180 



On East Indian Isinglass. 



Natural History of India, communicated a figure, together 

 with a description of the species, which subsequently ap- 

 peared in Bloch's great work on Ichthyology, which appeared 

 about the close of the last century. The figure given by 

 Lacepede, was communicated by Commerson from the Isle 

 of France, and a specimen of the fish itself, the only one we 

 believe in Europe, is in the Royal Museum of the Nether- 

 lands. Bruce, the African traveller, also met with the spe- 

 cies on the borders of the Red Sea, but erroneously figured 

 it as one of the fishes of the Nile. Lastly, Buchanan Ha- 

 milton describes it as one of the species of the Ganges. 

 Cuvier and Valenciennes, from whose great work on the Na- 

 tural History of Fishes,* we have derived the above particu- 

 lars, give as its habitation the whole of the Indian Seas and 

 adjoining parts of the Pacific. 



All authors who have noticed it, speak in high terms of its 

 delicacy and wholesomeness as an article of food, and of the 

 excellence of its flavour. Commerson found it to be confined 

 in the Isle of France to the tables of the rich, but Dr. 

 John found it in such abundance at Tranquebar and other 

 places on the Coromandel Coast, as to render it extraordina- 

 ry that his observations regarding it have excited so little 

 attention in India. It assembles, he says, in the month of Ja- 

 nuary when it is in season, in great numbers on the coast in 

 search of clear water on the sand banks, and at the mouths 

 of rivers for spawning, which takes place in April, and is 

 taken in large numbers in the mouths of the Kishna and 

 Godavery ; each fish he describes as four feet in length, and 

 the head in particular he remarks is reckoned above all 

 other parts a most delicate morsel. 



Buchanan merely speaks of its fine flavour and superior 

 qualities as wholsome food, but not one of these authors 

 appears to have noticed the remarkable value of its air blad- 

 der, which surpasses in size and also in importance that of 



* We annex a translation of their remarks on the subject. 



