218 THE FISHES OF MALABAR. 



Genus BARILIUS, Ham. Buck. 

 Opsaeion, McClelland. 

 Pachystomus, Meckel. 

 Bendilisis et Shacra, Blether. 



Branchiostegals, three : pseudobranchiee. Body oblong, moderately compressed. Snout short, com- 

 pressed. Jaws covered by lips. Preorbital pentagonal or triangular, its apex directed upwards. Opening 

 of mouth large : lower j a w with a knob at its extremity, received into an emargination in the end of the 

 upper jaw. Cirri four (Barilius, Ham. Buck) on the snout ; or two (Bendilisis, Bleeker) on the maxilla*, 

 or none (Pachystomus, Heckel). Eyes with free lids. Pharyngeal teeth in three rows, pointed and 

 curved. Dorsal fin without scales at its base, and placed above or behind the commencement of the ventral. 

 Anal with more rays than the dorsal. Scales large or of medium size. Lateral line strongly concave. 



a. Without cirri (Pachystomus, Heckel). 

 Barilius Bakeri. Plate XVIII. 

 Barilius Bakeri, Day, Proc. Zool. Soc. 18G5, p. 305. 



B.iii. D. t V P. 15. V. 10. A. f \. C. 17. L. 1. 38. L. tr. §. 



Length of head \, of pectoral 1 of base of dorsal \, of base of anal \, of caudal f of the 

 total length. Height of head \, of body f , of dorsal \, of anal ) of total length. 



Eyes— Diameter about \ of length of head, \\ diameters apart, 1 diameter from end of snout. 



Profile more convex on the ventral than on the dorsal aspect. 



Gape of mouth large, directed forwards, and compressed from side to side. Lower jaw slightly 

 the longest, terminating in a knob, which is received into the apex of a triangle formed by the 

 meeting of the intermaxillaries. Lips not fleshy ; jaws entirely covered ; some pores exist along 

 the margin of the lower lip, on the snout, and on the anterior margin of the preorbital. Sulcus 

 single, not deep : snout rather enlarged at its extremity, and divided by a small fissure from the 

 margin of the preorbital, which is pentagonal, its inferior border being the longest. Nostrils 

 rather closer to the orbit than to the end of the snout, divided from one another by a membraneous 

 valve, the posterior broad and open, the anterior with raised margins. Upper surface of head 

 rather convex from side to side. 



Fins Dorsal commences nearly midway between the snout and the base of the caudal, 



opposite the middle of the ventral, and extends backwards as far as opposite the fourth ray of 

 the anal. Caudal deeply forked, the lower lobe the longest. Anterior margins of the dorsal and 

 anal the highest, the former with a slightly convex, the latter with a concave margin. Base of 

 dorsal scaleless, of anal scaled ; two long free scales at the base of the ventral ; some scales at the 

 base of caudal. 



Scales — Large and bneated. 



Lateral line— In single tubes on each scale. It descends nearly as low as the abdominal 

 profile, and is continued nearly parallel with it. 



Teeth — Pharyngeal in three rows, curved, pointed, and slightly hooked at their extremities. 

 They are arranged in the following order : — 5,4,2 | 2,4,5. 



Colours— Back bluish grey, fading to white on the abdomen. Some metallic silvery blue 

 spots along the sides. Dorsal, anal, and pectoral fins margined with white ; their bases dark grey. 

 Caudal grey in the centre and whitish externally. 



