INDIAN CYPRINID^. 



229 



lower jaw prove them to be scarcely less rapacious ; yet I am not sure 

 as to the accuracy of separating them from one or other of the preceding- 

 genera, merely on account of the size and position of the dorsal and anal fins, 

 particularly as the dental hook is only of importance in distinguishing them 

 from some of the Pceonominw. 



20. After this outline of the structure of Sarcohoiince, a few remarks 

 regarding their colours will be necessary, as embracing another principle 

 on which the divisions have been formed. The whole of the sub-family 

 Pceonomince are remarkable for their uniformly plain colours, consisting of 

 olive-green, bluish-grey, or brown extended along the back, and softened 

 off on the sides so as to leave the lower surface of the body an impure 

 white, partaking more or less of the colours of the back. The fins partake 

 of the sober hues of the adjoining parts of the body, the pectorals and 

 ventrals, as well as the branchial membranes and irides usually displaying 

 after death a slight blush of red caused by the capillary effusion of blood in 

 those parts. Of the species with which I am acquainted, not one possesses a 

 brilliant spot of any pure colour, but when we approach the limits of 

 the next group we begin to find in the Gonorhynchs, obscure dark spots 

 on either side of the tail of some of the species, as G. himaculattis. 



21. But, on the other hand, as soon as we cross the verge of the herbi- 

 vorous group and enter the carnivorous, we find such spots as those alluded to 

 become brighter and more numerous, and the opercula and fins to be stained 

 with yellow and red in deep and natural tints. To Systomns, the first genus 

 of this group, the Gold-fishes,* commonly called Golden Carp belong. The 

 intestinal tube of the Systoms though only thrice the length of the body, or 

 half the length of the abdominal tube in those herbivorous species in which it 

 is shortest, is nevertheless twice the length of the same organ in any of the 



* CypriHiis a lira f us ouctonon. 



E 



