EsOX. GANGETIC FISHES. 213 



stripe, shining like silver. The snout is blackish, the eyes sil- 

 ver coloured. 



The throat is compressed. The jaws are elongated into a 

 snout, or beak, longer than the rest of the head : the upper one 

 is plain and sharp, and is elevated in opening the mouth ; the 

 under one is thrice as long as the under, narrow, and sharp. 

 The teeth in both jaws surround the aperture of the mouth, and 

 are rather smaller than usual in this genus. Each ?iostril has 

 only one aperture, The gill-covers conceal half of the mem- 

 branes, each of which has six rays. 



The back is convex, and on each side is edged by a longitu- 

 dinal ridge. On each side, below the lateral line, is another 

 ridge, dividing its side into two planes. The belly is flat, and 

 bounded by two ridges, which unite at the fin behind the vent. 

 The lateral lines are straight, smooth, and high. The vent is 

 behind the middle. The scales are large and smooth-edged, 

 and fall off readily. 



The fin on the back has its rays of nearly equal length, and 

 some of the foremost are undivided. The pectoral fins are short, 

 and sharp above ; and each has nine rays, of which the first is 

 undivided. The ventral fins are very small and round : each 

 has six rays, of which the first is undivided. The fin behind the 

 vent slopes backward, and the first of its rays is a short slender 

 prickle. The fin of the tail contains fifteen distinct rays, besides 

 some compacted ones at the sides. 



3d Species. — Esox cancila. Plate XXVII. Fig. 70. 

 An Esox with the fin of the tail rounded ; with both jaws 

 elongated into a quadrangular beak ; with no scales ; and with 

 seventeen rays in the fin of the back, and eighteen in that be- 

 hind the vent. 



