CLARIAS CAPENSIS. — Cuv. et Val. 
Pisces. — Plate XXVII. 
C. superne sordide olivacea, subtus subcarnea pallide flavo-brunneo-tincta ; capite depresso, ore antice 
liiante; naribus parvis superne patentibus; pinna caudale postice lunuata; linea laterale antice 
curvata postice recta. 
Longitudo e capitis apiee ad extremitatem pinnee caudalis 25 unc. 
Colour. — The upper and lateral parts of the head, the back, the sides of 
the body, and the fins, intermediate between apple and oil-green, darkest on 
the head. The lower parts of the sides of the head and the body, as also all 
the under parts, intermediate between flesh-red and wood-brown, and these, 
in common with the parts first specified, exhibit a distinct coppery tint in 
certain lights ; cirrhi light honey-yellow ; eyes straw-yellow. 
Form, &c. — Figure rather slender ; head long, broad, depressed, and 
nearly as wide at the muzzle as at the hindhead ; body, anteriorly, sub- 
cylindrical, posteriorly compressed. In fresh specimens the surface of the 
head and body, which are destitute of scales, are smooth and covered wdth a 
semi-transparent glutinous fluid, like what occurs on eels {Anguilla), &c. 
In dried specimens the upper and lateral parts of the head appear covered with 
large bony plates, the surface of which is rough and granular, as will be seen 
on reference to the figure representing a dried head. Three of these plates, in a 
row, are distinctly visible on the side of the head behind the eye, and a fourth 
under a portion of the second and third, appearing to constitute a rudimentary 
gill-cover. The covering of the upper part of the head appears to be undivided, 
and to be only variegated by the existence of a few furrows, destitute of 
granules, and by two oval depressions in the course of the mesial line ; the 
anterior is of considerable length, situated between the eyes, and considerably 
wider behind than in front, the other is towards the nape, and very short as 
compared with the former. The hinder edge of the plate covering the upper 
surface of the head has three projecting points, with two semi-lunar crescents 
between them, the convexity of each forwards; the middle projection is in 
the centre of the nape, in front of the dorsal fin. Mouth broad and opening 
directly in front; jaws short and of equal length; cirrhi eight, those at the 
