XXX 
INTRODUCTION. 
are also omitted, as they appear to be only briefly detailed for collectors on the spot, and will no 
doubt be more fully described in his forthcoming’ work on the “ Fishes of India.” Some of his 
new species I have considered as identical with specimens in my own collection, as th e Nemacheilus 
( cobitis) rubripinnis: Puntius parrali (Systomus amphibius) : Puntius (systomus) Hamiltonii : 
Rasbora (Leuciscus) Malabarica. 
Being compelled to return to the East, but unwilling to defer the publication of my re¬ 
searches on the Ichthyology of Western India, a difficulty respecting the classification arose in 
the preparation of this work, as I determined not to attempt any innovations in the existing 
nomenclature. 
As several systems of Ichthyology are now passing through the press, and each begins at 
a different point, my descriptions could not be classified in accordance with the views of 
any individual author, consequently the following have been adopted : — For the Acanthop- 
tenyyii and Anacanthini the “ Catalogue of the Fishes of the British Museum,” by Dr. Gunther, 
a work of most elaborate research, invaluable to travellers, and to those who have neither the time 
or opportunity, had they the untiring energy, necessary for the examination of the numerous 
ichthyological works and notes of scientific travellers. For the Physostomi and Plectognathi, 
Dr. Bleeker’s arrangement in his magnificent “Atlas ichthyologique” —so far as it is published— 
a splendid record of personal industry in the East, unwearied research amongst the finny tribes 
in Malaysia and elsewhere, and a model of accuracy in the discrimination of families, genera, and 
species. For the Lophobranchice, Dr. Kaup’s “ British Museum Catalogue and for the Plagio- 
stomi, Dumeril’s “ Ichthyologie generale ” in the “ Suites a Buff on.” The alterations in the 
classification have been made as few as possible, commensurate with giving the whole collection in 
a connected manner. To increase the utility of the work, all fishes recorded by other observers as 
having been collected in Malabar have been added, which, if not at present in my collection, are 
denoted by * before them. 
In order to avoid employing more synonyms than possible, only those given in the following 
works and papers have been enumerated, except in the case of those authors who first named the 
species:— Bussell’s Fishes of Coromandel, 1803 ; Hamilton Buchanan’s Fishes of the Ganges, 
1822 • Gray and Hardwicke, Illustrations of Indian Zoology, 1830 ; Cuvier and Valenciennes, 
Histoire Naturelle des Poissons, 1828-1849 ; Bennett’s Selections from the most remarkable and 
interesting of the Fishes of Ceylon, 1834 ; McClelland’s Indian Cyprinidce, in the XIXth volume of 
the Asiatic Besearches, 1839, and his various papers in the Calcutta Journal of Natural History; 
Sykes’ Fishes of the Dukhan, in the second volume of the Transactions of the Zoological Society, 
1841; Cantor’s Malayan Fishes, 1849; Jerdon’s Fresh-water Fishes of Southern India, in the 
Madras Journal of Literature and Science, XVth volume, 1848-49; Gray’s Chondropterygii in the 
British Museum, 1851; Kaup’s Catalogue of Apodal and Lophobranchiate Fishes in the British 
Museum, 1856 ; Bleeker’s Atlas Ichthyologique, up to the commencement of Volume V, 1862-1865; 
