OCR Text |
Show 386 MR. C. TATE REGAN OX [Apr. 10, to the base of ventral. Ventrals 9-rayed, originating in advance of the vertical from the middle of the dorsal. Caudal forked. Caudal peduncle deeper than long. Silvery ; a blackish spot on the caudal peduncle, another on the basal part of the dorsal fin ; fins pale yellowish. Three specimens, 70-100 m m . in total length. There are examples of this species from Dominica in the British Museum collection, but it has not yet been recorded from other localities. " Plentiful in the Ravines of the Streatham Lodge Estate." 10. CARAPUS FASCIATUS Pall. " Cutlass Fish." " Found in the Bejucal Swamp and Cumuto. " Colour : head and back dark olive-green ; sides with alternate oblique bars of blackish and grey ; anal fin blackish ; head and body sprinkled with metallic specks." Hab. Paraguay to Guatemala. 11. ARIUS SPIXII Ag. " A silver-grey Cat-fish, found in brackish water at the mouth of the river Caroni, where it attains a large size." Hab. Brazil; Guiana ; Venezuela. 12. ARIUS HERZBERGII Bl. Hab. Brazil; Guiana ; Venezuela. 13. PlMELODUS (RHAMDIA) WILSONI Gill. Depth of body about 5 in the length, length of head 4^-44r. Head covered with skin, nearly as broad as long. Snout twice as long as eye, the diameter of which is 6 in the length of head ; interorbital width 2L. Jaws equal anteriorly; maxillary barbel extending to middle, or even beyond the end of adipose fin ; outer mandibulary barbel about reaching end of pectoral. Occipital process 2^-3 times as long as broad, extending back beneath the skin, separated posteriorly by a distance about equal to its own breadth from the basal shield of the dorsal spine. Dorsal I 6 ; spine slender; middle branched rays a little more than | the length of head ; free edge of the fin convex. Adipose fin commencing a short distance behind the dorsal and extending nearly to the caudal, its length 2-^-2-J in that of the fish. Anal 11, low anteriorly, rounded posteriorly, the rays gradually increasing in length to the eighth or ninth, which is ^ the length of head. Caudal forked; lobes of equal length, the upper pointed, the lower rounded. Pectoral spine with inner edge finely serrated, about £ as long as the fin, which is -i the length of head. Ventrals extending |-| of the distance from their base to the origin of anal. Back olive-green or grey; sides blackish blue splashed with whitish ; lower parts white ; body sometimes covered with dark |