Apaloptering. INDIAN CYPRINID&. 425 
The first sub-genus is peculiar to the rivers of America, the third 
is only found in India, and the remainder are common to Europe and 
America. 
The Platycare, Pl. 49, form the next genus; in these the head is also 
flat, with the eyes placed on the upper surface, as in the Siduride ; but the 
mouth is small, without teeth, and soft. The alimentary canal is however 
short, as in carnivorous species; their pectorals are round, and sometimes 
placed on fleshy pedicles or arms, with but two rays in the branchial mem- 
brane. This remarkable genus corresponds with the natatorial type, to which 
I conceive the Peciline also belong, notwithstanding their small size. 
The Pstlorhynchi follow the last in the order of their affinities ; in these the 
snout, rather than the head, is flattened, and much elongated in front of the 
mouth, which is remarkably small. This genus connects the Loaches with the 
Platycare, and affords the suctorial type, as will be seen from the descriptions 
(and figures, Pl. 50) of the only two species yet met with. 
To these last the Loaches follow. I have already stated my reasons for 
having arranged them according to their colours and form of the caudal ; I shall 
now merely notice one or two points on which their typical characters seem 
to rest. In this group the suborbitar plates are transformed into spines, 
which are fixed by an articulation to a process of the frontal bone in front of 
the eye, so as to be raised at pleasure as organs of defence, like the horns of 
Ruminants ; at other times these spines are lodged in a suborbitar sinus, si- 
milar to that of the Cervide. Of the two sub-genera into which I have divid- 
ed them, the true Loaches, or those with the caudal entire, appear to be the 
more terrestrial, in consequence of the rudimental character of the natatory 
bladder, or, of its total absence in many of the species; while in some 
of the Schistur@, or those with bifid caudal, there is an abdominal air-vessel 
enabling the species possessed of it to frequent the deepest waters in the 
largest rivers, while the true Loaches are generally found in creeks and 
jeels, and would thus appear to present a closer relation to Apodal fishes ; 
3 H ; 
