August 24, 1905] 



NA TURE 



421 



Palestine. Nearly all the fishes are Cyprinids, mostly of 

 the genus Barbus, which bear close affinity to Syrian types, 

 as does also the recently discovered Loach (Nemachilus 

 abyssiiiiciis), so far the only known African representative 

 of that Europso-Asiatic group. The single species of the 

 Cyprinid genus Varicorhinus is also suggestive of South- 

 western Asia, although a second African species inhabits 

 Lake Tanganyika, and a third has lately been discovered 

 in Morocco. Another Cyprinid genus, Discognathus, which 

 is widely distributed over Southern Asia, from Syria and 

 Aden to Burma, is represented by two species, whilst others 

 are known from Abyssinia and East Africa (Gallaland, 

 Kenya, and Kilimandjaro districts), and one each from 

 the Nile and f^ake Victoria. A remarkable negative 

 feature is the absence, as in Syria, of Labeo, a genus 

 abundantly represented in the Nile, Senegal, Niger, Congo, 

 and Zamljesi, and India, and more scantily in East and 

 South Africa. It is a suggestive fact, tending to show 

 that, somehow or other. Lake Tsana has only compara- 

 tively lately been in communication with the Nile, that 

 the Varicorhinus and several of the Barbus are common 

 to this lake and to some of the rivers of the eastern 

 watershed ; whilst not one of the Cyprinids occurs also 

 in the Nile. The main stream of the Blue Nile has only 

 been explored up to Rosaires, but the fishes obtained in 

 that part of the river do not in any way differ from those 

 of the Upper Nile. 



The chief character of the rivers east of the Rift Valley 

 is, as already stated, the number of species of Barbus. 

 The Cyprinids are further represented by a few Labeo and 

 Discognathus, by a Neobola, and by the only African re- 

 presentative of the Indo-Malay genus Rasbora. The 

 Mormyrids are represented by six species only. The few 

 Characinids belong to the genus Alestes and to its near 

 allies Micralestes and Petersius. Of the twenty Silurids, 

 some are widely distributed species, others are common to 

 the Nile or to the Zambesi, whilst among the species with 

 a restricted habitat we note a Physailia, two Bagrus, two 

 Ainphilius, a Synodontis, and two Chiloglanis — altogether 

 a poor series as compared with other districts of Tropical 

 Africa — and not a single autochthonous genus. A species 

 of the remarkable genus Kneria, a few Cyprinodontids, 

 and a few Cichlids of the genus Tilapia complete what 

 is for a district of that extent, well watered and within 

 the tropics, a very meagre list. 



I\'. The Southern Sub-region. 



.\frica south of the Zambesi system has a poor fresh- 

 water fish-fauna, but this is easily accounted for by the 

 intermittent character of most of its rivers. The list I 

 have drawn up from available data includes only fifty 

 species, seven of which are partly marine. When discuss- 

 ing the distribution of the South African fresh-water fishes 

 eight years ago Prof. Max Weber compiled a list of sixty- 

 four species ; but this included a number of truly marine 

 forms, occurring only in estuaries, besides a few of very 

 doubtful determination, which I am obliged to leave out. 

 The majority of the exclusively fresh-water fishes are 

 Cyprinids, viz. seventeen Barbus and three Labeo. 

 Characinids are represented by the widely distributed 

 Hydrocyon lineatus, which occurs in the Limpopo, and 

 the newly discovered Alestes natalensis. from near Durban. 

 Three Clarias, an Eutropius, a Gephyroglanis, and a 

 Galeichthys, the latter semi-marine, represent the Silurids. 

 The two Galaxias, as distinguished by Castelnau, the 

 most remarkable type of the South African fish-fauna, 

 and the two Anabas, are confined to the south-western 

 district of Cape Colony. A Cyprinodontid of the genus 

 Fundulus has been described from False Bay. Four Gobies 

 and five Cichlids of the genera Hemichromis, Paratilapia, 

 and Tilapia complete the list. 



