204 On Isinglass in Polynemus sele, Buck. [March, 



confined to the estuary of the Hoogly, but probably extend to all the 

 estuaries of the Ganges, as Buchanan says they do ; and we know that 

 Dr. Russell also describes two large species in his work, long since pub- 

 lished, on the fishes of the Madras Coast. 



The very valuable production, Isinglass, having been recently found 

 to be yielded by one of the fishes of the Hoogly by a writer in Par- 

 bury 's Oriental Herald, it became an interesting object to determine the 

 systematic name of the fish affording an article so valuable, and to learn 

 as much as possible regarding its habits. Having procured a specimen 

 of this fish from the bazar, I was surprised to find it to be a Polyne- 

 mus, or Paradise fish, although the writer alluded to described it as 

 resembling a Shark. My surprise was not that a person unacquainted 

 with fishes should compare it to a Shark, or to any thing else, but that 

 a nearly allied species to the Mango-fish should contain a natatory 

 vessel of such size and value, while that organ is quite absent in the 

 Mango-fish itself, though a general character of nearly all others. 



I had come to the determination never to describe single or detached 

 species of fish, but as the object of this paper is to elucidate the com- 

 mercial side of a question already before the public, I shall not pretend 

 to offer any remarks on the scientific part of the subject, which is in- 

 deed beyond my province, as my observations have hitherto been con- 

 fined to the fresh water species of India. 



The species affording the Isinglass is the Polynemus sele, Buch. ; 

 Sele, or Sulea, of the Bengalese, described, but not figured, in the Gan- 

 getic Fishes ; but if Buchanan's drawings had not been placed under a 

 bushel since 1815, probably this useful discovery would have been 

 sooner made, and better understood by the writer in Parbury's Oriental 

 Herald, to whom we are indebted for it. 



The annexed figure from Buchanan's unpublished collection at the 

 Botanic Garden, conveys an excellent representation, about half size, of 

 a specimen from which I obtained 66 grains of Isinglass : but as the 

 writer in Parbury's Oriental Herald states that from half a pound to 

 three quarters of a pound is obtained from each fish, we may suppose 

 either that P.sele attains a much greater size than 24 pounds, the 

 limit given to it by Buchanan, or, that the Isinglass is also afforded by a 

 far larger species, namely Polynemus teria, Buch. or Teria bhangan of the 

 Bengalese, Magajellee of Russell, which Buchanan was informed some- 

 times equals three hundred and twenty pounds avoirdupois, and which I 

 frequently have seen of an uniform size, that must have been from fifty 

 to an hundred pounds at least, loading whole cavalcades of hackeries at 

 once on their way to the Calcutta bazar, as I have already stated, during 

 the cold season, when they would consequently seem to be very common. 



