( 22 ) 



sub-genus 'Barhodes in Barbus, are mostly found in the larger 

 rivers or pieees of water, whilst the latter are commonly 

 perceived in those affluents of the Indus, Ganges and 

 Brahmaputra, and other rivers that are near the bases of 

 hills. 



XXXVIII, The herring family, Clupeidce, furnishes 

 Herring family. Migratory examples of both migratory and 

 and non-migratory forms. non-migratory forms to the fresh- 



waters of India, some being marine which ascend rivers 

 solely for breeding purposes, whilst others are strictly fresh- 

 water and non-migratory, generally breeding in tanks. 

 The migratory herrings are those which ascend large rivers 

 from the sea for the purpose of breeding in fresh-water, 

 the most important of which is the shad, Clupea pcdasah, 

 known also as the Hilsa or Ilisha, the Palasah of the Telingis, 

 the Ulum of the Tamils, the Pulla of the Indus, the Nga- 

 tha-louk of the Burmese, and the sable fish of the Europeans 

 in Madras. There seem to be two classes of this fish 

 v hich ascend the large rivers : those below one year of age, 

 and which do not appear to breed, or if they do, it is at the 

 very end of the year, or commencement of the succeeding 

 one ; secondly, there are those which breed at the commence- 

 ment of, or during the monsoon. In the Cauveri and 

 Coleroon these fish ascend with the first burst of the S. W. 

 monsoon, and continue doing so the four succeeding months, 

 but in diminished quantities, some evidently being later 

 breeders or younger fish. In the Kistna, which has a great 

 velocity, the freshes commence in June and continue until 

 the end of October, after which the river subsides, but 

 it does not become fordable until the middle or end of 

 January. A few of these fishes arrive at the end of Septem- 

 ber, but it is not until the middle of October and the two 

 following months that their main body appears to ascend, 

 whilst they disappear by April. It is only when the rapidity 

 with which the Kistna flows during the freshes commences 

 to subside that they arrive in large numbers. In the neigh- 

 bouring river, the Godaveri, which has a less rapid current 

 than the Kistna, the fish ascend earlier, being most 

 numerous from July to September, when the fishermen believe 

 they migrate to the Kistna. In the Hoogli they continue 

 ascending throughout the S. W. monsoon, and many are 

 found to be still full of roe in September. Mr. Blanford 

 has observed them at Mandalay in Upper Burma at 

 the end of the year. In Sind, this fish ascends from the 



