ON THE ICHTHYOLOGY OF THE SEAS OF CHINA AND JAPAN. 283 



line without any rounding before the dorsal. The maxillary barbels reach to the gill-opening, 

 the exterior submandibular pair are half as long, and the interior pair a quarter as long. The 

 operculum is finely veined, and the roughness of the nuchal plate is shown in the drawing by 

 fine gold points. The lateral line is flatly arched over the pectoral, and takes a straight course 

 from the tip of that fin to the caudal rather above mid-height. The points of the ribs form 

 an oblique line from the shoulder to the anal. The dorsal and pectoral spines are slender and 

 serrated in front : their posterior teeth, if they possess any, are not shown in the drawing. 

 The top of the head, nape and back is sap-green, with fine parallel streaks of a deeper tint, 

 bent en chevron near the dorsal line, and disappearing at the lateral line ; the sides and belly 

 are silvery with a purplish reflexion. There are some crimson tints round the mouth, and 

 purplish ones at the union of the gill-pieces and on the breast ; also a greenish-yellow border 

 round the end of the tail embraced by the caudal. The dorsal is celandine-green, with darker 

 rays tinged with crimson at the base. The adipose fin is yellow, with a black spot on the 

 edge. The pectorals and ventrals have crimson-coloured rays and buff membranes. The anal 

 is sulphur-yellow and the caudal a dingy wax-yellow. This drawing agrees in several par- 

 ticulars with the description of Arius ocellatus noticed below. 

 Hab. Canton. 



Bagrus limbatus, Richardson. 



None of Mr. Reeves's drawings represent this fish, which was brought from Canton by the 

 Rev. G. Vachell ; the only one that it resembles in having eight barbels being the Pimelodus 1 

 fulvi'draco noticed below. From this it is distinguished by all the fins being edged with black, 

 and the specimen shows no traces of the peculiar markings of fulvi-draco. I examined it 

 cursorily, and noted down only a few of its characters. There is a short viliform dental plate 

 on the vomer, set more densely and with shorter teeth than the jaws, and continued without 

 a break over the mesial line. The casque terminates over the base of the pectorals, but sends 

 out a narrow styloid process which touches the small chevron of the second interspinous bone. 

 The adipose fin rises imperceptibly from the dorsal line, and the ventrals are smaller than 

 those of B. 1 crinalis, and do not reach to the anus. The ventrals have six rays, the last of 

 which is divided to the base. A supra-axillary plate is half the length of the pectorals, and 

 tbe nasal cirrhus is short. 



Hab. Canton. Specimen in the Cambridge Philosophical Institution. 



? Bagrus {an Pimelodus ?) bouderius, Richardson. Icon. Reeves, 203 ; 

 Hardw. 183. Chinese name, New yu, " Buffalo fish " (Birch) ; Nou yu> 

 " Cow fish " (Reeves) ; Ngau u (Bridgem. Chrest. 194). 



A specimen of this fish exists in the Chinese collection at Hyde Park, but we have not ex- 

 amined the palate so as to ascertain from its dentition whether it is properly placed in this 

 genus or not. If it be a Bagrus it belongs to the group which have eight barbels, a long anal 

 and a comparatively short adipose fin. It comes nearest to B. vacha (Buch. Ham.) of any 

 member of the group described in the ' Histoire des Poissons,' but may be at once distinguished 

 by its much smaller mouth and fleshy lips. The head, viewed in profile, is depressed, taper- 

 ing and rather pointed, with the eye rather nearer to the gill-opening than to the end of the 

 snout. The lower jaw is shorter than the snout, and the mouth is not cleft so far back as the 

 posterior nostrils, which are about midway between the eye and end of the snout. The nape 

 rises suddenly in an arch from the hind head, and then runs backwards with little ascent to 

 the first dorsal. The height of the body there is equal to the length of the head, or to one- 

 fifth of the total length of the fish. The maxillary barbels are rather longer than the head : 

 the exterior submandibular ones are a third shorter, while the nasal barbels and the interior 

 submandibular ones are a little longer than the quarter of the length of the head. The lateral 

 line is arched at the commencement, and then runs nearly straight from before the first dor- 

 sal to the caudal, a little above the middle height of the body. [In B. buchanaui, Val., 

 the lateral line is straight from end to end.] The pectoral spine is strong, and is strongly 

 serrated towards its tip interiorly. A triangular plate proceeding from the humeral chain is 

 shown very boldly in the figure above the fin. The dorsal spine is drawn without serraturcs, 

 taller than the soft rays, pretty stout and rather spindle-shaped, with a tapering acute point. 

 Six soft rays are shown. The ventrals are pretty large, but smaller than the pectorals ; the 

 anal long, containing above thirty rays; the adipose fin of a moderate size, and the caudal 

 deeply forked, but with the lobes rather obtuse and equal. The colour on the dorsal aspect 

 is dark mountain-green or greenish-gray, passing high on the sides into sienna-yellow, which 

 continues down to the pale lilac edge of the belly. There are no spots. The fins have all 

 more or less of lake or crimson-red with greenish rays. The two colours are most distinctly 

 separated on the anal, the base being rose-red or carmine, and the outer half grass-green. 



