OCR Text |
Show 1880.] MR. F. DAY ON THE FISHES OF AFGHANISTAN. 231 doubtedly Indian forms. Labeo diplostomus and L. dyocheilus, Cirrhina latia, Barbus tor, and Botia geto are fishes with a widely extended range, found on many of the Indian hills, while some extend far into the plains; while two at least, Barbus tor and Cirrhina latia, are evidently extensively spread in Beluchistan and Afghanistan. Perhaps among the fishes which I obtained on the Sind side of these hills, Scaphiodon leads us most naturally from the Persian to the Indian fauua. S. irregularis seems to be a common form near Quetta; but I have only obtained it in Sind from the highest point of one of the mountain-streams ; whereas S. watsoni, which seems to commence on the summit of these hills, passes down into the waters of the plains, and is found even in the salt-range of the Punjab. The fishes in the collections adverted to as obtained from the high lands of the Beluchistan range of hills furnish us with a single instance of an Acanthopterygian from the Bolan Pass, a locality which perhaps we may well object to as not being at a high elevation. This fish is the Mastacembelus armatus, which I likewise obtained from one of the rivers descending from this range to Sind. But this fish may have passed up from the Sind side, being found throughout the Indian region both on the plains and even on the hills, while it extends to China. This genus has likewise been recorded from Syria and also from West Africa. Among the Siluroids Griffith records Silurus kuggur from the Bolan ; the Kuggur in Sind is the Rita buchanani, a fish one would hardly expect to find in this locality ; still it exists in the Cabul river at Peshawur and all down the Indus. Another fish, a Macrones. is likewise termed kuggur in some localities ; and several species are spread through Sind, one of which may oe the form referred to ; it would seem, however, to be a straggler from the Indian region. Callichrous pabda was obtained in the hills by Dr. Duke; it is remarkable that this form has also been taken at as great a height as Darjeeling in the Himalayas ; while it is also found along the deltas of the Ganges, Indus, and Brahmaputra. It may perhaps be considered a vagrant form and a straggler from the Indian region, when, finding some warm valley, it remains there and propagates its kind. The Cyprinidae form the bulk of the collections ; and we may observe the following fishes present on the high lands of Kelat and Quetta:-Cirrhina latia, also found near Gwadur, and observed generally through India except south of the Kistna and on the Malabar coast; Scaphiodon irregularis, which, passing along these hills, extends to their Sind aspect; S. aculeata not only at Quetta, but also at Gwadur; S. microphthalmus, Quetta; Barbus tor, largely distributed in the Indian region; B. milesi, both from those hills and Gwadur; B. terio, another widely spread Indian form. It is evident, if we may judge from the foregoing facts, that the fish-fauna of this range of hills differs essentially from what obtains along the summit of the Himalayas; for the Schizothoracinse, so very typical of what exists there, are entirely absent from the Beluchistan range. |