Cobitis. GANGETIC FISHES. 353 



4th Species. — Cobitis guntea. 



A Cobitis with prickles under the eyes ; with six tendrils ; 

 with cloud-like spots on the sides ; and with eight rays in the 

 dorsal, and seven in each ventral fin. 



The Guntea (Gunte) is found in the ponds and fresh rivers 

 of Bengal, and grows to three or four inches in length. The 

 form is compressed, and wedge-shaped. The skin is slimy. 

 The body above is olive coloured, with a coppery stripe along 

 each side, and below this is somewhat diaphanous. The gill- 

 covers are greenish. The sides are clouded with dark colour- 

 ed dots, collected into clusters, of which, on the middle of each 

 side, there is a row more remarkable than the others. Above 

 the end of each lateral line is a black spot. The rays of the 

 back and tail fins are spotted with olive and white ; those of the 

 other fins with black and brazen. 



The head is oblong, compressed, and blunt. Beneath each 

 eye is a strong sharp prickle, divided at the end into two. Two 

 tendrils proceed from the upper lip, and four from the angles of 

 the mouth. The upper jaw is the longest. The eyes can be 

 turned down so as to see the bottom. The gill-covers are 

 rounded behind, and dotted ; each of their membranes seems to 

 contain three rays, but I cannot be certain of their number. 



The back and belly are straight, and blunt-edged. There are 

 no lateral lines. The body is covered with minute scales. 



The first and second rays of the dorsal fin are undivided and 

 closely united ; the others are divided into two, the last of them 

 to the root. Each of the pectoral fins contains eight rays. 

 The anal fin contains seven rays like those of the back. The 

 caudal fin ends in a straight line, and has seventeen rays. 



