216 TREUBIA VOL. II, 2—4, 
submerged vegetation, described in Chapter IV, which, growing from the 
pond-bottom upward soon reaches up to just beneath the surface of the 
water, or, becoming detached from the pond-bottom floats up against the 
water-surface; this vegetation consisting mainly of Chaetomorpha, coated 
or not with Chamaesiphonaceae, Chlamydobacteriaceae etc., but further 
also of Ruppia rostellata, Enteromorpha and sometimes Najas falciculata, 
and being frequently overgrown with all kinds of Schizophyceae (Oscillato- 
ria, Gloeocapsa etc.). 
From what was already stated before it further appears that Vaucheria 
as a food of empang-bandeng in a certain respect holds a peculiar 
place. For whereas Vaucheria and Chaetomorpha are both filamentous algae, 
which regarded as bandeng-food have certainly a good deal in common, 
and which accordingly were often found together by me in the alimentary 
canal of empang-bandeng, Vaucheria, growing on the pond-bottom, never, as 
far as I could observe, comes floating up against the surface of the water, 
as Chaetomorpha is so apt to do. I will revert to this again in Chapter VII. 
Still more clearly than from the data I could gather concerning the 
food of the sea-bandeng it appears from the food-remains found in the 
intestinal tract of many empang-bandeng, that this fish is a vegetarian. 
As a matter of fact it is easy to understand that in the same way as mineral 
particles are absorbed from the pond-bottom by the bandeng swallowing 
Schizophyceae and Diatoms, so small animal organisms such as Ciliates, 
Rotifera, small Gastropods, small Insects (waterbugs, little Odonate-larvae, 
Dipterous-larvae) and small Crustaceans (Copepoda and Ostracoda) living 
either on the pond-bottom or between the Chaetomorpha-vegetation, are 
likewise swallowed down together with the vegetable food. I already men- 
tioned before that, besides the vegetable food referred to, the bandeng 
sometimes even eats cut grass, or at least may sometimes be fed with it; 
in this connection it is interesting to report Mr. Max H. Th. Görs’s state- 
ment that if too many bandeng are turned into a pond the animals will 
devour not only the whole of the aquatic vegetation, but also all 
overhanging landplants touching the surface of the water, or growing 
some distance along the pond-bottom (e.g. Paspalum distichum L.). 
It is doubtless the vegetable diet of the bandeng which accounts for 
the circumstance already mentioned by THOMAS (®) that the bandeng is 
not to be caught with animal bait on a hook. “They are such magnificent 
fish”, says THOMAS (8), “that it is a thousand pities they can not be taken 
with a rod and line. I have tried spinning and fly in vain”. I once heard 
a rather good yarn illustrating this, about a native sailor of a Netherlands 
East Indian Government Steamer, who could take bandeng with hook 
and line, because he baited it with a piece of potato. Whether this tale 
is true | connot say, but a priori it does not seem at all impossible. 
| have already mentioned before when dealing with an example taken 
from the exploitation of Mr. Görs’s pond-system near Muara Karang (cf. 
ye 
edn Vu. 
