The Tapah has a pair of pectoral spines only, but the Sembilang, Patin, Lawang, Pědukang and Baung have both pectoral spines and a dorsal spine.
A wound from these spines is extremely painful and the angler who captures one of these fish for the first time is advised to take a lesson from a Malay in the proper method of grasping them, which is very simple but worth knowing.
They are valuable food fishes and are in great demand among all Malays, Chinese and natives of India. Some species are considered to possess exceptionally nourishing qualities and are prescribed for patients recovering from illness.
They will live for hours out of water and can be transported for long distances.
The popularity of the Krian district of Perak among natives of India is due primarily to the rice fields and secondly to the fact that cat-fishes, as well as other fish, swarm in the rice fields and irrigation ditches.
A volume might be written on the Cat-fishes alone. One interesting characteristic is the great care they take of their eggs and young. The Pědukang, for instance, lays very few but very large eggs which look like gelatine capsules and these they carry about in their mouths. As the Pědukang are among the commonest estuarine fishes, any observer can obtain them during the breeding season and see for himself the egg in every stage of development, and in the final stage, immediately before hatching, the tiny fish is distinctly visible through the translucent envelope of the egg.
LOACHES AND CARP.
(COBITIDAE & CYPRINIDAE.)
Only two Loaches, the Ikan pasir and the Lali, are mentioned in this work, but judging from records of species in Java, Sumatra and Borneo, there should be at least 20 species.
The Ikan pasir (Acanthopsis choirorhynchus) is quite common in the Pahang river and is good eating.
The Carp family of fresh water fishes to which our Roach, Tench and Gudgeon belong is represented in our Malayan rivers by certainly not less than 100 species.
The very incomplete list in this book gives some 28 Malay synonyms only. There is an interesting hobby and good sport with a fly and spinner awaiting any planter or prospector who lives near the upper reaches of any of the rivers in the Peninsula. An oil drum can easily be converted into a specimen tank in which rare fish may be preserved in spirit. The Directors of the F. M. S. and S. S. Museums would be only too glad, I feel sure, to mount and display specimens, and as the field is practically untouched the collector has more than a sporting chance of discovering and perhaps giving his name to a new species.
