542 Annals of the South African Museum. 



of eye. Gill-rakers short, the largest anvil-shaped, 9 011 lower part of 

 anterior arch. 



Dorsal xiv 12 ; spines increasing in length to the last, which 

 measures % length of head and \ that of longest soft rays. Pectoral 

 nearly f length of head, not extending to vertical of origin of anal. 

 Ventral produced into a filament, reaching to vent. Anal iii 10 ; 

 3rd spine slightly shorter than last dorsal spine. Caudal subtruncate ; 

 caudal peduncle a little deeper than long. Scales cycloid or feebly 



denticulate, 29 ^ ; lateral lines ^. 



Colour (of preserved specimen) yellowish-brown above, pale 

 yellowish beneath ; 5 more or less distinct black blotches or bars 

 on each side, the last situated at the base of the caudal, with faint 

 bars uniting them with base of dorsal and one or two narrower faint 

 bars between them ; a large blackish opercular spot ; a faint diagonal 

 streak from angle of mouth through eye to nape; anal and ventral 

 fins blackish ; pectoral pale yellowish ; caudal blackish on lower half, 

 light above. 



One specimen, 103 mm. in length, from Victoria Falls, Zambesi 

 River (J. W. Soper). Bulawayo Museum. 



This species is also reported from Senegambia to Angola and Lake 

 Ngami. 



DIVISION LABYRINTHICL 

 FAMILY ANABANTIDAE. 



As a group the Labyrinthici are " remarkable for the time they can 

 live out of water and for their habit of migrating overland from one 



O o 



pond or stream to another" (Regan, P. Z. S., 1909, pt. iv, p. 769). 

 This is due to their possession of a superbranchial respiratory organ 

 composed of thin bony laminae, which are more or less folded and 

 covered with a mucous membrane and situated in a cavity above the 

 gills. One of the family, Anubas scandens, is the so-called Climbing 

 Perch a common Indian species, not found in South Africa. 



AN ABAS. 



Anabas, Cuv., Regne Anim., ii, p. 339 (1817) ; Griuith., Cat. Fish., iii, 

 p. 374 (1861) ; Bouleng., Poiss. Bass. Congo, p. 371 (1901), Fish. 

 Nile, p. 441 (1907), and Freshw. Fish. Africa, iv, p. 48 (1916). 



Spirdbranchus, Cuv. and Val., Hist. Nat. Poiss. vii, p. 392 (1831) ; 

 Grunth., t.c., p. 373. 



