332 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS [voL. 48 
The mahseer is a carnivorous fish, preying chiefly on smaller repre- 
sentatives of its class. It is angled for with live bait, with the spoon, 
with flies, with paste, and with parched grain. Instructions for all 
kinds are given by Thomas in “ The Rod in India ”’ in nine chapters 
and 140 pages devoted especially to the species. 
The palatability of the mahseer is a matter respecting which there 
is some difference of opinion. According to Thomas (p. 23), much 
depends on the size and condition of the fish. He had “ tasted 
mahseer in such high condition that they were excellent; they were 
so rich that one could not eat any melted butter or other sauce with 
them, and so well flavoured that they seemed” to him “to stand 
between the salmon and the trout for the table.” He considered that 
“the best size for flavour ” is about six or seven pounds, or between 
limits of two and ten pounds. “ When less than two pounds they 
are too bony; when much larger than ten pounds they are apt to be 
too gross and oily for European tastes, but they are always thought 
thoroughly edible by your camp.” 
LOGS BEY Ss ‘ a 
Fic. 93.—Labeo vulgaris. After Heckel. 
The Indian genus next in importance to Barbus, so far as num- 
ber of species is concerned, is Labeo. This essentially agrees with 
Barbus in form and has, like it, three rows of pharyngeal teeth, but 
the lips are peculiar in that the lateral folds are enlarged and each 
lip has an internal cross-fold covered by a trenchant corneous but 
soft and deciduous covering; the snout is smaller, the suborbitals 
are narrow, and the dorsal is rather long, having twelve to sixteen 
rays. 
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