138 CHARACINIDjE. 



as the head, shorter than the ventral. Caudal fin forked, with pointed lobes. Caudal 

 peduncle as long as deep. Scales 32-36 |j, 4 between the lateral line and the base 

 of the ventral fin ; the lateral line sometimes restricted to a few of the anterior scales. 



Olive-brown above, yellowish beneath; a black lateral streak, sometimes narrowly 

 edged with silvery, from the eye to the median rays of the caudal fin ; a blackish spot 

 at the tip of the anterior rays of the dorsal fin. In the young, the lateral band is 

 narrower, formed of a multitude of clots. 



This little fish grows to a length of 62 millimetres, but the specimens obtained 

 in the White Nile by Mr. Loat are quite young, measuring only 20 millim. The 

 following measurements are therefore given from one of the type specimens, from the 

 Gaboon : — 



Measurements (in millimetres). 



Total length (without caudal) 50 



Greatest depth 17 



Length of head 13 



Width of head 7 



Length of snout 3 



Diameter of eye 4 



Interorbital width 5 



Longest ray of dorsal 12 



„ „ anal 6 



Length of pectoral 9 



„ ventral 10 



First discovered in the Gaboon, N. unitceniatus has since been found in the Gold 

 Coast, in the Ubanghi, in Cameroon, in the Niger Delta, in the White Nile, where 

 Mr. Loat came across a young specimen in a kore at Fashoda (end of March, 1901) 

 and four in Lake No (Feb.-Mar. 1901), and south of Gondokoro by Dr. F. Werner 

 in 1905. 



