266 Records of the Indian Museum. [VOL 1. 
migrates considerable distances overland in search of ponds and 
streams, when desirous of a change. ‘‘It is an irritable creature, 
swelling its head whenever angered; and constantly, when it can, 
buries itself in putrescent carcases.’’ ! 
Every year a large number of elvers, measuring two or three 
inches in length and perfectly transparent in colour, ascend the 
rivers Cooum and Adyar about November. 
Uses.—Though good to eat there is little demand for this eel. 
It is consumed chiefly by Mahomedans. A. elphinstonei attains a 
large size; a specimen in the Madras Museum measures 4:2 feet in 
length. 
Anguilla australis, Richardson.’ 
(A. bicolor, McClelland, of the Fauna of Brit. India.) 
A rarer species than A. elphinstonet in Madras but resembles 
it in habits. It is a smaller species, attaining a maximum length 
of about two feet. 
Haplochilus melanostigma, McClelland. 
(PISXXV Migs. 1) 364; LO ipl xxi ose 2-00). 
Tamil—Munda Kanni (=big eye). 
McClelland’s specific name melastigma (Gr. = black spot) has 
been corrected in the Fauna of British India into melanostigma, 
which is the correct etymological rendering of the word. 
The caudal fin is truncated and not rounded in Madras 
specimens. 
In the adult male, which is larger than the female, the anal fin 
has most of its rays prolonged in a filiform manner beyond the 
membrane, and each premaxilla has about four coarse ‘ teeth’ 
at the angle of the mouth: whereas in the female the anal rays 
are not prolonged and the premaxilla is drawn out into a bifid 
‘tooth’ at the angle of the mouth. 
Habitat and Habits.—This very common species abounds in 
ponds and rivers in both fresh and brackish water; in the latter 
it seems to thrive best, as the largest specimens in my collection 
are from the Cooum within tidal influence. It inhabits the shal- 
lows of ponds and rivers, where it affects the surface and swims 
very close to it frequently with its mouth touching it. ‘‘ When 
swimming in their natural surroundings, the surface of the head 
is kept almost on a level with the plane of water.’’* The flat 
head and the transverse mouth are adaptations to surface feeding 
and the species is well-known as an effective mosquito-destroyer. 
The habit of inhaling the oxygenated surface water enables it to 


! Hamilton-Buchanan, Fishes of the Ganges, p. 22. 
2 Max Weber, Revision der Indo-Pacifischen Anguillidz. Zool. Fahrb., Sup. 
15, Band I (1912), 
° Sewell and Chaudhuri, Jd. Fish of Proved Utility as Mosquito Destroyers, 
Ds 3s 
