432 INDIAN CYPRINID&. A palopterine. 
In the Schisture the stomach is also lunate, but there is one or two con- 
volutions of the intestine on its surface, and the alimentary canal is somewhat 
longer, equal to about the length of the body. 
M. Agassiz, Mr. J. E. Gray, and Mr. Swainson, have divided the old 
genus Cobitis according to the presence or absence of suborbitar spines, retain- 
ing the term Coditis for the spineless, and each proposing a separate name for 
the spined Loaches. I have already observed, that I have sought in vain for 
other characters that might justify a division so simple and obvious; the result 
is, that I find it quite untenable, since it separates species otherwise most in- 
timately allied to each other; while, on the contrary, it brings the most 
opposite forms together. No two species bear a more marked impress of one 
common genus than Cobitis oculata, t. 51, f. 1, and Cob. pavonacea, t. 52, f. 1., 
yet the one has suborbitar spines, and the other is without them. No two 
species look less likely to be members of the same natural group than Cobitis 
dario, Buch. P. G. t. 29, f. 95, and Cob. cinnamomea, t. 51, f. 5; yet both 
have suborbitar spines— both would belong to M. Agassiz’s genus Acan- 
thopsis, to Mr. Gray’s genus Botia, and to Mr. Swainson’s Canthophrys, which 
are all names for the same thing. 
alluded to, it is reasonable to suppose that this newly detected relation between Szluredee and Cobz- 
tine will be received as confirmation of Mr. Swainson’s view, which may be further supported by 
the form of the air-vessel in those Loaches in which it is membranous, and placed in the abdomen, 
as Cobitis dario, Buch.; for neither in that species, nor in any of the Sélwridce which I have ex- 
amined, is it divided by a stricture as in Cyprinidee, 
But notwithstanding the relations here pointed out between the Loaches and Szluride, 
the bones of the shoulder, the bones of the head, and the spines, and covering of the body in the 
two groups, seem to prove that the relations between them are those of analogy, while the ab- 
sence of teeth, the presence of scales and soft fins, indicate an affinity of the Loaches to the Cyprins, 
which has induced nearly all authorities on the subject since the time of Artedi to place them conti- 
guous to each other, until Cuvier at length comprised them under one common family. 
