Distribution of Freshwater Fish in Ahjeria. 383 



Tell in this province, the peolop;ical variety in its mountains, 

 tlie abiUKlance ot' forests producing; shade and eouhiess on its 

 littoral, and, ahove all, bfcausc tlii' whole ot" the Saharan de- 

 pression with its htihrs is coniprist-d within its limits. 



The province of Al,i,^iers has only six si)eeies, of which four 

 are 8})ccial to it — Cristicrps (in/cntatus, Gasterosteus braclii/- 

 centrusy Atherina Rissoi, and Ci/prinodon iherus. 



In the province of Oran an equal number is found ; hut of 

 these only one, and that the common goldiish, does not occur 

 in the others. 



It now only remains to make a few remarks on the area 

 which these twenty-one Al^ijcrian species occupy elsewhere 

 in the world. 



Amongst those with an extensive geographical distribution, 

 l)esidcs the common eel, there is the Cristiccps, which inhabits 

 the ^lediterranean, the Atlantic, the Cape of Good Hope, and 

 extends as far as Australia ; the Miu/i/ aqiiio, which frequents 

 the coasts of Euro})e and Western Africa ; the Clupea jinta, 

 which is found in the Mediterranean, on the west coasts of 

 j-lurope, and in the Nile ; and the tw^o Gobies, common to the 

 Mediterranean and the North Atlantic Ocean. 



The Miifjil cephalus is caught on all the coasts of Africa. 



The lilcnnius vulgaris^ a jMediterraucan sca-fisli, is sold as 

 a freshwater one on the banks of the Italian lakes and at 

 Aix-lcs-]5ains. 



The Atherina Rissoi appears peculiar to the Mediterranean. 



The other species, wdiich do not exist out of fresh or brackish 

 water, have a less extended distribution ; nevertheless Cypri- 

 nodon calaritanus inhabits both the north of Africa and the 

 south of Europe. The Chromis nilotica extends from Algeria 

 to Mozambique ; and the C. Tristrami has been found also 

 in the kingdom of the Ashantees. 



The Ci/prinodon iherus, as its name indicates, is of Spanish 

 origin ; the Barhus callensis has been found in the Tagus ; 

 and the Gasterosteus hrachycentrus is an Italian species. 



It is commonly known that China is the home of the Caras- 

 sius auratus. 



Algeria possesses five species peculiar to itself: — the Salmo 

 macrostitfmo, which loves the cool and limpid waters of the 

 Oued Z'hour and its affluents, which How over beds of granite 

 and gneiss, through shady cool forests (this is the most 

 southern species of all the Salmon family) ; the Tellia apoda, 

 Avhich has no knowni habitat save the spring of Bou-Merzook, 

 from which it never strays more than half a mile ; the Leu- 

 ciscus callensis, which peo})les all the lakes and springs, both 



