THE AROWANA OP GUIANA. 205 



tail ; the dorsal fin placed very far behind, being 

 only separated from it by a very short space, so 

 much so that Swainson has hazarded a conjecture 

 that " it is not really in nature." The drawing 

 made by Mr. Schomburgk we consider to be that of 

 a new and undescribed species ; but before noticing 

 it, we add the generic characters : — 



" Caput parvum, compressum, oranino nudiun. Ossa infra 

 orbitalia buccas omnino obtegentia, Oculi ad rostri apicem. 

 Os amplissimum, dentibus in maxillis, in vomere, in palato et 

 in lingua annatum. Ad sjTnphysiu ossium mandibularium 

 cirrhi duo. Corpus compressissimum, squamis maxiniis tec- 

 tum ; abdomen carinatum. Pinna dorsalis et analis latissima, 

 keac cum caudcUi conjuncta.'''' * 



THE AROWANA OF GUIANA. 



Osteoglossum arotvatia. 



PLATE XII. 



Carib, Macusi, and L. Geral, Arowana. Schomh. Draw- 

 ings^ No. 16. 



So far as we can trace, from our notes and drawing, 

 the principal difference between this fish and that 

 figured by Spix consists in the variation of the fin- 

 rays, and in the anal fin being separated from the 

 tail, which is formed as in most other fishes with 

 graduated rays, and not as represented in Spix, a 

 * Italics should be omitted. 



