('0I3ITTS T.ENIA. 253 



In this fish the head and body are compressed. The body is between 

 seven and eight times as long as high^ and the thickness is only half the height. 

 The length of the head exceeds the height of the body. The mouth is inferior ; 

 the six barbels are short ; two of them are close together in front in the middle 

 of the upper jaw. The two longer ones are at the angles of the mouth. The 

 mouth is small ; its opening is transverse, and the cleft reaches under the 

 nares. The small eye is in the middle of the length of the head ; its diameter 

 is between one-sixth and one-seventh of the length of the head. It is near to 

 the frontal profile, and separated from the other eye by its own diameter. 

 The thin skin of the head goes over it, as in Misr/nrnus fossilis, without 

 forming a fold. 



Both points of the bifid sub-orbital spine are curved backward ; the ante- 

 rior one is short, but the hinder and inner spine is as long as the diameter of 

 the eye. The spine is not seen when the fish is at rest, but is capable of being 

 erected as a defence. The gill-opening is narrow, only reaching from the base 

 of the pectoral fin to the eye. The profile rises in a strong curve over the head, 

 and is nearly horizontal on the back. The dorsal fin commences somewhat in 

 advance of the ventral, and is in the middle of the length ; its third and fourth 

 rays are as long as the body is high ; but the last ray of the fin is only two-thirds 

 of this height. The anal fin is as long as the rounded ventral, but its free 

 border is less sharply truncate. The pectoral fins are as deep as the ventrals, 

 and a little longer. In the male the upper ray is enlarged and flattened. The 

 caudal fin is truncate, often with the corners rounded. The lateral line is 

 visible only for a short distance over the pectoi-al fin ; farther back it is con- 

 tinued as a dark-coloured, longitudinal furrow. 



The scales are very small, scarcely to be counted with the naked eye. 

 There are forty to forty-two vertebrse, and fifteen pairs of ribs. The 

 intestine is nearly straight ; the lining membrane of the abdomen is pearly 

 white, with black spots. 



The Spinous Loach has a striking colouring. The general tone is orange- 

 yellow, diversified with rows of somewhat round black spots, of which two rows 

 are fairly regular. One of the larger bands of flecks runs in the middle of the 

 height of the body. A smaller row is in the upper third of the height; between 

 these two are irregular points, flecks, and lines. The throat and abdo- 

 men are free from spots. On the head a brownish-black line extends from 

 the eye to the upper lip ; a similar line runs as a wavy curve from the back of 

 the eye tu the opercular point, and a third is seen under the eye ; running for- 

 ward across the cheeks. When these bands are wanting the body is more 

 irregularly spotted. The eye-like spot at the base of the upper lobe of the 

 caudal fin is sharply defined and intensely black. There are also large black 



