438 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, VIII. 
had warned me that they could not stand much cold, and for this reason they 
were kept permanently in my office as being rather warmer at night than the 
verandah. These young fish did not appear to thrive, and as the cold season 
approached they gradually disappeared until one only was visible, This one 
eventually grew to about 2” in length, but was always very shadowy in appear- 
ance and difficult to see at any distance from the glass. All the others got 
sluggish and a few died, and as I was transferred during the cold weather, 1 
returned the surviving ones into the lake. 
The pond into which I had put the majority was emptied, but only a solitary 
Murrel was found and no trace whatever of the Gourami. I have no doubt 
that those put directly into the large lake also perished, but any way it dried 
up completely a year or so ago, so there can be none there now. I reported 
the results of my observations at the time to Mr. Thomas, and he started 
a larger aquarium in order to check them, which I believe he was able to do 
with satisfaction to himself, . 
CHARLES F. GILBERT, M.1.¢.5. 
No. VIIL—THE KOL-BHALU, 
I have spelt the above name as it is pronounced, and as I have before seen 
it spelt, but I am not at all sure that it is correct, I have never succeeded in 
finding out what the name is derived from, and am ignorant as to what language 
it is. I have heard it in G-uzerat, the Konkan, and Kanara, and pronounced, as 
far as I could judge, exactly the same in all three Provinces, 
The Kol-Bhalu is, I think, generally described by natives in the Bombay 
Presidency as a jackal, either old and toothless, mad, or in attendance on a 
tiger or some other large animal. I have also heard it positively asserted by 
some villagers that it is an old and toothless jackal which has developed horns, 
The idea that the animal is an old and toothless jackal has, im my experience, 
the widest credence, and on examination of two Kol-Bhalus which I killed ait 
different periods, whilst in the very act of uttering their peculiar weird-like 
ery, may perhaps be worth recording as bearing out this theory. Both were 
female jackals and bore the appearance of being extremely old, with short and 
almost hairless tails. The elder of the two had only a little short hair in 
patches on her body, and but one tooth in her head, a canine in the lower jaw 
worn down level with the gum. The other had more hair, but it was very 
short and of a dirty appearance, and in her mouth were five or six teeth much 
broken and worn, I found nothing to indicate that either of them was mad, 
nor did I kill them in places where there would be any likelihood of finding 
any other animal more formidable than an hyena. 
It seems possible that the peculiar cry which earns for the jackal the name 
of Kol-Bhalu, may be caused by the absence of teeth, and to this cause I have 
