LABEO. 163 



Dorsal fin with 9 or 10 branched rays, its upper edge concave ; snout not 

 longer than postocular part of head ; scales 38-39 ^t^t, ty or 5 



between lateral line and root of ventral 4. L. victorianus, Blgr. 



B. Eyes supero-lateral, entirely or nearly entirely visible from 



above ; snout at least as long as postocular part of head ; 



dorsal fin with concave upper border, with 10 (rarely 9 or 11) 



branched rays ; scales 38-42 ^tgi? 4 or 5 between lateral line 



and root of ventral 5. L. forskalii, Riipp. 



1. LABEO NILOTICUS. 

 (Plate XXVII. fig. 1.) 



Cyprinus niloticus, Forskal, Descr. Anim. p. 71 (1775) ; Greoffroy, Descr. Egypte, Poiss. pi. ix. 



fig. 2 (1809). 

 Labeo niloticus, I. Greoffroy, op. cit. p. 282 (1827); Yinciguerra, Ann. Mus. Genova, xxxix. 1898, 



p. 259. 

 Labeo niloticus, part., Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Poiss. xvi. p. 338 (1842) ; Giinther, Cat. Fish. 



vii. p. 47 (1868), and Petherick's Trav. ii. p. 259 (1869). 

 Labeo vulgaris, Heckel, Pussegger's Peise Egypt, iii. p. 303, pi. xx. fig. 3 (1846). 



Body strongly compressed, its greatest depth three and one-fourth (adult) to four 

 and one-third times (young) in the total length. Head nearly five to five and one- 

 fourth times in the total length in the adult, four to four and a half times in the 

 young, its width two-thirds to three-fourths its length ; snout broadly rounded, its 

 length about one-third that of the head, the eye being in consequence nearer the end 

 of the snout than the posterior border of the operculum ; eye perfectly lateral, just 

 visible from above as well as from below, its diameter four and a half to six times 

 in the length of the head in the adult, three to four times in the young; interorbital 

 width one-half to three-fifths the length of the head; mouth rather feebly arched, 

 its width two and two-thirds to four times in the length of the head ; both lips with 

 several rows of rounded or subcorneal papillae, those of the outer row forming a 

 distinct fringe ; edge of the rostral flap entire ; a minute barbel in the corner of the 

 mouth, more or less hidden under the folds of the skin ; tubercles on the snout, or 

 their pore-like scars, numerous but very small. Dorsal fin composed of III 14-17 

 rays, equally distant from the nostrils or from the end of the snout and from the root 

 of the caudal fin, its upper edge usually more or less distinctly concave, rarely 

 straight or slightly convex, the last simple ray and the first branched ray usually 

 longest and as long as or longer than the head. Anal fin with III 5 rays, acutely 

 pointed, its longest ray usually shorter than the head, not reaching the root of the 

 caudal. Pectoral fin more or less distinctly falcate, nearly as long as or a little 



y2 



