252 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. 



and that some at least can leave the waters, or the places 

 now dried up which they have inhabited, and travel on 

 land for some distance, to seek more favorable resorts. It 

 is to this family that the celebrated climbing fish of the 

 East Indies (Anabas scandens) belongs ; and to this same 

 family equally belongs the Pla Kat of Siam (Betta pug- 

 nax*), which is raised by the Siamese for game purposes, 

 individuals of the species being pitted against each other, 

 and fighting with as much vim and animosity as their 

 warm-blooded rivals, the game-cocks. Still another species 

 (the Macropodus viridi auratus) is said to be reared for 

 ornamental purposes by the Chinese, like the goldfish, and 

 its beauty is sufficient to entitle it to such a distinction. 



In form these fishes somewhat resemble the Centrachids, 

 or sunfishes, of our streams and ponds. They differ ex- 

 tremely among themselves in the development of the fins ; 

 this is especially the case with respect to the dorsal or back 

 fin, for in some it occupies the whole length of the back, 

 while in others, as the Pla Kat, it is confined to a short 

 space near the middle ; the anal and ventral fins are little 

 less variable, but it would lead us too far to detail such 

 modifications. 



Characteristics. The gourami may be said, in general 

 terms, to somewhat resemble a rock-bass or sunfish, but 

 having a smaller head and a still smaller mouth compara- 

 tively, a very long anal fin reaching from the breast nearly 

 to the base of the caudal fin, and the ventral fins inserted 

 nearly on a line with the pectoral, the first soft ray being 

 very long, lash-like, and almost or quite equalling the 

 whole length of the fish. There are from eleven to thir- 

 teen spines, and an equal number of soft, jointed rays in 

 the dorsal fin, while the anal has from nine to twelve 

 spines, and from nineteen to twenty-one soft rays ; the ven- 

 tral fin has a spine and five rays, the first of which is the 



