APPENDIX C. 
217 
SILURIDJE. 
Clahtas. {Karmouth, Coor.) 
Body eel-sliaped^ naked. One long dorsal fin^ witliout spines^, 
extending from tlie neck to tke caudal j anal long. Jaws with a 
band of villiforin teeth ; a band of villiform or granular teeth across 
the vomer; cleft of the mouth transverse^ anterior^ of moderate 
width ; barbels eight ; one pair of nasal^ one of maxillary^ and two 
pairs of mandibulary barbels. Eyes small. The upper and lateral 
parts of the head are osseous, or covered only with a very thin skin. 
A dendritic accessory branchial organ is attached to the convex side 
of the second and fourth branchial arches, and received in a cavity 
behind the gill-cavity proper. Ventrals six-rayed, behind the pec- 
toral fins ; only the pectoral has a pungent spine. 
The African species of this genus attain to a great size, specimens 
being found of four and five feet in length. 
Clarias anguillaris, L. 
D. 69—73. A. 53—55. P, 1/9. 
Vomerine teeth villiform, forming a band, which in its middle 
is narrower than that of the intermaxillaries ; it has not a process 
behind in the middle of its concavity. Head densely granulated 
above, its length being one-fourth, or rather more than one-fourth, 
of the total. Barbels slender : those of the nostril two-fifths or 
one-third as long as, and those of the maxillaries rather shorter 
than, the head. The pectoral fin extends to, or nearly to, the ver- 
