8 NATURAL HISTORY. 



Just as the prey seems to be penned up in a corner behind the 

 hand-net, hop-skip-and-a-jurnp, he is in another puddle five or six 

 yards away, and he always does jump for that next puddle, and 

 never out on dry rock. 



The way to fix him is to have two hand-nets and lay one of 

 them over puddle No. 2 before beating up his quarters in No. 1. 

 I have seen one of these little fishes deliberately follow a bait, 

 which I slowly withdrew from him, about 2 feet up a rock. Some 

 kept in an aquarium preferred, apparently, to be out of water, or 

 at least half-out, and would remain so for hours without moving. 

 They are very tolerable eating, when well washed inside and out 

 or after keeping for a few hours in clean sea-water. 



For the next family, the Blennies, I can do no better than borrow 

 Major Beavan's statement that they " are a most ferocious lot of 

 little fishes, they reside mostly on or near the bottom ; some of the 

 species are remarkable for producing their young alive." Ours 

 vary very much in form ; some (Eleotris) are eel-like, of a dirty pink 

 colour, and very ugly ; others are smart little fishes, well-finned. 



After them come the " Spiny Eels, " well known on all Mofussil 

 breakfast tables as " Bhatn Machi, " and generally called in English 

 "Eels," though they are not really eels at all, in nature or flavour. 

 For the benefit of readers who may have seen them only on the dish, 

 I may remark that they have a queer proboscis like that of a tapir, 

 many prickles on the back, and few on the belly. They are ex- 

 clusivly fresh water fish, and can be taken with a worm, a bit of 

 raw meat or almost any other animal bait. 



Several Atherines, or sand-smelts, are recorded; but I have got 

 none of them here, which is probably my own fault — and misfortune, 

 as the whole family are good to eat. 



The Grey Mullets, to be carefully distinguished from the Red Mul- 

 lets, abound in the creeks along the shore, and when fresh and in 

 good condition, are as good for the table as any fish we have. They 

 are generally known as "BkuiMasa" or "Fisherman fish" and a very 

 good and handsome striped species (Mugil oeur) as " Thoda." 

 This last reaches a yard in length. I have never found a bait for 

 them, though I have read of many. 



The next two families are small and uninteresting here, except 

 that one fish, Fistularia Serrata, happens to have a long central 

 tail ray, which, being transferred to the tail of another fish by 

 accident or design (in a collection) helped to get up a bogus " new 



