( ^^ ) 



fill tlio following June. When tlic rivers coiiimeuce being in 

 flood, grown fish are enabled io ascend to new reeding-grouuds 

 previously inaccessible to them, and tcu-pound flsh are to be 

 seen half-way up the Mercara GhA,t. In the high waters, the 

 larger fish linger until the gradually subsiding streams waru 

 f.heni to dro[) gently downwards. The early spawncrs stay 

 the longest to secure shallow water for spawning; this done, 

 they keep dropping gently downwards Avith the continually 

 decreasing Avaters, and before the 'spawn they have 

 deposited is hatched, they are probably completely cut off 

 from their fry, so that, till the commencement of the same 

 monsoon in the following year, they cannot return to devour 

 them. TIjc fry thus not only have the heads of the rivers 

 securely to themselves, but they have them also beautifully 

 accommodated to tlieir puny strength, the impassable torrent 

 having become a mere driblet of an inch or so in deptli. 

 (lleporl on Piscictdturein South Canara,])\y. 11, 12). These 

 fine fish having deposited their ova in the hill streams, and 

 returned to the rivers of the plains, descend down Iheir course 

 in search of food, and if the upper portions of these rivers are 

 not of much depth, their range is extended very far down : 

 fhus, I have seen numbers of mahasecr netted in the Jumna 

 below Uelhi whilst returning up river towards their breeding- 

 grounds. A drove of mahaseers also descending rivers with 

 Avoirs and irrigation canals, naturally turn into the latter, 

 and having descended over one of the vertical falls, become 

 unable to return to their breeding-grounds (see para. XVIII). 

 XLIX. Of the non-migratovy fishes of the plains, 

 Non-,„is.ato,y fisi, of tho ^hc monyam'oHs and ubiquitous 



plains, sonic being mouogamous, AValkiug-llsheS, Ol'lIIOC'El'lIALIDyE, are 



others polygamous. perhaps bcst kuowu. As a rule, these 



lish do not deposit such a number of ova as the migratory 

 forms, but they appear to lireed oftener. Some of them reside 

 in tanks, others prefer rivers, where they live in deserted holes 

 they find in the banks. The tank varieties delight in lying 

 in the grassy edges, where the water is only sufficiently deep 

 to cover them, so that they have no difhculty in respiring at- 

 mospheric air direct (see para. XLIII on air-breathing fishes). 

 In Mysor, Colonel Puclde observed that the striated Avalk- 

 ing-fish, Oph/oceplialus slriatus breeds tAvico a year, in June 

 and December ; the male constructing a nest Avith his tail 

 amongst the vegetation, and biting off the ends of the weeds 

 that grow in the water. Here the ova are deposited, the 

 male keeping guard, but should he bo killed or captured. 



