422 FISHES. ABDOMINALES. 



with a tinge of reddish on the fins ; head short, flat, rounded, 

 with a blunt spine on each side ; tail small, rounded, with several 

 black spots. 10 to 12 inches long. Inhabits S. American rivers, 

 tf/oc/^ pi. 377, fig- 1. 



This fish, it is said, is capable of crawling like an eel upon land. 



Gen. 67. MALAPTERURUS, Lacep. Silurus, Lin. 

 Head depressed and covered with smooth skin ; mouth termi- 

 nal ; six cirri at the jaws ; skin slimy ; one adipose dorsal 

 fin, near the tail. 



M. electricus, Cuv. Body cinereous, spotted with black ; two cirri 

 on the upper jaw, four below ; teeth small and arranged in a 

 crescent form. 20 inches long. Inhabits African rivers. Geoff. 

 Poiss. d'Egyp. pi. 12, fig. 1. 

 This animal possesses the faculty of giving electrical shocks like the Torpedo and 



Gymnotus. The seat of this faculty is in a particular tissue between the skin and 



muscles, which presents the appearance of fat cellular tissue abundantly provided 



with nerves. 



Gen. 68. PLATYSTACUS, Bloch. Jspredo, Lin. 

 Head flattened ; cirri six or eight ; bones of the operculum im- 

 moveable, and fixed to the chest ; first ray of the pectoral fins 

 large and strongly serrated ; one dorsal fin, with the first ray 

 weak ; anal fin very long, running under the whole tail ; tail 

 long and compressed. 



P. cotylephorus, Bloch. With six cirri, and numerous small aceta- 

 bular processes or suckers on the under surface of the body ; anal 

 fin very long, with fifty-six rays ; dorsal fin with the first ray 

 simple, the four others dichotomous. 1 foot long. Inhabits In- 

 dian seas and rivers. Shaw, v. pi. 98. 



P. Icevis, Bloch. With eight cirri, the four of the lower jaw in pairs, 

 the one behind the other; under surface of the body smooth. 

 Inhabits Indian seas. Shaw, v. 29. 



P. verrucosus, Bloch. Body brown, marked above by longitudinal 

 warted lines ; anal fin short ; tail short and rounded. Inhabits 

 South American seas. Bloch, pi. 373, fig. 3. 



Gen. 69- HYPOSTOMUS, Lacepede. Loricaria, Lin. 

 Body and tail covered with bony plates ; mouth below ; lips exten- 

 sible, with a small cirrus on each side ; two dorsal fins, the 

 second small, with a single ray ; no plates under the belly ; 

 branchial membrane with four rays. 



H. flavus. (L. flava, Shaw.) Body orange-yellow, spotted with 

 brown ; tail much forked, barred with several stripes of the same 

 colour ; head large, rough, with minute points ; first dorsal fin 

 large, with eight rays, the second with one. 10 inches long. In- 

 habits Indian seas. Shaw, v. pi. 101. 



Gen. 70. LORICARIA, Lacepede. 

 Body and tail covered entirely with hard angular plates ; mouth 



