The Nematognathi, or Catfishes 403 
and the bands of scaly travelers are sometimes so large that 
the Indians who happen to meet them fill many baskets of the 
prey thus placed in their hands. The Indians suppose that 
the fish carry a supply of water with them, but they have no 
special organs and can only do so by closing the gill-openings 
or by retaining a little water between the plates of their bodies, 
as Hancock supposes. The same naturalist adds that they 
make regular nests, in which they cover up their eggs with 
care and defend them, male and female uniting in this parental 
duty until the eggs are hatched. The nest is constructed, at 
the beginning of the rainy season, of leaves and is sometimes 
placed in a hole scooped out of the beach.” 
The Sisoride—The Szsoride are small catfishes found in 
swift mountain streams of northern India. In some of the 
genera (Pseudecheneis) in swift streams a sucking-disk formed 
of longitudinal plates of skin is formed on the breast. This 
enables these fishes to resist the force of the water. In one 
genus, Exostoma, plates of skin about the mouth serve the same 
purpose. 
The Bunocephalide are South American catfishes with the 
dorsal fin undeveloped and the top of the head rough. In 
Platystacus (Aspredo), the eggs are carried on the belly of the 
female, which is provided with spongy tentacles to which the 
eggs are attached. After the breeding season the ventral sur- 
face becomes again smooth. 
The Plotoside.— The Plotoside are naked catfishes, largely 
marine, found along the coasts of Asia. In these fishes the 
second dorsal is very long. Plotosus anguillaris, the sea catfish 
of Japan, is a small species striped with yellow and armed with 
sharp pectoral spines which render it a very disagreeable object 
to the fishermen. In sandy bays like that of Nagasaki it is 
very abundant. Allied to this is the small Asiatic family of 
Chacide. 
The Chlariide—The Chlartide are eel-like, with a soft skele- 
’ ton and a peculiar accessory gill. These abound in the swamps 
and muddy streams of India, where some species reach a length 
of six feet. One species, Chlarias magur, has been brought 
by the Chinese to Hawaii, where it flourishes in the same 