Poor as it is in fishes, the south-western district — the 

 Erica or Protea district of Max Weber — derives a special 

 character from the presence of the genera Galaxias and 

 Anabas. The western district is also poor, and has only 

 representatives of three families : Cyprinids, Silurids, and 

 Cichlids ; whilst the eastern district, from the Limpopo 

 system and the tributaries of the Orange River to Natal, 

 is the richest, two families, Characinids and Gobiids, 

 being represented, in addition to the three above named. 

 The recent discovery in the Vaal River of a Gephyroglanis, 



NO. 1869, VOL. 72] 



a Silurid genus otherwise known only from the Congo and 

 Ogow^, deserves notice. 



Whether the subterranean reservoirs of the Kalahari 

 are inhabited by fishes, as is the case in the Northern 

 Sahara, is still unknown. 



Excepting such forms as are believed to have been 

 directly derived from marine types, there is every reason 

 to regard the piscine inhabitants of the fresh waters of 

 .South Africa as comparatively recent immigrants from the 

 North. 



V. Madagascar. 



It is extremely remarkable that this great island, which 

 in most groups of animals shows so many striking 

 features, should in its fish-fauna be one of the most in- 

 significant districts in the whole world. For, if we exclude 

 the numerous Grey Mullets and Gobies, and a few Perches 

 of the genera Kuhlia and Ambassis, which live partly in 

 the sea, and probably mostly breed in salt water, the 

 truly fresh-water fish-fauna is reduced to sixteen species — 

 viz., two Silurids, two Cyprinodontids, one Atherinid, four 

 Cichlids, and seven Gobiids, the latter, no doubt, recent 

 immigrants from the sea. The Silurids belong to two 

 distinct genera, Lasmonema, allied to the African 

 Chrysichthys, first discovered in Mauritius, and Ancharius, 

 allied to the marine or semi-marine Arius, and, perhaps, 

 also entering the sea. Of the four Cichlids two belong to 

 a very distinct autochthonous genus, Paretroplus, whilst 

 the two others arc respectively referred to the .\frican 

 genera Tilapia and Paratilapia. The two Cyprinodontids 

 belong to the widely distributed genus Haplochiius. 



In concluding this sketch, whilst looking back with 

 i satisfaction upon the rapid progress which African ichthy- 

 j ology has lately made, and expressing our gratitude to 

 the Governments, institutions, and collectors to whom we 

 owe this progress, we cannot abstain from pointing out 

 how much remains to be done. All the great lakes are 

 insufficiently explored, and Bangweolo has never been fished 

 for scientific purposes, whilst within the limits of this 

 colony an extensive collection from the Upper Zambesi 

 is still a desideratum, and Lake Ngami is drying up with- 

 out any of its fishes having been secured for study. The 

 fishes of the Congo above Stanley Falls, and of many of 

 its northern and all of its southern tributaries, are still 

 unknown. But it is gratifying to observe the ever-grow- 

 ing interest in this hitherto somewhat neglected branch of 

 zoology, and I may express the hope that the next decade 

 will be productive of even greater results than have been 

 achieved within the last. 



NOTES. 

 We regret to see the announcement of the death of Prof. 

 Jules Oppert, professor of Assyrian philology and 

 archzEology at the College de France, renowned for his 

 contributions to astronomical chronology and his works 

 on Chaldea and Assyria. 



The Berlin correspondent of the Times announces the 

 death, at seventy-six years of age, of Prof. Franz 

 Reuleaux, who, as author of a number of engineering 

 works and director of the Berlin Industrial Institute, 

 rendered good service to the development of practical 

 and scientific engineering in Germany. 



New Orleans has been suffering from a serious out- 

 break of yellow fever, but there are now signs that the 

 health authorities are getting the disease well in hand. 

 Up to the end of last week, that is, a period of about 

 four weeks, more than looo cases and 171 deaths had 

 been recorded. It is believed that the fever was intro- 

 duced into the city through fruit vessels arriving between 

 June I and June 15 from Central America. All patients 

 have been screened from mosquitoes, and there must new 

 be little danger of infection from them. 



The returns of births and deaths recently issued by the 

 Registrar-General, while in some respects satisfactory, in 

 one are of a disquieting nature. This is with reference to 



