1920.] S. ly. HoRA : Indian Homalopteridae. igy 



Balitora brucei, Gray and Hardwicke. 

 (Plate XI, figs. 2—4.) 



1832. Balitora brucei, Gray and Hard., ///. /nd. Zoology, I, pi. 88, 



fig. I. 

 1842. Platycara anisura, McClelland, Calcutta Journ. Nat. Hist. U, 



p. 587, pi. Ixviii. 

 i88g. Homaloptera brucei, Vinciguerra, op. cit., p. 323. 



P. 9 — 10/ 12— II. V. 2/9. 



The nature of the confusion referred to above can be fully 

 realised on reading the description of Homaloptera brucei by 

 Vinciguerra, who has recorded this nsh from Upper Burma. I 

 quote an English translation from this author which makes the 

 whole matter quite clear ; — 



'' It was after long hesitation, and not without reserve, that 

 I decided to refer the many specimens of Homaloptera collected 

 by Fea in the Meekalam river at the bottom of Mt. Mooleyit 

 to H. brucei ( Gra}^ and Hardwicke). Of this species I do 

 not know the original except from the reproduction made by 

 McClelland and the descriptions given b}^ Giinther and Day. 

 Between them such a difference is to be noticed, that it made me 

 suspect that the specimens in the hands of one were not identical 

 with those examined by the latter author, or, to put it better, that 

 the specimens found in the Nilgiris mountains which served for the 

 first description of Da}^, one of which passed to the collection of 

 British Museum and served for the description of Giinther, are 

 specifically different from those described in the publication the 

 Fishes of India." Vinciguerra then proceeds to point out the 

 discrepancies in the various descriptions. I am able to confirm 

 Vinciguerra's doubt and with collections from various parts of 

 India before me, I am in a position to separate Day's species 

 from the Nilgiris from those of the Eastern Himalayas. Day's 

 H. brucei from Southern India is the same as Jerdon's Platycara 

 aiistralis, which I describe as Bhavania australis in this paper. 



I have examined five specimens of B. brucei, one of which 

 (No. 1509 of the Indian Museum) is in a very bad state, while 

 four others, which were found in the same bottle with Psilorhyn- 

 chus balitora, are from Cherrapunji in the Khasi Hills. Specimen 

 No. 1509 is noted to have been purchased from Day, while the 

 others were given to the Museum by I^t. Burne. All of them are 

 ver}^ old, but still in a fairly good state of preservation. 



B. brucei is a very peculiar fish with the head and body greatly 

 depressed. The snout is semi-circular with trenchant margins. 

 The e^^es are small and approximated. On account of the 

 depressed head and body the dorsal profile is but slightly arched, 

 the ventral being almost horizontal. The region of the body in 

 front of the ventral fin is devoid of scales on its ventral surface. 

 The head is likewise scaleless, its length being contained 6| times 

 in the total length. The length of the caudal fin is contained 

 5I times in the total length and the depth of the body about 



