FAMILY, XXIII— BATEACHID^. 269 



Family, XXIII— BATE AC HID^, Swainson. 



Pedimlati, pt., Cuv. 



Branchiostegals six : pseudobranchisB present. Body low and more or less elongated : head large : the 

 muciferous system well developed. Gills three. The gill-openings narrow, in the form of a slit before the 

 pectoral iin. Opercles armed. Teeth conical, and of moderate size or small. First dorsal with few spines : the 

 second and the anal with many rays: ventral with two rays, jugular : pectorals not pediculated. Scales, 

 when present, small. Air-vessel present. 



Swainson formed the Family Batbachidj! (Fishes, ii, p. 282), or " Blenny Bullheads," as he termed them, 

 in 1839. 



GeograrpMcal distribution. — Coasts of tropical and temperate regions. 



These carnivorous fishes apparently delight in mud and dirty water, they frequent the shores ascending 

 tidal rivers and estuaries. Dr. Cantor observes that at Pinang " the natives attribute poisonous qualities to 

 these fishes, and reject them even as manure," Catal. p. 206. They are, however, eaten at Bombay by the 

 poorer classes. Dr. Giiuther observes in the Zool. Record (1864, p. 155). " Dr. Giinther has described a second 

 species of this Genus {Thalassofhryne belonging to this family) Th. retiaulatus from the Pacific coast of Panama 

 (Proc. ZooL Soc. 1864, p. 150). On examining this fish, he discovered a most singular apparatus which 

 structurally is as perfect a poison-organ as that of the venomous serpents. Bach operculum terminates in a long 

 spine similar to the two dorsal spines : each spine is perforated at the extremity and at the base, and has a canal 

 in. its interior. The canal leads to a sac at the base of each spine, in which a considerable quantity of the 

 poisonous substance was found : on the slightest pressure it flowed freely from the opening of the spine. The 

 sacs are not the secretory organs, but merely the reservoirs in which the fluid secreted accumulates. The author 

 believes he has found evidence that the real organ of secretion is the system of muciferons channels, or at least 

 some portion of it." Captain Dow remarks (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1865, p. 667), " The natives seemed quite familiar 

 with the existence of the spines, and of the emission from them of a poison, which, when introduced into a wound, 

 caused fever ; but in no case was a wound caused by one of them known to result seriously. The slightest 

 pressure of the finger at the base of the spine caused the poison to jet a foot or more from the opening of the 

 spine." 



SYNOPSIS OF INDIVIDUAL GENUS. 

 1. BatracJms, as defined. 



Genus, 1 — ^Bateachus, Bl. Schn. 

 BrancMostegals six. Body a/nteriorly somewhat cylindrical, and posteriorly compressed : head hroad, depressed. 

 Oill-openings narrow. Eyes lateral. Gape of mouth wide. Qill covers with several spines. Teeth on jaw, vomer, 

 and palate. No distiriot canines. First dorsal ivith three strong spines. Scales, if present, very mmute. Air-vessel 

 divided into two lateral parts. Pyloric appendages absent. Vertebroe -tt-It- 



Cantor observes that these fishes live some period after removal from the water. 



SYNOPSIS OF SPECIES. 



1. Batrachms gnmniens, D. 3 | 20-22, A. 15-18. Four, occasionally only three, opercular spines. A 

 foramen in the axiUa. Brown, marbled. Seas of India to the Malay Archipelago. 



2. Batrachus Gamgene, D. 3 | 20-22, A. 16-18. Four operoulaa- spines. No foramen in axilla. Reddish- 

 brown, marbled. Estuaries of the Ganges and large Burmese rivers. 



1. Batrachus grunniens, Plate LIX, fig. 1. 



Gottus grunniens, Yar. B. Linn. Mus. Ad. Fr. ii, p. 65, and Syst. p. 1209. 



Coitus grunniens, Bloch, t. 179 ; Lacep. iii, p. 232 ; Shaw, Zool. iv, p. 256. 



BatracJms grunniens, Bl. Schn. p. 43 ; Cuv. Reg. Anim. ; Cuv. and Val. xii, p. 466 ; Cantor, Catal. p. 205 ; 

 Sleeker, Riouw. p. 487 ; Peters, Monats. Ak. Wiss. Berlin, 1868, p. 270 ; Steind. Ak. Wien, is, 1870, p. 564. 



Batrachus trispimosus, Giinther, Catal. iii, p. 169 ; Day, Fish. Malabar, p. 120 ; Kner, Novara Fische, 

 p. 189. ^ 



Batrachus Bussumieri, Jerdon, M. J. L. and So. 1851, p. 144 ; ? Cuv, and Yal. xu, p. 474, pi. 367. 



B. vi, D. 3 I 20-22, P. 21, Y. 1/2, A. 15-18, C. 15. 



Length of head 3^, of caudal 5^, height of body 5 in the total length. %es— diameter 1/5 of length 

 of head, nearly 1 diameter from end of snout, and Ij apart. Head depressed, its greatest width equals 



