THE SILURUS GLANIS. 169 
Now, this lake forms the western extremity of 
the geographical range of the European species of 
siluroid, which is known in most parts of Germany 
under the name of Wels* or Weller ; in Austria it is 
named schad, in Hungary harcsa, in Sweden mal. 
It belongs to a family which is entirely composed of 
fresh-water fish, only a few entering brackish water, 
and always keeping close to the shore. They are 
found in great numbers all over Asia and Africa, 
South and North America, and Australia, there being 
not less than 675 species: known.+ They are distin- 
guished from the cyprinoids, salmonoids, pikes, etc., 
by the total absence of true scales, and by the great 
development of barbels round the mouth. The 
species peculiar to Europe belongs more to its 
eastern and central than to its western portions; it 
is not found in Italy, Greece, the Pyrenean Peninsula, 
southern Switzerland, France, and those parts of 
Germany which are drained by the Rhine and its 
* This name is derived from the German wiileen, English wal- 
low. Wels isa fish wallowing in the mud; as the name is less 
foreign to the English language than the Greek silurus, I have not 
hesitated to adopt it; the German name of huchen has been simi- 
larly introduced into English, although no Saxon root is known 
whence it may have been derived. The name “‘sheat-fish” cannot 
be recommended, as it is more commonly applied to a marine fish ; 
and that of ‘‘cat-fish” is better reserved for the American silur- 
oids, 
+ A complete account of them may be found in the fifth 
volume of my Catalogue of Fishes. 
