152 BULLETIN 188, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Usually, however, the examples that reach the markets are obtained 

 with set lines, cast nets, and other nets. The usual size of those caught 

 is 25 to BO cm. . The smallest fish seen by tlie present author, taken in 

 the Meklong at Ban Pong on November 25, 1924, was 18.2 cm. long. 



The life colors are distinctive and attractive. A specimen, 60 cm. 

 long, taken near Sai Yok on the Kwe Noi on September 23, 1929, had 

 the body a rich creamj^ yellow with 7 narrow, longitudinal black 

 stripes, the head bright greenish yellow, the iris red, the dorsal, anal, 

 ventral, and pectoral rays pink and membranes blackish, and the cau- 

 dal blackish. 



Not much is known of the habits of this fish. Its mouth is very 

 protractile like a sucker's, and its food is chiefly water plants. The 

 intestines of one, about 35 cm. long, taken in the Meklong at Rajaburi 

 December 4, 1925, were filled with vegetable material. Although the 

 fish is found near the mouths of the two large rivers mentioned, it 

 never enters salt water. It is said to spawn near Eajaburi, but there 

 is no definite information on this point. 



In Thailand this fish is very highly esteemed as food, and on the Mek- 

 long it is the most celebrated local species, yielding the fishermen two 

 to three times the price commanded by Lates calcarifer (Bloch) , which 

 is the standard high-grade fish. In 1923 a government official at 

 Eajaburi paid 17 ticals for a large fish, at the rate of a tical per 1.2 

 km. (a tical at that time being worth about 40 American cents). The 

 fish is always in such demand that the fishermen quickly dispose of 

 their catch. 



Wherever this fish is known in Thailand it is called ^Za eesoh^ a name 

 given to no other species. 



Genus RAIAMAS Jordan 



Ralamas Jordan, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 70, p. 344, 1919. (Type, 

 Cyprinus bola Hamilton.) 



RAIAMAS BOLA (Hamilton) 



Cyprinus lola Hamilton, 1822, pp. 274, 385 (the Brahmaputra). 

 BarlUus 1)01(1 Fowler, 1934a, p. 141 (Chiengsen). 



This species was reported by Fowler from the Mekong at Chiengsen, 

 three specimens 22.2 to 31 cm. being available. This is the only local 

 record. The previously ascribed range is Burma, Assam, Bengal, 

 Orissa, and the Northwest Provinces of India. In Assam a weight of 

 5 pounds has been reported, and the fish there ranks high for its gamy 

 qualities. 



It may be pointed out that whereas the lateral-line scales are stated 

 by Day as 88 to 94, Fowler gives 48. If the latter figure is not an error, 

 another species must be involved, probably Barilkis guttatm (Day) ; 

 and B. bola must be considered a very doubtful Thailand species. 



