4 PREFACE. 
The material in this book has been put together hastily during 
a period of five months in the intervals of considerable pressure of 
other work. 
The plates have been beautifully prepared by Mr. Black of the 
Survey Department, Kuala Lumpur, but it is to be regretted 
that many of the fishes have been badly displayed and badly photo- 
graphed. 
The writer was unable to find time to be present at the Clyde 
Terrace Market, Singapore, where most of the photographs were 
taken, the fish being borrowed for a minute or two from the stall- 
holders, and in consequence, the specific identification of every fish 
from a poor photograph has been impossible, though the writer 
feels confident that the families and genera have been correctly 
given. 
The writer’s thanks are due to Messrs. Stead and Roughley. 
But for their works on Australian Fishes, from which quotations 
have been freely made, this work could not have been written. 
To the Directors and Staff of the F. M. S. Museums and the 
Raffles Museum, Singapore, who have granted me facilities for 
consulting the reference libraries and permission to examine and 
photograph specimens in the Museum collections, I desire to ex- 
press my indebtedness. 
C. N. MAxweE tt, 
Director of Supplies. 
Singapore, 16th June, 1921. 
Coy 
