FRESH- WATER FISHES OF SI AM, OR THAILAND 453 



sular, and Southeastern Thailand, but definite records for Northern 

 and Eastern regions seem to be lacking. It abounds in small weedy 

 streams, and is often found in company with Betta. In Southeastern 

 Thailand it occurs in brooks on Kao Sabap at an elevation of 2,000 

 feet. In Januar}^ 1926 young specimens were collected by the writer 

 in a pond in the grounds of the celebrated temple of Angkor Wat in 

 Cambodia. 

 The maximum length attained in Trailand is about 6.5 cm. 



Figure 97. — Trichopsis vittatus (Cuvier and Valenciennes). Drawn by Nai Chote 

 Suvatti; courtesy of the Thailand Government. 



The species is subject to considerable variations in color, even in 

 examples from the same locality. Giinther (1861, vol. 3) noted in two 

 specimens collected in Thailand by Mouhot a difference in coloration 

 from that shown in fishes from Java and Borneo : the Thailand fishes 

 having three blackish longitudinal bands with a round bhick spot at 

 or near the shoulder in the uppermost band, as against two brown 

 longitudinal bands in Javanese fish and four black longitudinal bands 

 in specimens from Borneo. A numerous lot of adult and young speci- 

 mens from a canal in Bangkok, May 1934, showed the three blackish 

 longitudinal bands, which are the normal in Thailand fish, with some 

 of the adults having a distinct black shoulder spot and others no such 

 spot. Dissections made by Dr. Leonard P. Schultz indicate that this 

 spot characterizes the males. 



T. vittatus is an attractive and hardy aquarium fish, and it has 

 become popular in occidental countries. In Thailand it was less active 

 and more reserved than Betta., often refusing food when Betta would 

 take it, but it was a determined pursuer of mosquito larvae. Like 



590087—45 30 



