Page:The Three Presidencies of India.djvu/51

INSECTS AND FISHES. 33

plants; the stick-insect, which in like manner wears all the appearance of a heap of dried sticks; and the bamboo-insect, shaped precisely as a small piece of bamboo, are all perfectly harmless; whilst the myriads of centipedes, scorpions, ants, musquitoes, and other creatures, prove extremely obnoxious to Europeans, more especially to new-comers.

The rivers and bays of India abound with various descriptions of fish, some of which have been long known to and much esteemed by Europeans. A far greater number, however, although said to be excellent eating by the natives, have never been met with on an English table. The objection to many of these latter consists in the great number of small bones contained in them; in spite, however, of this, the natives use them in a variety of ways, either as curries or stews.

Amongst those known to Europeans are the mango-fish, a great favourite in Calcutta during the mango season, the Indian mullet, the sable-fish, the whiting, a species of perch of great size, the kowall, the rowball, the inkle-fish, the nattoo, the mountain mullet, a species of sole, several kinds of herring, the Avhite and black pomfret, and a very excellent salmon. Most of them are salt-water fish.

The animals of the Tenasserim and Peguan provinces difier in few