I9I3-] B. L. Chaudhuri : Fish. 253 



Macrones merianiensis, sp. nov. 

 (PI. ix, figs. I, la, lb.) 



The depth of the body is contained four and a half times in 

 the total length, the length of the head five times. The eye is 

 situated in the middle of the head, its diameter is contained three 

 and a half times in the length of the head , one and a half times in the 

 length of the snout and one and a quarter times in the interorbital 

 length. The width of the mouth is equal to the inter- ocular width. 

 The lips are fimbriated ; there are villiform teeth on the jaws. The 

 barbels are thin and slender, the nasal is one-third the length 

 of the head ; the maxillary barbels are longer, five-sevenths the 

 length of head ; the outer mandibular is one-fourth the length of 

 the head and nearly double the length of the inner. Dorsal I 7, 

 entirely in advance of the vertical from the root of the ventral 

 fin and twice as distant from the root of the caudal as from the 

 end of the snout. The spine of the dorsal is perfectly smooth and 

 measures three-fourths the length of the head ; the second ray is 

 the longest and is quite as long as the head. The pectoral fin nearly 

 reaches the root of the ventral, its spine is as long as and stronger 

 than that of the dorsal and is strongh^ denticulated on the inner 

 side. The anal opening has a fimbriated margin and is nearer to the 

 root of the ventral than to the anterior root of the anal. The ventral 

 fin reaches the anal papilla close to the anterior end of the anal fin ; 

 the anal papilla is thick and produced into a short filament. The 

 distance of the anal opening from the root of the caudal is four-fifths 

 its distance from the snout, and its distance from the anterior base 

 of the ventral is one-fourth its distance from the anterior root of the 

 anal. The adipose fin is midway above the root of the caudal and 

 the end of the dorsal, slightly longer than the length of the head 

 and as high as half the diameter of the eye. The caudal peduncle is 

 nearly twice as long as deep. The caudal fin is deeply forked, the 

 lobes being equal and twice as long as the undivided base. The 

 air-bladder is osseous and is placed behind the gill-opening, com- 

 municating with the outside by a thin membranous covering. 



Colour in spirit — head greenish grey, body deep brown varie- 

 gated with markings: a broad but faintly black band extends 

 from the back of the neck obliquely to the middle line, another 

 irregularly broad but deeply black band extends from the anterior 

 root of the dorsal fin to the middle line, and a broad deeply black 

 blotch extends from below the adipose fin to the middle line. 

 The fins are dull white, with a deep black blotch on the outer upper 

 half of the dorsal fin. 



This species resembles Macrones affinis (Blyth) more than any 

 other species in the genus, but differs from it in having a shorter 

 head and longer snout, longer maxillary barbels and a smooth spine 

 in the dorsal, and also in having the adipose fin situated further 

 back. Blyth's type-specimen was from Tenasserim. 



From a pond at Mariani junction, Assam. Type specimen 

 numbered F. Z^ in the register of the Indian Museum : length 73 

 mm. with caudal. 



