﻿194 GANGETic FISHES. Order V. 



lobes ; with eight tendrils, two of them reaching to the vent ; 

 with a smooth body, nearly opaque, and neither spotted nor 

 striped ; with nine rays in the tin behind the vent ; and with 

 eight in that of the back. 



This small fish, growing to three or four inches in length, I 

 found in the Kosi river. It is very long in proportion to its 

 breadth, slightly compressed, and both above and below slopes 

 very gradually to each extremity from the commencement of 

 the foremost back fin. Its colours are rather agreeable, being 

 silver, with some green on the back, and a faint brown streak 

 across the foremost back fin, and another across the fin of the 

 tail. 



The head is sharp, long, oval, not wider than the body, and 

 not compressed. On the nape is a small bony plate, from 

 which two slight ridges run to the nose. The two tendrils 

 from the nostrils, and the four from the chin, are nearly as 

 long as the head, the two from the corners of the upper jaw 

 reach nearly to the vent. The mouth, situated below and be- 

 hind the extremity of the head, is large, and extends straight 

 back. The lips are fleshy. The jaws are rough with very mi- 

 nute crowded teeth. The two apertures of each nostril are se- 

 parated only by a tendril, and are placed nearer the jaw than 

 the eye. The eijes^ which are high up, are small and circular. 

 The gill-covers terminate in a point. Each of their membranes 

 contains about six very slender rays. There is no slit under 

 the throat. 



The back forms a ridge covered by a bony plate, which, be- 

 hind, is bifid. The shoulder-bones are covered. The lateral 

 lines are straight and high. The vent is behind the middle. 



In the foremost fin of the back, which slopes much behind, 

 the first ray is a minute bone ; tlie second a short prickle, 

 smooth on both edges, and ending in a substance like whale- 



