134 



CATALOGUE OF FISH. 



Gymnotus rostratus, Bl. id Schn. 522, t. 100; Seba, iii. t. 32, 



No. 5. 

 Carapus rostratus, Cuv. ii. p. 357. 



Fis. 9. 



-^=5>«iSt. 



Diarpi. Anus situated somewhat before the eyes, and accompanied 

 by a genital papilla that measures 0-079 in. in length. Snout 

 descending from the eye, and composing about five-eighths of the 

 length of the head. Head and body spotted as in Schneideri. 

 Along the middle of the height, above the anal fin, there runs an 

 interrupted line of oblique bars. The fins are marked in a similar 

 manner to those of Schneideri. 



Total length ....... 



Length of finless portion of the tail . 

 From the snout to the edge of the gill-plate 



eye .... 



anus 

 anal fin 



Height of the body 

 Thickness of ditto 



24-79 

 5-00 

 3-19 

 1-93 

 1-73 

 2-76 

 1-77 

 0-59 



I know of no other example of this species than Bloch's original 

 one, described above. It is now in the Berlin Museum, and is 

 figured in Bloch and Schneider's Sijsteiua, pi. 106. The upper 

 point of the snout is wanting, which explains the cause of the 

 absence of half the teeth in Schneider's figure. That the head is 

 represented as being scaly, is a liberty taken either by the designer 

 or engraver. The specimen is now wholly faded, and shows the 

 merest traces of its original markings. According to the authors 

 of the Jlora; Ichtln/olofiica;, this individual has 305 rays in the anal 

 fin ; Bloch and Schneider give the nimiber as 292, and Seba as 290. 

 All these enumerations are erroneous, and Bloch and Schneider 

 do not seem to have taken the trouble of reckoning them, but 

 merely to have deducted four from tlie number mentioned by 

 Seba. 



