MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 2l6 



I think I recollect having observed the same thing in Liopicus mahrathengis 

 and Tingipicus gymnophtlialmus. 



If it is the white spots — which alone appear to be eaten away — that only 

 are subject to the ravages of a parasite, surely natural selection ought to have 

 eliminated them long ago ! 



A. L. BUTLER. 



Perak, Straits Settlements, March, 1898, 



No. VI.— PARASITIC WORMS IN FISH. 



In some fish which I recently caught in the Kurram river I noticed that 

 about one per cent contained parasites. At first I could not make out what 

 they were, but seeing them move when separated, I came to the conclusion 

 that they were " parasitic worms," The fish is known here as the " Chilwa ' 

 {Asjndoparia mora?'). I should like to know if this fact is of common 

 occurrence, as I have mentioned it to several fishermen, none of whom have 

 ever noticed such a thing before. 



I have examined numerous other fish, but find these parasites only in this 

 particular species of fish. On one occasion I opened a fish that had been 

 dead and in the sun for twenty-four hours, and found the parasites were 

 still alive. 



R. H. RATTRAY, Major, 



22nd Punjab Infantry, 



ThDLL, KUKRAM-KOHAT FORCE, Mai/, 1898. 



No, VII.— NOTES ON WILDFOWL IN THE TINNEVELLY DISTRICT, 



SOUTH INDIA. 



On page 207, Vol. Ill, of the " Game Birds of India " (Hume and Marshall) 

 there is a note by Mr. Alfred Theobald, made in 1872, apropos of the Common 

 Teal, somewhat as follows : — " These Teal are found in great abundance in all 

 the large tanks south of Palamcottah (near Tinnevelly) ; in one especially 

 they were so tame that I mistook them for domesticated ones . , . the 

 only reason I can give to account for these birds being so tame in this 

 district is that hardly a native possesses a gun." 



Would it were so now ! The Teal are still with us in considerable numbers 

 but the race of "pot-hunters " has increased to such an extent, especially in 

 and about Tuticorin, that the ardent sportsman can scarcely bag more than 

 five or six duck and teal in a day, and that with much pain and trouble. I 

 make it worth the while of these native " sportsmen" to bring me their bags 

 daily, whether I buy for the table or not, so that, during the course of the 

 season, I see a considerable number of dead wildfowl in addition to those 

 observed in the not very successful attempts to obtain sport myself. (They 

 apparently do not snare or net wildfowl in this neighbourhood.) 



