228 Iteptiles and Fishes from theUp'per Yangtsze-Kiang . 



head five times and a third. Head very small, strongly com- 

 pressed, with the cleft of the mouth obliquely ascending 

 upwards and with the jaws equal in front when the mouth is 

 shut. The eye is large, placed in the middle of the depth of 

 the head, one fourth of the length of the head and rather 

 shorter than the snout. Suborbitals narrow. The maxillary 

 does not extend to the vertical from the front margin of the 

 eye. Pectoral fin of moderate length, as long as the head, 

 terminating at a great distance from the ventral fin. The 

 root of the ventral is nearly midway between the extremity 

 of the snout and the root of the caudal fin. The small dorsal 

 fin is inserted nearer to the origin of the anal than to the root 

 of the ventral. The lateral line is abruptly bent downwards 

 in about the twelfth or thirteenth scale, and reascends oppo- 

 site to the end of the anal fin ; the muciferous tubes of each 

 of the thirteen anterior scales emit a vertical branch at a right 

 angle. Coloration uniform bright silvery. 



Several speciraeus, 9^ inches long, were obtained by Mr. 

 Sty an at Kiu-Kiang. 



Colitis xanti^ Gthr. 



This species has a suborbital spine and ought to be removed 

 from the genus Nemacliiliis, to which I erroneously referred it. 



Botia variegata. 

 D. 11. A. 8. V. 9. 



Barbels six. The height of the body is one fifth of the 

 total length (without caudal), the length of the head two 

 sevenths ; snout elongate, but the small eye is much nearer 

 to the end of the snout than to that of the operculum. The 

 suborbital spine extends to below the hind margin of the 

 orbit. Interorbital space narrow, transversely convex, twice 

 as wide as the orbit. Origin of the dorsal fin midway be- 

 tween the root of the caudal and the orbit. Caudal fin 

 deeply forked. Body covered with minute but regularly 

 arranged scales. Ground-colour yellowish, the body orna- 

 mented with five black bands, which are irregular in shape 

 and may be broken up into large blotches ; all are continuous 

 across the back and the middle one corresponds in position to 

 the dorsal fin. All the fins variegated with black, the black 

 markings of the dorsal and anal fins sometimes confluent into 

 broad band-like spots. 



Two specimens of this fine gigantic species of loach were 

 sent by Mr. Pratt from Ichang. The larger measures 13 

 inches in length. 



