OF PISHES EEOM LAKE TANGANYIKA. 545 



that they sometimes come across it when digging graves. It is much feared for its 

 bite. Although captured by vegetable bait {cassava, a sort of tuber), a specimen opened 

 by Dr. Cuunington contained partially digested fish in the stomach. 



This is the first specimen from the borders of Lake Tanganyika which falls under the 

 eyes of an ichthyologist, and it confirms the provisional identification of the species 

 (see Boulenger, Poiss. Bass. Congo, p. 38). The specimen figured by Moore in his 

 ' Tanganyika Problem,' p. 153, is from Lake Albert Edward. The following notes are 

 taken from Dr. Cunnington's specimen : — 



Depth of body %^ times in total length ; length of head 4f times in distance from 

 end of snout to vent ; diameter of eye 13 times in length of head; dorsal fin originating 

 a little nearer to vent than to occiput ; 60 scales in a longitudinal series from the gill- 

 opening to above the vent, 42 round the body ; vent on the left side. Dr, Cunnington 

 describes the coloration as "mottled grey and black, darker above ; sinuous lines of 

 brown on the dorsal region and on the tail ; tail with large black blotches on a grey 

 ground ; belly mottled grey and flesh-colour, with a pinkish tinge all over." 



MORMTRID^. 



3. Maecusenius tanganicanus, sp. n. (Plate XXX. fig. 1.) 



Depth of body 3^ to 3-|- times in total length, length of head i.^ to 4f times. Head 

 as long as deep, not quite twice as long as broad ; snout as long as or a little shorter 

 than the eye, rounded, projecting beyond the mouth, which is small and a little anterior 

 to the vertical of the nostrils ; teeth bicuspid, 5 in the upper jaw, 6 in the lower ; 

 nostrils on a line with lower border of eye, nearer the latter than the end of the 

 snout ; eye A.^ to 4J times in length of head, about once and ^ in interocular width. 

 Dorsal 3]-34, considerably shorter than its distance from the head, anterior rays 

 longest. Anal 23-25, originating below 8th to 10th rays of dorsal, equally distant 

 from base of ventral and from root of caudal ; anterior rays longest, especially in the 

 males, in which the anterior half of the fin forms a rounded lobe. Pectoral pointed, 

 as long as or a little shorter than the head, extending beyond base of ventral. Caudal 

 fin scaly at the base, with pointed lobes. Caudal peduncle twice and ^ to twice 

 and f as long as deep, a little shorter than the head. 65 to 67 scales in the lateral 

 line, ^^2 ^° ^ transverse series on the body, j^ in a transverse series between dorsal 

 and anal, 12 round caudal peduncle. Uniform greyish above, silvery white beneath ; 

 dorsal and anal fins whitish at the base, grey distally. 



Total length 160 millim. 



Two specimens from Sumbu, and one taken in a river at Msamba. Native name : 



Zoveruz. 



This species is very closely allied to, and exactly intermediate between, M. disco- 

 rhynchm Peters, from the Zambesi and Lake Nyasa, and M. jpetherici Blgr., from the 



VOL. XVII.— PABT VI. No. 2.—Octoher, 1906. 4 d 



