128 



CATALOGUE OF FISH. 



the anal fin and the small caudal fin there is a free space equal to 

 the length of the head. P. 12; A. 215 fays. 



This species inhahits Lower Essequibo in British Guiana. Speci- 

 mens have been sent to the Berlin and Paris Museums bj the 

 Brothers Schomburgk. 



Genus 2. RHAMPHICHTHYS, Milll d- Trosch. 



Diagn. A small mouth, wholly destitute of teeth. 



Descr. Snout more or less tubularly prolonged, with small, pore- 

 like nostrils, without tubes. Head and body laterally compressed, 

 and covei'ed, with the exception of the head, by small scales. A part 

 of the tail remains free beyond the long anal fin. 



One perceives sometimes at the point of a damaged tail a pro- 

 jecting cuticular process, destitute of verlebrine, which resembles the 

 reproduced tail of a lizard. Judging from the narrowness of their 

 toothless mouth, these fish must subsist on small insects, and be 

 themselves desti'oyed or injured by predacious fishes, whence it hap- 

 pens that the point of their tail is often defective. 



I divide this numerous genus into two sections : — 



a. Species having shorter snouts, icith the anal papilla much developed, 

 the anus situated on the posterior third 2^aft of the head, and the 

 anal Jin commencing under the jwint of the pectoral. 



Of this section three sj^ecies only are known to me.' 



5. Rhamphicthys Artedi, fig. 3. 

 Scha, iii. t. 32, No. 2. 



Fis. 3. 



Biagn. The free part of the tail forms between the fifth and the 

 si.xth part of the total length, and the thickness of the body scarcely 

 exceeds half its height. 



Descr. It is a shorter and more compactly made species than the 

 following one, has a somewhat longer head, the eyes situated higher 

 up, and the muciferous pores more conspicuous on the snout, round 

 the eyes, and on the cheeks. Lateral line whitish, and formed of a 

 chain of shorty tubular mucoducts directed downwards and obliquely 



