Inger, R.F., 1966.The systematics andzoogeography oftheamphibia ofBorneo. Fie/diana, Zoo/., 52: 1- 402. Kiew, B. H., 1984. Conservation status of the Malaysian Fauna. Ill. Amphibians. Ma/ay. Nat., Kuala Lumpur, 37(4): 6-10. Peter K. L. Ng Department ofZoology, National University of Singapore, Kent Ridge, Singapore 0511, Republic of Singapore. THE FRESH-WATER FISHES OF NORTH BORNEO. Inger, R.F. &P. K. Chin. 1990.Fieldiana: Zoology, Volume 45 (1962). Reprinted bySabah Zoological Society, Sabah, Malaysia, with supplemen- tary chapter by P.K. Chin, 268+SC47 pp. The reprinting and updating of this important ichthyological publication is welcomed and timely, especially considering the growing interest inSoutheast Asian freshwater fishes. Since 1962, Inger and Chin's book has served asakey reference texttonotonly thefreshwater fishes ofSabah (=British North Borneo), but also for the rest of Borneo and other parts oftropical Southeast Asia aswell. The first 268 pages ofthebook isidentical tothe original publication bythe Chicago Natural History Museum which isnow outofprint. The last47 supplementary pages written by Datuk Chin Pui Kong is intended toupdate and include species described ordiscovered since 1962.46newfigures have alsobeen added to the 120 in the previous addition. The many new figures, mostly of species not dealt with or illustrated inthe original publication, are of ahigh quality and should prove most useful. This includes species like Wallago macu/atus Inger &Chin which has never been illustrated before. Intotal, 85native and 12introduced food species areconsidered, 56ofwhich areendemic toSabah orBorneo. Despite the scope oftheinvestigations intoSabahan freshwater fishfauna overtheyears, itisapparent thatmuch more remains tobedone. Chin has added 10species, mostly gastromyzontids, totheir 1962listoffishes. The fish fauna ofmany parts of Sabah however, despite theextensive studies ofInger and Chin, still remain poorly oreven unsampled, and the number ofknown species can be expected to increase still further in the coming years. The single weakness ofthenewedition ofthisbook must surely beinthetaxonomy andnomenclature. While the second author has attempted to update the book with new species and records in his supplementary chapter, itisapparent thathehasonlyconsidered theliterature pertaining directly toSabah. This selectivity isaproblem because thestateoffishtaxonomy hasprogressed agreatdealsincethe 1960s, andthefailure torefer toorutilise modem taxonomic/nomenclatural changes affects theusefulness ofthe book. Many groups have been revised between 1962 and 1990, e.g. the cobitids and balitorids (= homalopterids) (Sawada, 1982;Kottelat, 1984, 1987, 1988),barbins (Rainboth, 1981;Banarescu, 1986), channids (=ophicephalids) (Myers & Shapovalov, 1931); cichlids of the Tilapia complex (Trewawas, 1983)etc.While itmust begranted thatsupraspecific classifications areoften subjective, tofollow adated taxonomy without comment orexplanation canbevery confusing andreduces thevalue ofthebook. This isespecially inviewoftheseveral regional ichthyological books which havebeenreleased since 1962(e.g. Alfred, 1966;Mohsin &Ambak, 1983;Kottelat, 1989;Roberts, 1989;Urn &Ng, 1990)which useamore modern system ofclassification. Itwould have been better ifacompletely new edition ofthe book had been prepared, with thenew information and figures incorporated inthemain text forsmoother flow and easier use. The updated taxonomy can then also be incorporated. This shortcoming however, does not detract onefromthevalue ofthe book, which isvery"user-friendly" byanystandards. Thecareful attention todistinguishing characters rem~ns one of the strongest points ofthe book, and enables even "novice" ichthyologists to use the book without any serious difficulties. Fortunately, almost all the taxonomic inadequacies ofthenewbook caneasily becorrected bycross-referencing ittoRoberts' (1989) important publication onthe Kapuas fishes and Kottelat's (1989) listofthefishes from Peninsular andContinental Southeast Asia. Banarescu, P. M., 1986. The genus Puntioplites Smith (Pisces, Cyprinidae). Rev. Roum. Bioi. (Bioi. Anim.), 23: 113-118. Kottelat, M., 1984.Revision oftheIndonesian andMalaysian noemacheiline loaches.lap. l.lchth., 31(3): 225-260. Kottelat, M., 1987.Nomenclatural status ofthefishnames created byJ.C.vanHasselt (1823) andofsome cobitoid genera. lap. l. Ichth., 33: 368-375. Kottelat, M., 1988. Indian and Indochinese species of Balitora (Osteichthyes Cypriniformes) with descriptions oftwonewspecies andcomments onthefamily group names Balitoridae andHomalopteridae. ReI'. Suiss. Zool., 95: 487-504. Kottelat, M., 1989.Zoogeography ofthefishes from Indochinese inland waters with anannotated check- list.Bull. Zool. Mus., Unil'.Amsterdam, 12(1): I-55. Lim, K. K.P. &P. K. L.Ng, 1990.A Guide totheFreshwater Fishes ofSingapore. Singapore Science Centre, Singapore, 160pp. Mohsin, A. K. M. & A. Ambak, 1983. Freshwater Fishes ofPeninsular Malaysia. Penerbit Universiti Pertanian Malaysia, 284 pages. Myers, G.S.&L.Shapovalov, 1931.Ontheidentity ofOphicephalus andChanna, twogenera oflabyrinth fishes. Peking Nat. Hist. Bull., 6: 33-37. Rainboth, W.J., 1981.Systematics oftheAsiatic barbins (Pisces, Cyprinidae). Ph.D. thesis, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, U.S.A., 253 pp. Roberts, T. R., 1989. The Freshwater Fishes of Western Borneo (Kalimantan Barat, Indonesia). Mem. Calif. Acad. Sci., 14: 1-210. Sawada, Y., 1982. Phylogeny and zoogeography of the superfamily Cobitoidea (Cyprinoidei, Cypriniformes). Mem. Fac. Fish., Hokkaido Univ., 28(2): 65-223. Trewawas, E., 1983. A review of the tilapine fishes of the genera Sarotherodon, Oreochromis and Danakilia. Brit. Mus. (Nat. Hist.), London. Peter K. L. Ng Department ofZoology, National University ofSingapore: Kent Ridge, Singapore 0511, Republic ofSingapore.