THE GAME FISHES OF THE WORLD 



not to be compared to the plebeian carp of Germany, England or 

 America. Its admirers call it a barbel and have honoured it 

 Tvith the family name Cyprinae. To come to the point, our 

 barbel, in the language of all nations, is Barbus tor, and the small 

 specimen of three or four pounds, off hand, resembles very much 

 the ordinary gold-fish of America, divested of the gold. Its 

 scales are big and armour-Uke, the body thick and deep beneath 

 the dorsal fin, there being a mere suggestion of a himip. Its 

 dorsal is tall, the tail big, "wide, but short ; the head long, but 

 small for the size of the body. On each side of the mouth is a 

 barbel that might have been stolen from a Mississippi Eiver 

 catfish, altogether a queer-looking, composite fish is the Bawanny 

 mahseer of the Madras Presidency, said to be the best of the 

 tribe. 



If now you are angling in the rivers of the west and north 

 coast of India, you will find the same fish, but changed. It is 

 longer and thicker, its tail is longer, more powerful ; the dorsal 

 has dwindled ; and the head is totally different. In a word, the 

 same fishes in different localities do not look at all aUke to the 

 non-scientific angler. 



Another form of the mahseer has strange puffed-up Ups, the 

 upper turning up, the lower down, and long barbel, like a goatee. 

 They are also strangely coloured ; some have a gray back, the 

 stomach silver, the fins a golden yeUow ; while the first men- 

 tioned often has a rich golden hue, a gigantic gold-fish. In fact, 

 so strange are the differences, that one is impressed by the Day 

 figures, that either there are more than one species, or there may 

 be sexual differences. 



In Assam, the fish is said to have a beautiful coppery bronze 

 colour with vermilion-tinted fins. Another from Burmah is 

 described as having a black back. The fish can be taken with a 

 sixteen-foot salmon rod, and a spoon, or with live bait or plain 

 fish bait or fly, aU of which is described in the minutest details 

 by Thomas in his fine and exhaustive work. The Bod in 

 India. For a scientific study of Indian fishes, the reader should 

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