X 
INTRODUCTION. 
but “seafrogs/’ ( kuddul mahcutchee, Mai.) to the Natives, and so termed from the noise they make 
when captured. An Anchovy, Engraulis belama, C. V., if dressed previous to the removal of 
its head and viscera, has been frequently observed to occasion death in a few horns, with all the 
symptoms produced by an irritant poison. In certain seasons of the year, mostly about October, 
fatal attacks resembling’ cholera are caused by some species if eaten. The Mackerel and allied 
families if kept until they are tainted, are also highly irritating, sometimes poisonous; while a 
constant fish diet is commonly reputed to be one of the causes of the horrible leprosy Elephan¬ 
tiasis Grcecorum , which is not rare in Malabar, as well as of the inveterate . Scabies which when 
checked often results in fatal dropsy. In Bengal, Hamilton Buchanan observes, eating the 
Rohita cursis and drinking copious draughts of milk on the same day, is believed to be one of 
the causes of Elephantiasis Arabum. 
Some families, especially the Siluridce, which dwell in estuaries and fresh waters, and are 
consequently in the vicinity of man, are deemed venomous, being armed with saw-like pectoral 
spines, with which wounds apparently poisoned are inflicted ; they occasion intense irritative pain 
and occasionally lock-jaw; while so apprehensive are the fishermen of such wounds, that as soon 
as these fish are captured the dreaded spines are at once broken off: amongst these the Scorpion 
fish, Saccobranchus singio, stands pre-eminent; but according to Cuvier and Yalenciennes there 
are other siluroids nearly as much feared, such as the Plotosus Arab. The voracity of the Sharks in 
Malabar is perhaps less than might be anticipated, but injuries inflicted by the Saw-fish, Pristis 
semisagittatus, are frequent and frightful. Dangerous wounds, apparently so from the manner of 
their infliction and not from the presence of any poison, are occasioned by the saw-like spine on 
the tail of some of the Bays, and also from the lateral spine of the Lancet fishes. Even the spinous 
rays of the Acanthopterygians often set up intense inflammation in persons in a previously bad 
state of health, or during certain atmospheric conditions, whilst the bite of the Conger telabon is 
considered very dangerous. 
Other fish are used in India as medicines, thus the Tetraodons are prescribed by the Native 
doctors in phthisis, Shark’s-liver oil in night blindness, and the jaw of the Belone with its teeth 
intact is employed as an instrument for acupuncture, its toothed side being placed over the spot 
and the back of the jaw struck with a piece of wood, so that its numerous sharp teeth penetrate 
the skin. 
The habits of the fish might be very advantageously inquired into, for a constant succession 
of arrivals and departures occurs all along the coast. The gregarious Sardine, the Indian Mackerel, 
and several other families are uncertain as to the times of their advent and departure; in some years 
arriving in millions, in others all but absent, their presence in shoals can never be entirely relied 
upon. Where the fish go to, and from whence they come, are interesting subjects for inquiry ; 
thus the little Chcetodon prceteoctatus , which is usually only about a fortnight in South Malabar, and 
that merely at the commencement of the S.W. monsoon, seems hardly adapted for making long 
migrations. 
