312 SILUKttLE. 



the head ; maxillary barbel longer, one-half to three-fourths the length of the head ; 

 inner mandibular barbel one-fourth to one-half the length of the outer, which is 

 inserted behind it and equals or exceeds the length of the maxillary barbel. Gill- 

 rakers rather long, widely set, 9 to 13 on lower part of anterior arch. Dorsal fin with 

 I 5-6 rays, partly or entirely in advance of the vertical of the ventral fins, and once and 

 three-fourths to twice and one-fourth as distant from the caudal fin as from the end of 

 the snout ; its spine slender, feebly serrated behind, measuring three-fifths to three- 

 fourths the length of the head, produced into a short filament. Anal fin with 53 to 

 67 rays, the 3 or 4 anterior simple, the following gradually decreasing in length. 

 Pectoral fin reaching or not the ventral, its spine nearly as long as and stronger than 

 that of the dorsal, feebly serrated on the inner side. Caudal fin deeply forked, with 

 more or less pointed lobes. Caudal peduncle as long as deep or a little deeper than 

 long. 



Silvery, darker on the back ; a blackish ill-defined blotch on eacli side above the 

 pectoral fin, corresponding to the thinned skin over the air-bladder ; dorsal and 

 pectoral sometimes blackish. Some young specimens with three dark bands on each 

 side (\av.fasciata of Steindachner), the upper along the back and continued on the 

 upper lobe of the caudal fin, the lower extending from below the pectoral fin to the 

 lower lobe of the caudal, the middle one from the humeral spot to the root of 

 the caudal fin ; such specimens have also one or two dark bands along the anal fin. 

 Traces of these bands may persist in the adult. 



A sketch made by Delhez on the Senegal shows the silvery body to be shot with pale 

 lilac ; the back is very dark bluish grey, the caudal fin pale yellowish. 

 Grows to a length of 340 millimetres. 



The distribution of this species is a very wide one, extending from the Nile Delta 

 and the Senegal to the Congo and the Zambesi, but not including Lake Tanganyika, 

 Mr. Loat observes : — " Fairly numerous in Lakes Menzaleh and Borollos during the 

 Nile ; in Lake Edkou not many even at this time of the year. At Eosetta during 

 the rise and fall of the Nile. Of the three species of ' Schilbes ' this is the commonest 

 and most widely distributed between the mouth and Haifa ; between the First and 

 Second Cataracts I failed to find it, while JEutropius niloticus was numerous in that 

 district. This species also frequents trenches and ponds." 

 List of specimens examined : — 



1 Lower Nile. — Rtippell, 1832. (One o£ the types o£ S. intermedins.) 



5 Lower Nile.— Petherick, 1861. 



4 Lower Nile.— S. S. Allen, 1862. 



11 Bahr-el-Tawilah, in freshwater canal running into L. Menzaleh, about 5 miles from entrance of 



lake.— Loat, 26.6.99. 



18 Near Samannud. — Loat, 13.7.99. 



42 Eosetta branch of Nile, downstream side o£ barrage. — Loat, 29-31.7.99, 



