770 mr. c. tate kegan on asiatic [istov. 9, 



1. Anabas. 



Anahas, Cuv. Regne Anim. ii. p. 310 (1817) ; Guntb. Cat. Fish, 

 iii. p. 374 (1861); Bleek. Yerh. Akad. Amst. xix. 1879, p. 4. 



Body oblong, subcylindrical anteriorly and compressed poste- 

 riorly. Small fixed conical teeth in the jaws and on the vomer. 

 Prseorbital, operculum, sub- and inter-operculum serrated. Dorsal 

 with XVI -XIX 7-11 rays; origin in advance of that of the 

 anal, which has IX-XI 8-12 rays ; soft dorsal and anal scaly at 

 the base and with the rays branched. Pelvics inserted a little 

 behind the pectorals, of a, spine and 5 branched rays ; first 

 branched ray only bifid. Scales la,rge, regularly arranged ; lateral 

 line interrupted laelow the posterior part of the spinous dorsal, 

 commencing again lower down. 



The African genus Spii'obranchus appears to me to be well 

 distinguished from Anabas by the strongly compressed head and 

 body, the presence of teeth on the palatines, the exposed maxil- 

 lary, the entire prseorbital and opercular bones, and the fewer 

 fin-spines. Ctenopoma is much nearer to A7iabas, hxatthe Asiatic 

 genus is well distinguished froixi both the African ones in that 

 the postorbitals are large plates which cover the cheeks and are 

 united by suture with the prseoperculum, whilst the supra- 

 branchial cavities are so large that they ai-e roofed in by the 

 parietals and supraoccipital and are only separated from each 

 other by a thin septum formed by the supraoccipital and ex- 

 occipitals. 



A single species from India, the Malay Peninsula and Archi- 

 pelago. 



of Celebes, but as it belongs to a family and a genus which includes many marine 

 forms it has little significance. 



To illustrate the geographical distribution of freshwater fishes a primary division 

 must be made separating the Australian Region, including Celebes, from the rest of 

 the world. With the exception of (1) archaic types, Ceratodus and ScJeropages, 

 a)id (2) introduced species, such as Anabas scandens, the freshwater fishes of the 

 Australian region belong to marine families, gtnera, or species. Ostariophysi are 

 entirely absent except Siluroids of the marine groups Plotosidse and Ariinae ; the 

 perches are Serranida;, Knhliida=, etc. ; peculiar genera and species of Atherinidse, 

 Mugilidffi, Gobiidse, etc., form an important element in the freshwater fish fauna. 

 The contrast between Borneo with its hundreds of species of Cyprinoids and fresh- 

 water Siluroids, Ophiocephalidai, Anabantidaj, Luciocephalidae, ISiandida;, and Mas- 

 tacembelida;, and Celebes from which these groups are entirely absent except for 

 two species which cannot be regarded as indigenous, is most striking. The con- 

 clusion is that Wallace's Line indicates where the severance of Australia from Asia 

 took place not later than the beginning of the Eocene. 



1 have been led to make these remarks by Prof. Max Weber's conclusion that the 

 fish-fauna of Celebes has no Australian, but an impoverished Indian character 

 (Zool. Ergebn. Reis. Ned. Ind. iii. 1894, p. 472). As I have shown above, the 

 Indian element consists of three species which have probably been introduced by 

 man and two which may have journeyed by sea. Prof. Max Weber also lays stress 

 on the absence from Celebes of true Australian freshwater fishes, but I am unable to 

 recognize this element in Australia itself; the Dipneusti and Osteoglossidie, which 

 are also absent from New Guinea, but one of which is represented in Borneo, 

 are to be regarded, wherever they may occur, as survivals of an ancient fauna. Of 

 the other genera mentioned by Prof. Max Weber, Galaxias is southern and marine, 

 and- is not found within a thousand miles of Celebes, whilst Oligorus is a perch 

 found in the rivers of Eastern Australia, and belongs to the marine family 

 Serranidae. 



