points, runs from about the origin of the 
ventral fins along the tad to the dorsal fins; in the example 
described, to the second dorsal. These lines of spines are sepa- 
rate at first, and the surface rounded between them, but they 
become cloler as they proceed. In a female there was the 
absence of the bed of spines near the borders of the pectorals; 
hut there was a superior amount of roughness at those parts, 
and from the snout along the anterior border. In the Cuckoo 
Ray the skin is generally smooth, and the bed of spines behind 
the head triangular; the spines also being more sharp and 
slender than in the Shagreen Ray. The ornamental spots so 
conspicuous in the Cuckoo Ray are also absent. 
In a communication from the Rev. Walter Gregor, of Mac- 
duff on the INIoray Rirth, he informs me that he has only 
seen one example of the Shagreen Ray in that neighbourhood; 
which was caught with a line at the depth of thirty fathoms, in 
the month of February. The total length was two feet eight 
inches and a half, of which the tail was one foot five inches. 
The breadth was one foot two inches and a half. When on 
the beach it threw up its snout and tail almost perpendicularly, 
at the same time lifting also the pectoral fins. 
