164 
The same author gives the genus the following characters ; — 
“ Body elongate, compressed, and covered Avith minute scales ; 
eye of moderate size ; vertical tins, continuous ; ventral fins re- 
placed by a pair of bifid filaments (barbels) inserted below the 
glosshyal ; teeth in the jaws, on the vomer and on the palatine 
hones ; the outer series in the jaws, and the single series on the 
palates, contain strong teeth ; lower jaw received within the 
upper ; vent situated at some distance behind the pectoral ; 
seven or eight hranchiostegals ; gill'opening wide ; gills, four, a 
slit behind the fourth ; pseudohranchiae and air-bladder present ; 
pyloric appendages in small number (six). 
GENTPTEETIS ATISTEALIS. 
{The Socle Line?) 
Height eight times in the total length, and one and a-half 
times in that of the body ; eye seven and a-half times in 
the head ; the barbels in the young specimens about one-third 
the length of the head, but in the old specimens one-half this 
length ; in the young the outer filament is much shorter than the 
inner half ; but in the large ones they are about equal. 
The teeth of the jaws are on two series ; the outer ones are 
large, thick, conical, and wide apart one from the other ; the inner 
ones smaller, of the same form, but placed nearer one to the 
other, and sometimes two by two ; in the young specimens the 
teeth are more slender ; the inner ones in numerous series and 
arched. The lateral line is well marked on the full length of the 
body, except on its posterior eighth part ; it is formed of several 
lines placed near one another, and having a notch from dis- 
tance to distance ; the number of these notches is about forty- 
seven ; at some of these there is a short oblong appendiee. 
The scales are small ; the transversal lines numbering nearly 
three hundred; the pectorals are all contained about two and a- 
half times in the length of the head. 
The general colour is of a light lilac ; the belly is white ; the 
body is covered with large marbled blotches, irregular in form, but 
generally rounded ; on the hack they are confluent, and they ex- 
tend over the head. The eye is silvery. The dorsal and anal are 
dark and marbled like the body; the extreme edge of the dorsal 
is white, and the one of the anal flesh colour ; pectorals spotted 
