Fish 

 Poisons. 



Caviare. 



Dried Fish. 



India imports 

 Pish. 



Explanation. 



FISflEKIES OF INDIA 



8. POISONS OR INTOXICANTS USED TO KILL F/S//.-The following are the 

 plants of ten used in India to kill fish: AiMzxln stipuiata, and procera; Annm trtn 

 Coccuttis, W, & A. (the seeds boiled in rice and made into a paste) ; Bninnites 

 H,,.,hni'<!liii. Planch ; Ilfirri iif/toniu rncentoza, Bl. (seeds mixed with bait) ; Bassin 

 bittj/racea, Roxb. (bark used in Sikkim) ; Herberts nrintatn, DC. (bark) ; Crotn. 

 i,n i panieiiiatn, Willd. (according to Hooper, plant used) ; Derrifi eiUpticn, Benth. 

 (bark and flowers); Oiofipyron >ut<t n . Roxb. (fruits) ; Euphorbia. Tiritcalll, 

 Linn, ; flnggea teiwojp /<, Willd., and F. microcarptt, Bl. (the barks) ; Gyno- 

 cnnlln otlornta, Br. (the fruit) ; Hyanocttrpus venenata, Gaertn. (fruit used) : 

 /.< Mi.si//iji eriocephaliiH, Dene, (bark) ; Millettia Piscitlia, Wight (powder of 

 bark and flowers) ; jfiunanieu suberoHa, Benth. (seeds and inner layer of bark); 

 if ti mi in <iu i>i<-t<>,-i< HI. Lamh. (bruised fruits) ; Snpititn indie.ntn, Willd. (the seeds 

 used); SpilantHea Aemella, Linn. (fruits); Sft't/cJinon Xtix-votniea, Linn.; 

 Witifiut'a PtHcidia, Roxb (bark thrown into tanks). 



It has been pointed out that many of these contain saponin. All are more 

 or less acrid and bitter. It is generally held that the fish taken by this process 

 are quite wholesome. The practice is most reprehensible, since young and old 

 are killed and more therefore destroyed than can be used. [Hooper, Drugg. 

 Bull, Nov. 1890.] 



9. ROB. The roes of certain fish are highly prized. They are often specially 

 prepared and sold by themselves, just as in Europe the cod-roe is a recognised 

 marketable article. The fish most generally resorted to for this purpose are 

 the Gard fish of Malabar (Heniirixtini)itun bit/fonts) (I.e. i., 427), a fish found 

 plentifully in the seas and tidal rivers of Bombay, Bengal and the Andaman 

 Islands. So again the Corsula Mullet (Xiiyit coreuia) (I.e. ii., 349) or the undala, 

 corsula, in-ge-li, nga-sheng, etc., which Ainslie says affords a kind of caviar 

 (caviare), as also the Common Mullet (Mugii a>,ur) (I.e. ii., 348), the kola-kende 

 or muhlah, yields roes that are much appreciated and are sold sun-dried. 



10. SALTED AND DRIED FISH. In official statistics this subject is dealt with 

 under the following headings: "Dry Unsalted Fish," "Dry Salted Fish," and 

 " Wet Salted Fish." One of the most startling circumstances of the trade in 

 fish is the fact that India is apparently not able to meet her own demands. 

 Perhaps no other part of the globe (of a like magnitude) possesses so varied and 

 extensive a series of marine and fresh-water edible fish, nor so many forms that 

 lend themselves readily to artificial production in tanks and ponds. In spite of 

 every advantage, however, the foreign imports far exceed the exports, thus showing 

 that from one circumstance and another, India is not self-supporting in the 

 matter of fish. Whether this proceeds from unskilled methods and imperfect 

 appliances, or from the want of proper regulations and protective measures, in 

 the form of a Fisheries Act, or from the restrictions that prevail in the supply 

 of cheap salt for fish-curing, or from the climatic and social conditions of the coun- 

 try and people that are naturally opposed to the development of a fish-curing 

 industry, are points of a highly controversial nature. The late Dr. Francis Day 

 was of opinion that the Bengal supply had steadily declined, since the first decade 

 of the nineteenth century, when Buchanan-Hamilton conducted his survey 

 of that province and wrote his Fishes of the Ganges, owing, Day thought, to 

 the selfish and destructive systems that were allowed to prevail. Be that as it 

 may, it is certain that the past twenty or thirty years has witnessed the steady 

 growth of an import trade in fish which has assumed no mean proportions. 



The following, arranged in alphabetical sequence of their scientific names, are 

 the more important fish sold in salted condition : Aetobatis narinnri (I.e. i., 59), 

 the Devil Fish; Arlna vmlttnn (I.e. i., 174), A.. nnyor and A., sona (I.e. 178-9); 

 f'lnitin-KKii* rlnteunda (I.e. 386), the Indian Herring; C'hryaophrys Itf rtln (I.e. 

 ii. 44), the Grey Perch; citirin* nmt/tir (I.e. i., 115); Cybimn </ntt<itiun 

 (I.e. ii., 210), Seer or seir ; CynogiuHHu* sp. (I.e. ii., 452), the Soles known in 

 South India as mdnthal ; J5/ aanra (I.e. ii., 188), the dacer karah, Coro- 



mandel ; CterreH fllamentOKum (I.e. i., 537), the Udan ; Itrpo<lon Hetif.reu* 



(I.e. i., 412), the Bummelo, already discussed ; r^itjan-un aryentimncHiatit* 

 (I.e. i., 472), the Red Rock-cod; r,. 3<i hngnraH (I.e. i., 474), the purruwa; stugii 

 rorsuin (I.e. ii., 349), the Mullet; fristis rtinpiaatits (I.e. i. 37), the Saw-fish; 

 KIiyncJiobntnH ajeiiaenftia (I.e. i., 40), the ulavi ; SaccobranchitB fottniHn 

 (I.e. i., 125), the Scorpion Fish; Scttena bieekeri (I.e. ii., 112), the soh-li; scomber 

 mifi'oiepiaotus (I.e. ii., 203), the Mackerel or ila ; stromateiis dnerens (I.e. ii., 

 198), the Silver Pomfret; s. nlyer (I.e. ii., 199), the Black Pomfret ; s. ine*i* 

 (I.e. ii., 197), the White Pomfret; Tmchynotus omtns (I.e. ii., 179). the 



546 



