276 Records of the Indian Museum. [Vor. XII, 
In habits it closely resembles O. punctatus. The breeding 
season is December and January in Madras (June and July in 
South Canara).! I have not seen the nest of this species; from 
the accounts of fishermen it does not appear to be among weeds 
but in sheltered crevices in the bank. A brood of young with the 
parents were brought to me on the 15th February, 1911, from the 
river Cooum near Chetput. The adults refused to feed and died 
after a few days, but the fry continued to live. In habits and 
appearance the fry were very different to those of the previous 
two species. The entire brood consisted of some 300 individuals, 
a comparatively small number. 
Description of Fry (fig. 23).—The average length of the young 
was 7 mm.; traces of the yolk-sac and the continuous embryo- 
nic median fin devoid of fin-rays were present. The colour 
was dark brown, due to a very considerable development of pig- 
ment cells, which were arranged on the sides of the body chiefly 
in two horizontal rows, one dorsal and one ventral, with a more 
or less unpigmented area between them along the mid-lateral line. 
Of the two the ventral band was the more conspicuous, being very 
broad on the abdomen and tapering gradually into a streak pos- 
teriorly. A number of pigment spots are also found on the head; 
a concentration of them occurs behind each eye. Scattered spots 
are found on the continuous median fin. 
Later on, some much older fry were brought to me from the 
same locality. ‘These measured on an average 48 mm. long and 
had the following characteristic colour. The body was of a pale 
olive-brown, and the sides were crossed by ten or twelve <-shaped 
light bands with their apices on the lateral line pointing forwards. 
I have not seen the large ocellus on the dorsal fin mentioned by 
Day? and doubt if it ever occurs in this species. It is frequently 
present in the young of some larger species of Ophiocephalus. 
Uses.—A small fish not much in demand as food. 
Anabas scandens (Daldorff). 
Tamil—Panat eri kendai (—fish that climbs palmyra-trees). 
Habitat and Habits.—‘ Estuaries and freshwaters*...... most 
numerous in maritime provinces and the deltas of the larger 
rivers’ observes Day.* In Madras I have not seen it in estuaries 
or in rivers; Hamilton-Buchanan, Jerdon® and Thomas® record 
it only from ponds and ditches. 
This species is the well-known ‘‘ Climbing perch.” Though 
I have never witnessed a display of the extraordinary scansorial 
powers attributed to it by Daldroff? and John, and wholly 

1 Thomas, Rep. Pisc. South Canara, p. 74 (1870). 
2 Day, Fishes of India, p. 368. 
© Day, Fishes of India, p. 370; Fauna of Brit. India, 11, p. 367. 
Day; 7736:, pe OO. 
6 Madras Fourn. Lit. Sc., XV, p. 144. 5 Tank Angling, p. 99. 
7 Daldorft, Trans. Linn. Soc., 111, p. 62, 1797: 
