226 BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 



in their size, enable a busy niau to get a few brace of birds in an 

 hour's walk with little apparatus and arrangement; aud this to a 

 resident sportsman is worth far more than the power of making a 

 big bag at the cost of half-a-day, and of preparations made as if for 

 a battle. The punt-guu is unknown, and the natives, luckily, know 

 little, in most places, of snaring water-fowl. 



The aquatic reptiles and amphibia of Gujarat differ so little from 

 those of the provinces already dealt with, that no great notice of 

 them is necessary. Crocodiles (C palustris) and freshwater turtles 

 abound. The Crocodiles eat the turtles and the turtles eat what- 

 ever they can get. Both attain a larger size in the great rivers than 

 in the standing waters. The fishes, too, are much the same. I have 

 not myself procured Barb us tor, the typical Mahseer in this province, 

 nor in Khandesh, which, as far as river-fish go, is a part of Gujarat, 

 though its water-fowl are those of the Deccan. 



In those places in Gujarat where I have fished, the most sporting 

 Barbele was, I think, Barbits sarana, called by the natives " Darai." 

 I have also often got the " Kafria/' a handsome fish, which I take to 

 be identical with the Konkan Masheer, and have somewhat doubt- 

 fully identified with B. pinnauratus. 



In the same way the occurrence here of Labeo rohita, the true 

 Koho or Rahu fish, is very doubtful. Its place seems to be taken by 

 Labeo ealbasu and two other species, which, I think, must be L.Jim - 

 hriatus or Lesckenaultii, and L. ariza) but I am not prepared to 

 speak with certainty. 



Of the sea-fishe3 there is little new to say, except that in this 

 province you begin to get the Paila (Clupea iliska) or Indian Shad 

 running up the great rivers to spawn. 



If, however, the fishes of Gujarat differ little from those of our 

 southern waters in kind, they greatly exceed them in number. A 

 great many tanks are protected by those communities (very powerful 

 in Gujarat) which object to the destruction of life, and the weedy 

 deeps of the lake form natural sanctuaries. During the rains the 

 flat and flooded country affords ample water-way to fry, and the open 

 waters are re-stocked from these reserves. 



In consequence the number of fish is everywhere very great, and 

 the Labeos in particular attain a very large size, often exceeding 

 twenty pounds in weight. There is scarcely any part of the province 

 where one cannot get a little rod fishing of some kind ; and in the 

 more rapid parts of the great rivers it is sometimes really good. 



