NOTES ON THE WATERS OF WESTERN INDTA. 99 



puddles, or entirely dried up annually, even in ordinary seasons* 

 Of natural lakes there is not one. 



Khandesh, for the purpose of these notes, may be classed with 

 the Deccan, which it resembles in its geology and. hydrography ; 

 and though its great river, the Tapti, flows into the Arabian Sea, 

 instead of the Bay of Bengal, it has only one tributary of importance 

 (the Puma) that does not rise in the Western Ghats, or in their 

 great spur, the Satmalla Range. Rivers and tanks in these two 

 neighbouring regions resemble each other, even as Fluellen's waters of 

 Macedon and Monmouth. It is true that instead of " salmons in 

 both," " there is salmons in neither ;"* and it is now perhaps time 

 to consider what there is instead of salmons. 



Nearly all the fishes of any importance belong to two families, 

 namely, the Cyprinidse, or Carps ; and the Siluridse, or Catfishes. 



Probably no writer on Indian fishes, except a professed ichthy- 

 ologist, can escape from beginning with (i the Mahseer." As a 

 matter of fact, although it would not be correct to say that 

 there is no such fish as a mahseer, there is certainly no 

 fish that has an exclusive right to the title, and it is not a genuine 

 native name for any fish in our present province. A certain group 

 of Indian barbels differ from the English representatives of that 

 genus in preferring troubled waters and a highly predatory existence. 

 They will eat, indeed, whatever they can come at, from a fly to a 

 wild fig ; but what they like best, perhaps, is a little fish, no matter 

 of what sort, even if their own. This frame of mind and palate fits 

 them particularly for the purpose of the sportsman, and wherever }'ou 

 find him in India, he and his native assistants will be found calling 

 some of these predatory barbels tl Mahseer ' or " Big-head." Even 

 where the term is vernacular, viz., in Hindustan, it varies in local 

 application, and still more in the Peninsula. 



Naturalists, however, have generally agreed in appropriating the 

 title to the giant of the tribe, " Barbus tor" of whom all that I can 

 say here, unfortunately, is that within our present area he is not at 

 all a common fish ; and when found, not often a very large 

 one. The reason is not far to seek. The great rivers of the Hima- 

 layas, in which the true " Mahseer" thrives, are fed by rain 

 and melting snow at different seasons to an extent that makes them 

 and their upper tributaries perennial. Many of those of the extreme 



*Note. — The "Rajputana trout" (Barilins hula) and the " Himalayan trout" 

 (Oreimis, several species) are not found in this Presidency. Both are Cyprinidse. 



