FRESH-WATER FISHES OF SIAM, OR THAILAND 



439 



The species, with S. orientalis, is very well known to the river people 

 in Central Thailand, and is the subject of the erroneous popular belief 

 that it attaches itself to the bottom of boats and makes a musical sound. 



There is a considerable variation in the number of lateral-line scales 

 and of dorsal and anal rays in this species. This variation is illus- 

 trated in the following table of 15 specimens from the Menam Chao 

 Phya and Menam Tapi. The scales are counted in the row above the 

 lateral line, from the upper angle of the gill opening to the base of 

 the caudal fin : 



Record of the dorsal and anal rays and lateral line scales in 15 specimens of Synaptura panoides 

 from the Chao Phya and Tapi Rivers, Thailand 



According to a letter from J. R. Norman, of the British Museum, 

 Synapttora siamensis Sauvage, described in 1878 from Stung Strang in 

 what was then Siamese Laos, is a synonym of S. panoides. Sauvage 

 gave dorsal rays 68, anal rays 54, and lateral line scales 88. 



The usual vernacular name is pla lin kwai (buffalo-tongue fish) , but 

 the term pla lin ma (dog-tongue fish) is also applied. 



SYNAPTURA AENEA H. M. Smith 



FiGUBE 96 



Synaptura aenea Smith, 1931a, p. 32, fig. 15 (Lopburi River). 

 BracMrus aeneus Fowlek, 1934a, p. 145 (Chiengmai) ; 1937, p. 216, figs. 198-202 

 (Kemarat, Pitsanulok). 



At the time this species was described, from the Lopburi River at 

 Lopburi, the ancient capital of Thailand, it was known only from 

 that locality, but it has since been found at Pitsanulok, near the mouth 

 of the Nan River, in Central Thailand, at Kemarat on the Mekong 

 in Eastern Thailand, and at Chiengmai on the Meping in Northern 

 Thailand. 



The largest specimens examined have been the type, 9.4 cm. long, 

 from Lopburi and one 9.8 cm. long, which was one of eight collected 

 in the Meping at Chiengmai by H. G. Deignan. 



The pectoral fins are as described by Weber and de Beaufort ( 1929, 

 vol. 5, p. 167) , that is, "with a broad base, rudimentary rays and with 



