FRESH- WATER FISHES OF SIAM, OR THAILAND 443 



1&. Brood pouch subcaudal. 



3a. Superior cristae of trunk and tail continuous Ichthyocampus 



3&. Superior cristae of trunk and tail discontinuous Syngnathus 



Genus MICROPHIS Kaup 



Microphis Kaup, Arch. Naturg., vol. 19, pt. 1, p. 234, 1853. (Type, Syngnathus 

 deocata Hamilton. ) 



The brood pouch in this genus is restricted to the abdominal region 

 and is comparatively deep, with its sides protected by diverging plates 

 projecting from the lower edges of the trunk shields. The small, 

 numerous eggs occupy open cells in the swollen skin of the abdomen. 

 Two species from Thailand are distinguished by the following 

 characters : 



la. Dorsal rings 21 to 24, tail rings 34 to 40, subdorsal rings 2 to 5+6 or 7, 

 dorsal rays 47 to 61 ; shields of trunk and anterior part of the tail with 

 blue vertical bands (silvery in preservative) boaja 



16. Dorsal rings 17, tail rings 28, subdorsal rings 1+5, dorsal rays 30; fifth to 

 fifteenth trunk shields with prominent black oval spots annandalei 



MICROPHIS BOAJA (Bleeker) 



Syngnathus boaja Bleeker, 1851 (28), p. 16 (Borneo). 



Microphis boaja Bleeker, 1865 (356), p. 172 (Siam).— Sauvage, 18S3b, p. 155 



(Menam Chao Phya). — Webek and de Beaufort, 1922, vol. 4, p. 47 (Siam). — 



HoRA, 1923b, p. 183 (Bangkok, Nontaburi). 

 Doryichthys boaja Peters, 1868, p. 276 (Siam). — GtJNTHEB, 1870, vol. 8, p. 180 



(Siam). — voN Martens, 1876, p. 407 (Bangkok). 



The range of the fish includes China, French Indo-China, Malaya, 

 and various large islands in the East Indies. This is the commonest 

 and largest of the Thailand pipefishes. Specimens have been exam- 

 ined from the Tale Sap and the Tale Noi, in Peninsular Thailand, 

 and from the Menam Chao Phya at Bangkok, Nontaburi, and 

 Ayuthia. 



In the last-named region a length of 47 cm. is attained. The largest 

 examples met with in Thailand have been 30 cm. long. 



MICROPHIS ANNANDALEI Hora 



Microphis annandalei Hoba, 1924a, p. 472 (Tale Sap). 



Known from an adult and two young collected by Dr. Annandale 

 in the inner lake of the Tale Sap at Patalung, this species is very close 

 to M. boaja^ differing therefrom, according to Hora, in having fewer 

 dorsal rays (30 as against 47 to 61), fewer trunk and tail rings (17+28 

 as against 21 to 24+34 to 40), and coloration. The type, 10.25 cm. 

 long, is a male, and the young were thought by Hora to have dropped 

 from its brood pouch. A male and a female 12 to 13 cm. long from 

 a small brook in the town of Nakon Sritamarat, July 17, 1928, have 

 black spots on the fifth to the thirteenth trunk rings very distinct. 



