iq2i.J S. L. HoRA : Fishes of the genus Garra. 635 



inullya. In 1844 he described Discognatlms fiisiformis from Bom- 

 bay and two years later he recorded similar forms from Abys- 

 sinia. Jerdon (1849) recorded Gonorhynchus gotvla and described 

 two new species in the same genus from South India ; while Blyth 

 (i860) adopted Plalycara of McClelland in describing a new spe- 

 cies from Burma. Bleeker (1863a) recognised Buchanan's Garra 

 as a distinct genus and gave the name of Garra ccylonensis to a 

 new species from Ceylon. In the Atlas Iclithyologique, III, p. 24, 

 1S63, Bleeker described two subgenera of Garra, Ham. Buch., 

 Garra and Discognathtis , distinguishing them merely by the number 

 of barbels, which are four in the former and two in the latter. 

 Day (1865, 1867) in a series of papers on the Fishes of South 

 India gave an account of some new species of Garra, and in 1869 

 erected a new genus Mayoa for two specimens he found in the 

 Calcutta Museum which probably came from Northern India. 

 After the publication of Giinther's catalogue (r868) Day, when 

 writing a "Monograph of Indian Cyprinidae " (187:), evidently 

 recognised only one Indian species of Discognatlms, for he places 

 all the then known species, with the exception of D. variabilis, 

 under the sj-nonymy of D. lamta; at the same time he allowed his 

 new genus, Mayoa, to stand with a single species, M. iiiodcsta. 

 Next year he recorded a peculiar specimen from the Salt Range, 

 Punjab, which he referred to D. lamta. In his later works Day 

 (1878, 1889) abolished his new genus and recognised three species, 

 viz. D. lamta, D. jerdoni and D. inodesius. Steindachner (1867) re- 

 corded Garra gotyla from Simla and added a few notes on the 

 characters of G. lamta. Giitither (i858) recognised Discognatlms 

 variabilis and D. nasutus and described D. macrochir as a new spe- 

 cies ; all the remaining known forms he regarded as synonymous 

 with D. lamta. In 1889 he also referred specimens collected in 

 Afghanistan to D. lamta, while Play fair (1870) and Blanford 

 (1870) gave on his authority the same name to their Arabian and 

 Abyssinian specimens. Sauvage (1874) obtained a new species, 

 D.'prochihis, in China, while Lortet (1883) and Tristram (1884) 

 referred their Palestine examples to D. lamta, the latter author 

 pointing out, however, tliat they might represent the species — 

 D. rufiis — which Giinther had considered to be a synonym of the 

 former. Vinciguerra (1883) recorded D. lamta from Africa and 

 described a new species, D. chiariuii, from the same continent. 

 Later on, in 1889, while writing an account of the fishes of Burma, 

 he named another new species D. imberbis and recorded D. lamta. 

 Nikolsky (1897, 1899) recorded D. variabilis and D. lamta from 

 Persia and its vicinity, but later on (1900) described the speci-- 

 mens which he had previously referred to D. variabilis as a new 

 species, D. rossicus, while those referred to D. lamta were made 

 the type of another new species, Garra persica, by Berg (1913). 

 Boulenger in a series of papers (1901, 1903, 1905) and in his two 

 works (1907, 1909) on the fishes of Africa stimulated research in 

 this genus and himself described and figured as many as seven 

 species of Discognathus , while quite recentlj' another species has 



