50 Mr. C. K. Narayan Rao on 



1890. Discognathus lamta, Vinciguerra, Ann. Mus. Genova, (2) ix. 



pp. 275-279. 

 1909. Discoynathus lamta, Jenkins, Rec. Ind. Mus. iii. p. 290. 

 1913. Discoynathus lamta, Annandale, Journ. & Proc. As. Soc. Bengal, 



(n. s.) ix. p. 36. 

 1919. Discoynathus lamta, id. Rec. Ind. Mus. vol. xvi. p. 131. 

 1919. Discoynathus kanyrce, Prashad, Rec. Ind. Mus. vol. xvi. p. 163. 



This is perhaps the commonest species of Garra in the 

 tanks and rivers of Mysore and Coorg, and also the one 

 which exhibits extremes of individual variability. The 

 mental disk, the dorsal, pectoral, and caudal fins, and eyes 

 are chiefly affected by the modifying influences like still 

 water or rapid torrents, shallow rock pools, or deep cavernous 

 pits in the beds of rivers. This circumstance, together 

 with the variability of scales and perhaps want of fresh or 

 well-preserved specimens from widely different localities, 

 must largely account for the differences of opinion regarding 

 lamta. Dr. Annandale* writes: "I give Day and not 

 Buchanan as the author of the former (D. lamta), because 

 it is impossible to be sure as to the species to which 

 Buchanan first applied the name Cyprinus lamta. 3 '' And 

 again he writes : " But there is some doubt as to whether 

 Buchanan's Cyprinus lamta was not rather the form called 

 D. modestus by Day and Platycara nasuta by McClelland"*. 



There can be no doubt as to the indications which 

 Buchanan has left behind him in regard to what he meant 

 by lamta. In his manuscript drawings there is figure of 

 lamta, though the name written by Buchanan, in his own 

 handwriting, is Cyprinus godiyari. In his notes on Bhagalpur 

 District, published in vol. xx. of the Statistical Account of 

 Bengal, he refers to this C. godiyari, and further in his 

 notes on Gorakpur District (p. 105) he mentions that 

 the C. godiyari of Bhagalpur is the same as C. lamta of 

 Gorakpur. 



Accordingly, there can be no doubt whatsoever as to what 

 Buchanan's C. lamta is, as described in his ' Fishes of the 

 Ganges' (1822). It may be further stated that the MSS. 

 drawing referred to is the protograph f, and having com- 

 pared the descriptions of Buchanan and of Day, with the 

 help of the material in the Indian Museum and in my own 

 collection, I arrive at the conclusion that the lamta of Day 

 is identical with the lamta of Buchanan. 



* 1919. Rec. Ind. Mus. vol. xvi. pp. 130, 131. 



t I am indebted to Dr. B. L. Chaudhuri for this information. In an 

 addendum to his paper " On the Fish of the Genus Discoynathus " (Rec. 

 Ind. Mus. vol. xviii. p. 77, 1919) Dr. Annandale briefly discusses the 

 same point, and acknowledges information to the same authority. 



