PKOTOPTERUS. 19 



1. PEOTOPTERUS. 



Protopterus, Owen, Proc. Linn. Soc. 1839, p. 27 ; Peters, Eeise Mossamb. iv. p. 2 (1868) ; 



A. Duineril, Hist. Poiss. ii. p. 469 (1870) ; A. Schneider, Zool. Anz. 1886, p. 524 ; Boulenger, 



Poiss. Bass. Congo, p. 32 (1901). 

 Protomelus, Hogg, Ann. & Mag. N. H. vii. 1841, p. 359. 

 Rhinocryptis, Peters, Mon. Berl. Ac. 1844, p. 414. 



Body subcylindrical, more or less elongate, with pointed tail, at the end of which 

 the elongate dorsal and anal fins meet. Limbs slender, styliform ; a more or less 

 developed dermal fringe, with very thin rays, at least on the fore limb. Six branchial 

 arches and five branchial clefts. External gills often distinct, especially in the young. 

 Scales small, thin. Vent lateral. 



Closely allied to the Lepidosiren of South America. Represented by three African 

 species : Protopterus annectens, Owen, the type of the genus, P. cethiopicus, Heckel, 

 and P. dolloi, Blgr. 



The West- African P. annectens is well known for the cocoons in which it retires 

 during the dry season, and in which it remains dormant for weeks or months. The 

 dry mud-balls containing such cocoons are often sent to Europe and the fish are thus 

 imported without difficulty. The Nile species, however, does not appear to have the 

 same activating habits, and has never been brought over alive. 



1. PROTOPTERUS ^THIOPICUS. 

 (Plate IV.) 



Protopterus cethiopicus, Heckel, Sitzb. Ak. Wien, vii. 1851, p. 685 ; Marno, Zool. Gart. xiv. 1873, 



p. 441 ; Boulenger, Poiss. Bass. Congo, p. 36 (1901), and Proc. Zool. Soc. 1901, ii. p. 158 ; 



Moore, Tanganyika Problem, p. 152, fig. (1902) ; Boulenger, Trans. Zool. Soc. xvii. 1906, 



p. 544. 

 Lepidosiren arnaudii, Castelnau, Anim. Nouv. Arner. Sud, p. 105 (1855). 

 Lepidosiren annectens (non Owen), Gray, Ann. & Mag. ETJ H. (3) v. 1860, p. 70 ; McDonnell, Nat. 



Hist. Rev. vii. I860, p. 94 ; Baker, Albert Nyanza, ii. p. 131 (1866); Giinther, Petherick's 



Trav. ii. p. 268 (1869). 

 Protopterus annectens, Hartmann, Nat. Skizze Nilland. p. 202 (1865). 

 Protopterus annectens, part., A. Dumeril, Hist. Poiss. ii. p. 470 (1870) ; Giinther, Cat. Fish. viii. 



p. 322 (1870) ; A. Schneider, Zool. Beitr. ii. 1887, p. 98. 



Depth of body seven to nine and a half times in the total length. Length of head 

 three and three-fiths to five times in the distance from end of snout to vent, once and 

 one-sixth to once and a half its width ; snout broadly rounded, one-fourth to one-fifth 

 the length of the head; eye very small, its diameter ten to twenty times in the length of 



d2 



