INDIAN CYPRINID^. 461 



Should our success be complete, from every moderately sized female Ruee 

 we should have on the commencement of the rains from five to ten hundred 

 thousand fry, which, as the waters rise would be quite able to take care of 

 themselves till the next season, when it would be necessary again to destroy 

 the rapacious kinds, as before. 



The repair of the carmjs'^' of Mysore is said, by Buchanan, to be attended 

 with considerable expense, nevertheless it is understood to be an indispensable 

 object to have them in perfect repair, since the fertility of the country depends 

 entirely on them. The plan here proposed of converting them to new pur- 

 poses of utility would add to their importance, and the interest of keeping 

 them up, without in any way increasing their expense. 



On the fishes of Bengal, Assam, and other provinces subject to the inun- 

 dations of the larger rivers, we can exercise no control, nor is it desirable that 

 we should, even if it were in our power, the supply of fish being plentiful and 

 constant enough ; but in the higher parts of the plains, near the foot of the 

 mountains where the larger Cirrhins and Barbels retire during the dry season 

 for the purpose of spawning, fisheries might be carried on with advantage to 

 a considerable extent. See p. 339. 



It would here be out of place to enter on the subject of sea fisheries, and 

 before we could do so with advantage it would be necessary to pay as much 

 attention, or more, to the fishes of our coasts as we have devoted to those of 

 our rivers. 



Already we have attained one important piece of information regarding 

 the value of the Sidea fish of our estuaries, Polynemus sele, Buch., which from 

 the earliest times has been celebrated throughout China for its isinglass. 

 This substance was formerly supposed to be afforded only by certain fishes 

 in the rivers of Muscovy, from whence it was exported to all parts of 

 Europe, where, from its high price, its use is chiefly confined to the arts. 



* Such is the name by which the reservoirs are known in Southern India when kept up 

 for irrigation. 



3 R 



