Polynemus. gangetic fishes. 231 



The tongue is moveable, oval, smooth, and entire. The nostrils 

 are near the eye, and their apertures are unequal. The eyes are 

 high and far forward ; they are small and circular. The gill- 

 covers end in a point, and are flexible. They expose to view 

 their membranes, each containing seven rays. The openings of 

 the gills are large ; and each gill has on the inner edge a 

 double row of tubercles, of which the outer ones are almost cy- 

 lindrical. 



The back is arched, and transversely convex ; the sides slope 

 downward ; the belly projects more than the back. The lateral 

 line descends with an arch, and the vent is nearly in the middle. 

 The tail is suddenly contracted at the fin behind the vent and 

 at the hinder fin of the back. The scales are large, flexible, and 

 indented on the edges, and adhere firmly. The foremost of the 

 detached rays, below the pectoral fins, is about twice as long 

 as the body ; the second is a little longer, and the others short- 

 en gradually to the seventh, which is the shortest. 



The first dorsal fin slopes backward : the hinder fin is cover- 

 ed with scales, and its two foremost rays are undivided and ap- 

 proximated ; the others are branched, and the last is split to 

 the base. The pectoral fins are almost halfway up the side, are 

 longer than the head, and sharp above. Each has seventeen 

 undivided rays, a little longer than the interposed membranes. 

 The ventral fins are small. The fin behind the vent is in the 

 middle between that organ and the end of the tail, and slopes 

 backward. The three first of its rays are undivided and ap- 

 proximated, and the others are branched, the last being split 

 to the base. The tail fin is large, and deeply divided into two 

 sharp unequal lobes, with their points turned inward, and the 

 upper one the longest. It contains seventeen distinct rays, be- 

 sides some short compacted ones at each side. 



