﻿244 GANGETic FISHES. Order V. 



his Palasah, and certainly there is the utmost affinity between 

 the fishes : but Dr Kussell states the number of rays in the fins 

 of his fish somewhat differently from what I observed ; and the 

 scale-like appendants, which the Gangetic fish has above both 

 pectoral and ventral fins, were observed by Dr Kussell only 

 above the former. Besides, what to many will appear of more 

 importance, the Palasak would seem to be very inferior in qua- 

 lity, as a food, to the Ilisha of Bengal. 



Except in wanting teeth, the Ilisha has the most strong re- 

 semblance to the Shad, {Clupea alosa,) and there is reason to 

 suspect that the Indian and Latin names may be radically the 

 same. The Ilisha frequents the bay of Bengal and the large 

 salt water estuaries of the Ganges, and in the rainy season as- 

 cends the larger rivers to spawn. I have seen it as high as 

 Agra and Kan pur, but so high up it is very rare. At Patna on 

 the Ganges, and Goyalpara on the Brahmaputra, it is pretty 

 common, but rather poor and exhausted. About Calcutta and 

 Dhaka it is in the utmost abundance and perfection, and is the 

 richest and highest-flavoured fish that I know, having a taste of 

 both the salmon and herring ; but, owing to innumerable small 

 bones, it is difficult to eat, and it is heavy of digestion. Its 

 common size is about a foot and a half in length, but it is occa- 

 sionally twice that dimension. The drawing is taken from a 

 young fish. 



The fish is above of a green colour, with a gloss of gold 

 changing to purple, and below silver. In young fishes there is 

 generally a row of four or five black spots on each shoulder ; 

 but in large individuals some of these generally, and often all 

 of them, disappear. The fins are diaphanous ; that of the tail 

 is edged with black. 



The head is small and oval. The mouth descends obliquely 



from the end of the nose. The upiper Jaw is rather the longest, 



1 



