120 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, XIII, 
an adult averages, I believe, under 13lbs. They assemble in the early part of 
the rains at the mouths of the larger rivers, and when the floods come down 
they run up extraordinary distances inland for spawning purposes. It is as 
an article of food that it is so highly prized. Far and away the most 
delicious fish we have, its flesh resembles that of a herring with a flavour 
of salmon thrown in and is very rich and satisfying, Its only draw-. 
back is that you cannot put the smallest morsel into your mouth without 
being almost choked with bones, It is marvellous where the bones 
come from, and though very small and as flexible as hairs, it is impossible 
to swallow them. Itis said, but Ido not believe it, that itis possible to 
carve a hilsa in such a way that the flesh can be got without bones, though I 
have never seen it done; but in spite of this it isa treat to get one fresh. 
At the mouths of the larger rivers the netting of hilsa is a regular industry, 
and they are picked and salted and put up with tamarind, and preserved in 
many ways, and there is an enormous sale for them. Modern civilisations, 
however, in the shape of engineering works, such as dams, dykes, etc., built 
across rivers for the sake of utilising the water for irrigation, has interfered 
largely with this fish, They can no longer get the same run up the rivers 
for spawning, and as they cannot spawn in the sea water, the consequence Is 
that they are decreasing in numbers rapidly, and,if this goes on,in some 
rivers it is only a question of a few years and they will be extinct. I believe 
that attention has been drawn to this lately and that steps are being taken 
to assist the fish in their migration up-stream. 
The case of the hilsa out here and the case of the salmon in the British 
Isles is very similar. 
It is time for me to wind up. Iam afraid, as itis, that I have taken up 
too much of your valuable space, but the fact is that it is nearly impossible 
to deal curtly with the capabilities of a fishing station like Karachi, and to 
confine oneself to a single species of fish. Old memories come back of good 
days and heavy baskets amongst different sorts of fish, and as the object of 
these papers is to put before your readers what they might look forward 
to and expect if ever their lines were cast out here, I must perforce be for- 
given if I have entered rather fully into details, 
