86 Records of the Indian Mtiseum. 



First year. 



All the inhabitants of Gyantse whom I consulted in regard to 

 obtaining fish during the winter agreed that the larger fish mi- 

 grated from the Nyang-chu to the Brahmaputra (Tsang-po) for 

 the winter and returned to breed in spring. It is certain that I 

 did not obtain any large fish during this season, but this fact could 

 also be accounted for bj^ the hibernation of either the fish or the 

 fishermen. We shall see that in the neighbourhood of Dochen 

 fish of the genus Gymnocypris attain to a great size and complete 

 sexual maturity although unable to migrate below 14,600 feet. 



Enemies. — The only predatory fish in the district under con- 

 sideration is Gymnocypris stewartU, Lloyd. This animal undoubt- 

 edly preys on the fry of its ally SchizoPygopsis stoliczkae, but it 

 does not appear to be very numerous. I have heard from anglers 

 who have had considerable experience in Kashmir that '' snow 

 trout ' ' occur above the Mahseer. Schizopygopsis stoliczkae is 

 certainly included in the vague group of snow trout, and it is 

 highly probable that its descent to lower levels is prevented by 

 the voracious Barhns tor. The geese and duck which occur in 

 great numbers on the Rham Tso and along the Nyang-chu must 

 be reckoned among its most active enemies. 



9. Summary. — It is not justifiable to separate Schizopygopsis 

 sever zovi from S. stoliczkae as a distinct species, since they can 

 only be distinguished by one character and a complete series of 

 gradations occur from the one extreme type of head to the 

 other. The fish from any single narrow locality appear to incline 

 to one type or the other. Thus all specimens from Kang-ma are 

 Stoliczka's type, from Guru Stoliczka's, the Chumbi valley Ssewer- 

 zoff's. The Oikul group P. 4, on the other hand, contains both 

 the extremes as well as intermediates. 



The western members of the species differ from the eastern 

 Tibetan in the size of the head relativel}^ to the body, the head 



