OCR Text |
Show 1871.] FRESHWATER SILUROIDS OF INDIA. 711 spine, and having six to eight rays; adipose dorsal long and low anal of moderate length (fifteen to twenty-three rays); ventral inserted below the dorsal, and having six rays. Caudal rounded or lanceolate. Air-vessel not enclosed in bone. Skin smooth. OLYRA BURMANICA, sp. nov. D. 8 JO. P.\. V. 6. A. 16. C. 17. Length of head j2^, of caudal §, height of body T^-, of dorsal fin y^- of the total length. Jaws of nearly equal length; head depressed; opercles rather pointed. Eight barbels, without dilated bases, of which the maxillary are the longest, almost reaching the base of the ventral fin; the external mandibular are as long as the head. Nostrils patent, wide apart, the posterior provided with a barbel, the anterior just over the snout but not in front of it. Gill-openings wide, the membrane not confluent with the isthmus, and extending laterally to opposite the point of the opercle. Teeth villiform in both jaws, the outer row slightly the largest. An uninterrupted horseshoe-shaped band across the palate. Lateral line present. Skin smooth. Air-vessel large, thin, and not enclosed by bone. Fins. Dorsal without any osseous ray, its first the shortest, the fin commences opposite the ventrals; adipose dorsal very long and low. Pectoral spine rather strong, slightly serrated externally, coarsely so internally; the fin only extends halfway to the ventral. The anal rays increase in length to the last. Caudal with its central rays strongest and elongated, making the fin one third of the total length. Colours. Dark brown. Hab. Pegue Yomas. I am indebted to S. Kurz, Esq., for two specimens, collected by him in 1871. Geographical distribution.-Khasya hills, where M'Clelland obtained O. longicaudata and O. laticeps, to the Pegue hills. SILURUS COCHINCHINENSIS, CUV. et Val. Air-vessel in the abdominal cavity, not enclosed in bone. Geographical distribution.-Besides the specimen recorded by Blyth from Burmah, and the one I obtained from near Akyab, I have now received two more from below Darjeeling collected by Mr. Mundali. This species consequently extends from near Darjeeling, in the Subhimalayan range, to Cochin China, perhaps being confined to the vicinity of hills. The genus, however, has a much wider range,-one species existing in the Wynaad Hills on the Malabar coast; another is recorded from Afghanistan ; and it extends into Europe, where the S. glanis exists. The genus Silurichthys is distributed from Cashmere to the Malay archipelago and China; and the distinctions between the two genera, as at present defined, appear to be but slight. |