XXVI. DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW SPECIES 

 OF BOTI A AND NEMACHILUS. 



By B. L. Chaudhuri, B.A., B.Sc.{E din.), Assistant 

 Superintendent , Indian Museum, 



Botia hirdi J sp. nov. 

 Br. iii, D I.io, P 14, V 8, A 1.6, C 19. 



Height of body 4, length of head 4 and length of caudal 9 in 

 the total length. The distance of cloacal opening from root of 

 caudal is contained three times in the total length. 



Head rather compressed and deep, height of head being 

 i| and its breadth 2| in the length of head. The suborbital 

 groove is shaped like a relaxed bow and is deep and wide for the 

 lodgment of the erectile bifid spine when not in use. The length 

 of the groove is contained three times in the length of head. The 

 erectile spine reaches the anterior third below the orbit. 



Eyes lateral, with a rounded ridge between and situated 

 about the middle of the length of the head : rather small and 

 contained 8 diameters in the length of head, 4 to 4-| diameters 

 from the end of snout and 2h diameters apart. 



Barbels. — 8 in all, 4 rostral in a bunch at the end of a fleshy- 

 prolongation of the pointed snout, the inner pair being super- 

 imposed by the outer pair The mandibular pair, which are short 

 and thick and only half as long as the maxillary (which are the 

 longest with slender tapering ends) grow from a fleshy outgrowth 

 of the lower lip. The maxillary pair reach the middle of the eye 

 below, the length of the rostral barbels is intermediate between that 

 of the maxillary and that of the mandibular; the outer and upper 

 rostral pair being longer than the inner and inferior rostral pair. 



Anterior nares are about the middle of the snout, have double 

 funnel-shaped tufts and two deep pits, and do not open into the 

 mouth, but the double series of muciferous glands in the head 

 appear to terminate in front of them. 



Lips. — Suctorial, thick, rounded and doubled up at the cor- 

 ners when the mouth remains closed, thus giving a crescentic 

 appearance to the lumen. The upper lip is extended into an over- 

 hanging fleshy flap and the lower lip is corrugated or divided into 

 four rounded fleshy protuberances, giving a characteristic appear- 

 ance to the mouth. 



Fins. — There are appendants on the outer side of pectoral 

 and ventral fins These appendants are small, thin, cuticular flat 



