INDIAN AND AFRICAN FRESHWATER FISH-rATJNAS. 311 



occasionally ascends in pursuit of prey*. In the ' Catalogue of 

 Eislies of the British Museum,' it is observed that it is found at 

 tlie " mouths of large Indian rivers" (vol. i. p. 67), and eyen in 

 the ' Introduction ' (p. 377), that it is the " Perch of the Granges 

 and other East-Indian rivers, which enters freely brackish waters," 

 Hamilton Buchanan (Fishes of the Ganges, p. 87) remarks that 

 " the Vacti abounds in all the mouths of the Ganges, which it 

 ascends as far as the tides, and follows this into marshes, ditches, 

 and ponds ; but those found in salt water are of by far the best 

 quality." Bleeker, in his ' Fishes of Bengal,' gives as its habitat 

 " Ostia Gangetica, Coromandelia." Cantor, in his ' Malayan 

 Fishes' (p. 2), observes that it is found in the "Bay of Bengal, 

 estuaries of the Ganges, Indian Ocean," &c. This genus must 

 be erased from among those composing a portion of the fresh- 

 water fish-fauna of India. 



Genus Amhassis. — Dr. Glinther does not include this genus 

 (which is absent from Africa) as among the Indian freshwater 

 forms. In his ' Catalogue ' (p. 222), he gives as its geographical 

 distribution, " small fishes living in the fresh and brackish waters 

 and in the seas of the Indian region," &c. ; and in his ' Intro- 

 duction ' (p. 394) that " they are most abundant on the coasts of 

 the Tropical Indo-Pacifie and in the freshwaters belonging to 

 that area." Hamilton Buchanan observes of Chandaf nalua 

 (p. 108), that it is " found in the freshwater rivers of Lower 

 Bengal;" of O. nama, that it "is common in ponds throughout 

 Bengal" (p. 109) ; of O. pJiuIa, that it "is found in the ponds 

 and rivers of the north-eastern parts of Bengal " (p. Ill) ; of 

 O. lagoda, that it " is also found in the north-eastern parts of 

 Bengal" (p. Ill) ; C. haculis in the same locality (p. 112); O. 

 ranga " is found in the fresh waters of all the Gangetic provinces " 

 (p. 113); and C. lata "is found along with the last described" 

 (p. 114). Bleeker, for different Indian species, gives Dekkan 

 Bengalis, Loodinah, and Jihlum Glum. Sykes, in his " Fishes of 

 the Dukhun" (Trans. Zool. Soc. ii. 1841), gives Amhassis Barlovi 

 as a species " found in the Beema river at Pairgaon " (p. 350). 

 From the foregoing one would imagine that (leaving my obser- 

 vations out of the question) the evidence of every author who 



* It is unnecessary to observe upon how many sea-fishes, as the European 

 Bass &c., may be acclimatized to freshwater when they are unable to obtain 

 access to the ocean 

 t This genus is identical with Amhassis, 0. & V . 



