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Show 4 MR. G. A. BOULENGER ON THE [Jan. 15, new to science, two being made the types of additional genera the family Cichlidce. This Memoir will be published in full in the Society's * Transactions.' The following papers were read :- 1. On the Fishes collected by Dr. W. J. Ansorge in the Niger Delta. By G. A. BOULENGER, F.R.S., F.Z.S. [Received January 4, 1901.] (Plates 11.-IV.1) Whilst recently staying at Sapelle Station, at the junction of the Ethiop and Jamieson Rivers, Dr. Ansorge has, at my request, made a small- collection of the Fishes, which proves to be of quite an exceptional interest, from the fact that through it representatives of two families are added to the African freshwater fish-fauna, one being even entirely new, an event that has not happened since 1873, when the late Professor Peters described the genus Pantodon, the type of the family Pantodontida1. I feel extremely grateful to Dr. Ansorge for the trouble he has taken, under difficult circumstances and without better preserving-fluid than common trade-gin. The collection was made in August and September 1900. Some of the small Perch-like fishes (Cichlidce) were caught with hook and line baited with worms. But most of the fishes, including Calamichthys, the Mormyrs, and the new LJhraetola'mus, were captured in creels bailed with the orange-red fleshy nut of the oil-palm, set at the mouth of the Ethiop River, close to the bank. by Dr. Ansorge's native boy. All these fishes are considered good-eating by the blacks. I am pleased to add that the examples of the new species have been generously presented to the British Museum bv Dr. Ansorge. POLYPTERID.E. 1. CALAMICHTHYS CALYBARICCS J. A. Smith. The single specimen contained in the collection, a female measuring 345 millimetres, with 11 dorsal spines, is extremely remarkable for having a very small, but perfectly distinct sub-operculum. The absence of this bone, verified on a considerable number of specimens, had been regarded as one of the generic characters distinguishing Calamiclithys from Polypterus, The coloration of the specimen is a dark olive-brown above oradually shading into a bright yellow beneath ; a large deep-black&spot' oh the pectoral fin. Every possibility of the presence of a suboperculum indicating a 1 For an explanation of the Plates, see p. 10. |