1923.] Fauna of the Chilka Lake : Fish. 735 



1866. Psettus argenteus, Playfair, Fish. Zanzibar, p. 64. 



1871. Psettus argenteus, Klunzinger, Verh. Zool.-Bot. Ges. Wien XX, p. 794. 



1875. Monodactylus argenteus, Bleeker, Poiss. Madagascar, p. 65. 



1876. Psettus falciformis, Day, Fish India, p. 234, pi. li A, fig. 8. 

 1876. Psettus argenteus, id., ibid., p. 235, pi. li B, fig. 5. 



1876. Psettus argenteus, Günther, Journ. Mus. Godejfroy, Fisch., p. 140. 



1879. Psettus argenteus, Bleeker, Verh. Akad. Amsterdam, p. 18. 



1880. Psettus argenteus, Günther, Introd. Study Fish., p. 448, fig. 199. 

 1889. Psettus falciformis, Day, Faun. Brit. India, Fish. II, p. 180. 

 1889. Psettus argenteus, id., ibid., fig. 62. 



1905. Monodactylus argenteus, Jordan, Guide Study Fish. II, p. 398. 



1906. Monodactylus argenteus, Stead, Fish. Australia, p. 133, fig. 49. 



1906. Monodactylus argenteus, Jordan and Seale, Bull. U. S. Bur. Fish. XXV, pp. 178 and 237, 



fig. 30. 



1907. Psettus argenteus, Lloyd, Eec. Ind. Mus. I, p. 227. 



1907. Monodactylus argenteus, Evermann and Seale, Bull. U. S. Bur. Fish. XXVI, p. 32. 



1907. Monodactylus argenteus, id., ibid., p. 71. 



1909. Psettus argenteus, Goodrich, Treat. Zool. Cyclost. Fish., p. 432, fig. 440. 



1917. Psettus argenteus, Hornell, Madras Fish. Bull. XI, p. 91. 



Jordan and Fowler proposed a new family Platicidae to include the genera Monodactylus, 

 Platax and Psettias (a new genus created by Jordan). This is a small group of fishes of the 

 Asiatic seas related to the Chaetodontidae, but showing differences in the skeleton. i 

 In Monodactylus and Psettias the ventral fins are rudimentary and the body is still deeper in 

 both than in Platax. In Monodactylus it is less deep than in Psettias and is not deeper than 

 long, whereas in Psettias it is deeper than long. 2 Commerson proposed to unite three genera 

 of Lacépède, viz., Monodactylus, 9 Centropodus 4 and Acanthopodas, 5 erroneously thinking 

 that these had "no teeth in the palate," under the name of Psettus. The mistake is repeated 

 by Günther 6 and Day. Commerson s s description of the genus was in manuscript until 

 it was published by Cuvier and Valenciennes in 1831. 7 Moreover, Monodactylus has priority, 

 having been created by Lacépède as early as 1802. 



There are three specimens in the collection, all caught off the coast of Parikud. The 

 dates of their capture are, however, not recorded. Three specimens measure respectively 

 85 mm., 89 mm. and 97 mm. in length and all are evidently young as the full grown adults 

 of this bat fish are said to reach a length from 180 mm. to 250 mm. and over. All the 

 three specimens show the orbicular and the opercular dark-brown or black bands charac- 

 teristic of the young. The disappearance of these in more mature forms and the alteration 

 of proportion of parts consequent on growth have led to the creation of a very large number 

 of species and even a few genera out of this one single fish, as the long list of its synonymy 



1 Jordan and Fowler, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. XXV. p. 525. 



2 Jordan and Seale, Bull. U. S. Bur. Fish. XXV, p. 236. 



3 Lacépède, Hist. Nat. Poiss. Ill, p. 131. 



4 Id., op. cit., Ill, p. 303. 



5 Id., op. cit., IV, 558. 



6 Günther, Introd. Study Fish., p. 447 and Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., II, p. 486. 



7 Cuvier and Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss. VII, p. 240. 



