390 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [8] 



is this phenomenon that the natives of India hang baskets, cloths, even 

 native cots turned upside down, or anything equally suitable, over the 

 sides of the piers, and into these the fish fall. 



Monogamous and polygamous flsh. — In Asiatic waters we have monog- 

 amous and i3olygamous forms and other phenomena as to breeding, 

 which deserve attention. The walking, or snake-headed fishes {OpMo- 

 cephaUdce) of India, and other amphibious genera, are perhaps the best 

 known of monogamous fishes; some of them reside in ponds, others 

 prefer rivers, where they take up their residence in deserted holes 

 which they find in the banks. The pond species delight in lying at 

 the grassy margins, where the water is not deep enough to cover them, 

 and here they are able to respire atmospheric air direct. The striped 

 walking-fish constructs a nest with its tail among the vegetation, and 

 bites off the ends of the waterweeds ; here the ova are deposited, the 

 male keeping guard ; but should he be killed or captured, the vacant 

 post is filled by his partner. The hissar, CallicMhys, of South America, 

 is likewise monogamous, constructing nests, which it also defends. 

 The majority of fishes unquestionably are polygamous, as has been 

 repeatedly observed, and, perhaps, as distinctly among the salmon as 

 any other form in a wild state, and likewise in sticklebacks resident in 

 aquaria; while, doubtless, fishes which migate in shoals for breeding 

 purposes, as the mackerel, herring, or some forms of carp, are all po- 

 lygamous. 



Time of spawning. — The time of the year at which spawniog is effected 

 varies in accordance with the locality and the family of -fish. This 

 again appears to be further susceptible of modifications in accordance 

 with the temperature of the water, and many other local causes, while 

 there are some fishes which breed only once a year, others more fre- 

 quently. I must here premise that some fishes do not appear to feed 

 during the season of depositing their spawn, as the salmon, the shad, 

 and the siluroid Ariince. In India an anadromous shad, termed " Pulla" 

 in the Indus, "Ulum" by the Tamils, "Sable-fish" by the Madrasees, 

 " Palasah " by the Telingis, "Hilsa" or "Ilisha"iu Bengal, "oi^ga-tha- 

 louk" by the Burmese, breeds in rivers as already described. In Sind 

 they ascend the Indus in February to spawn, descending in September. 

 In the Oauvery, in Madras, they pass uij when the first burst of the June 

 monsoon fills the river, and they continue doing so for the succeeding 

 four months. In the Krishna, which has a far greater velocity, but, sim- 

 ilarly to the Cauvery, is filled in June, they defer their ascent until 

 September, but it is not until the end of the month or commencement 

 of October, when the river is subsiding and its velocity decreasing, that 

 the majority arrive ; whereas in the neighboring river, the Godavari, 

 in which the current is less rapid, these fish ascend earlier to spawn, 

 being most numerous from July to September. In the Hooghly they 

 continue ascending throughout the June monsoon, and many are found 

 still in roe in September.. The main bodies of these fish ascend the 



