GILL] NOTEWORTHY EXTRA-EUROPEAN CYPRINIDS S)5u! 
The dominant genus of India is that of the barbels (Barbus), 
containing, as it does, according to the views of Day and most 
recent authors, about a third of its cyprinoid fauna, or seventy 
species. Only one of them ’demands consideration here. 
Fic. 92.—Barbus tor or mosal. After Day. 
The Mahseer or Mahsir (Barbus tor or mosal) is the chief of a 
small file of species confined to Southern Asia and recognizable by 
the strong smooth dorsal spine, seven or eight branched anal rays, 
and the very large scales. The Mahseer itself has twenty-five to 
twenty-seven scales along the lateral line, two and a half scales 
between the lateral line and ventral fin, a pointed snout, fleshy lobate 
lips, and a dorsal spine as long as the head back of the snout. It 
is the principal fresh-water game fish of India, in which country it 
is almost everywhere found but, according to Day, it occurs in the 
“ greatest abundance in mountain streams or those which are rocky.” 
It occasionally reaches a very large size, and G. P. Sanderson, the 
author of “ Thirteen years among the wild beasts of India,” in a 
letter published by Thomas, affirmed that he had “no doubt in” his 
“own mind that they run over 200 or 250 pounds,” as he had seen 
‘teeth and bones of them far larger than he claimed to have caught; 
he added that “they are often caught by the natives.” The more 
modest maximum of a hundred pounds is admitted by others. These 
figures, however, refer to entirely exceptional individuals. An ex- 
-perienced angler quoted in Thomas’s work (p. 406) wrote that “ in 
northern India they do not run to any greater size in the rivers of 
Jhansi and Lullutpore than twelve to fifteen pounds.” He thought 
that “instances of fish caught over ten pounds are rare.” Size, 
however, “depends much on the size of the river in which the 
-mahseer is found.” 
