556 PHYSOSTOMI. 



B. iii, D. 9-10( V), P. 15, V. 9,^ A. 7-8( V), C. 19, L. 1. 50-57, L. tr. 10/8. 



Length of head 5 to 5^ of caudal 5, height of body 5 to 5^ in the total length. Eyes — 4 diameters in 

 the length of the head, 1 diameter from end of snout, and IJ apart. Teei^— pharyngeal, with rather concave 

 summits, 3, 2, 1/1, 2, 3. Fins — origin of dorsal is behind the insertion of the ventral, its upper edge concave : 

 caudal rather' deeply' forked. Lateral-lme— extends along 15 to 20 rows of scales, 4 rows between it and the 

 base of the ventral fin. Colours— greenish, along the back, becoming silvery on the sides and beneath, a 

 bright greenish-yellow band, divides the colours of the back from a silvery line passing along the side. 



In Cuv. and Val.'s figure the lateral-line is uninterrupted, also there are too many scales between it 

 and the base of the ventral fin. 



Habitat. — (Bombay, according to Cuv. and Val.) Malabar Coast, and southern India, from the 

 ifeilgherries to Madras, also Ceylon. 



Genus, 19 — Baebus, Ovmer cmd Valenciennes. 



Puntiws, pt. Ham. Bach. : Labeoharbws, Varicorhinus, pt. Riipp. ; Systonms, pt. McClell. : Gojpoeta, sp. 

 Cuv. and Val. ; Psewdoha/rbus, Bielz. : Luaioba/rbus, Heckel : Oheiloba/rbus, sp. Smith : BaloMtiocheilms, Hemibarbus, 

 Oyclocheilichthys, Siaja, Anematichthys, Eypselobarbus, GonoproUojpterus, Gnathopogon, Hampala, sp. Bleeker : 

 Unteromius, sp. Cope. 



Mouth arched, and anterior or inferior : jaws closely invested by the lips, which may home leathery lobes, but 

 no hormj covering* Barbels four (Barbodes, Bleeker) : or two (Gapoeta, Cuv. and Val.) : or none (Puntius, H. 

 Bnch.). Uyes without adipose lids. Pharyngeal teeth 5 or 4, 3 or 4, 2 or 3 | 2 or 3, 3 or 4, 4 or 5. Dorsal fm 

 rather short, commencing nearly opposite fke root of the ventral : its last undivided ray being either ossified amd 

 serrated or entire, or articulated and not osseous : anal rather short, in some species its second ray ossified, or its last 

 wndivided ray may even be serrated (B. prodozyson, Bleeker). Scales la/rge, of moderate or small size: anal 

 scales not enlarged. Lateral-line may be complete, or incomplete,f when the former it is cqntviiued to opposite the 

 centre of the base of the caudal fin. 



This most extensive Genus has been subdivided by various authors into numerous genera and sub-genera, 

 but, passing gradually one into another, they have in the majority of instances failed to be permanently 

 accepted. The three sub-genera of those with 4, 2, or barbels are useful and apparently correct, for the 

 occasional abnormal absence of one or more of these appendages in fish which are so extensively kept in an 

 artificial state in tanks, does not appear sufficient reason why such natural subdivisions should be excluded from 

 Ichthyological systems. 



It is remarkable how very similar the Barhus Mahioola, C.V. which has 2 barbels, is to the B.fUamen- 

 tosus, C.V. with none. If a number of examples are examined it will be found that in some these appendages 

 are very minute, 'the barbels being, as a rule, smallest in specimens obtained furthest from the hills. In South 

 Canara, the Wynaad, and base of the Neilgherries, where the barbels are large, the B. Mahioola abounds : towards 

 Cochin and up the Coromandel coast as far as Madras they are small or absent, and the B. filamentosus is the . 

 type. Here, undoubtedly, the question must force itself on one's notice, are we dealing with two distinct 

 species, or one in a state of transition? If the latter, which is the original form? The adult of Barbus 

 pumctatus and B. phutunio are often exactly similar, but in the immature form the first retains its original colour, 

 not so the second. Barbus chola and B. tetrarupugus are similar, except as to the presence of a black spot behind 

 the opercle in the latter : whilst Ba/rbus tiato shows considerable variations. Great changes evidently occur in 

 some species if they are removed to another locality, thus Barhus conchonius, which has been imported from the 

 plains and introduced into the Nainee tal lake is evidently losing the serrature of its dorsal spiae, ia time, if 

 this change goes on, the species will become more like B. terio than the original form. 



The majority of those species which constitute the sub-genus Barbodes (4 barbels), provided they are 

 soberly coloured, attain a large size: the brilliant coloured ones are mostly residents of clear and rapid 

 mountain streams or rivers contiguous to hills and are generally small. A strong dorsal spine is usually (if not 

 invariably) a sign that the species is one that lives in the vicinity of high mountains up the streams of which it 

 ascends to breed, an exception, however, has to be made of those forms having serrated dorsal spines, and which 

 are usually residents of waters of the plains. Considerable individual variations exist as to the comparative 

 length and size of the dorsal spine, as a rule it increases in strength in the adult. In immature examples the 

 last undivided dorsal ray may appear to be articulated in the young, although it is osseous in the adult. 



Species of the sub-genus Gapoeta (2 barbels) never attain the size reached by many of the Ban-bodes : 

 some, more especially when residing in mountain streams, have vivid colours. The species of the sub-genus 

 Puntius are mostly of small size, whilst a few are brilliantly coloured. 



Amongst these sub-genera a most natural subdivision appears to be into those with the last undivided 

 dorsal ray osseous and serrated or smooth, or others in which the bony element is absent : whilst even further 

 subdivisions are easily made, if desired, into whether the fin rays are elongated, or the lateral-line is complete 

 or incomplete. 



* Barhus lithopidos is an exception. 

 • • ' ^P "^o^ting *e numbers of rows of scales between the lateral-line and insertion of the ventral fin, such is done in 

 species in which the former is incomplete, from the row of scales on which the lateral-line would have existed had it been completed. 



