FRESH-WATER FISHES OF SIAM, OR THAILAND 431 



1923, eight specimens were caught from a launch in a few minutes on 

 a hookless line, to which a small particle of raw shrimp was attached. 



The maximum length appears to be about 18 cm. 



The exact status of the fish of the Ganges basin that Hamilton in 

 1822 called Esox ectuntio remains to be determined satisfactorily, but 

 from the information available to the present writer he feels that the 

 name ectuntio may appropriately be retained for a common Thailand 

 species. Wliile the original description was long, few diacritical fea- 

 tures were brought out, and some statements were directly contradic- 

 tory. In one place the lower jaw was said to be three times longer 

 than the upper and in another place thrice as long, but in a detached 

 highly abbreviated key the jaws were given as subequal and the body, 

 which was elsewhere credited with large scales, was stated to be 

 scaleless. 



Bleeker (1866-72 [301], vol. 6, p. 62) recognized ectuntio as a Zenar- 

 chopterus and suggested it was identical with Z. huffonis (Cuvier and 

 Valenciennes, 1846), which latter name he unwarrantedly held should 

 apply to the species if the two forms should eventually prove to be 

 the same. On the basis of the relative length of the jaws, iuffonis, 

 with the lower jaw 5.75 to 7 times as long as the upper, could not be 

 ectuntio, with the lower jaw only 3 or 4 times as long as the upper. 

 Zenarchopterus hufonis, rated as a distinct species by Giinther, Weber 

 and de Beaufort, Mohr, and others, has interest in the present catalog 

 only because of its assumed identity with ectuntio. 



"Weber and de Beaufort (1922, vol. 4) recognized Z. ectimtio as a 

 distinct species of wide distribution (Indo- Australian Archipelago, 

 Singapore, Siam, Hongkong, Burma, etc.) and assigned Z. horneensis 

 (Bleeker) and Z. ainblyurus (Bleeker) to the synonymy. Characters 

 attributed to the species of these authors are: Triangular part of 

 upper jaw nearly twice as long as broad; length of lower jaw beyond 

 tip of upper jaw 3 to 4 times in total length of fish; entire head 2 to 

 2.3 times in standard length ; scales in the lateral line 48 to 50 ; dorsal 

 rays 13 or 14; the second to fourth rays in the male enlarged and 

 elongated ; anal rays 10 to 12 ; the sixth and seventh rays in the male 

 enlarged and thickened. 



Day (1878), listing this species under the name Remirliainp'hus 

 ectuntio, described the upper jaw as twice as long as broad and gave 

 a figure (plate 119, fig. 6) in which the lower jaw projects beyond 

 the upper jaw for twice the length of the latter, thus agreeing with 

 one of Hamilton's statements. Day recorded H. aniblymms and H. 

 horneensis as synonyms of H. ectv/ntio. 



In a valuable revision of the genus Zenarchoptejnis, Mohr (1926a) 

 did not recognize Hamilton's ectuntio as a valid species. He consid- 

 ered it not even a hemiramphid, much less a Zenarchoptei^us, and sug- 

 gested that one might regard it as a Belong, a genus of gars with 



