ICUTUYOLOGY. 257 



Eyos minuto. The maxillary barbels twice the length of the bead, the m;m(li- 

 bular shorter than it. Colour plumbeous, purplisli below, aud uiiuutely blaek-punctate, 

 sometimes an irrcfriilar finger mark on the shoulder. Caudal sometimes yellow. 



Arakan. Tenasserim. 



c. Two rayed dorsah. 



CiiACA, Cuvier et Vahnciennes. 



Head large, depressed. Gape very wide. Lower jaw prominent. Eyes minute, 

 subcutaneous, and superior. One maxillary and two mandibular pairs of barbels ; 

 occasionally a nasal pair. Teeth villiform in both jaws, palate edentulous. Two dorsal 

 fins, the second confluent with the caudal. Two anal tins, the second confluent with 

 the caudal. ISo axillary pore. 



C. LoPHioiDEs, Ham. Buch. 



B. vi. ; D. 3T^-19-2.5; P. V; V. G; A. 810:812; C. 11. 



Brownish, darker marbled. Grows to 8 inches. 



The larger rivers of India and Burma, and tanks near them. 



Hamilton Buchanan says of this fish, " Of all the horrid animals of this tribe, 

 the Chaka of this district is the most disagreeable to behold. It has the liabit of the 

 fishes called by Lacepede Uranoscope and Cotti-, that is, it conceals itself among the mud, 

 from which, by its lurid appearance, and a number of loose filamentous substances on 

 its skin, it is scarcely distinguishable, and with an immense open mouth it is ready to 

 seize any small prey that is passing along. In order that it may set^what is approach- 

 ing, tlie eyes are placed on the crown of tlic head. All persons turn away from it 

 with loathing." 



The " filamentous substances," to which Buchanan seems to have taken such 

 exception, are doubtless the short tentacles over the head and body, round the eyes, 

 and along the mandible, which are present in specimens from India, but which were 

 wanting in a specimen taken by Day in the Irrawaddy. 



Pi.oTosus, Lacep'cde. 



Head depressed, covered with skin. Eyes with a free circular margin. Nostrils 

 remote from one another, the hinder patent, the anterior tubular, and on the front 

 edge of the snout. Barbels 8. Teeth conical in the upper, mixed in the lower jaw, 

 molarifbrm in the vomer. Dorsals 2, the last confluent with the caudal, as in the anal 

 also. A dondiitic post-anal apparatus. 



P. CAXirs, Ham. Buch. 



B. xi.xiii. ; D. i-2D + C + A. 242271 ; P. ttt-tt; V. 12. 



Bro^vn, the vertical fins edged with black. Grows to over 3 feet. 

 Estuaries of Burma. 



B. Air-vessel more or less inclosed in bone. 



1. JVo adipose dorsal fin. 



Clarias, Gronovius. 



A dendritic accessory branchial apparatus, attached to the convex side of the 

 second, third, and fourth branchial arches, is received into a recess above and behind 

 the usual_ gill cavity. Eyes small, with a free circular margin. Barbels 8. Teeth 

 villiform in the jaws and vomer. Dorsal long, and without a spine, extending from 

 the neck to the caudal, with wliich it may be continuous. No adipose fin. Air-vessel 

 small, transverse, lobed, and inclosed in bone. 



Vertical fins not confluent with the caudal. 



C. MAOUE, Ham. Buch. 

 Nga-khu. 



- B. ix.; D. G2-7G; P. ^Vt J V. 6; A. 4o-58; C. Iil7. 



17 



