Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/632

 628 DACCA JELALPOOR DACE about 50,000, of whom more than half are Mussulmans. It was once a considerable and wealthy city, being the centre of the manufac- tnre of fine muslins. The spinning of the al- most impalpable threads for these goods was entirely by hand. The muslins, named from their fineness abrawan, or "flowing water," and shabnam, or "evening dew," were never imitated elsewhere. With the decay of the In- dian courts, the chief customers, the demand ceased and the manufacture has entirely stopped. Dacca now exhibits little more than ruins, extending several miles along the river, and in many places overgrown with dense jun- gle. The streets of the inhabited part are nar- row and winding ; the houses of the wealthy are of brick, but the bazaars and the cottages of the poor are only thatched. The extensive citadel, on the western side of the town, and the magnificent palace built by Aurungzebe's grandson, Azim Ushaun, toward the close of the 17th century, are in ruins. The city and suburbs possess a number of bridges, landing places, ferry stations, bazaars, and buildings for fiscal and judicial purposes, a jail and jail hospital, a lunatic asylum, an Indian hos- pital, an elephant depot, a large number of Mussulman mosques and Brahmanical tem- ples, and Anglican, Greek, Armenian, Catho- lic, and Baptist churches. The last denom- ination maintains a missionary establishment and several schools. There is a college man- aged by a local committee, but under the con- trol of the government. About $60,000 was paid to the city in 1850 as a bequest of Mr. Robert Mitford, for the benefit of the native poor. The climate here is not so hot and un- wholesome as in some other parts of India, owing to its situation near rivers whose cur- rents are rapid. The unhealthy season is from August to October; throughout the rest of the year the city and vicinity are salubrious. Du- ring part of the 17th century Dacca was the chief city of Bengal. The disorders produced by the invasion of Nadir Shah injured its pros- perity. Many ruins within the city and its suburbs bear witness to its ancient importance. DACCA JELALPOOR. See FUBEEDPOOB. DACE, a name applied to several native and foreign cyprinoid fishes belonging principally to the genus leuciscus (Klein), which, as far as the North American species are concerned, has been subdivided into the genera argyreus (Heckel), leucosomm (Heckel), plargyrus (Rafi- nesque), Richardsonius (Girard), luxilus (Raf.), semotilu* (Raf.), mylocheilus (Agass.), algansea (Gir.), hybognathus (Agass.), ptychocheilus (Agass.), Hitdsonius (Gir.), Jiylopsis (Agass.), clinostomw (Gir.), ceraticJithys (Baird), and chondrostoma (Agass.). From this long array of new genera it is evidently impossible to irivo here anything like a satisfactory account of the numerous species popularly called dace. The true levcuci are far more numerous in the old world than in the new. As a species of this genus may be mentioned the orange dace (L. croceus, Store r), about 3 in. long, of a greenish color, with the throat flesh-colored, an indistinct brown band on the side running longitudinally with a small black blotch at the end, and the fins orange; from Alabama. These genera belong to the malacopterygian or soft-rayed fishes ; the mouth is slightly cleft, the jaws weak and without teeth, and the pharyngeal bones toothed ; the body scaly, one dorsal fin, and no adipose dorsal ; some- times with barbels on the head. The name of shiner is also given to many of the species called dace. The roach dace, or silvery dace (leucosomus pulchellus, Storer), is among the largest species, being sometimes 14 in. long ; the color is dark brown above, the upper por- tion of sides brassy green, lower portion and abdomen flesh color, with golden reflections; the head is black above with the gill covers coppery, the upper jaw slightly the longer. It delights .in eddies and pools, and is found from New York to Nova Scotia. It is synony- mous with cheilonemus (Bd.), and has five de- scribed species ; there is a small barbel upon the maxillary, near the angle. of the mouth. Black-nosed Dace (Argyreus atronasus). The black-nosed dace (argyreus alronasus, Mitch.) rarely exceeds 3 in. in length, is found in the rivers of Massachusetts and New York, and is often called brook minnow. It is red- dish brown above, abdomen silvery white, with minute brown blotches, & dark band passing from the nose to the tail. The natural characters of the genus are a snout more or less protruding beyond the lower jaw, with a small barbel at the angle of the mouth ; it is synonymous with rhinichthys (Agass.). The long-nosed dace (A. nasutvs, Ayres) is about 4 in. long, inhabiting rapid northern streams; it is dark brown above, white below, with the dorsal and caudal fins brownish. The smaller specimens of the last two species make excel- lent bait for large trout. Seven other species are described. The red dace (plargyrus cor- mttus, Mitch.), one of the prettiest of the American cyprinoids, is about 5 in. long, blackish brown above, with metallic reflec- tions, sides brilliant and cupreous, all the fins and opercles margined with crimson; the jaws are equal, and there are no barbels on the head ; the scales are very large, and imbri- cated. This is a very active fish, is common