ccxlm 



nga-pee. Some of the larger species of Macrones and Anus which are 

 found in fresh waters are not esteemed, as they consume ordure whenever 

 procurable : perhaps it may be considered questionable whether cholera 

 may not be spread by this agency, if the fish are eaten before being 

 thoroughly cleaned or cooked. This family of fishes, with the exceptions 

 noted, does not appear to be very wholesome, being, as a rule, rather rich, 

 or else hard and indigestible. Their flavour is likewise generally insipid, 

 still the Aor, Macrones aor, in some localities is excellent, whilst the 

 absence of bones renders the operation of eating it, not a service of 

 danger, as in many Asiatic fresh-water fishes. 



421. The carps, Cyprinida, which abound in the waters of the 



plains of India, are all more or less useful 

 Carps iu hilly districts may ag food alfchoU£?n differing widely in their 

 set up deleterious effects. » rj ji 



gastronomic value. But as the mountain 



regions are approached the value of some as food becomes impeached, 



at least when eaten by strangers, although generally to the residents, 



and perhaps many of the visitants, no deleterious effects are produced. 



Dr. McClelland observed of a mountain barbel, Oreinus progastus, that 



" this species is said by the natives of Assam to cause swimming in the 



head, and temporary loss of reason for several days, without any 



particular derangement of the stomach. It is the most herbivorous of 



the barbels," [a statement open to doubt] "and, like some of the 



gudgeons, tends rapidly to decay after death, and in the abdominal cavity 



U copious oily secretion is found," [in oommon with other Indian carps 



before the breeding season and after they have recovered from such,] 



f< which is probably the cause of its bad effects. * * * Mr. Griffith 



was informed by the fishermen that, if eaten, it occasions all the symptoms 



of drunkenness, which coincides with what I have myself heard regarding 



its effects." (Trans-Asiatic Society, Bengal, xix, page 344.) The late 



Dr. Jerdon informed me that he had witnessed these symptoms amongst 



his own servants, produced from eating some species of mountain fishes. 



When in the Chumba State in the Himalayas, I found another mountain 



barbel, Oreinus sinuatus, very common, but the natives asserted that it 



never occasioned uncomfortable symptoms, although they were consumed 



by every class of the community. Some European residents, and others 



who were visitors, likewise eat them with impunity ; however, one of my 



native servants who tried one declined a second attempt, as he was 



unwell for 24 hours subsequently. Low down the Ravi, and in some of 



the other Panjab rivers, I have heard of deleterious effects being occasioned 



from partaking of these fishes. Certainly at Chumba the fish were netted 



and not captured by means of poisoning the water. 



422. Amongst the Clupeida, or herring family, which abound in 

 Herring family •• members of the Indian seas, some being visitants to the 



it occasionally 0l . always poison- fresh-waters for breeding purposes, and a 

 ol * s - few entirely residing there; several marine 



forms have been reputed as poisonous, which in some instances appears 

 to be due to the food which they have eaten. Engraulis boelama, a small 

 anchovy, has been accused by Dussumier of occasioning death in a few 

 hours, if dressed without its head and intestines having been first 

 removed; they abound, however, at the Andamans, where they are largely 

 eaten, and there is no record in that settlement of any individual having 



