21. lai's. 57 



upper profile is nearly straight ; neck not elevated ; upper jaw longer 

 than the lower ; orbit with a broad anterior and posterior adipose 

 eyelid, behind the cleft of the mouth. Ventral composed of six rays. 

 Bengal. 



1. Schilbichthys garua. 



Silurus garua, Ham. Buck. Fish. Gang. pp. 156, 375. tab. 21. fig. 50. 

 Schilbe garua, Cuv. Sf Val. xiv. p. 379. pi. 413 (not good) ; Bleek. Vcrh. 

 Bat. Gen. xxv., Hindost. p. 110. 



B. 7. D. 1/6. A. 30. P. 1/11. V. 6. 



The maxillary barbels extend to the base of the ventral, those of 

 the chin to the end of the head. Vomerine teeth in an uninterrupted 

 cross-band, scarcely separated from the palatine bands. Dorsal spine 

 slender, strongly serrated. Silvery on the sides, immaculate. 



Bengal. 



a. One of the typical specimens. Ganges. Presented by G. R. 



Waterhouse, Esq. 



b. Sixteen iuuhes long : stuffed. India. From Capt. Boys' s Collection. 



21. LAIS. 



Lais, Bleek. Prodr. Silur. p. 170. 



Adipose fin minute ; a short dorsal fin with a pungent spine and 

 with seven soft rays ; anal fin elongate, with forty or more rays. 

 Barbels six, four of which are at the mandible, in a transverse series 

 behind the symphysis. Teeth on the palate villiform, forming two 

 more or less contiguous transverse bands. The upper jaw is the 

 longer. Eyes large, free, behind, and partly below the angle of the 

 mouth. Caudal forked ; ventral rays six. Nostrils close together, 

 at the end of the snout, wide, the posterior twice as wide as the 

 anterior. 



East Indian Archipelago. 



The natural affinity between Lais and Schilbichthys is so great, 

 that these two genera offer one of the most striking proofs that the 

 presence or absence of a small adipose fin is a character entirely 

 useless for the establishment of higher than generic groups of Siluroid 

 fish, and, if taken by itself, that it leads to a not less artificial system 

 than the presence or absence of teeth on the palate. Thus, we see 

 that in Dr. v. Bleeker's system Lais and Schilbichthys arc referred to 

 two distinct subfamilies — the former to the " Bagnformes." 



1. Lais hexanema. 



Pangasius hexanema, Bleek. Nat. Tydschr. Nederl. Lid. iii. p. 589. 

 Lais hexanema, Bleek. Prodr. Silur. p. 171, and Atl. Ichth. Sikir. p. 72. 

 tab. 75. fig. 2. 



B. 8-9. D. 1/7. A. 40-42. P. JL. 



Occipital process very narrow ■ the diameter of the eye is one-third 



