168 Freshwater Sharks. Chapt. xiii. 



Wallayo attn, shown in Plate XVII, is rather a long-shaped 

 fish, fining down from the head to the tail, the head being the 

 broadest part of the fish. The huge mouth is a mass of formidable 

 teeth. The skin is scaleless, as it is with all the Siluridse. 

 This one attains to 6 feet or more in length. It affects 

 the still deeps in rivers, and is found all along their courses, 

 from the rocky mountain fastnesses of the Mahseer down to 

 the estuaries, and all over India, Ceylon, and Burma, so that 

 small fish in those parts have rather a rough time of it. It 

 thrives well also in ponds ; far too well for its companions in such 

 limited areas, witness the 2^ lbs. fish mentioned in the chapter 

 on Labeos as scarred by this fish. The fishing for Labeos in 

 those ponds would have been very much improved if these 

 voracious fish had not been there to thin their ranks. 



The Wallago attv. are to be taken with live bait picketed to 

 the bottom in the manner and in the places mentioned in the 

 chapter on live bait fishing for Mahseer, or by live bait attached 

 to a float large enough to restrain the bait. I have taken them 

 also with a live frog attached to a float ; and even with a small 

 paste bait on a small hook with fine gut line when fishing for 

 Labeos. But this last was an aeeeident, their formidable set of 

 teeth indicating very clearly that gimp or wire should be used. 

 I have known them taken with a plantain, with fowls' entrails, or 

 a bunch of worms, and I have caught a good sized one with a 

 spoon. 



lint 1 do not think the spoon or phantom or spun dead bait 

 are to be relied on as a rule. I place more reliance for these fish 

 on a stationary live bait. I do so partly because this fish is not 

 as active in its movements as the Mahseer, and not, I think, as 

 quick sighted. I once attributed its slowness to take a spun 

 bail to caution, but 1 am inclined to think the more correct 

 reason is deficient vision, for it has small eyes, and such long 

 feelers that it must surely be very much dependent on them, 

 and also on the sense of smell, for supplementing its eyesight in 

 search of food. Living and feeding mainly at the bottom, where 

 light is deficient, it is natural that the senses of touch and smell 

 should be more developed than sight You must therefore give 

 it time, and this is best done with a stationary live bait. 

 At the same time I should mention that I have seen them go 



