t 



188 IiriLVA, ITS I'EOPLE AND rRODUCriOSS. 



unknown among the Burmcsp, who arc hirge consumers of fish, both fresh, and in the 

 form of tainted fish-paste, neither is it known among the iclithvophagous Andamanese, 

 wliercas in India it is equally common among both the classes who do and those 

 ■who do not eat fish. The wounds inflicted by the spines of various sorts, with which 

 many fish are armed, arc usually angry and painful; but this is mainly due to their 

 jagged character, though in some degree perhaps intensified by the mucous with 

 which they are covered. In one instance, however, a veritable poison organ exists 

 in a fish from Guatemala, Thalassophryne reticulata, a sort of ' lump-fish,' which is 

 armed with a hollow fin spine (analogous to the poison fang of serpents), from which 

 a poisonous mucus is on pressure ejected. 



Class PISCES. 



Yertcbrata with extremities modified into fins, and which breathe by means of 

 gills, sometimes supplemented by a pulmonary air-sac. Vertebra; biconcave. 



Sub-class TELEOSTEI or ELEUTHEROBRANCHII. 



Skeleton osseous. A long gill cover, or opercle, protecting a unilocular gill 

 opening. 



Order ACAXTHOPTEIIYGII. 

 FamiJij Percidse. 



Branchiostegals 7. Pseudobranchiaj ijresent. Anterior portion of the dorsal 

 fin spinous. 



Lates, Cuvier et Taloiciennes. 



Preorbital and shoulder bone serrated. Teeth villiform on jaws, vomer, and 

 palatine bones. Tongue smooth. Two dorsal fins united at theii- bases, the first 

 with 7 or 8 spines, the anal with 3. Caudal rounded. 



L. CALCAKIFEE, Bloch. 



L. heptadadijlus. 



The ' Cockup,' or 'Bekti.' Ka-ka-dit (juv.), Ka-tha-boung (adult). 



B. vii.; D. 7-8 XT^-; P. 17; V. i; A. ^^^ ; C. 17 ; Ltr. 6-1^3. 



Colour grey, with a dash of green along the back, and silvery below. During 

 the monsoon it is tinged purplish. 



The air-vessel is thin, but yields a good isinglass. It is exce^llent eating when 

 caught away from the vicinity of large rivers. It salts well, and from it some of 

 the best " tamarind fish " is prepared. 



Inhabits the sea, estuaries, and tidal rivers, and Mason says it ascends the 

 Irrawaddy 120 miles. 



CfiOMiLEriEs, Swainson. 



Branchiostegals 7. Pseudobranchia;. Prcopercle with its vertical limb finely 

 serrated, its horizontal one entire. Teeth fine, in jaws, vomer and palate. Dorsal fin 

 elevated, with 10 or 11 spines. Anal with 3. Caudal rounded. 



C. ALTivELis, Swain. 



B. vii. ; D. iS-i J ; P. 18 ; V. i ; A. r^; C. 17. 



■ Scales cycloid, about 22 rows between the base of the sixth dorsal spine and the 

 lateral line. 



Colour greyish, lighter below, covered with round white-edged black spots, 

 larger on the body, dorsal and caudal fins. 



The Xicobars. 



