THE FISHES OF MALABAR. 149 



Colours — Dark greyish above, dirty white beneath, with bands of grey passing vertically from 

 the sides on to the abdomen : besides those streaks, there are some small dark grey spots inter- 

 mingled. Cheeks and lower surface of the mouth streaked and spotted witb grey. Vent ral white, 

 spotted with black or dark grey. Anal deep grey, with a lino of greyish white at its base, which 

 is also spotted. 



In a young specimen, captured June 17th, 1863, the posterior margin of the dorsal has a large 

 black ocellus, and an orange tinge, whilst the bands of the body are continued on to the dorsal 

 and anal fins. 



These fish are said to attain three feet in length, and inhabit all stagnant pieces of water and 

 rivers, whilst their young may be found in every paddy field. They are able to progress to some 

 distance along the ground, especially in moist places, and thus readily change their locality at the 

 commencement of the monsoon. In progression they move by the aid of the pectoral and caudal 

 fins. Owing to the cavity, capable of retaining water which is accessary to the gill cavity, they can 

 live many hours out of their native element. I am informed that Captain Mitchell of the Madras 

 Museum endeavoured in 1864 to try experimentally whether, if the 0. striatus, the anabas scan- 

 dens, and the saccobranchus singio were placed in suitable locabties, and the superincumbent 

 water were gradually removed, they would endeavour to force themselves into the mud beneath. 

 Several inches of soft mud from a neighbouring tank was put inside a large vessel, and this 

 was covered by a few inches of water. Here the fish were placed, and the water was permitted 

 to gradually drain away, until only mud remained. All the fish died without attempting to bury 

 themselves, the O. striatus being the last retaining vitality, and they rubbed for themselves a 

 depression into which water drained whilst any remained, and then they also died without attempt- 

 ing to force their way into the mud. 



This fish is very good eating, but muddy in some pieces of water. It is very voracious, and 

 takes a bait freely. 



Habitat— Fresh waters of India, Ceylon, Burmah, Siam, Malaysia, China, and the Philippine 

 Islands. 



Ophiocephalus GACHUA. 



Ophiocephalus gachua, Ham. Buck. pp. 68, 367, pi. 21, f. 21 ; Guntker* Catal. iii. 

 p. 471. 



* Dr. Gilnther is of opinion that the O. auranfiacus, Ham. Buchanan, is identical with this 

 species, hut considering the latter comes from a mountain stream, whilst the 0. gachua is from the low 

 country, and the colours widely differ, I have not inserted it amongst the present synonyms, but would 

 suggest that it is a subject for further investigation. In justice to the researches of that talented 

 naturalist, Br. Hamilton Buchanan, I would observe that Br. Gilnther is mistaken in asserting of this 

 fish (pi. 23, f. 22) that " in fact the drawing is taken from the Hardwicke collection," for the work of the 

 former preceded that of the latter by eight years; whilst he died a year before the commencement of the 

 publication of " Illustrations of Indian Zoology." It can hardly be considered a good reason that because 

 the specimen does not now exist in Dr. Buchanan's collection, that he never possessed it, especially as he 

 distinctly states, " I found it in a pure mountain stream near Goyalpara, in the .N. E. frontier of Bengal." 

 Any one desirous of ascertaining how the two sets of drawings became intermixed may do so by referring 

 to Br. McClelland' s paper in the Asiatic Researches, six. p. 218, et seq., and Sir John Richardson's 

 " Eeport on the Ichthyology of the Seas of China and Japan," in the report of the fifteenth meeting of " the 

 British Association for the Advancement of Science," p. 188. 



