480 BULLETIN 188, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



fresh waters of Thailand, there are several others {C. tnyops (Giin- 

 ther), C. urotaenia (Bleeker) ) that in other regions are known to enter 

 fresh water and may be looked for in the lower courses of Thailand 

 rivers. 



These fishes are eaten locally and sometimes reach the city markets, 

 but they are very bony and their food value is low. They are well 

 known to the fishermen, and throughout their range in Thailand have 

 the name pla kamao. 



The genus Ghanda, established by Hamilton (1822) comprised a 

 number of species that in later years have usually been called Ambassis. 

 The first unquestioned species named by Hamilton was C. ruconius; 

 ruconius, however, is a Leiognathus (Lacepede, 1802) . Chanda setifer, 

 which Hamilton doubtfully referred to his genus, is a Gerres ( Cuvier, 

 1829). All the other species, seven in number and congeneric, were 

 adopted by Cuvier and Valenciennes (1828, vol. 2, pp. 175-187) as their 

 own and placed in their genus Ambassis, with additional species of 

 their own and of Lacepede. In 1839 Swainson established the genus 

 Hamiltonia, as a substitute for Chanda, and gave thereunder two 

 species, one, ovata, identified as Chanda nama Hamilton by Swainson's 

 reference to Hamilton's figure, the other lata ( an obvious misprint for 

 Chanda lala Hamilton, which by another obvious error was assigned 

 the same figure number as C. nama). Swain (1882, p. 276) designated 

 Hamiltonia ovata as the genotype. The history of Chanda became fur- 

 ther complicated in 1853 when Bleeker established the genus Bogoda 

 and described thereunder a single species {''''Bogoda nama Blkr.") , put- 

 ting in the synonymy Chanda nama, 'phula, and bogoda of Hamilton 

 and Ambassis nama, phida, and bogoda of Cuvier and Valenciennes. 

 Bleeker subsequently (1876-77 (301), vol. 8, p. 131) regarded Bogoda 

 as a synonym of Hamiltonia, but retained the generic name Ambassis 

 for various species of the Indo-Australian Archipelago and India, 

 including Cha,nda nalua Hamilton. A still further encroachment on 

 Chanda was made by Bleeker in 1874 when he established the genus 

 Pseudambassis, with Ambassis lala as the type. According to Day 

 (1878) Ambassis lala is the young of Chanda rang a Hamilton. 



From the foregoing statements it would appear that Chanda is a 

 valid generic name and that Ambassis^ Hamiltonia, Bogoda, and 

 Pseiidambassis are synon^^ms of Chanda. 



Weber and de Beaufort ( 1929, vol. 5) , in their definition of the genus 

 Ambassis (i. e., Chanda), say: ^^Ventrals * * * without a scaly 

 axillary process." This is an oversight. All specimens of many spe- 

 cies examined in Siam (Smith, 1933d) had well-developed axillary 

 scales; and Dr. de Beaufort, when his attention was drawn to the mat- 

 ter, found axillary scales in all of his material in Amsterdam. 



The species of Chanda known in Thailand may be distinguished as 

 follows : 



