i ht new Cyprinoid Fishes from Mysore. 45 



II. — Some new Species of Cyprinoid Fish from Mysore. 

 By C. R. Narayan Rao, M.A., University of Mysore, 

 Bangalore. 



[Plates I. & II.] 



The material described in this paper was collected from the 

 Cauvery in Seringapatam, the Thunga in Shimoga, and 

 from the local tanks, chiefly during the summer recess of 

 1917-18. In the course of a visit paid to the northern 

 and south-western parts of Coorg in the colder months of 

 the latter year, a very large number of examples was 

 procured from several interesting sources. Through the 

 courtesy of Dr. N. Annandale, to whom my thanks are due, 

 I was enabled to examine the collections, at present avail- 

 able, of Garra, Botia, and Nemachilichthy s belonging to the 

 Zoological Survey of India in the Indian Museum. To 

 that distinguished ichthyologist, Dr. B. L. Chaudhuri, I am 

 deeply indebted for the numerous acts of help, which I have 

 received from him. 



Before proceeding to describe my examples, which belong 

 to the three genera Garra, Botia, and Nemachilichthys, I 

 propose to add a brief discussion regarding the use of the 

 term Garra in preference to Discognathus. In his pre- 

 liminary publication on 'The Genera of Fishes'*, Jordan 

 proposes the revival of the old (generic) name of Garra f, 

 originally applied by Hamilton Buchanan to that group of 

 Cyprinine Fishes still included by some authors under 

 Hackle's denomination of Discognathus. On resumption 

 of its labours, the International Congress of Zoology is 

 bound to discuss the whole question of ichthyological 

 taxonomy, and it is more than probable that Jordan's 

 recommendations, which are based on recent use by nume- 

 rous writers, will be upheld. In view of the vicissitudes to 

 which the generic and specific terms are frequently subjected 

 by systematic writers, it is very desirable that some sort 

 of stability be secured for the zoological nomenclature, as 

 otherwise there is bound to be a great deal of confusion to 

 the future investigators. There can be little doubt that 

 Hamilton Buchanan employed the term Cyprinus J in a 

 broad sense comprising a very large number of fish, though 



* 1917. Jordan, 'The Genera of Fishes' (Stanford University, Cali- 

 fornia), p. 116. 



t 1822. Hamilton Buchanan, Fish. Ganges, pp. 348, 393. 

 | 1822. Id. op. cit. p. 25(3. 



