1923.] Fauna of the Chilka Lake : Fish. 723 



Dr. Gill separates S. malabarica as a distinct species having the soft dorsal spotted. 1 

 Besides colouration specimens of this species show great variation in the depth of the 

 body, attenuation of the head and snout and height of the spinous dorsal. That M. Les- 

 chenault saw "single individuals upwards of three feet in length" was first given currency 

 by Cuvier. 2 Most subsequent writers, including Day, quoted this statement without 

 any corroboration or acknowledgment. The species is, comparatively speaking, a small 

 sized one. 3 As the species is of wide distribution and as no one else has observed it to 

 reach anywhere near the size recorded by Leschenault, it is probable that his observation 

 is erroneous. It is not unlikely that Leschenault mistook some species of Sphyraena for 

 Sillago sihama as both the genera have two dorsal fins, a long pointed snout as well as a 

 similar nature and arrangement of scales. Cuvier and Valenciennes partly confounded 

 S. panijus (Hamilton Buchanan) with S. sihama (Forskâl), for they remark that the 

 vernacular name for the species in Calcutta is Panji masA 



There are altogether seventeen specimens in the collection, seven of which are quite 

 young and were obtained only a mile south-west of the mouth of the lake on the outer 

 bar. The rest are all adult and were found distributed over the main area and collected 

 throughout the year. The caudal fin is in most cases square-cut and in some emarginate 

 but never deeply indented as represented in Russell's figure, which in all probability is 

 defective. Most of the specimens have a broad longitudinal silvery band about the middle 

 of the body not conspicuous in the young specimens. In some there are black blotches on 

 the opercle. There is a horse-shoe shaped black marking on the occiput with white border 

 in front. 



The following statement shows the number and size of the specimens in the collection 



together with the localities in the lake from which they were obtained : — 



mm. 



4 specimens ... Bahigaon 



2 specimens 

 1 specimen 



3 specimens 

 7 specimens 



Parikud 



Rambha Bay 



(purchased) ... 



Outer Bar, one mile south- 

 west of the mouth of the 

 lake. 



21-31st July, 1913 



... 112—144 



28th November, 1914 



... 115 & 160 



February, 1914 



... 135 



19th November, 1914 



... 107—152 



19th March, 1914 



25—4'. 



The species is a permanent inhabitant of the main area of the ^ke going out to the 

 sea or near the mouth of the lake to breed. In all probability the breeding time is about 

 the month of February. 



Distribution. 5 — Coasts of Abyssinia, Zanzibar, North and East Africa, Red Sea, seas 

 of India, Bay of Bengal and estuaries of the Ganges, Malay Archipelago, seas of the 



i Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. XXIV, p. 487. 



2 Hist. Nat. Poiss. Ill, p. 407. 



3 "Erreicht fast 30 cm. lange" Weber, 'Siboga'-Exped. Fisch., p. 267. 

 * Hist. Nat. Poiss. Ill, p. 401. 



5 Günther in his catalogue enters "one skin (bad state)" of this fish as belonging to Nepal, presented by B. H. Hodgson ; 

 this is undoubtedly a mistake. The locality of the donor who was for a long time a resident in Nepal must have been mis- 

 taken for that of the fish. Günther has similarly referred a few more marine fish to Nepal which led T. C. Jerdon to 

 contribute his paper " On the extension of certain marine fishes to the freshwater Rivers of India." Ann. Mag. Nat. 

 Mist. (3) XVII, p. 153. 



