G A N G E T I C II I N D O O S T A N. 317 



natural hiftory. We collea from the firfl volume, p. 376, an 



account of a rnanis, the tail as broad and more obtufe than that New Makis. 



of the common fhort-tailed, Hiji. fluad. ii. N° 460. It is called, 



in the Sanjkrit language, the Vajracite^ or Thunderbolt reptile, 



from the exceflive hardnefs of its fcales. In its ftomach was 



found a number of fmall flones, probably taken in to aflift 



digeftion. 



I SHALL, being on the fubje(5t of zoology, mention a delicious 

 and beautiful fifh, which comes up the river annually as high, 

 as Calcutta^ in llioals immenfe. The Polyneinus Paradijeus of 

 Linnaus^ the Mango filh of Edw. tab. 208. It receives the Mango Fuh. 

 Englijh name either from its brilliant orange color, like a ripe 

 mango, or from its coming up in the Mango. Its length is, 

 from the tip of the nofe to the end of the tail, nine inches ; 

 but what gives it great Angularity, are feven ftifF fubftances 

 like thick briil:les, which iffue from near the gills ; they 

 gradually lengthen to the exterior, which is in length fix- 

 teen inches. Thefe fillies firft appear about Calcutta from 

 the fea in June, fpawn, and return to the fait water in fix 

 weeks. It is not known from what part they come ; it is 

 certain, that it is not from the fide which walhes Orixa, at left 

 my liberal friend Doctor Patrick Rujel informed me, that he 

 never obferved them in that fea. They are faid to be the beft 

 of Indian fifli. 



The Ganges fwarms with infinite quantities of fiflies ; but I Other Fishis, 

 do not obferve, that the genera are numerous. The fpecies 

 which abound moft are thofe of the Cyprinus, or carp kind ; 

 of them I obferve the Englijh Chub, and I have heard of the 

 common Carp, of great fize. The Anjana is a fmall fpecies 

 + taken 



