A Notice of Indian CyprinidcB. 97 



We have thus exhibited a mere outline of the important im- 

 provements proposed by Dr. M'Clelland in the natural arrange- 

 ment of the CyprinidcB ; but besides his classification, our author 

 has presented us a general synopsis of the species, and illustrated 

 them with lithographic figures, from drawings mostly his own, 

 all of which are sufficiently well executed to convey accurate 

 ideas, and many of them are highly creditable. Besides furnish- 

 ing nineteen colored plates, containing nearly one hundred figures, 

 the volume before us is also enriched by a single plate, exhibiting 

 the peculiar forms of the jaws in several genera of the subfamily 

 PcBonomincB, and the differences of form and proportion of the 

 alimentary canal in each of these great subfamilies. 



Almost one half of the entire volume is devoted to an " ac- 

 count of the species," and it constitutes by far the most interest- 

 ing portion. We here find, not merely a scientific description of 

 each fish, with its Latin and native name and its geographical 

 locality, but its habits are elucidated with great clearness and 

 evident acquaintance ; its value as an article of food, from its 

 delicacy or abundance, and the possibility and importance in ma- 

 ny instances of its being transported from one locaUty to another 

 for economical purposes, are pointed out with the zeal of a phi- 

 lanthropist ; while the perseverance and fidelity with which our 

 author has studied the minute anatomy of his subjects, must 

 claim from all readers their admiration. 



Published as this treatise is, by a society whose " Transactions" 

 have become so voluminous, and are with difficulty procured, it 

 cannot be extensively circulated or known among American nat- 

 uralists ; I would notice therefore a few points of general inter- 

 est, selected from the portion of this paper just referred to. 



In some parts of India, many of the species of fishes are found 

 in immense quantities. Our author, after describing Cyprinus- 

 chola, remarks : " Casting a net into a pond in Middle Assam, not 

 presenting any remarkable appearance of containing fish, about 

 one hundred and twenty were brought up at a single draught" — 

 (nine species captured are here mentioned). " The extent of the 

 pond may have been four hundred yards, and that of the net 

 three yards ; and supposing half the fish to have escaped from 

 under the net, the number in the pond would have been thirty 

 two thousand. When we consider the vast extent of surface 

 occupied by waters equally productive, both in Bengal and As- 



Vol. xLi, No. 1.— April-June, 1841. 13 



