198 



CYPRDttDJE. 



provided with numerous longitudinal canals forming striae of a somewhat fan-shaped 

 arrangement. It is represented by four species in North-west Africa (B. callensis, 

 C. & V., B. sethimensis, C. & V., B. ksibi, Blgr., B. nasus, Gthr.) and by one in South 

 Africa (B. serra, Peters). A second section, distinguished from the first by larger 

 scales, is represented in the Nile system by B. pleuro gramma, Blgr., B. minchini, 

 Blgr., B. macroprlstis, Blgr., B. portali, Blgr., and B. carpio, Pfeff., and by about 

 twenty species in Tropical and South Africa. A third section, of which B. bynni 

 is the type, is characterized by a dorsal fin with the last simple ray strong and 

 bony, grooved behind but not serrated, 5 branched rays in the anal fin, four 

 barbels, and large scales (not more than 40 in the lateral line), which bear very 

 numerous longitudinal and nearly parallel striae. This division, of which a few species 

 are known from India and South-western Asia, is represented in Africa by a great 

 number of forms, some very closely related. A synopsis of these African Barbels has 

 been given by me in the ' Annals and Magazine of Natural History,' (7) x. 1902, p. 423, 

 and to the 34 species therein enumerated are to be added B. ruspoliU Vincig., from 

 L. Abaia (Margherita), B. trimaculatus, Ptrs., from South-east Africa, B. co?npinei, 

 Sauv., from the Ogowe, and B. reinii, Gthr., from Morocco, then insufficiently known 

 or overlooked by me, and eighteen species since described by Pellegrin, Lonnberg, and 

 myself. A few species, the range of which is confined to Morocco (B.fritsckii, Gthr., 

 rothschildi, Gthr., harterti, Gthr., riggenbachi, Gthr., waldo?, Blgr., and atlanticus, 

 Blgr.), agree with the latter section except for the number of branched rays in the 

 anal fin, which is 6 instead of 5. Another section, represented by several species in 

 Tropical and South Africa, and by B. perince and its allies in the Nile system, is 

 characterized by the weakness of the last unbranched ray of the dorsal fin, which is 

 neither ossified nor serrated, 5 branched rays in the anal, four barbels, and laro-e 

 scales with only 2 to 5 canals radiating from the centre. Species with only one pair 

 of barbels are but scantily represented in Africa (B. afer, Peters, B. rapax, Stdr., 

 B. anoplus, M. Web., South Africa; B. tropidolepis, Blgr., Lake Tanganyika), and the 

 total absence of barbels defines another division represented by one species in the 

 Congo (B. brazzce, Pellegr.), one in Cameroon (B.jw, Blgr.), and four here described 

 from the Nile and Lake Victoria. 



No genus of Nile Fishes stood more in need of a thorough revision than Barbus. 

 Even the old-known species B. bynni and B. perince, which are represented by 

 abundant specimens in the Lower Nile, had never been studied on an adequate 

 material, and no idea could be formed of the amplitude of variation which the lar°-e 

 series now brought together has revealed. The specific definitions have been modified 

 accordingly to an extent which should teach caution in founding species upon such 

 characters as one ray more or less in the dorsal fin or one scale more or less in a 

 transverse series above or below the lateral line. On the other hand, I have been 

 much impressed by the absolute constancy of the number (5) of branched rays in the 



