PTEROPLATEA CREBRIPUNCTATA. H3 



Shape resembling thai of P. micrura, Plate 33, f. .'!. No tentacle. No 

 dorsal. A caudal spine. In specimens of a width of fifteen inches tin' Length is 

 about half the width of the disk. Snout with a slighl prominence, distance from 

 eyes to tip about equal to distance between spiracles. Length of tail nearly 

 equal that of the body, varying from two thirds of the body length; folds absent 

 or indistinct. On a specimen from Penang the tail is nine tenths of the length 

 of the bod}' and there are white spots scattered over the back. In most cases 

 the back is uniform brown and the lower surfaces are white. Midler and Henle 

 mention an individual spotted with white as being in the British Museum but 

 do not give its locality. Tail with transverse blotches and with lings of black 

 and of white, nine to eleven of each. Usually the hindmost are rings and the 

 anterior but transverse bands. Rounded spots of brown may or may not occur 

 in the white interspaces. 



Red Sea; India; Calcutta; Penang; Java. 



Pteroplatea japonica. 



Pleroplatea japonica Schlegel, 1850. Jap. Pisces, p. 309, pi. 141; Bleeker, ]s.",7, Act. Soc. sci. Ind. 



Neerl., 3, p. 45; Dumeril, 1865, Elasm., p. 014; Jokd. & Fowler, 1903, Proc. U. S. n:il. mus., 26, 



p. 662. 

 Dasyatis micrura var. japonicus Gray, 1851, Chondropterygii, p. 122. 

 Pteroplatea hirundo Ishikawa & Matsuura, 1897, Cat. fishes, p. 60. 



Form like that of P. poecilura or P. micrura; distinguished from the latter 

 by a shorter tail, about half the length of the disk, and by a smaller number of 

 broader bands on the tail, five to eight behind the spine. No tentacle; no 

 dorsal. 



Japan. 



Pteroplatea hirundo. 



Pteroplatea hirundo Lowe, 1843, Proc. Zool. soc. London, p. 94; Gasman, 1888, Bull. M. C. Z.. 17, p. 

 100, pi. 43, f. 1. 



A close ally of P. japonica, but with a shorter tail, less than half the length 

 of the body, without a fold above and with a low one below. No tentacle. No 

 dorsal fin. A caudal spine. Skin smooth. Uniform brown. 



Madeira. 



Pteroplatea creeripunctata. 



Pteroplatea erebripunctata Peters, 1S09, Monatsb. Akad. wise Berlin, p. 7(13; Jord. A: Stark-. 1895, 

 Proc. Cal. acad. sci., ser. 2, 5, p. 390; Jord. & Everm., 1896, Bull. 17, IT. S. nat. mus. p. 87; 1898, 

 ibid., p. 2753. 



Pteroplatea ram Jord. & Starks, 1S95, Proc. Cat. acad sci., ser. J. 5, p. 3S7; Jord. & Everm., 1898, 

 Bull. 47, U. S. nat. mus., p. 2754. 



