470 BULLETIN 188, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Enormous numbers of fla chori^ running into millions of individ- 

 uals each year, are consumed by the Thai. In addition to use in a 

 fresh condition, large numbers are preserved by being sun-dried; the 

 fish are decapitated, split, deeply gashed in regular lines, and cured in a 

 fiat shape, which facilitates packing and transportation. 



The high reputation as a food fish that the pJa chon has among the 

 Thai is deserved. The flesh is firm, white, practically boneless, and of 

 a most agreeable flavor. The writer found the flavor suggestive of 

 that of the American black bass. 



One of the daily sights in Bangkok and other communities with 

 fish markets is that of someone walking home with a live pla chon 

 dangling head upward from a short length of bamboo fiber, secured 

 around the fish just back of the pectoral fins. 



A curious fishery is carried on about the Tale Noi and in other 

 swampy areas in which the pla chon abounds. With the progress of 

 the dry season and the evaporation of the water, the fish go deep into 

 the mud and are there sought by the fishermen, who wade into the stiff 

 mud to their waist or above and reach the fish by using a long knife 

 to cut away the mud in layers, the fish being found singly or in clus- 

 ters in cavities in the mud. This is a laborious occupation, but it is 

 justified by the high esteem in which the pla chon is held as a food 

 fish. 



OPHICEPHALUS GACHUA Hamilton 



Ophioceplialufi gacliua Hamilton, 1822, pp. 68, 367, pi. 21, fig. 21 (Bengal). — 

 Kakoli, 1882, p. 171 (Slam).— Sauvagb, 1883b, p. 151 (Menam Chao Phya).— 

 Webeb and de Beaufort, 1922, vol. 4, p. 321 (Siam). — Hoka, 192ob, p. 181 

 (Bangkok, Koh Chang). 



Ophicephalus gachua Fowler, 1934a, p. 149 (Chieugmai, Doi Sutep, Chiengdao, 

 Metang, Chantabun, Bua Yai) ; 1934b, p. 330 (Ban Thung Luang). 



Vhanna gachua Fowler, 1939, p. 75 (Trang). 



The distribution of this species is wide. From Java, Borneo, Suma- 

 tra, and other East Indian islands, the fish ranges to Indo-China, 

 Malaya, Thailand, the Andaman Islands, Ceylon, Burma, India, 

 Baluchistan, and Afghanistan. 



In Thailand this fish, while found in lowland waters as at Bangkok 

 and in lakes, is characteristic of mountain streams. Specimens from 

 such streams have been examined from Ronpibun, Peninsular Siam ; 

 Koh Chang, in the Gulf of Siam off Southeastern Thailand ; and from 

 various brooks in the Northern area tributary to the Meping, the Me- 

 kong, and the Salwin. In the Khun Tan Mountains the fish has been 

 found in Huey Luk at an elevation of 2,000 feet, while on Doi Hua Mot, 

 in Huey Melao, it has been collected at 3,300 feet. Specimens from a 

 pool in a hill stream on Koh Yao Yai, an island off the west coast of 

 Thailand, were obtained by Dr. A. F. G. Kerr. The collections made 

 for the U. S. National Museum by H. G. Diegnan contain numerous 

 specimens from the Northern region ; Nong Pratip, off the Meping at 



