FRESH- WATER FISHES OF SI AM, OR THAILAND 331 



5a. Jaw teeth long, unequal, wide set, in several rows; teeth on vomer in 

 a single transverse patch ; eye above angle of mouth ; ventral 



rays 9 or 10 Wallago 



56. Jaw teeth in a villiform band ; eye behind angle of mouth ; ventral 

 rays 7 or 8. 

 6a. Vomerine teeth in 2 transverse patches of 2 rows of teeth connected 



by a single row of teeth Silurodes 



66. Vomerine teeth in 2 separate patches Ompok 



36. Dorsal fin rudimentary or absent. 



7ff. Vomerine teeth in 2 separate patches ; maxillary barbel short, hooked, 



bony Ceratoglanis 



76. Vomerine teeth in a single transverse baud ; maxillary barbel fila- 

 mentous Kryptopterus 



Genus WALLAGONIA Myers 



Wallagonia Myers, Copeia, 1938, No. 2, p. 98. (Type, Wallago leerii Bleeker.) 



It is unfortunate that the time-honored name of Wallago, borne by 

 these fishes since 1858, has had to yield to the law of priority and be 

 reassigned to the species to which it was originally given by Bleeker 

 in 1851, In that year, Bleeker, as was his custom in making use of 

 colloquial names, took the Indian fish name ivallago, gave it generic 

 rank, and employed it in connection with a new species {dinema) not 

 found in India. There was no separate description or diagnosis of 

 the genus Wallago, a circumstance that led Weber and de Beaufort 

 (1913, vol, 2) to reject the name as applied to dinema and to adopt it 

 as used later by Bleeker with an entirely different connotation. The 

 generic characters, however, were included with the specific diagnosis, 

 as was done before and since Bleeker's day for genera that are now 

 recognized as valid, and there seems to be little doubt that Wallago 

 dinema should stand as originally set forth. 



Seven years after Wallago dinema was established, Bleeker, with 

 a vagarious turn such as is often associated with outstanding genius, 

 adopted the name Wallago for two fishes not congeneric with the 

 original Wallago and created a new generic name, Belodontichthys, 

 to accommodate the species he had formerly placed in Wallago, but 

 this time he called it macrochir and designated dinema as a synonym ! 



Dr. Sundar Lai Hora of the Indian Museum in Calcutta (1936a) 

 discussed this nomenclatorial question in its varied aspects and retained 

 the name Wallago in its secondary application in the hope that, the 

 matter having been referred to the International Commission on 

 Zoological Nomenclature, the names Wallago and BelodoiUichthys in 

 their more recent signification may be included among the nomina 

 conservanda. Dr. Hora recognizes, however, that under a strict in- 

 terpretation of the accepted rules the name Wallago is not available for 

 the fiehes later so called. 



