FAMILY, VI— MYLIOBATID^. 74." 



inctes across the disk f J, and six or seven vertical rows. It may tlierefore be supposed tliat the number 

 increases with age, and perhaps alters in shape. The band of teeth reach nearly to the angle of the mouth. 

 Fins — ^no spine on the tail posterior to the dorsal fin. Colours — of a deep purplish superiorly : white beneath. 



Amongst Sir Walter Elliot's notes on these fishes is an account of a large female e.xample of this species, 

 16 ft. 9 in. across the disk, which at first broke the net but was eventually captured, Oct. 8th, 18.50 ; 

 subsequently. May 12tb, 18.53, a male was taken near the same place 18 ft. 8 in. across the disk. It is 

 observed that only the stump of a tail remained in the female, this appendage being very liable to injury and 

 seldom found perfect in adults. 



Habitat. — Seas of India to the Malay Archipelago : attaining to 18 feet and upwards across the disk. 

 The example is figured from Jerdon's specimen in the British Museum, .34 inches across the disk. 



2. Dicerobatus Kuhlii. 



Ceplialoptera Kuhlii, Miiller and Henle, p. 185, t. lix, f. 1 ; Bleoker, Amboina, p. 6, and Beng. p. 82 ; 

 Dumeril, Hist. Nat. Poiss. i, p. 654. 



Dicerobatis KvMii, Giinther, Catal. viii, p. 497. 



Disk more than twice as wide as long : tail not so long as the disk. Body and tail smooth. Teetit — 

 wider than broad : f J :f f series, the band ceasing some distance from the angle of the mouth. Colours — brown 

 or greenish. 



Habitat. — From tlie East coast of Africa through the seas of India to the Malay Archipelago. 



Genus, 5 — Ceeatopteea, Miiller and Henle. 



Head truncated anteriorly, free from the pectoral fin, a portion of which latter, however, exists in the form, of 

 a horn-like appendage on either side of the head. Mouth wide and anterior. Teeth small and only in the Unver Jaw. 

 Tail elongated atid slender, with a dorsal fin. situated on its base, but without any spine. 



Habitat. — Tropical and temperate seas. 



Ceratoptera Ehrenbergii. 



MtiUer and Henle, Plagiost. p. 187 ; Giinther, Catal. viii, p. 498. 

 Kotuwa tirike, Tamil. 



Amongst Sir Walter Elliot's figures of Madras fish is one of which the woodciit is a reduced copy. The 

 original is 6 in. across the disk, and is termed Ceplialoptera, and the Tamil name is also given. I can only 

 surmise that it is this species and identical with the unpublished plate of the " Symbote Physicaj"' adverted to 

 in the British Museum Catalogae, named Cephaloptera stdlirjera, and in which tlie horns are bent horizontallj' 

 inwards. 



5 c 



