X INTRODUCTION. 



but " sea frogs/' (kuddul mahcutchee, Mai.) to the Natives, and so termed from the noise they make 

 when captured. An Anchovy, Engraulis belama, C. V., if dressed previous to the removal of 

 its head and viscera, has been frequently observed to occasion death in a few hours, with all the 

 symptoms produced by an irritant poison. In certain seasons of the year, mostly about October, 

 fatal attacks resembling cholera are caused by some species if eaten. The Mackerel and allied 

 families if kept until they are tainted, are also highly irritating, sometimes poisonous ; while a 

 constant fish diet is commonly reputed to be one of the causes of the horrible leprosy Elephan- 

 tiasis Grcecorum, which is not rare in Malabar, as well as of the inveterate Scabies which when 

 checked often results in fatal dropsy. In Bengal, Hamilton Buchanan observes, eating the 

 Rohita cursis and drinking copious draughts of milk on the same day, is believed to be one of 

 the causes of Elephantiasis Arabum. 



Some families, especially the Siluridce, which dwell in estuaries and fresh waters, and are 

 consequently in the vicinity of man, are deemed venomous, being armed with saw-like pectoral 

 spines, with which wounds apparently poisoned are inflicted ; they occasion intense irritative pain 

 and occasionally lock-jaw j while so apprehensive are the fishermen of such wounds, that as soon 

 as these fish are captured the dreaded spines are at once broken off : amongst these the Scorpion 

 fish, Saccobranchus singio, stands pre-eminent ; but according to Cuvier and Valenciennes there 

 are other siluroids nearly as much feared, such as the Plotosus Arab. The voracity of the Sharks in 

 Malabar is perhaps less than might be anticipated, but injuries inflicted by the Saw-fish, Pristis 

 semisagittatus, are frequent and frightful. Dangerous wounds, apparently so from the manner of 

 their infliction and not from the presence of any poison, are occasioned by the saw-like spine on 

 the tail of some of the Rays, and also from the lateral spine of the Lancet fishes. Even the spinous 

 rays of the Acanthopterygians often set up intense inflammation in persons in a previously bad 

 state of health, or during certain atmospheric conditions, whilst the bite of the Conger telabon is 

 considered very dangerous. 



Other fish are used in India as medicines, thus the Tetraodons are prescribed by the Native 

 doctors in phthisis, Shark' 's-liver oil in night blindness, and the jaw of the Belone with its teeth 

 intact is employed as an instrument for acupuncture, its toothed side being placed over the spot 

 and the back of the jaw struck with a piece of wood, so that its numerous sharp teeth penetrate 

 the skin. 



The habits of the fish might be very advantageously inquired into, for a constant succession 

 of arrivals and departures occurs all along the coast. The gregarious Sardine, the Indian Mackerel, 

 and several other families are uncertain as to the times of their advent and departure ; in some years 

 arriving in millions, in others all but absent, their presence in shoals can never be entirely relied 

 upon. Where the fish go to, and from whence they come, are interesting subjects for inquiry ; 

 thus the little Chcetodon pratextatus, which is usually only about a fortnight in South Malabar, and 

 that merely at the commencement of the S.W. monsoon, seems hardly adapted for making long 

 -rations. 



