( 89 ) 



the river stock has considerably decreased of late years." 

 That in Rohilcund (p. cli), " the size and areas of water in 

 the main streams of India are so great that the amount of 

 fish taken out is nothing as compared with the stock remain- 

 ing, and they need no protection." That it is locally unne- 

 cessary, as in portions of Sind, due to the paucity of popula- 

 tion, the rapidity and dangerous character of the River 

 Indus, and owing to the security the immature fish obtain 

 during the inundation season. The same is also observed 

 in Burma, where it is remarked that if the people may not 

 kill the little fish, a large number of persons will stop fishing 

 (p. ccxxii). Or that any such regulation would possibly de- 

 prive a poor man of his dinner (p. ccxxiv). Or that it is 

 no use legislating for perennial pieces of water as they do 

 not dry up, and fish may take care of themselves ( pp. lxxxii 

 and xlvi); whilst it would be equally useless legislating 

 for those that are not perennial, because as the water 

 dried up the contained fish would perish (pp. xi, xviii, 

 xxxii, xli, lxxviii, lxxxi, lxxxv). In fact, it may be 

 doubtful whether it is advisable or not to pass any rules 

 as regards the minimum size of the mesh of the net 

 which may be used in waters that yearly dry up, and 

 after all communication has been naturally cut off from 

 large contiguous tanks or running streams or rivers. No 

 irrigated field is perennial whilst fish and their fry can- 

 not be prevented from extending their range into such 

 localities. A general destruction of fry is pointed out by 

 some native officials as the cause of the present deteriora- 

 tion of the fresh-water fisheries (pp. exxiv, exxv, clxxv) of 

 India. One European, however, observes upon the following 

 strong reason for not regulating the minimum size of the 

 mesh in future " that another class of poor people would 

 be pestered with orders and regulations, which they and 

 their neighbours would not understand" (p. cxix). 



LXXXIX. Fifthly, zoological grounds are adduced why 



zoological reasons against prohibiting the capture and sale of 



action being taken. t k e fry f large fishes could not be 



enforced. The ignorance of the common policeman is ad- 

 verted to as unable to discriminate between fry and adult 

 fish (p. exxxi) ; whilst in Bengal, Madras, and Burma the 

 want of a work on the fishes of the Indian Empire is spoken 

 of. Certainly, such a law, if passed, would be exceedingly 

 difficult to work until a comprehensive and illustrated 

 treatise is in the hands of executive officers. Thus, the term 



