310 CLASSIFICATION OF FISHES^ ETC. 



sides furnished with cirri ; ventral fins nearly medial ; 



tail very broad and thick ; giU-opening small ; the 



branchia frequently of only three rays. 



Anableps * Artedi. Eyes very prominent^ apparently 

 double j body cylindric^ oblong, the scales strong and 

 compact; head small_, short, much depressed, but not 

 widened; the mouth transverse ; teeth, in both jaws, 

 small and crowded; pectoral fins large, broad and 

 scaly at their base ; ventrals very small, placed close 

 to the anus ; tail nearly as long as the body, with a 

 small dorsal fin in the middle, and behind the anal. 

 A. tetrophthalmus. Gronov. Mus. pi. 1. f. 1,2,3. Bl. pi. 361. 



1. SuBFA^r. COBITIN^. 



Body lengthened ; head with cirri ; mouth inferior ; 

 teeth none ; dorsal fin central, above the ventral. 



CoBiTES. Body lengthened, slender, slimy, cylindrical 

 before the dorsal fin, and compressed on the tail ; 

 caudal fin truncate, or rounded. Europe only ? 

 C. barbatula Linn. Bl. 31. fig. 3. Yarr. i. 376. 



Acoura Sw. General structure of the last, but tha 

 body destitute of scales, and the caudal fin generally 

 lobed. India. 



C. obscura. Hamilt. p. 357. argentata. lb. 358. No. 10. 

 No. 9. (aberrant. ) cinerea. lb. 359. No. 12. 



Canthophrys Sw.f Beneath the eye a moveable prickle 

 reposing in a groove ; mouth with cirri. 



Canthophrys proper. Body destitute of scales ; caudal 



fin rounded. 



C. albescens. Ham. Cob. No. 3. olivaceus. lb. No. 8. 



rubiginosus. lb. No. 6. vittatus. lb. No. 4. (aberr, ) 



Diacantha Sw. Body oval, destitute of scales ; caudal 

 fin forked. 

 C. zebra. Hamilt. pi. 1 1 . f. 96. flavicauda. pi. 29. f. 95. 



* It was Gronovius, and not Bloch, as Cuvier supposes, who first desig- 

 nated this as a genus. 



t Mr. J. E. Gray observes that his genus Botia " includes all Hamilton s 

 Cobites belonging 'to this genus." These I have here characterised as four 

 subgenera. 



