65 



Proceedings of the Zoological Society. 



November 27, 1 838.— Lieut.-Colonel W. H. Sykes in the Chair. 



Dr. Horsfield laid before the Meeting a series of Mammalia and 

 Birds collected in India by John M'Clelland, Esq., Assistant Surgeon 

 E.I.C.S., and proceeded to point out the characters of some which were 

 undescribed. 



A paper on the Fishes of the Deccan, illustrated with numerous 

 coloured drawings, was read by Colonel Sykes. 



"In submitting to the Society an account of the fishes of Dukhun," 

 observes Colonel Sykes, "it will scarcely excite surprise, that out of 

 46 species described no less than 42 are new to science, since they are 

 from a hitherto untrodden field, and from peculiar localities, on the 

 great plateau of the Dukhun (Deccan), none of them coming from a less 

 elevation than 1500 feet above the sea; many from near 2000 feet, and 

 others from yet higher situations. The chief features in the collection 

 are the paucity of orders to which the collection belongs, and the re- 

 markable prevalence of the members of the families of Siluridce and 

 CyprinidcB. There is but one apodal Malacopterygian, but 4 Acanthop- 

 terygii, and the whole of the rest of the fish belong to the order Abdominal 

 Malacopterygians. Of the families there are only eight : Percidce, Scorn- 

 brides, * Pharyngiens Labyrinthifor?nes,' Gobiadce, Siluridce, CyprinidcB, 

 Esocidce, and Mureenidcs, comprising 15 genera and 9 sub-genera, in- 

 cluding one sub-genus, which I have been compelled to add to the 

 Cyprinidce. An attempt has been made to methodize and distinguish 

 the multitudinous members of the families of Siluridce and CyprinidcB. 

 The fact is, the continued inosculation in the character of the teeth, of 

 the cirri, of the spines (serrated or not) of the fins, the armature of the 

 head, and the position of the fins in the Siluridce; and the number of 

 cirri, and form and position of the fins in the CyprinidcB, together with 

 the character of the mouth, produce such approximations in species to 

 each other, and in individuals of one genus to another, that not only is 

 there infinite difficulty in determining the genera of the fishes of these 

 families, but their identity as species is occasionally not less difficult. 

 Some of my Siluridce do not exactly correspond with the generic charac- 

 ters of the genera of this family as now constituted, and I might have 

 added to the number of genera; but to this I have an objection, unless 

 as an evidently necessary measure. In the Cyprinidce, however, I was 



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