Gohio. INDIAN CYPRINID^. 353 



The Mrigala is most esteemed during the rainy season in Bengal, by- 

 Europeans at least ; the usual size at which it is taken is from eighteen inches 

 to two feet in length, when smaller the flesh is bony, and when larger it 

 becomes coarse, and loses flavour. Its form is seemly, and the colours ex- 

 tremely rich, but undefined, generally consisting of dark green along the back, 

 but sometimes brown, or both intermixed, with a gold-yellow iridescence on 

 the sides : it is one of those species which might be propagated with advan- 

 tage wherever a sufficiency of fresh water occurs. The Rewah I consider 

 to be nothing more than the young Mrigala ; I have not however found 

 it any where but at Calcutta, and there are some interesting differences 

 both in the disposition of the intestines, and the form of the air vessel in the 

 two kinds, which deserve to be pointed out whether we regard those differ- 

 ences as constituting distinct species, or as elucidating the progessive stages 

 of development in the same individual. In the Mrigala the anterior cell of the 

 air vessel is large, constitviting almost nine-tenths of the organ ; in the Rewah 

 the posterior cell is larger than the anterior. In the Mrigala the intestines are 

 convoluted in longitudinal folds ; in the Rewah the folds of the intestine are 

 disposed obliquely across the abdomen, but the proportionate length of the 

 alimentary canal to the size of the body is the same in both. The scales in 

 both are of the same form, but the structure is somewhat different. 



II. — Cyprinus curmuca, Buch. 



Journ. Mysore, V.ll, t.30. 



This species is placed by Buchanan amongst his true Cyprinus, but from 



his figure, as well as his description, I am inclined to consider it as belonging 



to this place, although he says the jaws are protractile, a character which is not 



common in the Gudgeons, and which will require to be particularly inquired 



into hereafter. I am aware that to describe two different species under one name, 



is more calculated to create confusion than giving a new name to a species 



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