^0 Memoirs of the Indian Museum. [Vol. II, 



' ' Golden Crown ' ' the gravid females have measured less than 3 feet across the 

 disk, while the adult males have all been smaller. The members of the genus are so 

 closely allied that it is not improbable that a large species not yet described exists in 

 Indian seas. Day refers also to a drawing in Sir Walter Elliot's collection of an 

 example covered all over with small brown spots. Probably the original of this draw- 

 ing was a young specimen of P.zonura. 



P. micrura appears to be common off the coasts of Burma, Chittagong and Orissa 

 at all seasons, but always to remain in very shallow water. Like its two Indian con- 

 geners it is gregarious ; so far as can be judged from the specimens in the " Golden 

 Crown ' ' collection sent to the Museum, the shoals of the three species keep separate 

 from one another. P. micrura is rather widely distributed in Indo-Malayan seas. 



Ptcroplatea zonura (Bleeker). (PI. iv, fig. 4.) 



Size moderate (adult females 85 cm. across disk, males shghtly smaller). 



Disk. — Proportions almost as in P. micrura. Nasal flap almost straight, barely fringed. 

 Disk often with a distinct though short projection in front. 



Tail variable, often more than half as long as disk but probably never quite so long. 

 Dorsal fin twice as long as high, about a third as long as the free part of the 

 pelvic fins ; its anterior border situated slightly in front of the distal border of 

 these fins. Serrated spine minute or absent. A low cutaneous fold sometimes 

 present on the ventral surface. 



Colour. — Dorsal surface olive-green, minutely and closely speckled with dots of 

 a darker shade, boldly marked with large round or irregular spots of 

 greenish yellow and often joined together by irregular lines and blotches of 

 the same colour, sometimes ocellate. In the yoimg the dark spots are paler 

 and less numerous, while the spots are less irregular and have a brownish colour. 

 The ventral surface is devoid of pigment. Tail coloured like that of P. micrura. 

 This fish is evidently common on the Orissa coast in depths of from 15 to 20 



fathoms. Numerous individuals of both sexes have been taken there by the ' ' Golden 



Crown ' ' at different seasons , especially in winter. I saw a young female taken in the 



seine-nets on the beach at Puri in February. 



The species was originally described from Java. 



Pteroplatea tentaculata (Müller and Henle). (PI. iv, fig. 4.) 



Size moderate (adult females 73 cm. across the disk). 



Disk a little less than twice as broad as long in the adult, more than twice as broad in 

 the young ; the pectoral angles somewhat rounded in both. The distance between 

 the eyes as a rule nearly the same as (a little greater than) the length of the snout 

 measured from them. The snout has a distinct though short projection. The 

 tentacle at the posterior angle of the spiracle is variable in length, always slender 

 and pointed. 



Tail variable in length, as a rule less than half as long as the disk in the adult, 

 sometimes with faint dorsal and ventral cutaneous folds. The dorsal fin about 



