454 BULLETIN 18 8, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Betta^ it needs to take in atmospheric air at frequent intervals. A 

 dozen to 20 fishes in a balanced aquarium in Bangkok regularly 

 moved as one fish in rapid excursions to the surface and back again to 

 the bottom. 



The fish makes a high-pitched croaking sound, and in aquarium 

 literature has come to bear the name of croaking gourami. In Thai- 

 land the males are sometimes made to fight like Betta^ but the action 

 is much less spirited and less sustained than with the fighting fish. 



This species, for many years called Gtenops vittatus, has been pro- 

 nounced by Myers (in Herre and Myers, 1937) as not congeneric with 

 Ctenops 7iohiUs McClelland, the orthotype of the genus. The earliest 

 available name seems to be Trichopsis (Kner) Canestrini, 1860. 



Herre and Myers (1937) have expressed the opinion that Trichopsis 

 harrisi Fowler from Southeastern Thailand is a doubtful species. 

 Fowler separated harrisi from vittatus on the possession of eight anal 

 spines as against six or seven and on color. Specimens in the U. S. 

 National Museum, from widely separated points in Thailand rep- 

 resenting typical vittatus, have seven or eight anal spines, and some of 

 them show the coloration ascribed to harrisi, including the extension 

 of the lowest longitudinal band along the cheek and under side of head. 

 It is believed that harrisi falls within the limits of variation of vittatus. 

 It may be noted that Giinther (1861, vol. 3) gave the anal spines as 

 numbering six to eight. 



The common vernacular name is pla hrim. A name used in the 

 Chantabun region is pla hat pa (wild biting fish) . 



Genus BETTA Bleeker: Fightingfishes 



Betta BUEKEE (25), Verb. Batav. Genootsch. (Ichth. fauna Java), vol. 23, p. 14, 

 1850. (Type, Betta trifasciata Bleeker.) 



Most of the dozen or more species of Betta inhabit Borneo, Sumatra, 

 and Java and several occur in Malaya. Only two closely related forms 

 have been found as far north as Thailand, as follows : 



la. Head broad ; interorbital space wide and flat ; anal rays II, 20 to 25 ; caudal 

 rays produced ; back bluisb black, sides light brown, belly whitish ; 2 or 

 3 blackish longitudinal bands, one from snout to base of caudal, one from 

 under eye across opercle and thence along base of anal fin, one (often 

 indistinct in life) from upper edge of eye to upper part of caudal peduncle ; 

 gill membranes light colored; dorsal fin light brown, with obscure lines 

 of dark spots; caudal and anal fins brown; ventral and pectoral fins 

 whitish taeniata 



1&. Head less broad ; intex'orbital space narrow and convex ; anal rays II to IV, 

 21 to 24 ; caudal rays not produced ; dark greenish above, red below, scales 

 dark edged; a dark oblique stripe from eye to subopercle; sometimes 2 

 dark longitudinal bands from eye to base of caudal ; gill membranes black- 

 ish ; rays of dorsal fin dark, membranes green with dark undulating 

 stripes; caudal rays red, membranes green; anal and ventrals red; pec- 

 torals pale splendens 



