FASCICULI MALATENSES 
297 
The scales are indistinct on the head in front of the eyes ; they are 
distinctly visible on the rest of the body. The lateral line is indistinct, but 
there are fifty-five to fifty-eight scales in a longitudinal row from the upper 
base of the pectoral fin to the tail. There are about fifteen scales in a 
transverse row at the beginning of the first dorsal fin. 
About half-a-dozen smaller specimens of this form were obtained, varying 
from four-and-a-quarter to six-and-a-half inches in length. In all these the fin 
formula is similar to that of the larger specimens, except that the number of 
rays in the caudal fin is greater (nineteen to twenty-two). The pelvic fins 
are completely fused in every instance. 
Three still smaller specimens I also include in this species. They are 
from two to two-and-one-eighth inches in total length ; the length of the 
head is contained four-and-a-half times, and the height of the body six-and- 
one-third times, in the extreme length. The fin formulae are ; — 
D = 6/i2-I4; A= 13-14; P=i6; 0 = 25-29. 
The pelvic fins are completely fused in these specimens also. There are 
forty-five to fifty scales in a longitudinal row. There are three large curved 
teeth on either side in the upper jaw near the symphysis, with fifteen to eighteen 
smaller ones in a single row. The lower jaw contains four caniniform teeth on 
each side of the symphysis, and seven to eight smaller ones directed vertically. 
^ Periophthalmus phya^ at any rate in the adult state, has a more sober 
coloration in life than several of its allies, which are conspicuously dotted 
with pale blue spots, for it is of an almost uniform dark fuscous shade. Its 
head and body are covered with a very thick layer of mucus, which probably 
prevents the too rapid evaporation of moisture from its tissues — an important 
matter in so large an amphibious fish. 
Very probably the species occurs in the West Coast estuaries of the 
Peninsula, for burrows similar to the ones it forms are common on the mud 
flats at Port Swettenham, in Selangor. The adults are very abundant in the 
immediate vicinity of the town of Jambu, where a large area of semi-liquid 
mud is exposed at low tide, but their wariness renders them difficult of approach, 
especially at half-tide, when they do not appear to have settled down to a 
terrestrial existence. They seem to be very sensitive to cold or fog, and 
do not come out on the mud-flats early in the morning, even at low tide. 
When the sun is well up, however, they skip about many yards away from 
any water, and quite careless as to whether their tail or any other part of their 
body can be kept wet, even when the temperature is so high that sand becomes 
too hot for a European to walk upon it with bare feet.’ 
o I 
1/12/03 
