412 THE PLAGIOSTOMIA. 



Pteroplatea. 



Ptewplalca Muller & IIenle, 1837, Sitzb. Akad. wiss. Berlin, p. 117; 1841, Plagios., p. 168. 



Disk much broader than long, lozenge-shaped, with angles rounded, de- 

 pressed and thin; head not prominent. Eyes small, prominent. Nostrils 

 wide, separated by a broad isthmus; anterior valves confluent, crossing the 

 isthmus as a narrow fold; posterior valves rudimentary. Spiracles large, 

 immediately behind the eyes. Mouth wide, transverse, little arched; jaws 

 slender; teeth minute, numerous, in a broad band, each tooth broad-based, 

 with 1-3 sharp cusps. Pectorals broad, meeting in front of the head. Ventrals 

 small, narrow. Tail short, slender, with or without narrow dermal folds behind 

 the serrated spine. No dorsal fin. Shoulder girdle, Plate 72, pet., broad and 

 flat below. 



Temperate and tropical seas. 



Dorsal fin absent 



tentacle absent behind the spiracle 

 tail nearly as long as the body 



dermal folds or keels absent . . . poecilura (page 412) 

 tail about half as long as the body 



dermal fold below, weak . . . japonica (page 413) 



tail less than half as long as body 



dermal fold beneath, low .... hirundo (page 413) 

 dermal fold above shght . . . crebripunctata (page 413) 

 dermal fold below weaker than upper . . micrura (page 414) 

 dermal folds upper and lower well developed marmorata (page 414) 

 tentacle present 



tail less than half as long as body 



dermal folds narrow above and below . altavela (page 415) 



Pteroplatea poecilura. 



Tenkee kunsul Russell, 1803, Coromandel fishes, 1, no. 6, fig. 



Raia poecilura Shaw, 1804, Zool., 5, p. 291. 



Trygon ku7is.ua Cuv., 1829, Reg. anim., 2, p. 400. 



Trygon poecilurus Bennett, 1830, Mem. Raffles, p 694. 



Pteroplatea micrura Muller & Henle, 1841, Plagios., p. 169; T. Cantor, 1849, Malay, fishes, p. 427; 



Bleeker, 1852, Verh. Bat. gen., 24, Plagios., p. 76; Blyth, 1860, Journ. Asiat. soc. Bengal, 29, 



p. 37; DuMERiL, 1865, Elasm., p. 613; Day, 1865, Fishes Malabar, p. 278; 1878, Ind. fishes, p. 



741, pi. 194, f. 2; Gunth., 1870, Cat. fishes Brit, mus., 8, p. 487; Annandale, 1909, Mem. ind. 



mus., 2, p. 39. 

 Pteroplatea annulata Swains., 1839, Class., 2, p. 319. 

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



