32 The Natoeral History qfike Afahseer. Chapt. hi. 



Unlike other teeth, in fish instead of dentine, they have a coating 

 of enamel, which is continued to their base. There seems to be no 

 provision for renewing them in case of loss, no adjoining row of 

 teeth as in the shark, no second tooth below as in the human 

 being; and in an instance in which I noticed that two were 

 wanting on one side, the place where they should be was quite 

 smooth. They are not used for capturing fond at all, but for 

 crushing it in its passage down the throat. The fine perforations 

 through which they are supplied with nerves and nutriment are 

 easily seen. The attachment of the muscles to the pharyngeal 

 bones is also very apparent and in keeping with what we know of 

 the power with which they are used. 



Professor Spencer F. Baird, Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries 

 in the United States, says in his report for 1875 76, that the 

 pharyngeal teeth of the common carp, Cyprinus Carpio, are shed 

 annually a little before spawning time. Whether or not our 

 large Indian carp, the Mahseer, does the same is a point that it 

 may interest some to observe. I do not think it does. I certainly 

 have not examined carefully for this specific purpose, but I have 

 caught Mahseer before their spawning time and have never 

 noticed any indications of such shedding, and I think I should 

 have noticed them if they had been there. Fur instance, I have 

 seen broken teeth unreplaced, and I have never seen loose teeth, 

 or incomplete young teeth. If the teeth are shed one can readily 

 imagine that it would influence the feeding of the fish at that 

 season of the year. I certainly have found times even with 

 clear water, when the Mahseer could not be induced to look at a 

 fly or fish, and I have been utterly puzzled for a reason. Still it 

 does not follow that want of a new set of teeth was the reason, and 

 it may quite as well have been the east wind. There the question 

 is, however, for enquiring anglers to investigate, do Mahseer shed 

 their pharyngeal teeth annually as a stag sheds his horns, and if 

 they do, when do they shed them, and how long are the new 

 teeth in coming on, and what is the food, if any, during the 

 toothless period ? 



The Mahseer has also great power of jaw by means uf which 

 it is able at a blow to stun a live fish, and to make up by 

 compression for the absence of the teeth usually found in the 

 mouth of predacious lish. That it makes other use of it also to 

 the detriment of the angler will be found in the next chapter. 



