1889.] A. Alcock— Lisi of Pleuvonoctidw /row the Bay of Bengal. 279 



XVl.—JVatural-Eistory Notes from II. M. Indian Marine Survey Steamer 

 ' Investigator,' Commander Alfred Caepentee, R. N., D. S. O., 

 commanditig.—'Ho. 10. List of the Pleuronectidse obtained in the Bay 

 of Bengal in 1888 and 1889, with descriptions of new and rare 

 species.— By Alfred Alcock, M. B. (Abek.), Surgeon-Naturalist to the 

 Marine Survey. 



[Received and Read August 9th, 1889.] 

 (With Plates XVI.— XVIII.) 

 Contents. 



§ 1. Introduction. 



§ 2. List, with Descriptions, of the Shallow-Water Forms obtained during 

 Season 1888-89. 



§ 3. List, with Descriptions, of the Shallow-Water Forms obtained during 



Seasons previous to 1888-89. 

 I 4. Descriptions of the Deop-Soa Forms obtained from Oomnionoement of 



Survey to Date. 



§ 1. Introduction. 

 This paper gives merely a list of the Pleuronectidrs obtained by 

 the trawl and dredge in the Bay of Bengal during tw- seasons' work of 

 H. M. I. M. Survey Steamer ' Investigator,' with dtkriptions of new 

 and rare species. Complete synonomies are not given, mainly because 

 the systematic exploration of the Bay can only be regarded as begun, 

 and it would bo premature to catalogue any one group until the whole 

 basin has been more thoroughly explored. 



This initial list contains the names of 29 species, of which 11 

 appear to be new to science, 3 are rare species not before met with in 

 Indian waters, while the remaining 15 are well-known forms. 



Ao-ain, of these 29 species, 23 are from the Orissa coast and the 

 Ganiam coast north of Gopalpur, 3 are from the deeper open waters of 

 the northern end of the Bay, while 2 are from the east coast of Ceylon, 

 and 1 from Oocanada. These last 6 species are the fruit of occasional 

 dredc'ings, so that we are left with 23 species representing four months 

 regular trawling off the Orissa coast, or rather off the eastern coast of 

 the peninsula between False Point on the north and Gopalpur on the 

 south— a region nearly corresponding with the debouchement of the 

 Mabiinaddi Delta. . „ x i t. n 



The physical features here are those of all Indian deltas where the 

 land is making precarious advances on a shoaling muddy sea. Low-lying 

 wastes of drifting sand alternate with still lower-lying estuarino 

 swamps ; the coast lino presents the unbroken level of a recently formed 

 36 



