176 Series Ostariophysi 



long barbels about the mouth strongly suggest affinity with 

 the catfishes. The scales are small, the pharyngeal teeth few, 

 and the air-bladder, as in most small catfishes, enclosed in a 

 capsule. The loaches are all bottom fishes of dark colors, 

 tenacious of life, feeding on insects and worms. The species 

 often bury themselves in mud and sand. They lie quiet on 

 the bottom and move very quickly when disturbed much after 

 the manner of darters and gobies. Species of Cobitis and Mis- 

 gurnus are widely distributed from England to Japan. Nema- 

 chilus barbatulus is the commonest European species. Cobitis 

 .tcenia is found, almost unchanged, from England to the streams 

 jof Japan. 



Remains of fossil loaches, mostly indistinguishable from 

 'Cobitis, occur in the Miocene and more recent rocks. 



From ancestors of loaches or other degraded Cyprinidce we 

 may trace the descent of the catfishes. 



The Romaic pterida are small loaches in the mountain streams 

 of the East Indies. They have no air-bladder and the number 

 of pharyngeal teeth (10 to 16) is greater than in the loaches, 

 carp, or minnows. 



