Silurus. GANGETIC FISHES. 151 



a transparent membrane, containing nine rays. Under the 

 lower jaw is a slit. 



The back slopes from the fin to the head, and the belly pro- 

 jects as much. The lateral line runs straight from the upper 

 angle of the gill-covers to the end of the tail, and is smooth. 

 The vent is placed very far forward. The tail is straight, tapers 

 gradually, and is rounded above, with a sharp edge below. No 

 naked bony plates are exposed to view. 



The back fin contains four soft rays, of which the first is not 

 divided. The pectoral fins are low and short, but are longest 

 above the middle, although they are rather blunt : each con- 

 tains twelve rays, of which the first is a smooth, rather slender 

 prickle, with its extremity of a substance resembling whale- 

 bone. The ventral fins are minute, and near each other, and 

 each has eight rays. The fin behind the vent reaches close to 

 that of the tail, but is not joined to it ; and its rays are all soft, 

 and of nearly equal lengths. The tail fin contains seventeen 

 rays. 



3d Species. — Silurus canio. 



A silurus with the fin of the tail divided into two sharp 

 lobes ; with four tendrils, of which the two upper reach al- 

 most to the middle of the fish ; with sixty-nine rays in the fin 

 of the vent ; with the prickle of each pectoral fin smooth- 

 edged ; and with the sides unspotted. 



This fish has a very strong resemblance to the Silurus bima- 

 culatus of Bloch, {Ichth. Tome XI. p. 17, PI. CCCLXIV.) and 

 of La Cepede, (Hist, des Poissons, Tome V. p. 57 ;) but the tips 

 of its tail fin are not black, a circumstance to which Bloch's fish 

 owes its name. Besides, in Bloch's fish the first ray of each 

 pectoral fin is a very strong indented prickle. 



The Canio {Kani pabda) I found in ponds in the north-east 



