226 The Murral. CHAP. xvi. 



apologizing for the necessity which, in the interest of identification 

 and advance in knowledge, is wisely laid on every Ichthyologist to 

 follow the name given by the first sponsor. So we have the name 

 of the genus in Greek, Ophiocephalus, or snake-headed, and of one 

 species, O. micropeltes, small-shielded, the name of the species also 

 is correspondingly in Greek; then we have O. leucopunctatus, white- 

 spotted, with the first half of the compound word leucopunctatus Greek, 

 the second half Latin; and "in O. marulius we have the Hindustani 

 word marral, Latinized. 



However, his acquaintance is worth cultivating, for he grows to 

 2 and 3 feet in length, and is not bad eating. He is as full of bones 

 as a pike, but then he ought to be brought to table as full of stuffing 

 also, so that you may be of a forgiving disposition. 



He is very like a pike in more ways than one. He is long-shaped 

 like a pike ; has a mouth full of teeth like a pike ; like him basks in 

 the sun at the surface, though very tolerant of cold also ; and like 

 a pike roams about at times for his food, instead of waiting stationarily 

 behind a rock, for it to be brought down to him by the stream. This 

 is the natural consequence of his living chiefly in ponds, and in the still 

 pools in rivers, where there is little or no stream to bring things past 

 a stationary object ; and the consequence also of his food not being 

 such as would naturally be washed down a stream. At times he lies 

 hidden like a pike, and, perfectly motionless behind weeds, under a 

 bank, amongst roots, or in a hole, with just his nose out, watching for 

 unwary little fish to swim by. It is said that they frequently have 

 large holes in the bank in which they live in pairs coiled up. This 

 habit of taking to earth is sometimes very inconvenient to the angler, 

 for if he is not very prompt and very vigorous in keeping them away 

 from the bank when hooked, they will have the line round a corner, 

 and you may then say good-bye to all chances of recovering it, or 

 your fish ; you will have to break it. I have had a Murral run into 

 a hole in a rock in this way, and I lost my fish, and my tackle, and 

 my sweet temper, all at a stroke. Of the last two commodities, 

 however, I had more in stock, and soon indented thereon. 



It does not make anything like as good a fight as a Mahseer, but 

 bores down to the bottom. When caught, keep your fingers out of 

 his gills as well as out of his mouth. 



The Murral feeds much as the pike does, and may be fished for in 



