]Q8 CATALOGUE OF FISH. 



the anal fiu and the small caudal fin there is a free space equal to 

 the length of the head. P. 19; A. 215 rays. 



This species inhabits Lower Essequibo in British Guiana. Speci- 

 mens have been sent to the Berlin and Paris Museums by the 

 Brothers Schoniburgk. 



Gei,-us 2. EHAMPHICHTHYS, MilU. S Trosch. 



Diarjn. A small mouth, wholly destitute of teeth. 



Descr. Suout more or less tubularly prolonged, with small, pore- 

 like nostrils, without tubes. Head and body laterally compressed, 

 and covered, with the e.xceptiou of the head, by small scales. A part 

 of the tail remains free beyond the long anal fin. 



One perceives sometimes at the point of a damaged tail a pro- 

 jecting cuticular process, destitute of vertebra3, which resembles the 

 reproduced tail of a lizard. Judging from the narrowness of their 

 toothless mouth, these fish must subsist on small insects, and be 

 themselves destroyed or injured by predacious fishes, whence it hap- 

 pens that the point of their tail is often defective. 



I divide this numerous genus into two sections : — 



a. Species having sJwrter snouts, with the anal papilla much developed, 

 the anus situated on the posterior third i)art of the head, and the 

 anal fin commencing under the j)oint of the pectoral. 



Of this section three species only are known to me. 



5. Rhamphicthys Artedi, fig. 3. 

 Scha, iii. t. 32, No. 2. 



Fig. 3. 



Dinqn. The free part of the tail forms between the fifth and the 

 sixth part of the total length, and the thickness of the body scarcely 

 exceeds half its height. 



Descr. It is a shorter and more compactly made species than the 

 following one, has a somewhat longer head, the eyes situated higher 

 up, and the muciferous pores more conspicuous on the snout, round 

 the eyes, and on the cheeks. Lateral line whitish, and formed of a 

 chain of short, tubular mucoducts directed downwards and obliquely 



