ARIUS BLEEKERI. 71 



NOTE VIII. 

 A NEW SPECIES OE ARIUS 



BY 



Dr. C. M. L. POPTA. 



April 1900. 



Among some fishes, forwarded by the late Dr. Bleeker 

 to the Leyden Museum, I came across four specimens evi- 

 dently belonging to the genus Ariiis, differing however 

 from all known species of that genus. They therefore 

 represent a new species, which I now describe under the 

 name ci 



Arius Bleekeri 



in honour of the great Ichthyologist, who collected them. 

 The systematic position of this new species is between 

 the two East Indian Arius macronotacanthus Blkr. and Arius 

 coelatus Val. After having described it, I will compare 

 my Arius Bleekeri with these two well-known forms. 



The body is ^elongated, anteriorly about as high as 

 broad, posteriorly compressed, its height is 5 times con- 

 tained in the total length without the caudal and 61 times 

 with the caudal ; the head is depressed, 4 times in the total 

 length without the caudal, 5^ with the caudal, the height 

 of the head is l.V times and the breadth 11 times in its 

 length; the upper jaw is the longest; the eyes are in the 

 hind part of the anterior half of the head, their diameter 

 is 5 times in the length of the head, the distance between 

 them is nearly 3 times their greatest diameter. The upper 

 surface of the head and the occipital process are granu- 



Notes from tlie Leyden IMuseum, "Vol. XXII. 



