HABITS, BREEDiNG, ETC. 195 



full, and places that were only dry boulder-strewn 

 courses become full-grown streams. The Mahaseer, 

 and many other Cyprinoid fish, are said not to deposit 

 their spawn all at once like the salmon, but in several 

 batches during a period of several months, say from 

 May to August. In consequence they are never out 

 of season or unfit for food, and may be taken all the 

 year round. (In many species the interior is found to 

 contain a copious oily secretion when breeding ; this is 

 not, I believe, the case with the Mahaseer.) 



The time that they are in the best condition, fattest 

 and most active, is at the commencement of the rains 

 before they begin spawning, but their flesh will be 

 found good and wholesome even in August, while 

 by October they have quite recovered themselves 

 again. 



Thus, there is no necessity, in order to encourage 

 the breeding of the Mahaseer in India, to place any 

 restrictions on the capture of fish at certain seasons of 

 the year, such as they are obliged to have in salmon- 

 fisheries at home. Neither for other kinds of fish 

 does it appear necessary, as the great majority, includ- 

 ing all the kinds of most importance in an economical 

 point of view, inhabit ponds and still waters in the 

 plains, where they breed, and do not ascend to deposit 

 their spawn into the small hill streams where they 

 could be destroyed in a wholesale manner. The pre- 

 cautions necessary in this country are of a different 

 description. 



Nor yet in the case of the Mahaseer is it necessary 



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