in the Fish Gallery of the Indian Museum. 59 



Family XXXVI. Ccntriscidw [Case 45]. 



A very small family, represented in Indian seas by a 

 single species. The anterior bones of the head are 

 produced to form a long tube, with the mouth at the 

 end, as in the Fistulariidtz. In the Indian species the 

 back is enclosed in a cuirass formed not by scales, but 

 by modifications of the backbone. The existing species 

 of Amphisile are confined to the Indo-Pacific ; but a 

 fossil species has been found in the Tertiary deposits of 

 Monte Bolca in Northern Italy. 



Family XXXVII. Opliioceplialidce [Case 44]. 



This is a small family of freshwater fishes, most of 

 which belong to the Oriental region, one or two species 

 only occurring in Africa. They are common in the 

 jheels and tanks of Bengal, where they are known as 

 Murral. The gill-chamber is connected with a cavity 

 in the head which acts like the pulmonary sack of a 

 snail, so that if the air is only kept moist the fish can 

 breathe out of water. Some of the species that live in 

 jheels and tanks undoubtedly, during the dry season, 

 exist, buried in the mud, in a state of suspended anima- 

 tion, from which they recover when the tank fills up 

 again in the rains. They are largely eaten in Bengal. 



Family XXXVIII. Labyrinthici [Case 44]. 



In habit, the fishes of this family resemble the Ophioceph- 

 alidir, and like them can bear removal from water, and 

 can stand being dried up in the mud of jheels and tanks 

 during the hot weather. The gill-chamber also is con- 

 nected with a cavity in the skull ; but this, in place of 

 being a simple cavity, is filled by a coiled and pleated 

 plate of very thin bone, by which the respiratory surface 

 is much increased. The Koi, or " Climbing-perch," 



