N. Annandale : Report on the Batoidei. 
41 
1909. 
twice as long as high, more than half as long as the inner edge of the pelvic fins ; 
its anterior border situated nearer the base than the distal end of the pelvic fins. 
Serrated spine minute or absent. 
Colour. — In the young the dorsal surface of the disk is of a greenish slate-colour, 
marked with irregular roundish spots of a dark brown, and with a faint and 
close reticulation of a paler shade of brown. This reticulation separates closely set 
roundish areas of the ground colour. As the fish grows, the brown spots enlarge 
and assume a greenish colour, finally becoming dark olive and occupying the 
greater part of the surface. The faint reticulation disappears and large spots 
and blotches of yellowish green are developed. The tail is faintly barred at 
all ages. The coloration of the adult, therefore, differs from that of the adult 
P. zonura, so far as the dorsal surface is concerned, in the absence of minute dark 
dots and in the faint markings of the tail. The ventral surface of the young is 
white, but in the adult it is marbled and clouded with dark pigment. 
This species is probably confined to water from 15 to 30 fathoms deep. A con- 
siderable number of specimens were taken together in about 30 fathoms at the mouth 
of the Eastern Channel of the river Hughli in February, 1909. Others were taken off 
the Orissa coast in the autumn of 1908, but never many at a time ; several were taken 
off the Ganjam coast in from 24 to 27 fathoms in March. 
The species probably is widely distributed in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. 
Family TORPEDINIDÆ:. 
Naked Batoidei with a broad, flat, circular or elliptical disk. At least one dorsal 
fin usually present (absent in one genus). A honeycomb-like electric organ devel- 
oped between the head and the pectoral fins. 
Two genera of Torpedoes are recorded by Day as occurring in Indian seas, while a 
third has since been described by Alcock. Two more are here added, one being new 
and the other represented by a species not hitherto recorded with certainty from the 
Indian Ocean. The following key will serve to separate the Indian genera : — 
I. Two dorsal fins on the tail. 
A. Eyes well developed. 
{a) Spiracles distinctly separated from the eyes 
(«') Spiracles not distinctly separated from the eyes 
B. Eyes degenerate. 
(a) Pectoral fins feebly developed 
II. One dorsal fin on the tail. 
A. Pectoral fins moderately well developed 
B. Pectoral fins reduced externally to mere rudiments 
III. No dorsal fin 
. . Torpedo. 
. . Narcine. 
Benthobatis . 
. . Astrape. 
Bengalichthys. 
. . Temera. 
I include in this key the genus Temera because it will probably be found in Indian 
seas, having been originally taken at Penang. There is a very small specimen (of 
