196 Records of the Indian Museum. [Vol. XIX, 



to separate H. hilineata from B. brucei and constituted a new 

 genus {Helgia) to accommodate the former. H. hilineata possesses a 

 long, pointed snout and a slightly depressed body. In these and 

 other characters it comes so close to the true Homaloptera from 

 Java as figured in Bleeker's '' Atlas Ichthyologique " that it cannot 

 be separated generically. Balitora brucei and B. maculata have a 

 broad, trenchant snout, with the head and body greatly depressed, 

 and broad pedunculate pectorals. 



I have been able to examine specimens from both Northern 

 and Southern India. vSo far from those found in the neighbour- 

 hood of the Nilgiris being specifically identical with those from the 

 Himalayas, they seem to me to be generically distinct. Further I 

 agree with Blyth ' and Vinciguerra {op. cit.) that the Burmese 

 forms differ generically from those of the Himalayas, and that 

 neither type agrees with the South Indian forms. T am, therefore, 

 forced to recognise three genera, namely Homaloptera vanHass., 

 Bhavania gen. nov. (for the South Indian forms) and Balitora 

 Gray. These three genera may be distinguished by the following 

 key : — 



Key to the Indian Genera of Homalopteridae. 



Pectoral fins definitely pedunculate and greatly ex- 

 panded. Head short and broad ; semicircular tren- 

 chant snout ; short conical barbels ; upper lip ten- 

 taculate. Head and body much depressed ; 21 rays 

 'in pectoral ... ... ... ... Balitora. 



Pectorals of almost normal size, and devoid of a well- 

 developcd fleshy peduncle. Head normal ; snout 

 bluntly pointed; short thick barbels. Thick well- 

 developed lips devoid of tentacular processes. 

 Head and body moderately depressed ; 19 rays in 

 pectoral ... ... . . ... Bhavania. 



Pectorals normal. Head long and narrow, almost 

 cylindrical ; snout long and pointed ; short barbels ; 

 fleshy lips. Head and body slightly depressed; 

 rays in pectoral ... ... ... ... Homaloptera. 



Balitora, Gray and Hard. 



Ciray and Hardvvickc, ///. Indian Zoology, I, pi. 88, figs. 1 and 

 2 (1832). 



Head and body greatly depressed, eyes small, situated almost 

 on the dorsal aspect of the head ; mouth crescentic with tenta- 

 cular lips ; six short, stout barbels ; pectorals and ventrals greatlj' 

 expanded, the former with 21 rays and the latter with 11 rays; 

 pectorals provided with a definite fleshy peduncle. 



The two species of the genus, recorded from the Eastern 

 Himalayas and Burma, can be distinguished b^' the following 

 key : — 



Key to the Species of Bautora. 



1. Pectorals just reaching the \'entrals, lower caudal 



lobe the longer ... ... ... B. brucei. 



2. Pectorals reaching beyond the ventrals, lobes of the 



caudal almost equal ... ... ... B, maculata. 



Blyth, Jour. As. Soc. Bengal, XXIX, p. 172 (i860). 



