723 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXIV. 



in the Pirao ; this divergence ' of opinion requires settlement. As regards 

 the question of the maximum weight attained by the Pirao, there is no reason 

 to suppose that a hundred pounds is in any way an exaggerated estimate. 

 In fact the locals assert that 120 lbs. would n present the limit of its growth. 



Pirao. Caranx jarra. About 68 lbs. 



Let us now turn to a brief scrutiny of the habits and spo mg proclivi- 

 ties of this giant Ca>mi:c. 



Experience with rod and line has proved that the Pirao arrives [in Jask 

 waters about the beginning of October and disappears about the close of 

 April. A few isolated fish may visit Jask, or more probably remain at 

 Jask, during the intervening period ; but their numbers are a negligible 

 quantity. The staple diet of the Pirao is the mullet in the shallows, and 

 probably the flying fish in the open sea, but the patriarch is not particular 

 as to the size or the class of its menu. The author has caught a 60 lb. Pirao 

 on a mullet not more than 5 inches in length. On another occasion a 

 companion was playing a small Saran of about 4 or 5 lbs. in weight which 

 he had hooked, when it was seized by a marauding Pirao, with the result 

 that a break was recorded instanter. In this case the identity of the corsair 

 was fully established, for the somewhat incensed angler rowed up to the 

 scene of the piracy, and distinctly saw the Pirao wallowing on the surface of 

 the water with its wretched victim struggling helplessly between its jaws. 



