MALAYAN FISHES. 39 
From an athletic and sporting point of view, because it in- 
cludes the Pépuyu (Anabas scandens) the famous climbing Perch, 
mentioned an all natural history books, as well as the Ikan bélaga 
the equally famous fighting fish, on which Pahang rajas have won 
and lost fabulous sums; and from a scientific point of view, because 
all members of this family are provided with super-branchial res- 
piratory organs, situated in a cavity above the gills which enables 
them to live, happily, out of water for long periods. 
The Kalui grows to a length of about two feet and is regarded 
as one of the best flavoured fishes in the East. It has been ac- 
climatised in India, the Guianas, Mauritius and ‘Australia. 
Day writes, 
“Commerson who observed it in the Mauritius in 1770, 
states tha he never ate any fish more exquisite in flavour, 
whether from the sea or fresh water: he also added that in 
Batavia the Dutch reared them in large earthen pots, changing 
the water daily and feeding them on nothing but fresh water 
plants, especially the Pistia natans.” 
General Hardwicke’ gives an account of the breeding of this 
fish, apparently monogamous; he observes, 
“ They commence at six months of age, whilst their fecun- 
dity is astonishing. During the breeding season, they frequent. 
the sides of tanks, where shelter is afforded them by the grasses 
and weeds growing in the water. For several days they are 
very active, passing in and out of their grassy cover, and in 
some places thickening it, by entangling all trailing shoots, 
and forming what is generally considered the spot under which 
the ova are deposited. They continue to watch this place with 
the greatest vigilance, driving away any interloping fish, and, 
at the end of a month numerous fry appear, over which the old 
gouramies keep watch many days.” 
I kept these fish in a large pond at Kuala Pilah, having first 
caught them with a casting net in the Mvar river. Their natural 
food consists of aquatic plants and I used to collect the leaves they 
like and send a leaf at a time down the stream until a Kalui rose 
to the bait. - It was then a simple matter to lure the fish nearer and 
nearer, with carefully flicked leaves until it was close enough to my 
place of concealment to enable me to throw the net over the floating 
leaf under which the fish was rising. 
There are probably many old friends who will remember the 
little dinners in Kuala Pilah, when the fish, fowl, mutton and 
vegetables were all locally raised, 
The Kalui in my pond were fed daily on leaves, principally 
wild caladium and tapioca shoots, not thrown broad-cast but in- 
serted in split bamboo poles which were pushed into the bottom of 
the pond. They ate a tremendous lot and grew very rapidly; 
1 Zool. Journ. IV, p. 309. 
