May 5, 1899.] 



SCIENCE. 



&45 



Zoological Society, and was then forwarded 

 by him to Lord Cromer, to be submitted to 

 the Egj'ptiau government, with a strong 

 recommendation for its favorable consider- 

 ation from these eminent scientific men. 

 The Trustees of the British Museum further- 

 more gave the scheme their powerful and 

 influential support, and intimated their 

 willingness to assist in a practical manner 

 by undertaking to supply the necessary 

 collecting-boxes, with alcohol to fill them. 

 An essential feature of the scheme is that 

 the fishes collected are to be sent to London 

 to be studied and determined b^' Mr. Bou- 

 lenger, the ichthyologist on the stafi' of the 

 Museum, and the Trustees have, it is un- 

 derstood, agreed to give him every facility 

 for doing this, thus practically placing the 

 services of their ofiicer at the disposal of 

 the Egyptian government for the purpose 

 for the three j'cars which it is estimated will 

 be required to accomplish the survey. 



Our knowledge of the fishes of the Nile 

 appears to be very imperfect. It may be 

 said to have taken its origin in 1750, when 

 Hasselquist described thirteen species found 

 in the Deltaic area or iu its immediate prox- 

 imity. In 1847 sixty probably represented 

 the number of known species. In 1861-63 

 Petherick made, at Dr. Giinther's request, a 

 collection of fishes from the Nile for the 

 British Museum. The specimens were ob- 

 tained at Cairo, Khartum and Gondokoro, 

 and were described by Dr. Giinther in an 

 appendix to Petherick's ' Travels,' published 

 in 1889. The collection contained eighteen 

 new additions to the fauna, and raised the 

 number of known species to eighty-two. 

 Since 1869 the fishes of the Nile have been 

 almost completely neglected. At present 

 about ninety species are known to inhabit 

 the river, but this number, considering the 

 vast extent of its waterway and the very 

 diverse physical conditions which charac- 

 terize many parts of its course, cannot be 

 considered as at all approaching finality. 



The collections hitherto made from the 

 Nile have principally been obtained from 

 below the First Cataract; indeed, Eiippell 

 and Petherick are the only two collectors 

 who had opportunities to investigate the 

 river above Assuan. The former distin- 

 guished traveler and naturalist largely col- 

 lected in lower Egypt, and not a few of 

 Petherick's specimens wei-e from the same 

 region. In Dr. Giinther's account of this 

 collection only six species were distinctly 

 recorded as coming from Gondokoro, Khar- 

 tum and the White Nile, while thirteen, 

 besides the foregoing six, species were stated 

 to belong properly to the reach of the Nile 

 above the Sixth Cataract. Here it may be 

 observed that, while we possess a fragmen- 

 tary knowledge of the species from Khartu^m 

 southwards, the immense tract of the Nile 

 from the First to the Sixth Cataract re- 

 mains practically untouched. 



Morever, as within the next few years a 

 change will be effected in the distribution 

 of the Nile waters by the construction of 

 the controlling powers now in course of 

 erection at Philse and Assiut, and as other 

 similar structures or dams are likely to fol- 

 low towards the south, all of which are cer- 

 tain ultimately to limit more or less the 

 range of certain species of fishes, it is much 

 to be desired that, before any of these tri- 

 umphs of the Department of Irrigation have 

 been completed, we should be placed in 

 possession of the main features and present 

 condition of the piscine flora of the great 

 reaches of the river. 



The present time is also extremely oppor- 

 tune for the commencement of the proposed 

 investigation, since the authorities of the 

 Congo Free State have satisfactorily inau- 

 gurated a survey of the Congo. Mr. G. A. 

 Boulenger has been entrusted, with the 

 sanction of the Trustees of the British Mu- 

 seum, with the description of the fishes of 

 the Congo for the Congo Free State, and, as 

 his services will be at the disposal of the 



