FAMILY, V— CTPRINID^. 529 



'Habitat. — Probably Northem India, two specimens exist in the Calcutta Museum, the longest being 

 3| inches. 



Genus, 4 — Oeeinus, McClelland. 

 ScMzothorax, Sect. A, and ScMsopyge, sp. Heckel. 



Abdomen rounded. Snout rounded, mouth inferior and transverse, mandibles short, broad, and flat, loosely 

 joined together at the symjihysis : margin of the lower jaw having a hard, horny covering, thickest internally, and a 

 thick fringed loxver lip with a free -posterior edge, forming a sucker. Barbels four. Pharyngeal teeth pointed, hooked, 

 5, 3, 2/2, 3, 5. Dorsal fin rather slwrt and arising opposite the ventrals, its last undivided ray osseous, serrated 

 or entire : anal short. Scales very small; the vent and. base of the anal fin in a sheath covered by an enlarged tiled 

 row of scales. Lateral-line passing to the centre of the base of the caudal fin. 



Although the serrated spine in the dorsal fin is commonly termed the last undivided ray or spine, such 

 has merely reference to its being unbranched, for in reahty this spine consists of two separate, compressed and 

 serrated bones attached one to the other in their whole extent. 



It must also be noticed that too much stress must not be laid upon the comparative size of the tiled row 

 of scales to the diameter of the eye as such varies, as is easily explained. The number of scales remains the 

 same throughout the fish's life, and therefore their size continues to increase in accordance with that of the 

 body of the fish. The eye, however, does not continue increasing in the same proportion, so that a species in 

 which its diameter is say 4 in the length of the head in the young, is 6 or even 8 in that of the adult. It 

 naturally follows that the size of the tiled row of scales is often far greater in the adult in comparison to the 

 dimension of the eye than it is in the young. Likewise it is very common to find specimens in which the 

 height of the body is much less than normally exists, these appear half-starved or sickly fishes. 



Geographical distribution. — Rivers and some lakes in the Himalayan and sub-Himalayan region extending 

 to the confines of China.* These fishes are rarely found in the rivers of the plains at any distance from the 

 base of the mountain ranges. This Genus and the four succeeding ones of Schizopygopsis, Schizothorax, 

 Ptycliobarbus, and Diptychus, consist of Carps, scaleless or more or less covered with minute scales. A 

 membraneous slit exists anterior to the anal fin, which is laterally bounded by a row of vertically placed scales, 

 like eave-tiles, and which are continued along the base of the anal fin. They form the Schizothoracinj; of 

 McClelland. 



SYNOPSIS OF SPECIES. 



1. Oreinus simiatus, T). 4/7, A. 3/5. Anal scales about 1/2 as large as orbit. Black spots on body. 

 Afghanistan, Punjab, Cashmere, and along the Himalayas. 



2. Oreinus Eichardsonii, D. 3/8, A. 3/5. Anal scales 2/3 as large as orbit. Colours uniform. 

 Nepaul. 



3. Oreinus plagiostomiis, D. 3/8, A. 3/5. Anal scales about as large as orbit. Osseous dorsal ray weak. 

 Colours uniform. Afghanistan, Cashmere to Upper Assam. 



Geographical distribution. — Throughout the Himalayan and sub-Himalayan range to Assam and the 

 ponfines of China. 



1. Oreinus sinnatus, Plate CXXIV, fig. 4. 



Schizothorax sirmatus, Heckel, Fische aus Kaschmir, p. 21, t. 2. 



Oreinus maeulatus, McClell., Ind. Cyp. pp. 274, 345, pi. Ivii, fig. G, and Cal. J. N. H. ii, p. 580 ; Cuv. and 

 Val. xvi, p. 228. 



Oreinus sinuatus, Giinther, Catal. vii, p. 161. 

 Gool-goolli and Saul, Punj. : Jis, Cash. 



B. iii, D. V. P. 17, V. 10, A. =f^ C. 19, L. 1. 105, Yert. f|. 



Length of head 5^ to 6, of caudal 5|, height of body 5| to 7| in the total length. Eyes — diameter 

 2/9 to 1/6 of length of head, 2 to 2^ diameters from end of snout, 2 to 2j diameters apart, and almost entirely 

 situated in the front 1/2 of the head. Interorbital space rather convex, more so in the adult than in the young : 

 snout rounded, with a very slight appearance of pores. Mouth inferior, transverse : lower lip well developed, 

 rugose, entire, having a free posterior edge, and forming an adhesive sucker. The posterior edge may be 

 concave or slightly lobed in the middle or even straight. Inner side of lower lip covered with cartilage, which 

 is extended on to its inferior surface, where, however, it is not so homy. Barbels — of about equal length and not 

 quite so long as the eye. Pre-operole with an emarginate posterior border. Teeth — pharyngeal, 5, 3, 2/2, 3, 5, 

 crooked, pointed. Fins — dorsal commences a little before the ventrals, and slightly nearer to the snout than it 

 does to the base of the caudal fin, its spine is rather strong, moderately serrated and rather longer than the 

 head without the snout, the fin is rather higher than the body below it, its last ray is divided into two. Pectoral 

 four^fifths as long as the head, and extending above halfway to the ventral, which last reaches two-thirds of 



* Dr. Anderson brought a species of Oreinus from the confines of China when with the last Vunam expedition. It is allied 

 to 0. sinuatus and 0. Richa/rdsonii, but its body is deeper, its scales more oval in form and larger. 



3 V 



