FAMILY, I— SILUaiD^. 445 



Very closely allied to M. aor, and chiefly distinguished by its much shorter maxillary barbels. 

 Habitat. — The Indus,* salt ranges of the Punjaub, Jumna and Ganges certainly as low as Delhi, also 

 the Deccan, Kistna river to its termination, and Assam. It attains a considerable size. 



4. MacroLes Blythii. 



Batasio affinis, Blyth, J. A. S. of Beng. 18G0, p. 190 (not Bagus affinis, Jerdon, 1849.) 



Macrones affinis, Giinther, Catal. v, p. 83; Day, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1873, p. 111. 



D. II 0, P. 1/7, V. 6, A. 12 (f), C. 17. 



Length of head nearly 5, of pectoral 6, of caudal 6, height of body 5 iu the total length. Eijes— 

 diameter 3k in the length of head, 1 diameter from end of snout and IJ apart. Snout projecting. Median 

 longitudinal groove on head indistinct, but reaching the base of the occii)ital process, which is narrow, twice as 

 long as wide at its base, and separated from the basal bone of the dorsal fin by an interneural shield.^ Barbels— 

 the'maxillary which are the longest only reach the anterior margin of the orbit. Teeth— in an uninterrupted 

 crescentic band across the palate. Fins— dorsal spine moderately strong, slightly serrated posteriorly in its 

 upper fourth and rather above half the length of the head. Pectoral spine, slightly longer and stronger than 

 that of the dorsal, and denticulated internally. Adipose dorsal commences not far from the hind edge of the 

 first dorsal -whilst its base is a little longer than that of the anal. Caudal forked, the lobes of nearly equal 

 length. Colours— a dark spot on the shoulder, a second on the base of the adipose dorsal fin : body with 

 indistinct cross bands. 



Habitat.— lenasserim provinces from whence one specimen 3-5 inches long was sent to the Calcutta 



Museum. 



5. Macrones gulio, Plate XCIX, fig. 2. 



Pimelodus gnlio, Ham. Buch. Fish. Ganges, pp. 201, 379, pi. 23, f. 6G. 



Bacjrus aJbilabrus, fuscas (mandibular barbels black) and Birmannus, Cuv. and Val. xiv, pp. 416, 41/, 419. 



Ba>jrus gulio, Cuv. and Val. xiv, p. 618 ; Bleeker, Beng. en Hind. p. 116, and Prod. Silur. p. 163 ; Blyth, 

 P. A. S. of Beng. 18.58, p 284. 



Bagrus abbreviatus, (Kuhl. and v. Hass.) Cuv. and Val. xiv, p. 428 ; Cantor, Catal. p. 254. 



Bagrus albilabris, Jerdon, M. J. L. and Sc. 1849, p. 338. 



Bagrus gulioides, melas, SMegelii, and rliodopterygius, Bleeker, Silur. Batav. pp. 24, 25. 



Aspidobagrus gulio, Bleeker, Atl. Ich. Silur. p. 60, t. 74, f. 2. 



Macrones gulio, Giinther, Catal. v, p. 79. 



Nana tenggara, Beng. 



B. ix, D. II 0, P. 1/8-9, V. 6. A. 12-15 (J^,), C. 17. 



Lencrth of head 4| to 4f, of caudal 4|, height of body 5 to 5| in the total length. Ef/es— diameter 5 to 

 6 in the length of head, 1| diameters from the end of snout, and 2 diameters apart. Snout broad and slightly 

 depressed, upper jaw somewhat the longer. Greatest width of head equals its length excluding the snout, 

 and one-fourth broader than high. Upper surface of the head granulated, its median longitudinal groove 

 lanceolate, extending to opposite the hind edge of the orbit. Occipital process rounded posteriorly and half 

 lono-er than wide at its base, a considerable interspacef between it and the basal bone of the dorsal fin. 

 Barbels— nasa]. shorter than the head, the maxillary reach to the middle or nearly the end of _ the 

 ventral fin, the external mandibular are longer than the head or than the internal ones. Teeth— m a 

 narrow, uninterrupted crescentic band across the palate. JFms— dorsal spine half as long as the head, 

 strong, anteriorly with one or two teeth at its upper extremity, serrated posteriorly. Anterior rays longer 

 than the spine. Adipose dorsal with a short base equalling about half of the interspace between the two 

 fins. Pectoral does not reach the ventral, its spine is as long as the head excluding the snout, strong, and 

 denticulated internally. Ventral arises on the vertical behind the last dorsal ray and does not reach the anal. 

 Upper caudal lobe the longer, inferior one sometimes rounded. Air-vessel— heart shaped, divided along its 

 centre by a strong partition, having a communicating orifice in its upper back part, whilst the whole has 

 many subdivisions internally. Coluurs-lurkl bluish-brown on the back becoming dull white beneath, fins 

 especially on their outer halves, usually black : maxillary barbels mostly black, those from fresh waters 

 sometimes have them whitish or white-tipped. • ^ i 



As in the rest of the genus Macrones the ova in this species are small. Some specimens trom the 

 Hooo-hly have 11 branched anal rays, and the maxillary barbels only reach the end of the pectoral fin. 



° Habitat.— Seas, estuaries, and tidal waters from Sind and Bombay, thnjughout India and Burma to the 

 Malay Archipelago. There are stufled specimens in the Calcutta Museum 18 inches in length. 



6. Macrones punctatus, Plate C, fig 3. 

 Bagrus punctatus, Jerdon, M. J. L. and Sc. 1849, p. 339. 



• Gunther records "e. Half grown. Afghanistan. From Mr. Griffith's collection." This may be .nn error. The specimen 

 was perhaiis the one sent, as Pimelodus aor, by McClelland (see C.il. J. N. H. ii, p. 575) to the India Office, and lie observed " Pimelodus 

 aur, liaQh. has been found also by Griffith to be one of the characteristic tishes of the Indus, as well as ol the Ganges above 

 beharunpore, but disappears in Afghanistan," p. 508. 



I This interspace appears to be absent iu the immature, but increases with age. 



