366 INDIAN CYPRINID^. P(S07iomince. 



obvious than its nature ; whether Mr. Prinsep found any peculiarity in the 

 water to account for it or not, I never heard ; and although the circumstance 

 is curious, I mention it chiefly as an instance of Mr. Prinsep's vigilance re- 

 garding every thing of interest, however trivial to ordinary observers. 



v.— Gen. GONORHYNCHUS. 



This genus was formed by the elder Gronovius, author of various me- 

 moirs on fishes during the middle of the last century, from a single species 

 found at the Cape of Good Hope ; and though no increase to the number of 

 species has since been made, I find that we have no fewer than eight in India, 

 many of which were described by Buchanan under the sub-generic name 

 Garra, in his ninth division of the Cyprins. 



Their very remarkable appearance and peculiar habits, pointed them out to 

 Buchanan as a distinct group, but it is not easy to account for Buchanan, as 

 well as all subsequent writers, overlooking their affinity to the Cape fish 

 described by Gronovius. Buchanan observed them to live amongst rocks 

 and stones in rapid mountain torrents and rivers with pure sandy bottoms, 

 on which account some of them are called by the natives Balitora, or sand- 

 diggers ; the word Garra also refers to the same habit. 



The head is long, and covered with a thick integument so as to conceal 

 the branchial rays and opercular plates. The eyes are small, and placed rather 

 more backward than the middle of the head ; the mouth is small, transverse, 

 and situated in the lower surface of the head, and is opened and closed by means 

 of the muscular structure of the snout, which projects considerably in front ; 

 the dorsal and anal fins are small and without spines, the former placed opposite 

 to the ventrals. The vent is situated immediately behind the ventral fins, and 

 not at the front of the anal as in the Gudgeons. The liver is very small, 

 and occupies the front part of the abdominal cavity except in G. gohioicles, in 

 which, as in some of the Gudgeons, it is either altogether absent, or dispersed 



