PROTOPTERUS. 21 



in the dorsal fin originating nearer to the occiput than to the vent, and in having only 

 40 to 50 scales in a longitudinal series between the gill-opening and the vent. In 

 P. annectens the bones and teeth are usually green, although exceptions occur, and 

 the total length does not seem ever to exceed 700 millimetres. 



In the Congo species, P. dolloi *, the body is more elongate, there are 54 pairs of 

 ribs, the eye is smaller, and the scales number 86 to 91 in a longitudinal series. 



Specimens from the Zambesi (P. amphiMus, Peters) do not seem to me separable 

 from P. annectens, which perhaps occurs also in East Africa f. 



P. cethiopicus was discovered in ]850 in the White Nile by Dr. Knoblecher when 

 Vicar-General at Khartum. In 1860, Dr. J. E. Gray announced that he had 

 purchased from a dealer specimens obtained at the mouth of the Nile ; as pointed out 

 by Dr. McDonnell, this locality should probably read " Mouth of the White Nile." 

 In the White Nile also a specimen had been obtained by M. d'Arnaud as early as 1843, 

 but the specimen had remained unnoticed, for many years, in the Paris Museum. 

 The species has since been found in the Albert Nyanza by Sir S. Baker, in the Bahr-el- 

 Ghazal and Sobat by Drs. Hartmann and Schweinfurth, in the marshes of the Bahr- 

 el-Seraf by Marno, at Wadelai by Emin Pasha, in the Albert Edward Nyanza by 

 Messrs. Scott Elliot and J. E. S. Moore, and in the Victoria Nyanza by Emin Pasha, 

 Sir Harry Johnston, and Mr. Degen. Further to the south, examples were met with 

 in the marshes of Ugalla, east of Lake Tanganyika, by Dr. Eeichard, and a specimen 

 obtained by Dr. Cunnington at the mouth of a river flowing into the Tanganyika 

 belongs to the same species. 



I have examined 40 specimens, enumerated here : — 



1 Mouth o£ White Nile (?). 



1 Wadelai.— Emin Pasha, 1886. 



2 Lake Albert Edward.— J. E. S. Moore, 1900. 



1 Skull. Lake Albert Edward.— Scott Elliot, 1894. 



25 Entebbe, Lake Victoria. — Degen, June 1905. 



3 Lake Victoria. — {Sir Harry Johnston, Dec. 1900. 

 5 Lake Victoria.— Col. Delme Radcliffe, Feb. 1903. 



1 Ugalla, E. of Lake Tanganyika. — Dr. Eeichard (Berlin Mus.). 



1 Kakonde River, S. end of L. Tanganyika. — Dr. Cunnington, 17.8.01. 



Little is known of the habits of this species. According to Hartmann, it burrows 

 in the mud during the dry season, at other times it is lound in rivers, ponds, &c. 



* Prof. Vaillaut ha,s kindly examined at my request the Ogowe specimens referred by Dr. Sauvage to 

 P. annectens, and he informs me they belong to P. dolloi. 



t Specimens labelled as from Zanzibar (Sir J. Kirk, 1868) have been recorded by Gunther in the British 

 Museum ; Catalogue of Fishes.' This locality requires confirmation. It seems difficult to believe that so 

 remarkable a fish, well known to the natives wherever it occurs, should have been overlooked by so keen a 

 collector as Sir L. Playfair during a residence of several years on the island. 



