History of British animals - University of Guam Marine Laboratory

170 FISHES. CHONDROPT. Raia.18. T. Pastinaca. Common Trygon.— Tail destitute of fins.Body smooth.Aquila piscis, Men: Pin. 185—Pastinaca marina, Sibb. Scot. 23. Will.Ich. 67—Raia Pastinaca, Linn. Syst.i. 390.— Sting Bay, Penn. Erit.Zool. iii. 95.— E, 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 which than to theextremity is the spine, which is depressed, thin on the edges, pointed, andserrated. This spine is renewed annually ; sometimes the new one appearsbefore the old one drops off, in which state it is the Cardinal Trilost of theCornish fishermen.— With this spine the animal is capable of inflicting asevere wound.In the British Zoology, Mr Pennant takes notice of a fish, which he termsthe While Ray, and of which he gives the following notice :"Mr Travis,surgeon at Scarborough, had, in the summer of 1769, the tail of a ray broughtto 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 andtaper, and destitute of a fin at the end. I believe it to belong to the speciescalled by the BrazUians Jaberete ; and that it is likewise found in the SicilianSeas. I once received the tail of one from that island, coiTespondingwith the description Mr Travis gave: I must also add, that it was entirelycovered with hard obtuse tubercles," Brit. Zool. iii. 88.— The species to whichthis portion belonged, is considered by the editor of the last edition of theBritish Zoology, as the Raia aquila of Linnaeus, now the type of the genusMyliobatis of DumeriL The tail received by Mr Pennant from Sicily, seemsto have belonged to the Cephaloptera Giorna, Risso, Ich. 14.Portions of the caudal spine of a fossil species of this genus have occurredat Highgate, Geol. Trans, ii. 206.Gen. XV. RAIA.— Disc rhomboidal. Tail with fins at theextremity.The males with hooked spines on the pectorals.* Body above irregularly covered with large deflected spines.19- R. clavata. Thorn-back.— Base of the spines broad,entire, the centre projecting,subulate and deflected.Thornback, Merr. Pin. 185. Sibb. Scot. 24. Will. Ich. 74. Artedi, Ich.Desc. 103. Linn. Syst.i.397- Penn. Brit. Zool. iii. 93.— Common.Length upwards of two feet. Skin shagreened, freckled above, white below.A row of sti'ong prickles down the back, and three rows on the tail,with numerous smaller ones. Teeth of the female granulated, of the malepointed. The young, termed Maids or Maiden-skate, are generally spottedwith white, according to Montagu, who adds, that the " wings were generallynot so rough, and sometimes quite smooth about the middle. A variety alsoof this fish had an oblong dusky spot surrounded with white, in the middle ofeach wing," Wern. Mem. ii. 417-20. R. radiata. Starry Ray. — Base of the spines enlarged,radiated.R. Fullonica, 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.