OCR Text |
Show 1893.] FISHES FROM BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA. 627 head is contained four times and one third in it. Eye large, shorter than the snout, and one fourth of the length of the head, occupying a position somewhat anterior to the middle of the head, The snout is pointed, with the mouth resembling that of a Clupeoid, the jaws having sharp margins, but being toothless ; lower jaw not projecting when the mouth is closed, but provided with a short syraphysial hook ; bones of the suborbital ring, and particularly the praeorbital, dilated. Head fiat above; interorbital space rather Engraulicypris pinyuis. narrower than the orbit. All the fins are short and feeble. The ventrals inserted somewhat nearer to the root of the caudal fin than to the end of the snout. The first dorsal ray is somewhat in advance of the first anal ray and nearer to the root of the caudal than to the gill-opening. Caudal emarginate. All the scales are lost, but from the impressions of the skin it would appear that there are nine or ten scales in a transverse series below the origin of the dorsal fin. Back dark bluish green, this colour being sharply defined from the silvery of the sides and lower parts ; sides of the head bright silvery. The middle of the caudal fin is blackish with whitish centre. Two specimens, 4 inches long, in bad condition, are sent by the Rev. J. A. Williams. I cannot help thinking that this fish, if it occurs in any great numbers and is easy of capture, might be preserved in a way similar to Anchovies and would form a useful addition to the food of the European community. HAPLOCHILUS JOHNSTONI, Sp. U. D. 7. A. 12-13. L. lat. 29. L. transv. 7. The height of the body is one fourth or one fifth of the total length, without caudal; the length of the head a little less than one fourth. Head compressed ; snout somewhat depressed; lower jaw projecting beyond the upper. The width of the interorbital space is less than one half of the length of the head. The diameter of the eye equals the length of the snout, and is a little less than one third of the length of the head. The origin of the dorsal fin is twice as distant from the eye as from the root of the caudal, and corresponds to the seventeenth scale of the lateral line or to the ninth anal ray. Pectoral fin extending beyond the root of the ventral. None of the fins elongate. Coloration of specimens in spirit uniform reddish olive; a fine bluish line runs along the scales of the lateral line. |