Cobitine. INDIAN CYPRINID&. 445 
A comparison of the Schisture as they appear plate 53, with the 
Loaches which immediately precede them, plate 52, will show that the 
latter present little resemblance to the typical forms of the great family to 
which they belong; indeed fig. 7, t. 52. is perhaps the only one on the 
plate that seems to indicate any resemblance whatever to the ordinary forms 
of Cyprins. 
In the succeeding plate 53, we do see a somewhat nearer approach to the 
general forms of Cyprinide ; figs. 8 and 9, plate 61, which in their direct 
affinities follow those species, represented plate 53, present a still closer re- 
lation to the Cirrhins, nor is this a mere resemblance of outer form, for in 
Cobitis and Schistura the natatory vessel is absent, or enclosed in a bony case 
which is situated over the throat. But that vessel is again restored to the 
genus in the two species represented plate 61, thus perfectly obliterating the 
interval by which the Schisture at one extremity of the family are removed 
from the Cirrhins at the other, and causing the two ends to meet, according 
to the law of natural affinities pointed out by Mr. W. 8. Macleay. 
DESCRIPTION OF PLATES LILY, LX, LX. 
The important use that has been made of the structure of scales of 
fishes by M. Agassiz, not only in the classification of fishes, but for objects 
of equal interest in another branch of science, must in future render any 
descriptions of fishes in which figures of the scales are omitted very in- 
complete. M. Agassiz in the prospectus of his fortheoming work on the 
natural history of the fresh water fishes of Europe observes, “Comme j’ at- 
tache la plus grande importance aux caractéres tirés de la forme des écailles, je 
nai point négligé d’en figurer trois pour chaque espéce, savoir, une de la ligne 
latérale, une de la région dorsale et une troisieme de la région abdominale.” 
3.N 
