MISGURNTJS FOSS1L1S. 245 



GROUP : COBITIDINA. 

 GENUS : Misgurnus (LACEPEDE). 



The genus Misgurnus belongs to the fourteenth, or last, great group of Dr. 

 Giinther's arrangement of Cyprinoid fishes. This group is named COBITIDINA. 

 Three of the genera, Misgurnus, Nemachilus, and Cobitis, are represented in 

 Europe, while the remaining genera are from the East Indies, China, Japan, 

 and the Malayan Archipelago. All these types agree in having the mouth 

 surrounded by six or more barbels ; the air-bladder is partly or entirely con- 

 tained in a bony capsule ; the pharyngeal teeth are in a single series ; the 

 dorsal and anal fins are short ; and the scales may be small, rudimentary, 

 or entirely absent. 



In the group thus defined, Misgurnus is distinguished by an elongated 

 compressed form of body. It has ten or twelve barbels, of which four belong 

 to the mandible. The caudal fin is rounded ; the dorsal is opposite the ventral. 

 The air-bladder is enclosed in a bony capsule. The species tff -the genus 

 are curiously distributed, in being absent from Western Asia. . The species 

 Misgurnus fossilis is found only in Europe. One species occurs in Bengal, while 

 the others are limited to China and Japan. 



Misgurnus fossilis ( 



D. 9, A. 8, V. 7, P. 911, C. 16. 



This fish, often known as the Pond Loach in France, and Schlampitzger or 

 Bissgurre in Germany, has a very elongated body, with small head, and a 

 mouth surrounded by ten barbels, of which four belong to the mandible. 

 The caudal fin is rounded, and the body ornamented with blackish-brown 

 longitudinal bands, which may be replaced by a yellow band (Fig. 140). 



The body deepens with age, so that while in the adult the height is equal 

 to the length of the head, it is less than the head length in the young. The 

 total length of the fish is between seven and a half and eight and a half 

 times the length of the head. The thickness of the head is equal to half 

 its length, and its height is the same as that of the tail behind the anal 

 fin. The body has a sub-cylindrical aspect, its thickness being two-thirds of 

 the height. The mouth is small, and rather inferior, the small blunt lower 



