230 SILUKIDJJ. 



below the dorsal fin ; anal and caudal colourless. A blackish 

 vertical bar below the eye ; body minutely punctulated with 

 black. 



10. Callichthys paleatus. 



Callichthys paleatus, Jenytis, Zool. Beagle, Fish. p. 113. 

 D.||l. A. 6. P. 1/7. V. 6. 



Head slightly compressed, its height being very little less than its 

 length ; the upper profile of the snout curved. Maxillary barbels 

 reaching to beneath the middle of the eye ; two short cirri, only half 

 the length of the maxillary ones, pendent from the reflexed lower lip. 

 Twenty-one lateral shields in the upper series, and twenty in the 

 lower. Caudal fin forked. Yellowish brown, with dusky spots and 

 mottlings ; lower parts whitish. Dorsal and caudal spotted. (Jenyns.) 



Hah. ? 



11. Callichthys seneus. 



Hoplosoma seneum, Gill, in Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. New York, 1858, vi. 

 p. 403. 



D.v|l. A.i-. P. 1/7. V. 6. 



7 1 ' 



Very similar to C. paleatus, but all the fins immaculate. 

 Trinidad. 



93. PLECOSTOMUS*. 



Plecostomus, sp., Artedi, in Seba, iii. p. 87. 

 Hypostomus, Lacep. v. p. 144 ; K)ier, Hypostom. p. 256. 

 Hypostomus, sp., Cuv. S,- Val. xv. p. 489. 



Plecostomus et Pseudancisti'us, Bleek. Nederl. Tydschr. Dierk. 1863, 

 p. 78. 



A short adipose fin is present, being supported anteriorly by a short, 

 compressed, ciu-ved spine ; dorsal fin of moderate length, with eight 

 rays, the first of which is simple, slightly thickened, flexible ; anal 

 fin short ; ventral six- rayed, below the dorsal ; pectoral with a strong 

 spine. Head and body completely cuirassed, the lower parts being 

 sometimes naked ; body rather short, with four or five longitudinal 

 series of large imbricate scutes on each side ; tail not depressed. 

 Snout produced, obtuse in front ; mouth inferior, transverse, with a 

 single series of generally veiy fiiie, bent teeth in both jaws ; palate 

 toothless. Interoperculum without erectile armature. Gill-opening 

 very narrow. 



Continent of tropical America. 



* 1 . Hypostomus verres, Cuv. 8( Val. xv. p. 494. — Cayenne. 



2. watwata, Hancock, Zool. Journ. iv. p. 246. — Demerara. This species 



has not more than eight dorsal rays, Hancock having used the old style 



of writing, D. — , which means that the fin is composed of eight rays, 



one of which is spinous. — The typical specimen appears to be lost. 



