1876.] MR. F. DAY ON THE FISHES OF YARKAND. 805 



been captured on the hill-ranges of India ; and their distribution 

 somewhat accords with that of Exostoma. 



1. Silurus cochinchinensis, Cuv. & Val. = Silurichlhys berdmorei, 

 Blyth, and (2) Silurus wynaadensis, Day. These fishes, found in hills 

 up to about 2500 feet, have been obtained in the western ghauts, 

 Akyab hills, Tenasserim, and Cochin China. They would appear to 

 be restricted to those mountains which are not far removed from the 

 sea-coast. How it is that several species of fishes are common to 

 Malabar and Siam, or the countries contiguous to it, whilst they are 

 entirely absent from the intermediate districts of India, is a question 

 which I do not propose entering upon. 



3. S. dukai, Day, is from Darjeeling. 



Cyprinidae form the entire collection of the Yarkand Mission, after 

 its arrival beyond the head-waters of the Indus. If we examine the 

 members of this family found on the Himalayas in the same manner 

 as we have the Siluroids, we find as follows: — Discoynathus, so re- 

 cognizable by the sucker on the lower lip, is found some distance 

 up the mountains, but is rare above 5000 feet. Oreinus*, with its 

 small scales, broad mouth, and likewise a sucker behind the lower 

 jaw, becomes more and more common the higher we ascend. The 

 expedition obtained one species at Leh or Ladak, the head-waters of 

 the Indus ; and it has been found as a genus extending from 

 Afghanistan along the Himalayan range, and near Bhamo by the 

 last Yunnan Mission, or the same district as the Siluroid genera Exo- 

 stoma and Silurus. It appears to essentially prefer the sides of 

 hills and impetuous torrents. 



Some of the stronger Labeos, Barbels (Barbus), and a Bar Hi us 

 are found here and there on the slopes and in the side streams of the 

 Himalayas up to very considerable heights. They, however, are of 

 Indian forms which, if able to do so, appear to migrate during the 

 breeding-season to the mountains to deposit their ova in the side 

 streams which are unreplenished by snow-water. Here the fry are 

 often compelled to remain until the succeeding year's rains swell the 

 waters, washing food into their retreats to enable them to grow, or 

 else to permit them to descend to the plains. 



Once near the summit of these mountains, and beyond districts 

 where adhesive suckers are a necessity for moderate-sized fishes to 

 possess to prevent their being washed away, we come upon genera 

 as rare in the plains of India as are the Indian forms at the summit 

 of the Himalayas. 



Cashmere is a locality traversed by this Mission, a hilly Himalayan 

 district, and one which it is necessary to refer to. In Hiigel and 

 Heckel's ' Fische aus Kaschmir" we find the following species 

 recorded : — 



Oreinus plagiostomus, Heck el ; O. sinuatus, Heck. ; Schizothorax 

 curvifrons, Heck. ; S. louyipinnis, Heck. ; S. niyer, Heck. ; S. na- 

 sus, Heck. ; S. huegelii, Heck. ; S. micropoyon, Heck. ; S. planifrons, 

 Heck.; S. esocinus, Heck. ; Cirrhina yohama, Ham. Bucb.; Barbus 



* This belongs to a group characterized, amongst other things, by a row of 

 tiled scales along the base of the anal tin, and enclosing the excretory outlets. 

 Pkoc. Zool. Soc— 1876, No. LIII. 53 



