CHAP. xvin. Lates calcarifer. 249 



cannot help yourself, that your tackle is not so good as his, and that 

 you must make the best of a bad job ; and then, when you land a fish 

 nevertheless, he will be all astonishment, and doubly anxious to show 

 you there is still " a thing or two " which he knows better than you ; 

 and you may pick up many a useful wrinkle from the native fishermen. 



It is now time I made the usual descriptive quotation from Dr. Day's 

 " Fishes of India," and bid good-bye. 



Sub-class. TELEOSTEI. 



Order. ACANTHOPTERYGII. 



Family. POLYNEMID^E (including eight species). 



Polynemus tetradactylus. B. vii., D. 8 ^~, P. 17 + iv., V. 1/5, A. 

 7fE?7 c - J 7> L- 1 - 75- 8 5> L - tr - 8/14. Caec. pyl. many. Habitat: Seas 

 of India to the Malay Archipelago and China. Attaining 6 feet and 

 upwards in length. It is excellent eating. This species appears to ascend 

 higher up the rivers than any of the others, and the young are numerous 

 in the Hoogly, at Calcutta. Ham. Buchanan observes : " I have been 

 assured by a credible native that he saw one which was a load for six 

 men, and which certainly, therefore, exceeded in weight 320 Ibs. avoir- 

 dupois." (Fish Ganges, p. 225.) 



P. Indicus. B. vii., D. 8 ^-^ P. 15 + v., V. 1/5, A. { ^^, C. 17, 

 L.I. 70-75, L. tr. 7/13, Vert. 5/19. Caec. pyl. many. Habitat: Seas of 

 India to the Malay Archipelago, and Australia. It attains 4 feet in length, 

 but is rarely above 20 Ibs. weight. 



The Begti. 



Lates calcarifer is said by Dr. Day to be the Cock-up of Europeans, 

 though how it got the name I know not. I found it well known in 

 Calcutta as the Begti. It is also called the Nair fish by Europeans. 

 The Canarese called it Kulanji when small, Madavu when large ; just 

 as we use the terms Jack and Pike. The Malayalim name Colonel 

 Osborn writes is " Coollon, the final n being pronounced as the n in 

 the French place Dijon." For other vernacular names, Dr. Day shall 

 be quoted hereafter. 



I have seen them weighing 30 Ibs. on terra firma, and Colonel 

 Osborn says he has seen them over 50 Ibs. or 60 Ibs. in weight. They 

 are a sea fish frequenting the estuaries, and are found in company with 

 the Bamin. Their mouth is similarly armed with numerous minute file- 

 like (villiform) teeth ; their colour is silvery, with a bronzy sheen on 



