< M \ii \xii. The Oourami. 279 



Then, as to the fish to put in. This must ilepend on your 

 object. If ymi are stocking for native fishing, you may put in 

 any number of the small carps that never ^mu beyond G 01 

 8 inches in length, for they will multiply more rapidly than 

 any others, ami natives like catching those little fish fast with 

 their small rods, which break with a big fish. But if you are 

 stocking for European fishing, exclude them, or they will mono- 

 polise the food supply. The several Labeos, the White Carp, 

 and the Olive f'arp. all introduced to you above, may be put in 

 in any numbers. The two first are bottom feeders, the last more a 

 mid-water feeder. The (,'helas may be added as surface feeders. 

 The Gourami should be added if possible, as a chiefly weed- 

 feeder. These will not coiilliet with each oilier, in eating each 

 other, or in eating each others' food to any great extent 



The Gourami, Osphromtnus olfax, Plate XXIV,* is a most 

 desirable fish to breed in ponds. It is a native of China, where 

 it a fleets the still places in rivers. It attains 20 lbs. in weight, 

 is said to take a fly and a paste bait, and is so highly esteemed 

 for flavour, and is so easily cultivated in tropical climes, that 

 it has been naturalized in Mauritius, Cayenne, and Australia. 

 In Hatavia, the Dutch rear Gourami for the table in earthen 

 pots. Coinnierson said that nothing that he had tasted amongst 

 tish, whether marine or freshwater, was more exquisite. They 

 are said to feed chiefly on water-weeds, particularly the Pistia 

 nutans. They were introduced into the Calcutta Botanical Gar- 

 dens, but I am told that they were so neglected that, in 1841, 

 only one was found to be still existing. I am not sure that I 

 did not hear that they had been re-introduced there, sir William 

 Denison, when Governor of Madras, introduced them there, at bl- 

 own private cost, and the following record of their subsequent exis- 

 tence is worth preserving: — 



'• I beg to give you the following, information obtained from 

 Mr. Thompson, respecting the Gourami tish : — 



"The fish, 20 in number, were imported from the Mauritius, 

 ■ and arrived here in the earlj part of Lord Napier's stay. They 

 "were taken to Guindy, and half of the number put into each 



• This plate is copied, bj kind permission, from Dr. Day's " Fishes of India. " 

 The scales are incorrect in number, because Dr. Day's plate was blurred, and too 

 ■t to follow them, and I had no natural «p«*imen. 



