IIAPLOCHILUS. 4 1 7 



2. HAPLOCHILUS LOATI. 



(Plate LXXIX. fig. 7.) 



Boulcnger, Ann. & Mag, N. H. (7) viii. 1901, p. 416. 



Depth of body three and two-thirds to five times in the total length, length of head 

 four to four and a half times. Head flat above ; snout very short, truncate, with the 

 mouth directed upwards, the lower jaw projecting ; teeth small, forming a narrow 

 band ; eye better visible from below than from above, longer than the snout, as long 

 as the postorbital part of the head ; interorbital width half the length of the head. 

 Dorsal fin with 7 or 8 rays, originating above the middle or the posterior third of the 

 anal, twice as far from the eye as from the root of the caudal fin ; longest rays about 

 three-fifths the length of the head. Anal fin with 14 or 15 rays, originating at nearly 

 equal distance from the eye or the operculum and from the root of the caudal fin. 

 Pectoral fin about two-thirds the length of the head, much longer than the ventral 

 fin, which is inserted at nearly equal distance from the end of the snout and from the 

 root of the caudal fin. Caudal fin rounded, a little longer than the head. Caudal 

 peduncle once and one-third to once and a half as long as deep. Scales smooth, 24 

 or 25 in a longitudinal series, 14 round the body in front of the ventral fins; no 

 lateral line pits. 



Yellowish olive above, the scales edged with darker, whitish beneath ; fins white, 

 without markings. 



This is one of the smallest fishes known, the largest specimen measuring only 

 25 millimetres. 



Measurements (in millimetres). 



Total length (without caudal) 19 



Depth of body » , . 5 



Length of head 5 



Width of head 9! 



^2 



Length of snout X 



Diameter of eye ,, % 2 



Interorbital width „ <>i 



Longest ray of dorsal fin 3 



„ „ anal fin 3 



Length of pectoral fin 31 



„ ventral fin 24 



Over a hundred specimens w r ere obtained by Mr. Loat in Lake No, White Nile 

 in February and March 1901. A single specimen was found in a kore at Fashoda, 

 15.3.01, and another at Gondokoro, 4.2.02. 



This species is very closely related to the preceding. 



3h 



