516 FISHES. 



The air-bladder of the majority of these fishes is very- 

 large, extending far into the tail, and, therefore, divided behind 

 by the haemal spines into two lateral portions. 



The Labyrinthici are generally of small size; they are 

 capable of being domesticated, and some of them deserve 

 particular attention on account of the dazzling beauty of their 

 colours or the flavour of their flesh. 



An ABAS. — Body compressed, oblong ; prseorbital and orbitals 

 serrated. Small teeth in the jaws and on the vomer ; none on 

 the palatines. Dorsal and anal spines numerous. Lateral line 

 interrupted. 



The " CHmbing Perch " (A. scandens) is generally distri- 

 buted over the Indian Eegion, and well kuowu from its 

 faculty of moving for some distance over land, and even up 

 inclined surfaces. In 1797 Daldorf, in a memoir communi- 

 cated to the Linnean Society of London, mentions that in 

 1791 he had himself taken an Anabas in the act of ascending 

 a palm tree which grew near a pond. The fish had reached 

 the height of five feet above the water, and was going still 

 higher. In the effort to do this it held on to the bark of the 

 tree by the preopercular spines, bent its tail, and stuck in the 

 spines of the anal ; then released its head, and, raising it, took 

 a new hold with the preoperculum higher up. The fish is 

 named in the Malayan language the " Tree Climber." It 

 rarely attains a length of seven inches. 



Spirobranchus from the Cape, and Ctetuypoma from Tropical 

 Africa, represent Anabas in that continent. 



PoLYACANTHUS. — Body compressed, oblong; operculum with- 

 out spines or serrature ; cleft of the mouth small, more or less 

 oblique, not extending beyond the vertical from the orbit, and 

 little protractile. Small fixed teeth in the jaws, none on the 

 palate. Dorsal and anal spines numerous ; the soft dorsal and 

 anal, the caudal, and the ventral, more or less elongate in mature 

 specimens. Caudal rounded. Lateral line interrupted or absent. 



