36S SILUKIDiE. 



The very young are brown, with two or three irregular wavy, dark-edged light 

 transverse bands on the caudal portion of the body, and spotted all over with blackish, 

 these spots sometimes forming cross-bands ; a light, dark-edged streak from the eye 

 to the end of the snout ; belly brown, with round darker spots ; the fins are blackish, 

 except the caudal, which is whitish with three to five very regular black transverse 

 bands. In life, according to Mr. Loat's notes, the general colour of the body is dark 

 greenish yellow or even of a bright orange colour and the caudal fin is of a dirty 

 yellowish grey. The adult varies from brown or olive to blackish, with more or less 

 numerous round black spots, and the bands on the caudal fin, the ground-colour 

 of which is pale grey, are more numerous and less regular, or replaced by transverse 

 series of spots ; the lower parts are brown or blackish, with or without round black 

 spots. Iris grey. 



This species does not appear to reach a large size. Our largest specimen measures 

 only 170 millimetres. 



Synodontis m'grita, first described from the Senegal, has since been found in the 

 Gambia and in the Niger by Budgett, in the White Nile and in the Bahr-el-Gebel 

 by Mr. Loat. 



List of specimens examined : — 



2 Gharb-el-Aish.— Loat, 16.1.01. 



18 Fashoda.— Loat, 19.1-31.3.01. 



1 Polkom, Baro River (Sobat). — Zaphiro, 4.04. 



2 Tonga.— Loat, 24.1.01. 



1 Gondokoro. — Loat, 16.2.02. 



1 Wadelai.— Budgett, 7.9.02. 



1 Kaedi, Senegal.— Delhez, 1899. 



3 McCarthy Id., Gambia.— Budgett, 1900. 

 3 Assay, S. Nigeria.— Budgett, 1903. 



The young specimen from the Ogowe referred to this species by Vaillant probably 

 belongs to S. obesus, Blgr.*, which inhabits Old Calabar, Cameroon, and the Gaboon. 



Under the name of Synodontis humeratus, a fish of this genus has been described 

 in Cuvier and Valenciennes's work, vol. xv. p. 264, from a coloured figure made by 

 Rifaud in Upper Egypt. A tracing of this figure has been published by Vaillant 

 and is here reproduced (p. 369). It is impossible to refer this sketch to any known 

 species. It appears to represent a fish similar to S. nigrita, but the short spine of 

 the dorsal fin, serrated in front as well as behind, precludes its identification with that 

 species. The general colour is green, with the fins tinged or streaked with reel. 

 Native name " Gourgar-kebir." 



* Ann. & Mag. N. H. (7) ii. 1898, p. 415, 



