432 INDIAN CYPRINIDiE. Apalopterince. 



In the SchisturcB the stomach is also lunate, but there is one or two con- 

 volutions of the intestine on its surface, and the alimentary canal is somewhat 

 longer, equal to about the length of the body. 



M. Agassiz, Mr. J. E. Gray, and Mr. Swainson, have divided the old 

 genus Cobitis according to the presence or absence of suborbitar spines, retain- 

 ing the term Cobitis for the spineless, and each proposing a separate name for 

 the spined Loaches. 1 have already observed, that I have sought in vain for 

 other characters that might justify a division so simple and obvious ; the result 

 is, that I find it quite untenable, since it separates species otherwise most in- 

 timately allied to each other; while, on the contrary, it brings the most 

 opposite forms together. No two species bear a more marked impress of one 

 common genus than Cobitis oculata, t. 51, f. 1, and Cob. pavonacea,i. 52, f. 1., 

 yet the one has suborbitar spines, and the other is without them. No two 

 species look less likely to be members of the same natural group than Cobitis 

 dario, Buch. P. G. t. 29, f. 95, and Cob. cinnamomea, t. 51, f . 5 ; yet both 

 have suborbitar spines — both would belong to M. Agassiz's genus Acan- 

 thopsis, to Mr. Gray's genus Botia, and to Mr. Swainson's Canthophrijs, which 

 are all names for the same thing. 



alluded to, it is reasonable to suppose that this newly detected relation between Siluridce and Cobi- 

 tince will be received as confirmation of Mr. Swainson's view, which may be further supported by 

 the form of the air-vessel in those Loaches in which it is membranous, and placed in the abdomen, 

 as Cobitis dario, Buch. ; for neither in that species, nor in any of the Siluridce which I have ex- 

 amined, is it divided by a stricture as in Cyprinidce, 



But notwithstanding the relations here pointed out between the Loaches and Silurida;, 

 the bones of the shoulder, the bones of the head, and the spines, and covering of the body in the 

 two groups, seem to prove that the relations between them are those of analogy, while the ab- 

 sence of teeth, the presence of scales and soft fins, indicate an affinity of the Loaches to the Cyprins, 

 which has induced nearly all authorities on the subject since the time of Artedi to place them conti- 

 guous to each other, until Cuvier at length comprised them under one common family. 



