40 
[Vol. II, 
Memoirs of the Indian Museum. 
‘ ‘ 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 V^alter 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. 
Pteroplatea zomira (Bleeker). (PI. iv, fig. 4.) 
Size moderate (adult females 85 cm. across disk, males slightly 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 young 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 
Crowm ’ ’ 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 
