264 cypeinim:. 



As preserved in spirit, this Sardine-like little fish is silvery, darker on the back, with 

 colourless, transparent fins. De Joannis, its discoverer, describes it as silvery white in 

 life, shot with gold on the belly, brownish green on the back, with two fine darker lines 

 on each side, the lower of which corresponds to the so-called lateral line, the fins pale 

 yellow. A coloured sketch made by Mr. Loat at Assuan represents the fish, as silver} 7 , 

 the back brown, shot with reddish gold, the sides shot with pale lilac, the sides of the 

 head with pale steely blue ; the fins whitish, the caudal with some lemon-yellow on 

 each lobe ; the iris silvery. 



Among the several hundreds of specimens examined, measuring from 20 to 95 milli- 

 metres, I have not been able to detect any external sexual characters. 



I have counted the fin-rays and scales in sixty-five specimens. 7 branched dorsal 

 rays occurs three times and 8 sixty-two times; 10 branched anal rays twenty-one times ; 

 11 forty times, 12 four times; 36 scales in the lateral line once, 37 nine times, 

 38 thirteen times, 39 twenty-four times, 40 eighteen times. 



This species was discovered at Thebes by de Joannis and described by him under 

 two different names. The types of his descriptions, for which I applied at the Papis 

 Museum, where they are supposed to be preserved, seem to have disappeared. 

 De Joannis says the fish occur in bands and are caught in great quantities, being 

 excellent fried. The Arabs call them Bibie, like the Chelwthiops described further on. 

 They occur in greatest abundance after the flood. The next record of the fish is in a 

 paper by Steindachner, published in 1893, from specimens obtained in the Mahmudie 

 Canal near Alexandria ; the name Allurnus alexandrinus was proposed for it in 

 ignorance of de Joannis's previous descriptions, an oversight which was corrected 

 in the following year. 



Large numbers were collected in the Nile, from its mouth to Gondokoro, by Mr. Loat, 

 to whom I am indebted for the following notes : — " At Samannud, not many are 

 caught at high Nile, but a fair number when the Nile is going down. Occur in great 

 abundance at Assuan ; among great numbers of them I obtained, on January 7th, 1900, 

 my first specimen of ChelwtJiiops bibie" The fish has also been found in the Blue Nile 

 by Capt. S. Flower. 



The existence of the same species in the Niger was ascertained from collections made 

 by Dr. C. Christy and Dr. W. J. Ansorge, and Mr. O. Neumann's collection contains 

 specimens from the Omo Eiver. 



List of specimens examined : — 



3 Nile near Samannud. — Loat, 22.7.99. 



8 Damietta branch of Nile, downstream side of Barrage. — Loat, 3.8.99, 



1 Rosetta branch of Nile, downstream side of Barrage. — Loat, 30.7.99. 



5 Near Cairo.— Capt. Flower, 11-12.03. 



4 Nile at Beni Souef.— Loat, 8.99. 



4 In an irrigation canal near Luxor. — Loat, 11.10.00. 



