120 
THE FISHES OF MALABAR. 
Colours—Of a dirty olive brown, with irregular vertical brown and black bands or marblings. 
Fins yellowish brown, with cloudy black markings. Eyes reddish. 
Grows to six inches in length. Is common in the backwaters within the influence of the tides. 
It emits a croaking noise when captured, and can live some tune out of water. Is not eaten. Fishes 
of this genus, Cantor observes, are considered so poisonous in Pinang that they are rejected even 
as manure. 
Habitat—Seas and estuaries of India and Malaysia. 
Bateachus trispinosus. 
Batrachus grunniens, Cuv. & Val. vii. p. 466 ; Cantor , Catal. p. 205. 
Bateachus teispinosus, Gunther , Catal. in. p. 169. 
B. vi. D. 3 | 20-22. P. 25. Y. A. 14-16. C. 12. Opercular spines iii. 
Length of head f, of pectoral of caudal 4, of base of first dorsal of base of second 
dorsal f, of base of anal of total length. Height of head j 2 t , of body of first dorsal -^g, of 
second dorsal of anal of ventral of total length. 
Eyes—On upper and outer surface of the head, diameter 6| times in length of head, 11 dia¬ 
meters apart, ^ a diameter from the end of the snout. 
General appearance the same as in the Batrachus grunniens, but the lower jaw is more rounded, 
the maxilla passing beyond the posterior margin of the orbit; the remainder of the head, however, 
is very similar in both. 
Teeth—In the lower jaw a single series of strong conical teeth, which becomes double on the 
symphysis. A double row of strong conical teeth on the vomer and palatine bones, extending 
posteriorly beyond the intermaxillaries. Intermaxillary teeth minute, in a double series, extending 
from the symphysis to opposite the eyes. 
Colours—Summit of head, back and sides light greenish, or brownish olive. Abdomen 
greenish or brownish white; head marbled and spotted with black; body with more or less dis¬ 
tinct oblique and vertical broad bands edged and spotted with black, and darker than the ground 
colour : fleshy filaments buff, fins of the ground colour of the body; dorsals and anal indistinctly 
clouded with black, or with very oblique blackish bands; caudal, pectoral, and ventral with 
blackish spots or narrow vertical bands. Iris silvery olive \ orbital part blackish. 
Air bladder separated into two lateral divisions, united by a narrow transverse channel. 
Grows to ten inches in length, and is said to be eaten in Bombay. 
Habitat—Seas and estuaries of India and Malaysia. 
* Batrachus Dussumieri. 
Batrachus Dussumieri, Cuv. & Val. xii. p. 474, pi. 367 ; Gunther , Catal. iii. p. 169. 
B. vi. D. 3 | 20. A. 16. Y. Opercular spines iii. 
Said to differ from the last chiefly in having straight bands of villiform teeth in the palate 
and lower jaw instead of strong and conical ones, and a very short tentacle above the orbit instead 
of a large one. 
Colours-—Above deep brown, side and abdomen grey olive brown; three large dark brown 
bands pass downwards, ending in an irregular manner on the sides. In the fresh state the tints 
