404 BULLETIN 188, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



flatypogon in having the insertion of the ventrals posterior to the 

 dorsal base, and is the only local form having this feature. In 1939, 

 however, Fowler said : "Likely Glyptothorax fuscus Fowler 1935 [sic] 

 may be synonymous with G. prasJmdV This suggestion can hardly 

 be accepted if the position of the ventral fins with reference to the dor- 

 sal, the length of the maxillary barbels, coloration, and similar char- 

 acters have significance in this genus. 



Family TACHYSURIDAE 



The tachysurids are a large and important family of fishes in Thai- 

 land, inhabiting both fresh and salt waters. Of the five local genera, 

 which may be easily distinguished by the characters given below, 

 three are known to practice oral incubation of their eggs. 



la. Palatal teeth present. 



2a. Barbels restricted to a minute mandibulary pair Batrachocephalus 



2&. Barbels restricted to a stiff semiosseous maxillary pair__Osteogeneiosus 



2c. Barbels in 3 pairs (maxillary, mandibulary, and mental) Tachysurus 



1&. Palatal teeth absent. 

 3a. Mouth opening wide, extending behind eyes ; a single series of incisorlike 



teeth in each jaw Ketengus 



36. Mouth opening small, not extending nearly to eyes; a band of villiform 

 teeth in each jaw Hemipimelodus 



Genus BATRACHOCEPHALUS Bleeker 



Batrachocephalus Bleekeb (3), Nat. Geneesk. Arch. Ned.-Ind., ser. 2, vol. 3, 

 pp. 147, 176, 1S46. (Type, Batrachocephalus ageneiosus Bleeker.) 



BATRACHOCEPHALUS MING (Hamilton) 

 FiGUBE 90 



Ageneiosus mino Hamilton, 1822, p. 159 (Ganges). 



Batrachocephalus mino Smith, 1931d, p. 179 (Chantabun and Nam Cheo Riv- 

 ers).— Fowlee, 1935a, p. 102 (Bangkok) ; 1939, p. 43 (Krabi). 



One of the most curious of the catfishes, its range embraces Thai- 

 land, India and Burma, where it appears to be not common, and 

 Java, Borneo, and Sumatra, where, according to Bleeker, many speci- 

 mens were collected and distributed among various European muse- 

 ums. It is one of the rarest catfishes in Thailand, being unknown 

 there until 1926. Only five specimens have as yet been recorded 

 locally, three from the Southeast area, collected for the Siamese 

 Bureau of Fisheries in 1926 and 1927, one from Bangkok, and one from 

 Krabi reported by Fowler in 1935 and 1939. 



A length of 25 cm. is attained. 



The resemblance of the head of this fish to that of a frog is striking. 

 The eye is large and placed near the tip of the short blunt snout. The 

 dorsal and pectoral spines are denticulated on both anterior and pos- 



