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Show 338 ON FISHES FROM THE GOLD COAST. [Nov. 18, L abeo w a l k e r i sp. n. (Plate XXXIII.) Closely allied to L. brachyjioma. D. 14. A. 7. L. lat. 33. L. transv. 4/6. Mouth broad. Lips very thick, with a distinct inner fold in their entire circumference; lower lip fringed along its anterior and posterior margins. Snout thick, produced, much projecting beyond the lower jaw, with a broad lobe on each side; the terminal portion of the snout is rather contracted and turned upwards ; maxillary barbel small, hidden in the lateral groove. Eye lateral, immediately below the upper profile, about as large as the exposed portion of a scale, situated entirely in the posterior half of the head. Head small and thick, a little less than one fourth of the total length (without caudal); the width of the flat interorbital space one half of the length of the head. Gill-cover very short. There are three longitudinal series of scales between the lateral line (which is indistinct) and the ventral fin. The free portion of the scales much higher than long. Dorsal fin high, with the upper margin straight, equidistant from the root of the caudal and the front margin of the orbit; anal extending to the root of the caudal, at least in our largest example ; caudal forked. Pectoral fin not reaching the base of the ventral; ventral inserted in front of the vertical from the last dorsal ray. Body moderately elongate, tail strongly compressed ; the height of the body is not quite one fourth of the total length (without caudal); free portion of the tail as deep as long, its greatest depth being two thirds of the length of the head. Coloration uniform. Snout covered with tubercles in mature specimens. Several specimens from Nyankoma, the largest measuring 205 millim. H a p lo c h ilu s s p il a u ch e n Dum. Town of Akropon, and Infoan (a village on a tributary of the Offim R.). H a p lo c h ilu s in f r a - fa sciatus Gthr. Bokitsa Mine (Wasa district); Ii. Atesu. A lestes lo n g ip in n is Gthr. Alestes chaperi Sauvage, Bull. Soc. Zool. France, vii. 1882, p. 320, pi. v. fig. 3. From the examination of a long series of specimens, including types of A. longipinnis and A. cliaperi, I come to the conclusion that the two forms should not be specifically separated. A. longipinnis was described as having the origin of the dorsal fin nearer to the end of the snout than to the root of the caudal, A. chaperi being distinguished by a more backward position of that fin. However, in some of the specimens before me the first dorsal ray is exactly midway between those two points; and I am unable to find any other specific differences. |