MORMTEUS. 59 



5. MORMYRUS. 



Linnseus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 522 (1766), part. ; Gill, Proc. Ac. Philad. 1864, p. 139 ; Boulenger, Proc. 



Zool. Soc. 1898, p. 812, and Poiss. Bass. Congo, p. 109 (1901). 

 Scrophicephalus, Swainson, Nat. Hist. Fish. ii. p. 187 (1839). 

 Mormyrodes, Gill, I.e. 

 Solenomormyrus, Bleeker, Yersl. Ak. Amsterd. (2) viii. 1874, p. 368. 



Teeth in the jaws small, notched, few (5 to 12 in the upper jaw, 8 to 14 in the 

 lower) ; minute conical teeth on the parasphenoid and on the tongue ; mouth terminal. 

 Nostrils moderately far apart, remote from the eye. Body moderately elongate ; 

 ventral fins equally distant from the pectorals and from the anal, or nearer the former. 

 Dorsal fin much elongate, more than twice as long as the anal. Vertebrae 49-55 

 (12-16 + 7-10 + 27-32). 



Of the sixteen species of this genus, four occur in the Nile. 



Synopsis of the Species. 



I. Snout much shorter than postorbital part of head. 



Dorsal four to five times as long as anal ; Dorsal 67-75; Anal 17-20 . 1. M. hasselquistii, C. & Y. 



II. Snout as long as or longer than postorbital part of head. 

 Dorsal 57-75, three and three-fourths to four and three-fourths 



times as long as anal ; Anal 18-21 ; snout bent downwards . . 2. M. kannume, Forsk. 

 Dorsal 76-90, five to seven times as long as anal ; Anal 18-21 ; snout 



bent downwards 3. if. caschive, L. 



Dorsal 83-90, five and a half times as long as anal ; Anal 17-18 ; 



snout pointing straight forwards 4. if. niloticus, Bl. Schn. 



1. MORMYRUS HASSELQUISTIL 

 (Plate XI. fig. 1.) 



Mormyrus Jierse (non Sonnini), Lacepede, Hist. Foiss. v. p. 620 (1803). 



Mormyrus caschive (non Linnaeus), I. Greoffroy, Descr. Egypte, Poiss. p. 273, pi. vi. fig. 2 



(1827). 

 Mormyrus hasselquistii, Cuvier & Yalenciennes, Hist. Poiss. xix. p. 253 (1846) ; Marcusen, Mem. 



Ac. St. Petersb. (7) vii. 1864, no. 4, p. 130; Boulenger, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1898, p. 813. 



Depth of body four and a half to five and one-fourth times in the total length, length 

 of head four and one-third to four and three-fourths times. Head about twice as long 

 as broad, once and one-fourth to once and two-thirds as long as deep, with curved 

 upper profile ; snout about half as long as the postorbital part of the head, projecting 

 slightly beyond the mouth, the width of which measures about half the length of the 



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