183 



Sub -Kingdom VII. VERTEBRATA. • 



Ri'd-hldndeil animals, with ttio mass of the nervous centres inclosed in a bony 

 axis. iSexes distinct. Jaws invariably above and below, never lateral. The muscles 

 always extern;d to the bones. 



ICHTHYOLOGY, 



REGAllDING Fi.sh in the light of a food supply for the masses, there is, perhaps, 

 no part of the East where this item forms so imjiortant a feature of the national 

 dietary as in Burma, which mainly arises, of course, from the Buddliist faith, which 

 indisposes the people to the use of butcher's meat, which is replaced by Ngfi-pl, or 

 the tish paste so universally used as a condiment with rice by all classes of society 

 in Burma. This beinp; so, the following remarks will not be regarded out of place, 

 taken from Dr. Day's lleport on ' Fresliwater Fish and Fisheries of India and Burma,' 

 p. 15 : — "The fishes, which arc chiefly useful as food in the fresli-watcrs of India, 

 belong to the order rhy.wstomi, especially in its Siluroid, C'yprinoid, and Herring 

 families; as well as those which are included in the order Aennlhopleri/gii, sub- 

 divided by some authors into two. The other orders which furnish examples to 

 the fresh waters are only employed as food by the very poorest classes, or even 

 entirely rejected. 



In the sub-class Telkostei, the spiny-rayed or Ac.iNTeorTKRYoi.vN orders of 

 fishes are not found in any great nundjers in the inland fresh waters of India, but 

 ai'e mostly confined to the plains, either within, or but a short distance removed from 

 tidal reach, or above the sea-level. The larger the river, the greater the probability 

 of these fishes extending their range up it. There are some genera which possess 

 species that are able to exist some time after their removal from the water, and oven 

 to dive down and remain in the mud of tanks during the dry season, re-appearing 

 with the returning rains. These hard-rayed fishes, which are taken in the fresh 

 waters, mostly belong to the following 18 genera, some of which are marine, others 

 not so : — I Zatcs, 'i Ainhiissis, 3, Cortina, \ Mngil, 5 Equula, 6, Gubiiis, 1 Etictcno- 

 gohiiiK, 8 Pcn'opkthd/miis, 9 Elcnlrin, 10 Uadis, 11 Nandus, 12 Cutnpra, \?> Andhas, 

 14 Fuh/acanthus, 15 Triclwyader, IG Ophiucepkalus, 17 Rhijnclwhdella, 18 Mada- 

 cemhalus. 



The foregoing 18 genera are divisible into two distinct classes; frst, those 

 which entirely belong to the fresh waters. Secondly, those which are marine, and 

 only ascend rivers for predaceous or breeding purposes. Of the true fresh-water 

 ones the first four are monogamous — Anubas Thoniassi, I'olynranthus eiiptinux, 

 Trichoyaster fasciatus, and Ophiocephalus gachua, and pcrluq)s also Gohius yiuris and 

 Eucienoyohiui striatus, all of which appear peculiarly adapted for tanks and ' eny-s,' 

 as tliey live in the grass along their edges, where the larger varieties lie in wait 

 for frogs, or other animals, whereon they prey, whilst the four first named genera, 



