FAMILY", V— TRTGONID^. 741 



Genus, 4 — Pteroplatea, Bliill. and Henle. 



Mtoplatea, Miill. and Henle. 



Body at least twice as broad as long : tail thin, generally shorter than the body, with or without a 

 rudimentary Jin, btct having a serrated spine : spiracles with or without a tentacle : nasal valves confluent, and 

 fnrming a quadrangular flap. No papilla at bottom of the mouth. Teeth with from one to three cusps. Pectoral 

 fins united in front. Shin smooth or tubercula/r. 



Geographical distribution. — Tropical and temperate seas. 



A. — Tail finless. 



Pteroplatea micrura, Plate CXCIV, fig. 2. 



Baja micrura, Bl. Schn. p. 360. 



Raja pcecilura, Shaw, Gen. Zool. v, 2, p. 291. 



Baja, Russell, Fish. Vizag. i, p. 4, and Tenkee kunsul, pi. vi. 



Pastinaca kunsul, Cuvier, Regn. Anim. 



Trygon pcecilurus, Bennett, Life of Sir S. Rafiles, p. 694. 



Pastinaca annulata, Swainson, Fishes, ii, p. 319. 



Pteroplatea micrura, Miill. and Henle, Plagios. p. 169 ; Richards. Ich. China, p. 197 ; Cantor, Catal. Mai. 

 Fish. p. 427; Bleaker, Plagios. p. 7^, and Beng. p. 82; Dumeril, Hist. Nat. Poiss. i, p. 613; Day, Fish. 

 Mai. p. 278 ; Giinther, Catal. viii, p. 487. 



Pteroplatea annulata, Swainson, Fishes, ii, p. 319. 



Basyatis microura, Blyth, J. A. S. of Beng. 1860, p. 37. 



Peroom tiriki, Tamil. : Tappu cooti, Tel. 



Disk about twice as wide as long : tail as long as disk in young, but shorter in adults. No tentacle to 

 spiracle. Teeth — with a single pointed cusp. Fins — one or two small spines on caudal fin. Skin smooth. 

 Colours — Reddish-brown : tail annulated with white and brown : superiorly in the centre of each light ring, 

 there is generally a brown spot. The young are covered aU over with small brown spots. A figure exists 

 amongst Sir Walter Elliot's drawings of Madras fish of an example covered all over with light round spots. 



Habitat. — Seas of India to the Malay Archipelago, and beyond. Jerdon obtained one in which the disk 

 was 6 feet across and 3 feet long. 



