220 
THE FISHES OF MALABAR. 
Scales—With well-marked lilies radiating from their anterior margins. The rows run obliquely 
towards the back. 
Lateral line—Strongly concave, situated in the lower fifth of the body, and parallel with the 
abdomen. 
Colours—Four horizontal yellow lines pass from the head to the tail, the highest and lowest 
of which are much less brilliant than the others: between these lines the colour is bright blue. 
Lower part of the abdomen silvery. A bright blue spot on the opercle. Fins finely dotted with 
black. A dark fine runs along the centre of the caudal. 
Common in the rivers of Malabar, and also found in most of the tanks of stagnant water. Is 
eaten by the Natives. Grows to three inches in length. It is closely allied to Perilampus Mala- 
baricus, Jerdon (which I conclude belongs to this genus) : but has one ray less in the dorsal and 
anal fins, and the coloration differs, as the Perilampus Malabaricus is said to have vertical streaks 
and spots of yellow, &c. 
Habitat—Malabar. 
Genus BASBOBA, Bleeker. 
Branchiostegals, three: pseudobranchise. Body oblong or moderately elongated; abdomen rounded. 
Snout sharp, depressed: jaws covered by lips. Cleft of mouth oblique : tip of lower jaw hooked. Pre¬ 
orbital pentagonal. No cirri. Eyes with free lids. Pharyngeal teeth in three rows, hooked. Dorsal 
fin with scales at its base, situated behind the ventral. Anal short. Scales large or of moderate size. 
Lateral line strongly concave. 
Basbora Malabarica. 
Leuciscus Malabaricus, Jerdon , Madras Journal, xv. p. 320. 
Kokanutchee, Mai. 
B. in. D. f. P. 15. V. 9. A. f. C. 19. L. 1. 34. L. tr. f. 
Length of head I, of base of dorsal of base of anal Ao °f caudal ^ of the total length. 
Height of head of body i, of dorsal of the total length. 
Eyes—Diameter above | of length of head, 1 diameter from end of snout, upwards of 1 dia¬ 
meter apart. 
Profile rises gradually to a little before the first dorsal, and then still more gently slopes to 
the root of the caudal. Abdominal surface about as convex as that of the back. Side compressed, 
and the head still more so. 
Mouth oblique, and directed slightly upwards, with a short protuberance at the apex of the 
lower maxilla, which is received into a corresponding fissure in the intermaxillaries. Snout appears 
rather elevated. Preorbital irregularly quadrangular. 
Fins—Pectoral situated under the margin of the posterior third of the subopercle. Ventral 
arises two scales beyond its extremity, and one scale in front of the dorsal: anal arises opposite 
the twenty-first scale of the lateral line. The dorsal is highest in front. First unbranched ray 
rather more than half as long as the second, which is the highest: last ray not half as high as the 
anterior part of the fin. Anal with the first unbranched ray very short, the second nearly half as 
