192 BULLETIN 18 8, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Some specimens from the headwaters of the Menam Mun at Pakjong 

 have shown only 14 scales surrounding the narrowest part of the 

 caudal peduncle (16 the typical number). One specimen from a lot 

 taken in the Meping at Chiengmai had only 7 branched dorsal rays 

 (all the others 8). A curious abnormality in a specimen 8.3 cm. long 

 from a waterfall brook on Kao Sabap, Southeastern Thailand, was 

 in the lateral line of the right side which, instead of being continuous 

 as on the left side, dropped to the next lower row of scales after the 

 fifth scale. Still another aberrant specimen from Nong Yang, a lake 

 back of Sriracha in Southeastern Thailand, has on one side 5.5 rows of 

 scales between the midline of the back and the lateral line and on 

 the other side 4.5 rows. 



Eight specimens, the largest 11.2 cm. long, collected by the writer 

 from the Meping near the base of Doi Chiengdao, Northern Thailand, 

 January 20, 1932, are in general agreement with P. orphoides^ with 

 16 scales around the narrowest part of the caudal peduncle. 



The singularl}^ apt name of pla ham cham (bruised-cheek fish) is 

 borne by this fish in most parts of Central Thailand. In Nakon 

 Sritamarat the fish is called pla labok. Along the Meping, at Chieng- 

 mai, and at Chiengdao, the people know this species as pla pok or 

 pla sa pok^ while on the Meyom a variant name is pla pok som. Still 

 another name, heard along the Menam Mun near Korat in Eastern 

 Thailand, is pla hax) smoh muk. 



DOUBTFUL OR INVALID SPECIES OF PUNTIUS ASCRIBED TO 



THAILAND 



PUNTIUS BOCOURTI Bleeker 



Puntius (Barbodes) bocourti Bleeker, 1865 (347), p. 35 (Siam) ; 1865 (356), p. 

 176 (Siam). 



In the first paper cited, Bleeker simply named this fish as a new 

 species, and elsewhere in the text he mentioned it and others as "restent 

 a decrire." In the second paper the species is listed without comment. 

 No description has ever appeared, and the species has no standing. 

 Sauvage (1881) in a mere footnote without any explanation cites 

 Puntius hocourti as the same as P. alius (Giinther). As Sauvage had 

 access to the material that Bleeker so named, his course may be fol- 

 lowed. See Puntius altus^ p. 189. 



PUNTIUS LAOENSIS (Gunther) 



Barbus laoensis Gunthee, 1868, vol. 7, p. 115 (Laos Mountains, Cocliin China). 

 Puntius laoensis Saxjvage, 1881, p. 163 ('"LaGS, Petscliabnri, en Siam.") 



This fish was described by Giinther from a specimen 3.75 inches 

 long, collected by the explorer Mouhot in the Laos Mountains of the 



