328 INDIAN CYPRINIDJi. PcBonomincB. 



is rather more than thrice the altitude ; the scales are very small, and extend 

 in rows along the sides, seventy-eight in each row, and thirty in an oblique row 

 from the base of the ventrals to the dorsum ; the head is less compressed 

 than the body. The fin rays are, 



D.16 or 17 : P.15 : V.9 : A.7 : C.19. 



The lips are continuous round the mouth, double and fimbriated on 

 their margins, and formed for collecting a loose soft food of a confervoid kind, 

 which occurs abundantly in most of the waters of the plains of India, and 

 the remains of which is plentifully found in the intestines. 



The stomach is a long tapering tube, which terminates gradually in an 

 extremely lengthy but narrow canal, which instead of being disposed in cir- 

 cular or serpentine convolutions, appears coiled in complicated meshes which 

 occupy more or less of the abdominal cavity, according to the state of ingesta 

 at the time the specimen is examined. The waters in M'^hich this species appears 

 to delight, are the larger rivers where the currents are sluggish, and the 

 banks formed of sand or mud ; or extensive jeels, such as those on the north- 

 eastern side of Bengal, It seldom attains a greater size than a foot in length, 

 is excessively bony, and rather insipid as an article of food. 



The variety of this species described by Buchanan under the name 

 of Cyp. cursa is distinguished by four cirri, and eight rays in the anal fin. 

 The following are the characters of one which is common in Calcutta — seventy- 

 eight scales along the lateral line, thirty-eight in an oblique row from the base 

 of the ventrals to the dorsum ; under lobe of the caudal smaller than the 

 upper; no cirri; intestines and stomach thirteen lengths of the entire animal. 

 The fin rays are, 



D.17: P.16: V.9: A.7: C.!«. 



Plate 59, figs, 1, 2, represent the structure and disposition of the 

 scales. Were I sure that my collection is complete in the varieties described 



