Dr. A. Giinther on Two new Species of Fishes. 397 



LVII. — Description of Two new Species of Fishes 

 (Mastacembelus and Barbus). By Dr. A. Gunther. 



Mastacembelus shiranus. 

 D. 27 or 29 | 66. A. 2/68. C. 14. 



Trunk and tail compressed, of moderate length, its greatest 

 depth being three fifths of the length of the head. Length 

 of the head without appendage about one third of its distance 

 from the vent. Tail equal in length to the rest of the body. 

 Rostral appendage a little longer than the eye, which is 

 small. Praeoperculum without spines. Dorsal spines short, 

 the distance of the foremost from the operculum being- 

 sea rcely half of the length of the head. 



Greyish olive, finely marbled and reticulated with brown j 

 a black longitudinal band on the side of the head, through 

 the eye, another similar band along the middle of the crown 

 of the head. 



Two specimens, of which the larger is 10 inches long, 

 were sent by Mr. H. H. Johnston, from the Upper Shire 

 River, to the Natural History Museum. 



The genus Mastacembelus, and probably this species, 

 occurs also in the Victoria Nyanza ; at least, I am unable to 

 discover distinctive characters in a specimen 6£ in. long- 

 found by Mr. E. J. Baxter in that Lake. So far as I can 

 make out from its somewhat desiccated condition, the fin- 

 formula would be :— D. 30 | 60. A. 2/60. 



In my description of Mastacembelus tanganicce Prroc. Zool. 

 Soc. 1893, p. 629) the length of the tail should have been 

 described as being but little more than two fifths of the total 

 length. 



Barbus faoensis. 

 D. 11. A. 8. L. lat. 28. L. transv. f . 



Osseous dorsal ray strong, not denticulated ; two and a 

 half series of longitudinal scales between the lateral line and 

 the root of the ventral. Body oblong, compressed, its height 

 being contained thrice and one fourth in the length (without 

 caudal), the length of the head four times. Eye rather 

 small, two fifths of the width of the interorbital space and 

 one half of the length of the snout. Mouth anterior, without 

 barbels. The dorsal tin is scarcely half as high as the body, 

 its origin being opposite to that of the ventral and midway 

 between the root of the caudal and the eye. Caudal fin 

 deeply forked. The pectoral fin terminates a long way from 

 the ventral. 



Coloration uniform. 



One specimen from Fao (Persian Gulf), 16 inches long, 

 is in the Natural History Museum. 



