CHAP. xi. Naming Fish. 147 



my reason for urging it is that the smaller mouthed Carps feed 

 differently from the large-mouthed, and must necessarily be fished for 

 differently ; and hints for the taking of the Mahseer would only lead 

 to disappointment if applied to the hero of this chapter, under the 

 impression that it was much the same fish. Indeed, I know cases in 

 point, of fishermen who confounded them, and consequently con- 

 founded their style of fishing, with the result that they did not get as 

 much sport as if they had critically adapted their manner of fishing to 

 the fish they sought. One of these was also no mean master of the 

 salmon wand. But they did not vary their fishing with their fish, they 

 used large flies where they should have used small, and small flies 

 where they should have used large ones ; and they threw a fly where 

 they should have spun, and vice versa ; and they sought for both fish 

 in like places, whereas they should have chiefly tried the deep pools and 

 gentle eddies in the one case, and the runs in the other. All this 

 came of their thinking them both Mahseer; and as they had caught the 

 Mahseer in such and such a way, they thought they could do so again. 

 Now it would make me unhappy if you did the same, if you should 

 call this fish a Mahseer, and you should apply to him all the advice 

 given in the " Rod in India " about the Mahseer, and should conse- 

 quently be disappointed in your fishing, and perhaps angry with your 

 faithful mentor, and that, too, after all the pains taken with your 

 education. " But why cannot you call him a Chub ? " you say. True, 

 he is more like a Chub than a Carp in his ways. But then he would 

 not stand alone, there would be other claimants for the title of Chub, 

 or Barbel, or Roach, or Bleak, or Dace, or Rudd, and I should only 

 mislead you by indicating a similitude which was not close enough, 

 and which had more than one claimant, for there are about sixty kinds 

 of Carps in India. It is better to start fair altogether without any 

 English preconceived ideas to be got rid of, and I think the simplest 

 way is to take the name given him by his sponsor, Dr. Jerdon, the 

 naturalist's name, the name recognized by Ichthyologists, and anglicize 

 it as closely as possible. Such names are ordinarily indicative, first, of 

 the classification, secondly, of the peculiarity of the fish in question, 

 though they are sometimes named after friends, which naming, though 

 it may be a kindly recognition, occasionally hard, perhaps, to avoid, 

 is not useful descriptively ; for, though the fish may be bearded and 

 moustached, and so far be all right, still you know it cannot have two 



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