1922 G. S. Myers Aquarium & its Denizens 15/1 Black Platy. The nearest of the varieties to the typical.

1949 I. Harman Trop. Aquariums iv. 51 There are four species of ‘Platies’, and they are all natives of Mexico.

1952 D. Gohm Trop. Fish in Home v. 91 Platys breed indiscriminately—they have no preference for colour, a red variety is quite likely to mate with a Wagtail, with the result that the fry are nondescript.

2002 J. Cohen & I. Stewart Evolving Alien 104 The amazon molly, a viviparous fish closely related to guppies, swordtails, and platies.

1931 Jrnl. Heredity 22 168 (caption) The mating of the two platyfish shown in the upper pair will indicate the method employed for the isolation of hereditary color pattern factors.

1999 S. Jones Almost like Whale viii. 198 Two tropical fish, the swordtail and the platyfish, are each decorated with a series of attractive black spots.

1539 T. Elyot Castel of Helthe (new ed.) iv. ix. f. 84^v The groundes or residences [in urine]..be lyke unto plates..and may be named platy residence, in latyne Laminea.

1612 W. Parkes Curtaine-drawer 19 I [Satan] keepe the best that euer nation bred, Within my kingdome in a platy bed.

1869 R. Bridges Fownes' Man. Elem. Chem. 330 The salt separates on cooling in small platy crystals.

1897 Philos. Trans. 1896 (Royal Soc.) A. 187 210 Not unfrequently we find the rubies filled with acicular or platy inclusions arranged along the rhombohedral planes.

1966 Science 14 Jan. 225/3 The platey habit of these crystals is consistent with symmetry and normal morphology of OCP [= octacalcium phosphate].

1987 R. L. Bates & J. A. Jackson Gloss. Geol. (ed. 3) 511/1 Platy, said of a sedimentary particle whose length is more than three times its thickness.

1789 J. Williams Nat. Hist. Mineral Kingdom I. 264 It is not at all uncommon for the schistus, or such platy and shivery rocks to be inflammable, from their being impregnated with the fossile oil.

1796 G. Gregory Econ. Nature II. vii. i. 449 This effect is more sensible in this [sc. cast iron] than in any other of the metals, on account of its platey texture.

1806 R. Forsyth Beauties Scotl. IV. 271 The small fissures of the rock contain the like [lead] ore, but platy, and of a less firm cohesion.

1879 F. Rutley Study of Rocks xiii. 258 Sometimes a platy or tabular structure is developed in basalt.

1894 R. O. Heslop Northumberland Words (at cited word) Plate, Sandstone, when intermixed with shale beds or partings, is called platy freestone or platy post.

1932 Geogr. Jrnl. 80 197 The character of the rock alters from the massive limestone of the east to the platey limestone of the west.

1943 Amer. Jrnl. Bot. 30 349 Older trees with the high crown and platey bark of maturity.

1991 R. J. Pankhurst & J. M. Mullin Flora of Outer Hebrides (BNC) 24 These hard layers often have platy structure and resist easy penetration by water or plant roots.