

404 TELEOSTEI. PlIi'SOSTOMI. 



total length. Eye* diameter 3| to 3| ia the length of head, 



Lto 1 diameter from the end of snout, and 1^- apart. Fins 

 rsal fin with its upper margin concave, and along its base 

 are two rows of scales ; ventral inserted under the middle of the 

 dorsal. Anal very small ; the lower margin of the fin concave, 

 with two rows of scales along its base. Soaks some rows en- 

 larged over the nape. Colout summit of head and back brilliant 

 glossy blue, fading into silvery on the abdomen ; snout light brown. 

 Dorsal and caudal rays greyish, and, as well as the membranes, 

 dotted with light brown, both the fins are margined with black. 

 The caudal semi-lunar lamina) of scales pale slate-colour, the 

 pectorals and ventrals white, with the anterior halves of their 

 external surface minutely dotted with dark brown, their elongated 

 appendages bright silvery. The anal white, with the anterior half 

 dotted with black. Iris silvery, orbital half pale brownish. 



Hob. Indian and Pacific Oceans ; attaining 3 feet and more in 

 length. It is the milk fish or white mullet of Europeans in Western 

 India. 



Fig. 127. Chanos salmoneus. 



In the Condapur tank in South Canara this fish has been accli- 

 matized, and lives in slightly brackish water, where it grows to 

 20 Ib. or 30 Ib. weight. There is a popular tradition that Ilyder 

 AH introduced it from the sea into this piece of water, where it is 

 strictly preserved. Mr. H. S. Thomas conjectures, with more pro- 

 bability, that some fry were introduced through a breached sluice 

 from the adjoining estuary. These fish are not to be caught 

 with a rod and line, and Mr. V. Lewis gives an interesting account 

 of how they were captured during the cold season of 1887-8 by 

 means of a semicircle of boats, each consisting of two canoes lashed 

 together. The boats were connected by a stout rope supporting a 

 net, and the most curious circumstance was that not a fish was 

 caught in the net, all leaped over it, and many over the boats too, 

 those alone being captured that were knocked down by sticks and 

 fell in the canoes*. 



* This work being limited to the indigenous fishes of India, the family of 

 Salmonidce is omitted, as the Hindu Rush is the nearest locality to Hindu- 

 stan where a species (Sulmo orientalis, McClelland, or S. oxianus* Kessler) is 

 found. But as Sal mo fario var. levcnensis and the cyprinoid tench (Tincu 

 vulgaris) have been introduced into the waters of the Nilgiri hills, it is 

 necessary to mention them. 



