192 CYPBINIDJE. 



length. Head thick, its length four to five times in the total ; snout broad, swollen, 

 its length two and three-fourths to three and a half times in the length of the head ; 

 eye superolateral, its diameter four (young) to six times in the length of the head ; 

 interorbital region convex, its width twice to twice and a half in the length of the 

 head ; mouth wide, its width as great as or a little greater than the interorbital width ; 

 a minute barbel at the angle of the mouth ; horny conical or subcorneal tubercles in 

 two or three series round the snout and below the eye, the largest on the sides ; these 

 tubercles, or at least their crater-like bases, apparently always present, but more 

 developed in the adult than in the young. Dorsal fin with IV 9-10 rays, nearer the 

 occiput than the root of the caudal, origination a little in advance of the ventrals, its 

 border not or but slightly emarginate, sometimes even slightly convex ; last simple ray 

 very strong, bony, smooth, more or less curved, its bony part usually as long as or a 

 little shorter than the head in the young, two-thirds to four-fifths the length of the 

 head in the adult. Anal fin with III 5 rays, the longest a little shorter than the head. 

 Pectoral fin falciform, nearly as long as the head, not reaching the ventral. Caudal 

 fin deeply forked, longer than the head. Caudal peduncle once and two-thirds to 

 twice as long as deep. Scales rugose, with concentric grooves and radiating striae, 



4—5— 



80-35 jrgf,. 2| or 3 between lateral line and root of ventral, 12 round caudal 

 peduncle. 



Kuppell described the specimens seen by him on the Goraza market as bluish grey, 

 with a broad steel-blue vertical streak at the base of each scale, the blue-grey shading 

 into greyish yellow on the middle of the belly; all the fins bluish grey: the iris 

 silvery, shaded with brown. This description is confirmed by a coloured sketch 

 made by Mr. Degen at Zegi, except that the posterior border of the scales, in the 

 specimen figured, is tinged with pinkish, and the fins are pinkish brown; the iris 

 was of a pure white. The specimen obtained at Marmasa by Mr. Degen was of 

 a vivid emerald-green, the iris nearly white ; whilst those from the Hurso Kiver 

 were of a beautiful iridescent emerald-green with bluish tinge, the fins blue-green 

 and the iris golden yellow. Mr. Zaphiro describes the iris as with some red and 

 an orange line. 



Total length 360 millimetres. 



This fish was discovered by Kuppell in Lake Tsana. It was brought in great 

 numbers on the market at Goraza, where it bore the name of £eso. The types of 

 Valenciennes's Chondrostoma dillonii are simply stated to have been obtained in the 

 freshwaters of Abyssinia by a young botanist, Dr. Quartin Dillon, who died from fever 

 during a collecting-expedition. The next record is to be found in W. T. Blanford's 

 work on the ' Geology and Zoology of Abyssinia,' in which he mentions having 

 preserved a skin of a fish taken in a stream at Agula (Atbara system), which was 

 referred, with some hesitation, to Capoeta dillonii by Dr. Giinther. I have not found 

 this skin in the British Museum ; it was probably sent to the Calcutta Museum along 



