152 CLASS XIY. 



Notacantlius Bl., Kampylodon O. Fabe., Acanthonotus Bl., 

 SCHN. Body elongate, compressed. Teeth thin, numerous in 

 upper jaAV in a single row, in lower in several rows in the middle, 

 in a single row at the sides. Palatine teeth thin, in several rows. 

 Branchiostegous membrane with eight rays. A%itral fins abdomi- 

 nal. Several spines, short, separate, in the place of dorsal fin. 

 Anal fin long, extending as far as the small obtuse caudal fin. 

 (Scales small. Upper jaw protracted beyond lower, obtuse.) 



Sp. Notacantlius Fahicii, Campylodon Fahricil Reinh., O. Fabricius in 

 SJcrivter af Naturhistorie Sclshahet, iv. 2, 1798, pp. 22 — 26, Tab. 9, fig. i, 

 Cuv. R. Ani., cd. ill., Poiss. PI. 55. fig. 2 ; a rare fish from Greenland. 

 Cdvier holds this fish for the same species as Notacantlius nasus Bloch, 

 Ichth. Tab. 431, Syst. Ichth. Tab. 77, Cuv. et Val. Poins. viil. PI. 24 1, 

 which woiild seem to be from the East Indies ; there is however no cer- 

 tainty as to this last habitat ; but the two fishes present some difference, 

 especially in the ventral fins, which in the specimen of Fabkicius had 

 three spinous rays in front of the eight jointed rays, in that of Bloch 

 only one; compare Eeinhardt in Kongel. Danske Vldenshab. Selslcahs 

 naiurvidenskab. og niathem. Afhandlingcr, vii. 1838, p. 120. There were 

 until lately only two specimens of this genus preserved in cabinets ; the 

 specimen of Fabricius at Copenhagen, that of Bloch at Berlin; not long 

 ago the Parisian Museum obtained one through Gaimard from the voyage 

 of discovery to the North, which is figured in the illustrated edition of 

 Cuvier's R. Ani 



Mastacemlelus Gronov. {Rhjnclwhdella Bl., ScilN.). Head 

 rostrate, acute. Mouth with very small teeth, crowded in several 

 rows. Branchiostegous membrane with six rays. Ventral fins 

 none. In place of first dorsal fin several loose spines ; second 

 dorsal fin opposite to anal, low, produced as far as caudal fin, or 

 confluent with anal and caudal. Three spines in front of anal fin. 



Mastaceiiibelus halepi^ensis Cw., Al. Eussel Hist, of Aleppo, &c. Lond. 

 1756, 4to, Tab. V. figs. I, 2, Gronovius Zoophyl. 1. Tab. viii. a, figs, i, 2, 

 Meckel Fische Syriens 1843, Tab. 19, fig. 3; fresh-water fish of Asia 

 Minor. The other species, also from Asia, are seldom more than 10 or 11" 

 long, ex. gr. Mastacembelus ocellatus, Rhynchohdella orientalis and aral 

 Bloch, Schn. Tab. 89, &c. A species however from Borneo appears to 

 attain a greater size than the rest, of which the Rijl's-Museum has a coujjle 

 of specimens under the name of Mastaceiiibelus pictus; it seems to be the 

 same as that lately described by Bleekeb under the name of Mastacembelus 

 ei'ythrotamia. {Verh. van liet Batav. Gen. xxiii. Dl. 1850.) 



The distinction of i?^?/»c/io6cZeZ^a {Macrognathus Lac.) and Mastacembelus 

 as two genera is not essential. In Rhynchobdella aral Bleeker found in 

 a large specimen the caudal fin confluent with the anal and dorsal fins, 

 which in younger specimens are distinct from each other. Also the 

 greater protraction of the upper snout (the jaws are never of the same size) 

 is no very essential character. These fishes have a swimming-bladder. 



