ccxlii 



uanitary reasons, unless the last may have been due to any substances 

 swallowed by the lisli. Thus at one time tlie <i;'ouramy, Osjjhromcniis ol/ux, 

 taken from a tank in the Mauritius, was found unfit for human food, when 

 it was discovered that they had been consuming- the fdth from below a 

 latrine which opened into it. Hamilton Buchanan observed of the 

 estuary and marine fish, Scalophagus argus, that it is "easy of digestion and 

 excellent flavour, but after death it becomes soft and strongly tasted." Tliis 

 fish, however, is as foul a feeder as the last, and is conseq\iently generally 

 rejected as food. The Indian mackerel. Scomber Jcanagurla, taints very 

 rapidly after death, and not unfretjuently sets up gastric irritation, whilst 

 the mullets, Mugilidce, are usually unwholesome, unless eaten when quite 

 fresh. The fishes with accessory breathing organs or cavities are those as 

 a rule most esteemed as nourisliing by the natives, whether acantliop- 

 terygians or siluroids ; thus convalescents in some parts mostly esteem the 

 coie, or clindjing perch, or the siluroid magur, Clarias magtir ; next 

 perhaps the singi, Saccobranchus fossilis ; vAxWst the s])iny-rayed family 

 of ophioccphalus likewise hold a high place. In short, it is these fami- 

 lies so peculiar to the tropics which are found to bo the most wholesome 

 and invigorating. Munier, nearly a century since, informed Sonnerat that 

 fishes of the marine genus Scams, commonly known as " parrot fishes," 

 owing to their brilliant colours and bill-like teetli, were not eaten in Bour- 

 bon and the Mauritius between December and April, owing to their 

 uuwholesomeness, due, it was supposed, to their consuming large quantities 

 of coral polype. Commerson makes much the same remarks, and observes 

 that it gnaws the coral. It ha= also been said that fishes which consume 

 the medusas, commonly terme.l "Portuguese men-of-war," the Sicphan- 

 onia, appear to be rendered i ifit for human food, probably consequent 

 upon their acrid qualities. Hi;vvever, fish are found to be poisonous where 

 these polypes abound ; and in other localities where they are also numer- 

 ous, as the Andaman Islands the fish appear to be eaten with safety. 

 Dr. Hill (Pro., Scion. Aeso., Tiniidad, 18C8) observes the Formigas consti- 

 tute a very warren or vivarium of all kinds of fishes, and the fishes 

 there are poisonous. The sea is very shallow, covered with coral reefs, 

 aud these again by sea-cucumbers, star-fishes, sea-urchins and sponges. 

 420. Regarding the Siluridie or sealeless fishes as food, rather 



diverse opinions are held. The Jews were 

 ^^f^^ , directed m Leviticus, ctiap. xi, tliat 



" whatsoever hath no fins, nor scales in the 

 waters, that shall be an abomination unto you." They were only jiermit- 

 ted to eat " whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas 

 aud in the rivers," and this law is likewise generally, but not invariably, 

 observed by the IMahomedans. It is well known that persons of neither 

 of the foregoing religions are to eat the blood which is the life, so they 

 cut the throats of all animals before death, in order to permit it to escape. 

 In Siud, however, the Mahomedans have a tradition that the prophet 

 did this for them in regard to fish, because they die so rapidly after 

 they are removed from the water, and they point to the gill-opening in 

 proof of this having been done, consecinently they cat all siluroids which 

 possess well develo]ied gill-oiienings. In tlie last paragraph il was observed 

 that the Clarias and Succobranchiis are much esteemed in India for convale- 

 scents, whilst the Burmese havL- likewise a great partiiihty for them in their 



