IClITIlYULOaV. -^" 



rcctorul, ventral and amil fins diaplumous, with some black dots. Eyes silvury, with 

 darli orbital margins. Pupils oval. 

 Burma, in rivers and tanks. 



Family Notopteridae. 



Body elongated, tail prolonged and tapering. A parie to -mastoid cavity on 

 either side of the head, connected with the interior of the skull. Barbels none. 

 Scales small. Abdominal edge serrated anteriorly to the ventral tins. 



NoxoriEBUS, Lacipede. 



Snout obtuse, convex. Teeth on jaws, vomer, palatines, sphenoid and tongnc. 

 Veutrals rudimentary. Air-vessel divided internally, with two horns anteriorly in 

 connexion with the auditory organs. Posteriorly it ends in two branches, separated 

 by the htemal spines. 



N. KAPiRAT, Lacep. 



Nga-hpeb. 



B. viii.; D. 7-8; P. 17; V. S-O ; A. 100110; C. 19. 



Dorsal profile not so convex as that of the belly. Preorliital serrated, lower 

 edge of prcopercle with a doulile serrated margin. An external row of strongly 

 curved teeth in either jaw, witli an internal row of finer ones. About 28 serrations 

 between the throat and tlic ventral. Silvery, darker above. Head yellow-glossed. 

 Body with numerous tine greyish sjxits. Eyes golden. Grows to 2 feet. 



Burma in fresh and brackish waters. 



N. cHiTALA, Ham. Buch. 



B. viii.-i.'C. ; D. 910; P. IG; V. G; A. 110 12.-. ; C. 1214. 



Upper profile of head deeply concave, back arched. Snout prominent. Pre- 

 orbital entire. Lower edge of prcopercle very finely serrated. Villiform teeth in 

 both jaws, with an outer enlarged row most developed in centre of upper jaw. About 

 51 serrations between the throat and the ventral fin. Coppery brown above, with 

 15 transverse silvery bars confluent over the back. Sides silvery. Fins with greyish 

 spots, which are stellate on the caudal and in a row or two along the anal. Grows 

 to 4 feet, and is rich and well-flavoured acoortling to Ham. Buchanan. 



Burma in fresh water. 



Family Symbranchidse. 

 Gill openings confluent into a single slit, situated on the abdominal surface. 

 Body elongated. Vertical fins rudimentary, and no paired ones. Air-vessel none. 



AjipniPNOus, Muller. 



Branchiostegals 6. A respiratory air sac, behind the head, communicating with 

 the gill chamber. Palatine teeth in a single well-developed row. Scales present. 



A. cocHiA, Ham. Buch. 



Nga-shin-ni. 



Greenish or chestnut brown, paler below. Grows to 2 feet. 



Burma, in fresh and brackish water. 



Taylor thus describes the respiratoiy system : 



"The principal organs of respiration are two small bladders, which the animal 

 has the power of filling with air, immediately derived from the atmosphere. They 

 are placed behind the head, one on each side of the neck, above the superior, or 

 vertebral extremities of the branchial arches, and are covered over by the common 

 integument, presenting externally, when distended with air, two protuberances of 

 a round shape . . . They present when separated from their surrounding attachments 

 and inflated with air, thin transparent membranous parietes, resembling the 

 posterior portions of the lungs of a serpent." (Gleanings in Science, II. p. 173.) 



