JOURNAL 



OF THE 



ASIATIC SOCIETY 



Part II.— PHYSICAL SCIENCE. 

 No. III.— 1872. 



Monograph of Indian Cyprinii>J3, Part V, — by Surgeon Major F. Day. 



[Received 7th March, 1872; read 1st May, 1872.] 



3. Sub-family. — Cobitidina. 



[Continued from p. 29.] 



Pseudobranchice absent. Body elongated, oblong, compressed or cylin- 

 drical, but never depressed. Snout and lips jiesliy. Mouth small, inferior, 

 and furnished with from six to twelve barbels. Pharyngeal teeth feio and 

 in one row. Vertical fins spineless. Dorsal fin with a varying number of 

 rays (8-30) ; anal with few (7-8) ; ventrals absent in one genus. Scales, 

 small and cycloid, when present, and usually immersed in mucus. Lateral 

 line single. Air vessel entirely, or partially, enclosed in a bony capsule. 



Geographical distribution. Loaches are found in tanks and rivers 

 throughout the hills and plains of India and Banna, but apparently are 

 absent from the Andaman islands. All the recognised genera seem to be 

 represented in the East. These fish are mostly captured by lading out 

 tanks commencing to dry up, but as they dive about in the mud, they are 

 usually difficult to capture. 



Uses. — They are all good as food. 



Synopsis of Genera. 

 A. With an erectile spine near the orbit. 



1. Apua, eight barbels, two rostral, four maxillary and two mandibular. Spine 

 suborbital Dorsal fin short (8 rays) in the posterior third of the body, but anterior 

 to the anal. No ventrals. Barma. 



2. Acantliophthalmus, six barbels, two rostral, four maxillary. Spine suborbital. 

 Dorsal and anal fins as in Apua. Ventrals present. N. E. India, Assam, Barma. 



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