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Show 800 MR. F. DAY ON THE FISHES OF YARKAND. [Dec. 5, Thus we have :-eight species from the head-waters of the Indus, two of which extend to the Great Easterly or Yarkand river of Eastern Turkestan, and one to the Oxus of Western Turkestan ; nine species from the Yarkand river, two common to the Indus and three to the Oxus; four species from the Oxus, three of which are also found in the Yarkand river, and one in the head-waters of the Indus. The foregoing species constitute the fish-collection made in the cold and inhospitable regions traversed by the Mission; and they are of interest for the purpose of ascertaining what are the chief characteristics of the fish-fauna, and what relationship it bears to those of contiguous Asiatic regions, so far as such have been ascertained. In this inquiry it will be necessary to take a survey of the fishes of Afghanistan, Western Turkestan, and Hindustan, before proceeding further respecting those of Tibet and Yarkand or Eastern Turkestan. Most of our knowledge of the Fishes of Afghanistan is due to the labours of Griffith, who remarked:-"The characteristic forms of Afghan fish are doubtless the small-scaled Barbi and Oreini; and these far exceed the others in number .... The fish are as distinct from the Indian forms as the plants are .... By characteristic I do not mean that these forms are limited to Afghanistan, because they occur perhaps to an equal extent in the Himalayas, to the streams of which those of Afghanistan approximate more or less in the common features of rapids and bouldery beds." Having crossed the high range of mountains separating Afghanistan from the plains of Western Turkestan, he found " a great change in the fish to occur, and Salmonida seem to take the precedence of the Cyprinida. A species of Trout abounds in the Bamean river and up its small tributaries, derived from the Koh-i-Baba, to an altitude of about 11,000 feet. A species of Barbus with small scales is likewise common in the Bamean river" (Calc. Journ. Nat. Hist. ii. p. 565). He observes that Indian species were in the majority in the Cabul river (a tributary of the Indus) at Peshawur; and in accordance with the facility or the reverse of access from the plains did he find a predominance of Indian or Afghan forms *. The nature of the fishes of Afghanistan appears to be much as follows:-Absence of Acanthopterygian or spinv-rayed families, except the spineless and widely distributed Ophio'cephalus gachua, Ham. Buch., and the spined eel, Mastacembelus armatus, Lacep., so common in the East from the plains to the summits of mountains. Few Siluroids, but perhaps a Callichrous and Amblyceps. Numerous Cypnnoids which appear to belong to the following genera- Orei- * Griffith states that the Cabul river at Jellalabad presents us with two or three small-scaled Barbi (? Schizothorax) and Oreini, together with certain tropical forms, as the Mahasir (Barbus) and a Silurus very hke, if not identical with, the Poftah Callichrous). Also the same river at Lalpore possesses a fish, I beheve, identical with the Nepoora of Assam (Labeo), and a Gonorrhyn-chus ( = Discognathus). Griffith also mentions a Loach-like Silurus from near Jubraiz (? Amblyceps). |