MALAYAN FISHES. , 51 
the outermost integument, “ shagreen,” is covered with denticles, 
and hitherto, owing to the difficulty of treatment, has had a very 
limited use, but within the last few years a method has been dis- 
covered of separating the outer and inner skins and the latter can 
be tanned and used in every way like ordinary leather. It is there- 
fore likely that the high price and scarcity of ordinary leather will 
eventually lead to the universal exploitation of the shark, ray and 
porpoise fisheries with special nets and appliances. I see in the 
Australian Magazine “Sea, Land and Air” (September 1920) 
that a Marine-Leather Company is operating successfully off the 
coast of Florida and North Carolina. 
Other commercial products are the blood, fins, liver and meat. 
The blood is said to furnish one of the finest waterproof glues yet 
known for aeroplane propellers, etc.; the fins are a well known 
Chinese delicacy, and the American Bureau of Ffsheries has 
published some thirty recipes for cooking shark-meat. 
Small sharks are esteemed as food by the Malays, Indians and 
Chinese and are excellent eating, 
The liver of the shark is rich in oil and is said to equal that of 
the Cod in its medicinal properties. It is also used in the prepar- 
ation of soap, paint, etc., including the treatment of leather, 
SAW FISHES. 
(PRISTIDAE.) 
The family contains one genus (Pristis) with about four or 
five species, 
These fish are termed Béroi by Malays in some districts but 
the descriptive names Yu gergaji, Yu parang and Yu todak are 
more commonly heard, Malays placing these and the RHINOBATIDAE 
among the Sharks (SELACHOIDET) and not among the Rays (Ba- 
THOIDEL), with good reason. 
Boulenger states that an arbitrary distinction has been made 
which has little to recommend it except custom and some measure 
of convenience. 
These fish are readily eaten by Malays, Chinese and Tamils 
and are very common. They enter rivers right up into fresh water 
and small specimens two or three feet long are often taken acci- 
dentally in casting nets. 
They have always appeared to me to be very lethargic and slug- 
gish and as the small ones in a net give less trouble than any other 
fish of the same size, I have always considered them to be more for- 
midable in appearance than in reality. However, Day writes 
“Great injuries are inflicted by these fishes, which strike side- 
ways with their formidable snouts; and although not personally a 
witness to the fact, I ‘have been informed on native authority, that 
large ones have been known to cut a bather entirely in two.” 
It would be interesting to know whether there is any record of 
patients having been admitted to hospital in India or Malaya, suffer- 
ing from injuries inflicted by these fish. 
