278 F.Day — Monograph of Indian Cypvinidce. [No. 3, 



1. Carassius atjeattts. 



Cyprinus auratus, Linn., Sys. Nat., vol. i, p. 527 ; Bl. Schn., p. 439 ; Lacep, 

 vol. v, p. 553 ; Cuv. and Val., vol. xvi, p. 101 ; Richard. Ich. China, p. 293. 



Carassius auratus, Bleeker, Atl. Ich. Cyp., p. 74 : Giinther, Catal., vol. vii, 

 p. 32, (where see synom.) 



? ? Ctjprinus nuMa, Sykes, Trans. Zool. Soc, vol. ii, p. 355. 



B. Ill, D. j^j q ; P. 17 ; V. 9 ; A. 3/5 ; C. 19 ; L. 1. 27—29 ; 



L. tr. ~; Vert. 18/13. 



Length of head 2/9 : of caudal 2/11 : height of body 2/7 : of 

 dorsal spine 1/6 of the total length. 



Eyes. Diameter 1/4 of length of head : 1^ diameters from end 

 of snout : 2 diameters apart. 



Fins. Last undivided dorsal ray osseous and serrated. 

 Lateral line — complete, from 5^ to 6^ rows of scales between 

 it and the base of the ventral fin. 



Colours. Eifle green when in the wild state. 

 The gold carp is too well known to require any detailed descrip- 

 tion. Colonel Sykes records having obtained a variety of it in 

 the Deccan, but he also remarked it had "two tendrils on the 

 lower jaw." Admitting this to be so, it could not have been this 

 species to which, however, it has been referred by Yarrell, Eiip- 

 pell, and Giinther : Mr. Masters likewise sent three adult specimens 

 from India to the British Museum, still I very much question if 

 they were captured there in their wild state, the nearest point, 

 where they are obtained in a state of nature, being high up in 

 Upper Burma. 



The almost endless deformities, into which this species has been 

 bred, may be briefly defined as follows. Yertebral column only 

 deformed : fins also abnormal, the dorsal being decreased or even 

 absent : the anal spine double : caudal enlarged and with three or 

 four lobes. Occasionally the eyes are protruding. 



Col. Sykes observes the "Nukta" is found at Mahloongeh, 18 

 miles north of Poona in the Inderanee river, and that it has " two 

 knobs or short horns on the nose between the eyes." Dr. Jerdon 

 informs me it is not G. auratus t its native name at Poona is Do- 

 ton-di, whilst the knob is single not double. 

 flab. Upper Burma. 



