266 SILURID.E. 



Fourteenth Group. ASPREDININa. 



Proteropodal Siluroids with the anterior and posterior nostrils 

 remote from each other, and withont nasal barbel. Lower lip not 

 reverted. Humero-cubital process much developed and prolonged. 



a. Anal tin short. 



105. BUNOCEPHALUS. 



Bunocephalus, sp., Kner, Sitzgsber. Wien. Acad. 1855, xvii. p. 95 

 Bunocephalus, Bleek. Nederl. Tydschr. Dierk. 1863, p. 118. 



Adipose fin none ; one short dorsal with five rays and without 

 pungent spine, situated above the ventrals, which are six-rayed ; anal 

 short ; pectorals with a strong, depressed, denticulated spine. Barbels 

 six : one to each maxillary, one to each angle of the mouth, and one 

 behind each mandibulary barbel. Both jaws with patches of villi - 

 form teeth ; palate smooth. Head and body with osseous protuber- 

 ances and crests, and covered with tubercular skin. Eyes very small. 

 Head broad and much depressed, but higher than the hinder part of the 

 tail. Gill-opening reduced to a narrow foramen before the pectoral fin. 



Tropical America. 



1 . Bunocephalus verrucosus. 



Platystacus verrucosus,' Bloch, xi. p. 63. taf. 373. fig. 3. 

 Silurus verrucosus, Bl. Schn. p. 379. 



B. 5. D. 5. A. 6. P. 1/8. V. 6. 



'xhe origin of the dorsal fin is in the middle between the end of 

 the snout and the root of the tail. The maxillary barbel does not 

 extend to the root of the pectoral. Each side of the tail with four 

 rows of warty tubercles. Brown. {Bl.) 



? Surinam. 



2. Bunocephalus gronovii. 

 Aspredo, sp., Gronov. Mm. Ichth. ii. p. 5. no. 153. tab. 5. fig. 3, and 



Zoophyl. p. 102. no. 325. 

 A.spredo verrucosa, Gronov. Syst. ed. Gray, p. 137 (not Bloch). 

 Bunocephalus gronovii, Bleek. Prodr. Silar. p. 329. 

 verrucosus, Kner, Sitzgsber. Wien. Acad. 1855, xvii. p. 96. 



D. 5. A. 6. P. 1/5. V. 6. 



The distance between the end of the snout and the origin of the 

 dorsal fin is one-third, or nearly one-third, of the total length (with 

 the caudal fin), the length of the head to the gill-opening is rather 

 more than one-seventh. Upper jaw but little prominent. The 

 maxillary barbel extends to the root of the pectoral. The length of 

 the caudal fin is contained five times and a third in the total ; the 

 dorsal is inserted nearer to the end of the snout than to the root of 

 the caudal. Hind portion of the tail as high as broad. Brownish, 

 clouded and spotted with darker. 



Barra do Rio Negro ; Demerara. « 



a. Fine specimen. Demerara. Presented by Dr. Hancock. 



