THE SILURINVE, OK EEL SILURES. 345 



seen in Silurus laticeps, fig. 84.) : it consequently re- 



84 



suits that the vent is much nearer to the pectoral; fin 

 than to the caudal, and that the anal fin is unusually 

 long : this is almost the universal character of every 

 fish within the circle ; although in some of the aberrant 

 genera it is, of course, less conspicuous than in the 

 more typical. The first type that meets us, after quit- 

 ting the Pimelodince, is Ayeniosus, at present composed 

 of only three known species, which belong to two sub- 

 genera. In Ageniosus proper, we place the Silurus mi- 

 litaris of Linn.*, remarkable for having the intermax- 

 illaries developed in the form of two suberect bony 

 and serrated spines, resembling horns, which are placed 

 before the eyes : the head, as in Breviceps, is broad and 

 depressed; the mouth very wide; and the first ray of 

 the dorsal greatly elongated. The second sub-genus we 

 have named Siloniaj" (S. lurida, -fig. 85.), as apparently 



the true type of the genus. Although in this type there are 

 two cirri, yet they are so small as to be nearly obsolete : 

 it thus seems to connect Ageniosus to the genus Pachyp- 



* Bloch, pi. 362. 



f Pimelodes silondia, Hamilt. pi. 7. fig. 50. 



