346 



INDIAN CYPRINID^. 



PcEonomincE. 



Ill— Gen. CYPKINUS proprius. 



Body elevated, lower jaw short and rounded in front, lips hard, thick, and 

 without cirri ; dorsal long. 



I. — C. SEMIPLOTUS, J. M. 



Sundaree and Sentoree of the Assamese and Singphos, 

 V PI. 36, fig. 1. 



The head is small and fleshy, depressed at the snout, which is thick and 

 square, with a row of nine large pores extending horizontally round the nose. 



The body is compressed and deep, the upper and lower margins unequally 

 arched, the dorsal is long, and preceded by a spine. The fin rays are, 



D.27 : P.16 : V.9 : A.9 : C.19. 



The colours along the back are greyish black, changing to bluish white 

 along the sides. There are thirty-two scales along the lateral line, and ten in 

 an oblique row from the base of the ventrals to the dorsal. 



Mr. Griflith remarks, that the ordinary weight of this species varies from 

 1^ to 2^ pounds, and that it is usually found near rapids; the larger ones in the 

 deeper waters, where they are seen, particularly of an evening, rising to the 

 surface, but they refuse all sorts of flies and baits, although if a stone be cast 

 into the water, all these fishes in the vicinity assemble round the spot. The 

 Dhoms (fishermen) take them by a casting net, observing great silence, and 

 frequently first dropping a stone to assemble the fish in the spot on which it 

 is intended to cast the net. 



Structure. — The opercular plates and bones of the head are concealed 

 beneath a thick skin, or integument. The intermaxillary is fixed to the 

 maxillary bones, and these last to the nasal and suborbitar plates, so as to 



