come under the generic name of mahaseers. Near Simla, 

 in the Girri, the Barbus hexastichus is a mahaseer ; in the 

 neighbouring Ussun River, the B. Himalayanus is thus 

 termed, whilst in the Hurriapore River, only a few miles off, 

 the B. tor is so called. All of these are closely allied 

 together ; so, perhaps, it might be considered that such distinc- 

 tions are immaterial. In answer to this is the reply that 

 there are upwards of 60 species of this genus in India, 

 some of which never exceed a few inches in length. 

 This is not a solitary case ; the genus Ophiocephalus offers 

 equal difficulties (see page ccv). Seeing the obstacles in 

 England where every fish that is protected has a very pecu- 

 liar and distinct fin, which does not exist in any of the 

 other sorts found there, I doubt if such rules could be carried 

 out in India where no such distinct peculiarity demonstrates 

 which fish it is that is to be preserved until it attains a cer- 

 tain age. 



CXXVIII. Respecting the necessity, or the reverse, 

 Regulating the minimum size of regulating the minimum size of the 

 of the mesh of nets employed. meshes of nets, is another very im- 

 portant question that can be locally dealt with. Opinions vary 

 so widely that, to disarm opposition, I think local Civil 

 authorities might fix it, in doing which it should be 

 remembered that it is in hilly districts during the breed- 

 ing season that small-meshed nets are doing an immensity 

 of injury to breeding-fish and their fry; also, that in the 

 plains myriads of very minute fish are captured by this 

 poaching practice. In the Panjab, 1^ inches between each 

 knot of the meshes as the minimum size is found to work 

 well, whereas amongst the propositions received from Euro- 

 pean Civil Officers (p. 98), we observe that in Oudh, meshes 

 of the size of two grains of barley, in Mysore, of an inch, in 

 the Central Provinces, J of an inch are suggested. There can 

 never be a necessity of having the distance between each 

 knot less than J of an inch ; and even were such a minute 

 minimum size decided upon, it would in certain districts 

 do an immensity of good. A medium course is likewise 

 open, instead of stopping all fishing during the breeding 

 season to prohibit the use of fixed engines entirely span- 

 ning pieces of water, and regulating the minimum size 

 of the mesh of nets from June 1st to November or De- 

 cember 1st only, so that the capture of fish which never 

 attain any size be permitted during those months when 

 the fry of the larger sorts have grown and are able to 



