MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 957 



After performing so arduous a duty, being a very large turtle my husband 

 thought he would Uke to try her strength and see if she would carry him down 

 to the sea. Two bamboo sticks placed in front made her halt and he got com- 

 fortably seated on her back. The moment the sticks were removed she con- 

 tinued her walk as if nothing had happened. Near the water's edge he shpped 

 ofE her back and she quietly disappeared in the water and we did not see her 

 again. 



I observed that the whole of the diggmg was done with her hind fins to the full 

 extent to which they would reach. These fins, as I have mentioned before, 

 are remarkably strong. 



The eggs are round and about the size of a golf ball, and in place of a shell 

 have a tough but pliable covering, Uke parchment. 



Another pecuUarity which I have noticed is that they never come up the beach 

 in an absolutely straight line. Their tracks are always on a sHght curve and in 

 returning to the water the track is similarly curved but in the opposite direction, 

 giving one the idea that their fins are longer and stronger on one side than the 

 other. 



The eggs are very nice to eat if fresh, but the inhabitants round these parts 

 seem to prefer them salted. 



I have reared these eggs very successfully ; all that is necessary is to take a 

 few of the eggs out of the hole surrounded by the actual sand in which they 

 are laid while the eggs are st?U warm, place these in a tin and bury them deep 

 in sand, and you will after exactly eight weeks find your little turtles putting 

 their heads out of the sand and walking in a direct line to the sea, but I have 

 found it of no use trying to set turtle eggs surrounded by sand other than that 

 from the actual nest and I have not been successful in setting them sometime 

 after they have been laid. 



The Uttle ones are interesting. When the first one appears above the ground 

 it is quite safe to commence carefully remo\ang the sand and you will come 

 across the others at varying depths, all making their way to the surface, while 

 the shells you will find neatly rolled up at the bottom of the hole. The httle 

 ones are a perfect miniature of the parent and have, as soon as they come to 

 the surface, a hard shell and all their faculties fully developed. 



Marva aiALAD, N. MAWSOX (Mrs.). 



Salsette, January 1921. 



No. XXV.-ANGLING FOR BARBUS HEXAGONOLEPIS IN ASSAM. 



There was a man who bought a rod 



A Far low's double jointed 

 He thought he'd catch this wily carp 



But he was disappointed. 



The river to which our fishing notes refer is a very small one adjoining the 

 Garden I am at present on and known as the Daigurung. It is a typical small 

 hill stream running through forest and taking it's rise in the Mihir hills in t.ie 

 rains. When these are heavy it is a turbulent torrent filling its bed froin bank 

 to bank to a width of about 50 or 60 yards and a depth of lo to 

 20 feet; it is very seldom however that this high level is maintamed for long and 

 the stream Hke all others of its class, faUs as rapidly as it nses. ihe stream 

 is considered by the strictly orthodox Assamese a very sacred one, hence tins 

 class do httle or nothing to disturb its waters or destroy trees on its oank., 

 and consequently fish of at least five species swarm in it, but the circumventing 



