364 INDIAN CYPRINID^. PcBonomiiKB. 



The length of the head to that of the body is as one to four, the back is 

 arched gradually from the snout to the dorsal, ventral margin nearly straight, 

 depth about a third of the length, forty-three scales along the lateral line, and 

 fourteen in an oblique row from the base of the ventrals to the dorsum. The 

 head is thick and fleshy ; the eyes small, and the lips loose and pendulous. 

 The pectorals and ventrals are of about equal size. The fin rays are, 



D.12 : P.17 : V.9 : A.7 : C.19. 



The colour above is dark olive-brown, below yellowish white. The 

 snout is perforated with numerous large mucous pores, and intersected by 

 many deep wrinkles. The specimen here described was found by Mr. 

 Hodgson, by whom it was presented to the Asiatic Society. The Nepura of 

 the Assamese I found as low as Bishenath, where the current is slow, and the 

 bottom sandy ; here its colour is deep blue on the back. It is small, and 

 very rarely met with in Lower Assam ; but above the rapids JNIr. Griffith says 

 it is very common, and attains a large size, and that the fins and tail are 

 dusky, the body below white, above olive-green. He also observes that it 

 refuses all kinds of bait and flies, although like Catastomus dyocheilus, with 

 which it associates, it is frequently seen plunging on the surface. 



RemarJes on the Genus. 



The striking peculiarity of this group consists in the great length of 

 the alimentary canal, and uniformly herbivorous habits of nearly all the 

 species. Tlieir short and feeble fins adapt them to such waters as contain 

 the greatest abundance of plants, from which alone they derive their food. 

 In the numerous dissections I have made of them, Cyprmus mrigala is the 

 only one in which I found a trace of any animal remains in the intestines or 

 stomach. Except the last species described, they are confined chiefly to j eels and 

 ponds, but they are also found in the large rivers where the currents are slow ; 

 but they never, I believe, descend with the rivers to within the influence of 



