PRESIDENTS ADDRESS. 1X111. 



represented in the fresh waters of the Old and New World 

 Barbus, the Barbel, of which there are 160 species now living in 

 Europe, Asia, and America. B. vulgar is is abundant in the 

 Thames, from Putney upwards. B. steinheimensis is found fossil 

 in the fresh-water calcareous Miocene Beds of Wurtemburg, and 

 B. megacephalus in the Miocene Beds of Padang, Sumatra. 

 Cyprinus, the Carp Family came originally from China ; 

 and is now distributed throughout Europe. The fecundity of the 

 Carp is enormous ; their numbers would soon become excessive 

 were it not for the many enemies, which feed upon their spawn. 

 No less than 70,000 eggs have been found in the ovary of a single 

 individual. C. auraius is also a native of China. It is 

 distinguished by the golden colour of the membrane lying 

 immediately beneath the scales. In this country they are 

 naturalised and breed freely in open waters. Gobio fluviatilis, 

 Willoughby (Cyprinus gobio, Lin), the Common Gudgeon ; 

 Leuciscus rutilus, the Roach ; Z. vulgaris, the Dace ; Z. cephalus, 

 the Chub ; Z. alburnus, the Bleak ; Z. phoxinus, the Minnow ; 

 Abramis drama, the Bream ; Colitis barbatula, the Loach ; all 

 belong to the Family Cyprinidae. To the Esocidae, the Pike, 

 Esox lucius, belongs. It includes one genus only, and inhabits 

 the fresh-waters of the temperate parts of Europe, Asia, and 

 America. Fossil Pike have been found in the Miocene Beds 

 of Oeningen and several other places. The remains of the 

 Common Pike, with an extinct species E. Ottoi, Ag., are largely 

 distributed in the Quaternary Beds. 



The Eel tribe, Muraenidae, is spread over almost all the fresh- 

 waters and seas of the temperate and tropical regions. 

 Nemichthys, a deep-sea form, living at depths from 500 to 2,600 

 fathoms, is found only in the Atlantic ; the Conger-eel, Conger 

 conger, is almost cosmopolitan, and plentiful in every European 

 sea. Three other species are known, of which C. marginatus 

 lives in the Indian Ocean. Gymnotns, the Electric Eel, is the 

 most powerful of electric Fishes, growing to a length of six feet ; 

 it is abundant in Brazil and the Guianas. The whole electric 

 apparatus which supply Gymnotus and Torpedo consists of 200 



