24 
SECOND YAEKAND MISSION. 
S . micropogon, Heck.; S.pilmifrons, Heck. ; S. csocinus, Heck. ; Cirrhina goharna^ 
Ham. Buch. ; Barbus tor, Ham. Buch. ; Labeo varicorhinus, Heck. ; Nemac iei 1 
marmoratus, Hcclc. ; Callichrous pabda. Ham. Bach. 
These fishes demonstrate relationship with three districts : — 
Schizothorax with Afghanistan and East and West Turkestan; 
Oreinus with the slopes of the Himalayas in their whole extent ; 
Cirrhina, Barbus, and Callichrous with the neighbouring fauna of Hindustan. 
Haying examined what are the ingredient parts of the fish fauna of Western Turkestan, 
Afghanistan, Hindustan, Yarkand or Eastern Turkestan, Tibet, and Kashmir, it will he m ( ' 
esting to endeavour to discover if these localities are possessed of any indigenous forms, an > 
so, how far they extend into contiguous countries. _ oJ , 
I do not propose inquiring into whether the great desert region of Central Asia ca 11 ^ 
cannot he included in one Tartarian subregion ; hut, as the zoology of this portion o 
globe is at present rather obscure, I think it will be more useful to limit oneself stnc y 
ascertained facts. . o £ 
Sir D. Eorsytli’s Mission has led naturalists into the fringe of an ichthyological region ^ 
which Yarkand may be the centre ; certainly it is richer in forms of Schizothoracince 
Western Turkestan appears to be. . r _ 
In the cold and hilly districts of Tibet and Yarkand we observe an absence of S P 1J ^ 
rayed and Siluroid fishes ; whilst amongst Carps we see the genera Schizothorax, d U 
barbus, S chizopy gopsis, and JDiptychus — fishes belonging to a peculiar division Schizothorac 
(or Hill-Barbels of M’Clclland), which may be thus defined : — 
Carps more or less covered with minute scales, or destitute of any. A membranous saC ^ 
slit anterior to the anal fin, which is laterally bounded by a row of vertically placed scales, 
eave-tiles, and ivhich are continued along the base of the anal fin. 
The fishes composing this are mostly of an elongated form, and are divisible into : 
a. Those with transverse mouths, as Oreinus, Btychobarbus, S chizopy gopsis, Diply c ^ llS ’ 
b. Those with compressed mouths, as Schizothorax. 
The genus Oreinus is spread from the Helmund Biver and Jellalabad in Afghan^ 1 ’ 
along the whole Himalayan and contiguous ranges of hills to at least the confines of u 
So far as I know, these fishes appear to be strictly residents of rivers in hilly re ® I0 „ 
neither descending far into those of the plains nor found on the level plateaus on the s ^ 
mits of the mountains. This accounts for their absence from the Yarkand collection ■ 
from the foregoing 
^ extracts it appears probable that they are not found to the north o ^ 
Oxus. This genus appears to be on the outskirts of the rest of its group ; and its nl ° 
armed with a sucker, to resist its being Trashed away, makes it well able to sustain a n 
tain-torrent life. j 
The other genera are more or less spread in the following districts. Erom the He ^ 
Biver and the eastern portion of Afghanistan, the upper part of the Oxus, and the ^a® ^ 
portion of Western Turkestan, the Tian Shan or Celestial Mountains, and also the 
mountains more to the south, they extend along the Himalayan region, certainly as far aS 
most easterly part of Assam. local- 
These fishes ( Schizothoracince ) are confined to cold regions, as a rule, or at least to ^ 
ities possessing snow-fed rivers, many of which rivers end in lakes and do not go to lC 
