1918.] N. Annandale: FIsI, of the Inle Lake. 4.3 



Amphipnous cuchia (Ham. Buch.) 



1889. Amphipnous cuchia, Day, up. cit., p. 69, fig. 27. 

 1899. Amphipnous cuchia, Vinciguerra, op. cit., p. 350. 



Not uncommon with the Last. The Shans and Intha do not distin- 

 guish the two species, which they catch in the same way. 

 A. cuchia is widely distributed in India and Burma. 



Order OSTARIOPHYSI. 



Family CLARIIDAE. 



Clarias batrachus (Linn.). 



1889. Ct-trlfis ul'u)ui; Day, up. cit., p. 115, fig.s. 48, 49. 



1889. Cl'trias niagur, Vinciguerra, op. cit., p. 191. 



1913. Chrias hntrachus, Weber, Fishes Ind.-Austr. Arch. II, p. 190, tig. 74 (p. 187). 



This species is common in the marginal zone of the Inle Lake and 

 in slow-running streams and muddy pools of the district. It lives 

 buried in mud. 



Specimens from the Shan Plateau are of comparatively small size, 

 apparently never much more than a foot long, and of a dense black 

 colour. Their flesh is considered excellent both by the indigenous 

 peoples and by Europeans, many of whom regard them as the best 

 edible fish of the country. They are caught chiefly in basket-traps 

 near the mouth of streams. The roe was ripe in some females examined 

 at the beginning of March, but not in all. 



Clarias batrachus has a very wide range in India, Burma, Ceylon and 

 Malaysia, extending as far east as the Philippines. 



Family CYPRINIDAE. 

 Lepidocephalus berdmorei (Blyth). 



1889. Lepiflocephntirhthi/s herdtnorei. Day, op. cit., p. 221. 

 1889. Lepidocephalichthys t)erdmorei, Vinciguerra, op), cit., p. 341. 



A very common species in small streams that run into the Inle Lake 

 or traverse the He-Ho plain. It also occurs in ponds and marshes and 

 occasionally in the marginal zone of the lake. It seems to be equally 

 at home in clear brooks and in muddy still or running water. It is an 

 important element in the dried whitebait manufactured on a large 

 scale by the Intha, and is, therefore, of some economic importance. 



The spe.cies appears to be common both in Upper Burma and in 

 Tenasserim. It is very closely related to L. gunfea, the common Indian 

 form, of which Vinciguerra records specimens from various places in 

 the same countries. . 



Nemachilus brevis, Boulenger. 

 (Plate II, figs. 1, la.) 



1893. Nemachilus brevis, Boiilenger, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist, ((i) XII, p. 203. 



This is one of the commonest of the smaller bottom fishes in the Inle 

 Lake, in both the central region and the marginal zone of which it is 



