262 CYPKINIDiE. 



China, and by fifteen in Tropical Africa and the Nile. The two Nile species are easily 

 distinguished by means of the following diagnoses * : — 



B. niloticus.—D. Ill 7-8 ; A. Ill 10-12 ; Sq. 36-40 jjjg, 2-2J, 12 ; Dorsal entirely 



in advance of the anal. 

 B. loati.— D. Ill 7-9; A. Ill 12-15; Sq. 51-58 |p|, 2-3, 16; Dorsal partly 



above the anal. 



1. BARILIUS NILOTICUS. 

 (Plate XLVIII. fig. 3.) 



Leuciscus niloticus, Joannis, Mag. Zool. 1835, iv. pi. iii. ; Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Poiss. xvii. 



p. 311 (1844). 

 Leuciscus thebensis, Joannis, t. c. pi. xi. 



Alburnus niloticus, Heckel, Russegger's Reise Egypt, iii. p. 328 (1846). 

 Opsarius thebensis, Heckel, t. c. p. 329, pi. i. 

 Barilius niloticus, Giinther, Cat. Fish. vii. p. 293 (1868), and Petherick's Trav. ii. p. 263 (1869) ; 



Steindachner, Sitzb. Ak. Wien, ciii. i. 1894, p. 461 ; Bonlenger, Ann. Mus. Congo, Zool. i. 



p. 102 (1899). 

 Barilius thebensis, Giinther, Petherick's Trav. ii. p. 263. 

 Alburnus alexandrinus, Steindachner, Sitzb. Ak. Wien, cii. i. 1893, p. 240, pi. iii. fig. 3. 



Depth of body three and a half to five times in the total length, length of head 

 four to fonr and a half times. Head twice to twice and a half as long as broad ; 

 snout rather pointed, not or but slightly projecting beyond the mouth, not longer than 

 the eye, the diameter of which is contained three and one-third to four times in the 

 length of the head; interorbital width equal to the diameter of the eye or a little 

 greater; mouth extending to below anterior border of pupil or centre of eye; no 

 barbels ; suborbital bones nearly entirely covering the cheek in the adult, the second 

 narrow and not extending posteriorly beyond the centre of the eye. Gill-rakers few 

 and short. Dorsal fin with III 7-8 rays, above the space between the ventrals and the 

 anal, originating midway between the nostrils or the eyes and the root of the caudal 

 fin ; the first branched ray longest, two-thirds to four-fifths the length of the head. 

 Anal fin with III 10-12 rays, the first branched ray longest, one-half to three-fifths 

 length of head. Pectoral acutely pointed, as long as or a little shorter than the head, 

 not reaching the ventral ; latter fin much shorter, not reaching the vent. Caudal fin 

 forked. Caudal peduncle once and a half to once and two-thirds as long as deep. 

 Scales with radiating striae, 36-40 §F!|, 2 or 2J between the lateral line and the root 

 of the ventral fin, 12 round the caudal peduncle. 



* The scales are counted first in the lateral line, secondly in a transverse series in front of the dorsal fin, 

 above and below the lateral line, thirdly between the lateral line and the root of the ventral fin, and 

 fourthly round the caudal peduncle. 



