430 Memoirs of the Indian Museum. [Vol. V, 



lying alongside the body behind the anal opening. The tips of the ventral fins 

 reach the anterior edge of the anal opening in both specimens. 



The species is a flood- time visitor to the lake when the water is almost fresh. 



Distribution : — Large rivers and estuaries of India and the Malay Archipelago. 



Genus OSTEOGENEIOSUS, Bleeker. 

 Osteogeneiosus militaris (Iy.) 



1758. Silurus militaris, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., Edit. X, p. 305. 



1850. Arius militaris, Cantor, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, XVIII, p. 1241. 



1858. Osteogeniosus cantoris, Blyth, Proc. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, p. 286. 



1878. Osteogeniosus militaris, Day, Fish. Ind., p. 469, pi. cviii, fig. 4. 



1889. Osteogeniosus militaris, Day, Faun. Brit. Ind., Fish., I, p. 190, fig. 69. 



Two adult specimens of the species are in the collection, one measuring 260 mm., 

 from Parikudh, collected on 29-xi-i4 and the other measuring 240 mm. from Barkul, 

 obtained on 28-xi-i4. 



This fish probably is not a permanent inhabitant of the lake, nor does it appear 

 to breed in it. It is a visitor to the main area during the winter months when the 

 water is fairly saltish. 



Distribution: — The seas, estuaries and tidal rivers of India and the Malay 

 Archipelago. 



Subfamily BAGRINAE. 



Genus ARIUS, Cuvier and Valenciennes. 



Arius satparanus, sp. nov. 



(Text-figures 6—8.) 



The body is elongated and round but compressed in the region of the caudal 

 peduncle. 



The measurements in hundredths of the length without the caudal fin are as 

 follows: the length of the head 28-6%, the greatest depth of the body 20%, the 

 length of the snout 12 %, the diameter of the eye 476 %, the length of the pectoral 

 fin 19 %, and the length of the ventral fin 14-3 %. 



The head is somewhat depressed, and is broader than high. The median fontanel 

 is rather narrow and short, beginning from behind the nostrils to the occipital process, 

 which is granular and rugose. The occipital process continues to the basal bone of the 

 dorsal spine (text-fig. 7). The dorsal profile, from the dorsal spine to the slightly 

 prominent snout, slopes down in a somewhat convex line. 



The eye is oval, the vertical diameter being 80 % of the length of the horizontal 

 diameter ; the orbital margin is not entirely free, being continuous with the skin of the 

 forehead in one-fourth of its upper margin in the middle.' The longer diameter of the 



1 "Eyes with free orbital margins" is stated to be one of the generic characters of Arius. In the 

 specimen under description one-fourth of the upper margin about the middle of the eye is not free, but is 

 continuous with the skia of the forehead. Instead of founding a new genus or subgenus on this differ- 

 ence, the description for the genus should be modified to allow this species to be included. 



