A Notice of Indian Cyprinidm. 95 



The genus Perilampus, from nsgdaimo)^ to irradiate, or shine 

 brilliantly, is thus distinguished. " Head small, obliquely raised 

 above the axis of the body ; dorsal placed opposite to a larger 

 anal ; apices of the jaws raised to a line with the dorsum, which 

 is straight ; the ventral margin is much arched ; sides usually 

 streaked with blue ; fins without spinous rays. Obs. In this 

 genus the intestine is small, and very little longer than the body. 

 The species all subsist exclusively on insects, which they seize 

 by leaping above the surface. They vary from two to four 

 inches in length." 



The third genus of our author, is Opsarius, from oipa^wv , pisci- 

 cuius, a small fish ; its characters are thus defined. " Mouth 

 widely cleft ; body slender, and usually marked with transverse 

 green streaks or spots ; dorsal small without spines, and placed 

 behind the middle, and long, lower margin of the body more arch- 

 ed than the upper. Obs. Intestine very short, and extends al- 

 most straight from the stomach to the vent." 



In the genera of this subfamily, the mouth is situated directly 

 opposite to the position it had in the former. They are all insec- 

 tivorous — the Opsarions, which also devour smaller species of 

 fishes, particularly gudgeons, are so voracious, that " it is no un- 

 common thing to find an Opsarion so overgorged that the tail of its 

 prey remains protruding from the mouth, to be swallowed after 

 that portion which is capable of being received into the capacious 

 stomach is sufficiently digested to admit of the introduction of 

 the remainder." Another striking distinction between the indi- 

 viduals of these two subfamilies, is pointed out to us in their 

 colors. " The whole of the subfamily PceonomincB are remark- 

 able for their uniformly plain colors, consisting of olive green, 

 bluish gray, or brown, extended along the back, and softened oft" 

 on the sides so as to leave the lower surface of the body an im- 

 pure white, partaking more or less of the colors of the back." 

 " Of the species, not one possesses a brilliant spot of any pure 

 color." But as we leave the herbivorous group and enter the 

 carnivorous, we find numerous bright, dark spots, and the oper- 

 cula and fins to be stained with yellow and red, in deep and natu- 

 ral tints ; and the more carnivorous the genera the more remark- 

 able is the brilliancy of their colors. 



The third subfamily, is called Apalopteriiim, from unukog, soft, 

 and meoov, a fin or wing. It "consists of those genera, the spe- 



