INDIAN CYPRINID^. 459 



A single female Carp weighing only nine pounds has been found by 

 Bloch to contain no less than six hundred thousand ova ; and by Schneider, 

 one, ten pounds weight, was found to contain seven hundred thousand ova, 

 or eggs. 



The fecundity of the Ruee, Caila, and Mrigala, has not yet been ascertain- 

 ed, but from their close affinity to the Carp we may suppose them to corres- 

 pond in this respect with that species ; the question, however, is one that may 

 be easily ascertained by weighing a grain of the roe and ascertaining the num- 

 ber of globules it contains, while these will be to the whole roe what one grain 

 is to its entire weight. The result will show that these species are capable of 

 yielding, by their extraordinary fertility, a source of food as inexhaustible as 

 the sands of the ocean, could we only bring their propagation and the safety 

 of the young sufficiently within our control. 



In the reservoirs above described, we have every facility for effecting this 

 object on a scale of great magnitude, without in any way interfering with the 

 other uses of the water. 



There are certain kinds which though they cannot be said to be carnivor- 

 ous, would yet be still more fatal to our object by devouring the spawn or 

 ova ; such are the Barbels, so common in the higher parts of our rivers, and 

 which but for a knowledge of this trait in their character would, from their 

 appearance and flavour, be the first we should recommend for propagation, and 

 thus from an ignorance of one simple fact, destroy every chance of success. 

 We should not, however, condemn all the Barbels merely from a fault in some 

 of the species, the circumstance should impress on bur minds the necessity of 

 confining the varieties of fish in a single reservoir to the lowest possible num- 

 ber of herbivorous kinds, such as the three I have mentioned, namely, Cypri- 

 nus rohita, Buch. Cyprinus caila, id. and Cyprinus mrigala, id. ; there is reason 

 to believe that either of these species would answer equally well in any part 

 of the plahis of India. As they usually attain a large size, they may be slow 

 in coming to perfection, and, therefore, instead of having these three large spe- 



