LABEO. 173 



1 Mouth of Lake No.— Loat, 25.2.01. 



1 Gondokoro. — Petherick, 1862. 



1 Gondokoro.— Loat, 3.3.02. 



1 Fajao, Victoria Nile, below Murchison Falls. — Budgett, 25.4.03. 



3 McCarthy Id., Gambia.— Budgett, 1898. 



1 Jebba, Upper Niger.— Dr. Christy, 1899. 



1 Mureji, Upper Niger.— Budgett, 1903. 



2 Abo, S. Nigeria. — Dr. Ansorge, 1902. 



6 Agberi, S. Nigeria. — Dr. Ansorge, 1902. 



3 R. Benue, north of Ibi. — Norton Smith, 1906. 

 2 Warri, Old Calabar.— Miss Kingsley, 1895. 



4 West Africa. 



Having counted the scales and fin-rays in fifty-four specimens, I find 1 1 dorsal rays 

 occurring once only (Gambia), 12 rays twenty-six times, 13 twenty-four times, and 14 

 three times ; 36 scales in the lateral line seventeen times, 37 twenty-four times, 38 

 nine times, 39 three times, and 40 once. The shape of the dorsal fin varies very much, 

 but apparently according to sex, the specimens in which the finis most convex and the 

 median rays longest being males ; the latter are also distinguished by a comparatively 

 longer snout, measuring nearly half the length of the head. In the annexed table of 

 measurements, specimens 8 and 9, of the same total length, show the sexual differences 

 in the proportions, the former being a male, the latter a female. 



According to Riippell, this fish is called " Coubie" at Cairo ; according to Heckel it 

 bears the name of " Debs merdzian " at Assuan. 



This species is easily distinguished from the two preceding by the structure of the 

 lips. Five perfectly distinct species have been mixed up by Dr. Gunther under the 

 name of Labeo coubie. Of the five non-Nilotic specimens enumerated by him in 

 the British Museum 'Catalogue of Fishes,' two from the Shire River belong to his 

 L. mesops, two from the same river to Peters's L. altivelis, and the young from the 

 River Rovuma belongs to the species since described as L. gregorii^ Gthr., whilst 

 L. congoro, Ptrs., is included in the synonymy. On the other hand, I have failed to 

 detect characters by which to separate L. selti, of Cuvier and Valencienues, which has 

 been regarded as a distinct species by writers on the Fishes of West Africa. L. altivelis 

 and L. mesops belong to the section of the genus in which the inner surface of the lips 

 does not bear transverse plicae. In L. congoro and L. gregorii the dorsal fin is nearer 

 to the eye than to the root of the caudal fin, and is formed of only 11 branched rays. 

 L. coubie is represented in the Congo by a very close ally, L. longipinnis, Blgr. ? 

 distinguished by the caudal peduncle being much deeper than long and the pectoral 

 fin reaching the root of the caudal. 



