. Breviora. 1954 NEW FAMILY, GENUS AND SPECIES OF BATOID FISHES 11 bathyphila). The prickles, also, on the upper surface of disc and tail are coarser than on bathyphila, and there are no naked areas, while its pelvics are largely prickly on the upper surface (naked in bathyphila) The only skate yet known from the northwestern Atlantic, or from the Gulf of Mexico, other than R. bathyphila, with which fuliginea shares a uniformly dark colored lower surface is R. olscni. But it differs from olseni in blunter snout and tail prickly below. It shares a tail prickly below with R. mollis. However, it
. Breviora. 1954 NEW FAMILY, GENUS AND SPECIES OF BATOID FISHES 11 bathyphila). The prickles, also, on the upper surface of disc and tail are coarser than on bathyphila, and there are no naked areas, while its pelvics are largely prickly on the upper surface (naked in bathyphila) The only skate yet known from the northwestern Atlantic, or from the Gulf of Mexico, other than R. bathyphila, with which fuliginea shares a uniformly dark colored lower surface is R. olscni. But it differs from olseni in blunter snout and tail prickly below. It shares a tail prickly below with R. mollis. However, it is marked off from mollis, not only by its dark lower surface {mollis is pale yellowish or whitish below) but also by a much thornier tail and disc, by its considerably more convex anterior contour, also by its harder rostral cartilage. Since these divergences concern characters that are not generally subject to much individual variation among the members of its genus, a new specific name seems requisite for it. We suggest fuliginea because of the sooty chocolate hue of its lower Fig. 3. A. Outlines of front of disc; outer, Raja fuliginea, type specimen, and inner, Raja bathyphila from southern slope of Georges Bank to show difference in shape. B. Upper teeth of Raja fuliginea from near center of mouth. X about 15. R. fuliginea, like bathyphila and olseni, parallels R. badia Garman 1899, R. trachura Gilbert 1892, and R. abyssicola Gilbert 1895 of the Pacific coast of Central and Nortli America in its uniformly dark lower surface. But it differs sharply from all three of these in various respects. Description. Proportional dimensions, in per cent of total length. Juvenile male, 306 mm. long; ORP^GON Sta. 534, northwestern part of Gulf of Mexico, Lat. 27°32'N; Long. 93°02'\V; 400-450 fathoms. Disc: Extreme breadth ; length Snout length in front of: orbits ; mouth Orbits: horizontal diameter ; distance between Please note that these images a
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