WATERS OF WESTERN INDIA. 13 



habits of the arms and of the fresh water siluroida generally, the 

 " Kalan " is a fish of the reefs ; and has the clear brown and 

 mottled coloration often characteristic of rock fishes. 



In a former paper I mentioned the adipose fin of some Siluroida 

 as characteristic, in the Indian fresh waters. In the sea, however, 

 they are not alone in possessing it. The Scopelidcc, or Bombay 

 Duck family, all have it, and have even been classed as trouts on 

 the strength of it. 



The most distinguished of the family is certainly the ( ' Bombay 

 Duck" himself (Harpodon nepereus), in Maratha " Bhombil. " 

 " Bummalo " is either low Portuguese, or mere " Bombay bat," and 

 not a pure native word at all. 



Everybody in Bombay has seen the " Duck "at table, dried or 

 fried, but hardly any European has seen him in his habit as he swims. 

 The scales are fine, and very loose, aud they are always rubbed off 

 in the boat long before the fish come ashore, which is an extra 

 merit in a table-fish as no fish-scdes are wholesome, and many 

 extremely irritating to the coats of the stomach. I must admit, 

 however; that the naked, flabby-looking fish is not appetizing to 

 look on, and it is best to defer inspection till he has got a new suit 

 of bread-crumbs. 



The great commercial merits of the Duck are that his gelatinous 

 flesh dries quickly and safely in the sun, a great matter in a country 

 where the price of salt is artificially multiplied, and that his 

 relatively enormous and powerful jaws, armed with numerous and 

 formidable teeth, can be easily and quickly hitched into those of 

 a brother on the other side of the drying line, to the great savin a- of 

 labour when many thousand fish have to be hung up. When dried 

 the Bhombil is not merely a trifle to eat with curry ; he is the principal 

 animal food of thousands of the poor, who cannot afford the fre- 

 quent luxury of salt fish ; and as for meat, don't taste it twice in 

 the year. Every here and there in the Konkan there are temporary 

 fish markets in the fine weather, to which people from the interior 

 bring grain to barter for bundles of dried " ducks " and " scabbard- 

 fish/' to be carried up the foot-paths of the Ghats upon their 

 heads. Besides this, there is a great inward trade by more civilized 

 methods of conveyance. 



On one occasion I saw a goat make a raid on the unguarded 

 basket of an absent fish- fag, and eat three or four fresh " bhombils" 

 before the return of the screaming owner drove her off. This, how- 



