18/1.] ON THE FRESHWATER SILUROIDS OF INDIA. 703 



Gurney, jun., F.Z.S. Professor Newton remarked that though the 

 present specimen was certainly adult, it did not bear out the obser- 

 vation of Professor Alphonse Milne- Edwards (Annales des Sc. Nat. 

 Zool. ser. 5, vol. viii. p. 285) as to the larger size of the Pelican of 

 the English Fens when compared with extant species, and exhibited 

 in proof of this remark a humerus of a Pelican sent from Kustendji 

 by Dr. Cullen, and believed to belong to Pelecanus crispus, as well 

 as the humerus of the Fen- Pelican which had been shown to the 

 Society on a former occasion (P. Z. S. 1868, p. 2), and which had 

 been the subject of Professor Milne-Edwards' s description. 



The following papers were read : — 



1. On the Freshwater Siluroids of India and Burmah. By 

 Surgeon Francis Day, F.Z.S. & F.L.S., Inspector- 

 General of Fisheries of British India. 



[Received November 6, 1871.] 



Having during the last few months been engaged in inspecting the 

 fisheries of the Ganges, Jumna, and some of the tributaries of the 

 Indus, I have drawn up the following sketch of the family Silurides 

 as existing there, as well as of its ramifications towards the Malay 

 archipelago. I have also received specimens of Olyra and Ahysis 

 collected by Mr. Kurtz from the hilly regions of Pegu, as well as 

 two small but very interesting collections from Mr. Mundali from 

 below Darjeeling, and a new form of Hara from a stream between 

 Purneah and the Garrow hills. 



I propose first to make remarks on species with reference to un- 

 described ones, corrections of identification, and the character of the 

 air-vessel, with observations on the range of the genus ; secondly, on 

 their classification ; and lastly, on their geographical distribution. 



Akysis kurzii, sp. nov. 



D.-||o. P.f V. 6. A. 11. C. 17. 



Length of head nearly \, of caudal -§, height of body \, of dorsal 

 fin jr of the total length. 



Eyes subcutaneous, situated at the commencement of the anterior 

 two fifths of the head. 



Lower jaw somewhat the longest, mouth terminal ; nostrils some 

 distance apart, with a barbel between them belonging to the poste- 

 rior one. Barbels eight, slightly dilated at their bases, the maxillary 

 extending to beyond the end of the pectoral fin, the external mandi- 

 bular to opposite its middle, whilst the internal is as long as the 

 head, as is also the nasal. Gill-openings wide, not confluent with 

 the skin of the isthmus, and extending to opposite the middle of the 

 opercle. Free portion of tail longer than high. 



Teeth in a wide villiform band, none on the palate. 



Fins. Dorsal situated entirely in advance of the ventrals, spine 



Proc. Zool. Soc— 1871, No. XLV. 



