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Show 802 MR. F. DAY ON THE FISHES OF YARKAND. [DeC. 5, SALMONIDAE. Salmo oxianus, Kess., river Darant, falling into the Kisil-su, one of the upper tributaries of the Oxus. ESOCID^E. FSOX lucius, Linn., Jaxartes and its tributaries. CHONDROPTERYGII. Acipenser schipa, Lovetsky, Jaxartes, Casalius river. Scaphirhynchus fedtschenkoi, Kess., Oxus. The foregoing fishes of Western Turkestan * mainly consist of, first, those descending from the north or spreading from the east or west, such as Perca, Lucioperca, Cottus, Gobio, Abramis, Acantho-brama, Pelecus, Alburnus, Aspius, Squalius, Leuciscus, Acipenser, and Scaphirhynchus. Secondly, those common to Afghanistan and Yarkand, as Schizothorax, Barbus, Loaches (? genus). Thirdly, those found also in Yarkand, as Schizothorax and Diptychus. Fourthly, Silurus (which will be alluded to). Lastly, Salmo, on the slopes of the mountains where the rivers descend to the Oxus. The existence of one of the Salmonidae, termed Salmo orientalis by M'Clelland, was well known to Dr. Stoliczka; and an especial object of his search (as he informed me previous to starting) would be to try and ascertain what its distribution was. Griffith found this fish " in the Bamean river, a stream that falls from the northern declivities of the Hindoo Koosh into the Oxus." Kessler does not record any of this family from the Jaxartes, or, in fact, from the rivers immediately descending from the Tian Shan or the Alatau Mountains. W e are therefore left to surmise that in the hills whence these fishes were taken is the abrupt termination of members of the family Salmonidae, which does not possess a solitary representative in Hindustan, except the S. levenensis (introduced on the Neilgherries in Madras). If we now take a short review of the Freshwater Fishes of India, we find much as follows:- ACANTHOPTERYGII. Genera Ambassis, Badis, Nandus, Pristolepis, Sciana, Gobius and some allied genera, Bhynchobdella, Mugil, Anubas, Polyacanthus, Osphromenus, Trichoyaster, Etroplus exist in India, but are absent from the fresh waters of Afghanistan, Turkestan and Yarkand. Whether existing only in large rivers or distributed more generally over India, none pass the boundary of the Himalayas. Mastacembelus and Ophiocephalus are found in India and also in Afghanistan ; both also ascend for some height the Himalayas and other hill-ranges. PHYSOSTOMI. SILURIDJE. Genera Erethistes, Macrones, Rita, Pangasius, Pseud- * I have to thank Mr. F. Carl Craemers for kindly translating some Russian localities, which I should not otherwise have been able to give. |