OCR Text |
Show in the nutrition of the fry. In a female 377 millim. long the structure is but little developed. Text-fig. 62. A B 336 DR. A. GUNTHER ON [Nov. 18, Mouth of Clirysiclithys lagoensis. A, palatal view; B, lower view. A m p h il iu s platycjhir Gthr. This species varies somewhat in the relative proportions of the dorsal fins. In well-nourished and well-preserved examples the adipose fin rises along a greater extent of the dorsal profile, thus approaching nearer to the rayed fin : a condition not rarely observed in other Siluroids with a long adipose fin. The barbels are distinctly compressed. The back of these Gold Coast specimens is marbled; dorsal and caudal fins with a black band across the base and another across the middle. The specimens were collected on the River Atesu, and are probably young, being 2| inches long. The occurrence of these specimens at no great distance from the mouth of the river proves that Amphilius is not confined to mountain-streams \ N o to g l an id ium , g . n Head broad, depressed, covered with thick skin; eyes small, without free orbital margin, situated at the upper side of the head; posterior nostrils in a pit rather nearer to the eye than to the end of the snout, anterior in the upper lip, terminating in a short tube pointing downwards. Snout broad, with rather wide mouth and three pairs of barbels. Teeth minutely villiform, none on the palate. Gill-membranes attached to the isthmus without 1 The typical specimens are stated to be from Sierra Leone, and there is no reason to doubt the correctness of the statement (see Boulenger, Ann. & Mag. N. H. 1898, i. p. 254). They were given to me on the occasion of a visit to Fort Pitt Museum in 1862 by one cf the Army surgeons, who had brought them from Sierra Leone where he had been stationed. |