ctual catching of fish there was much less ritual.

Some fishermen carried a fishing medicine composed of dried larvae of the
_Ephydra hians_ (Say), called _kutsavi_ by the Paiute (Heizer 1950) and
_matsi babasa_ by the Washo. These larvae were obtained from the Mono Lake
Paiute in trade or as gifts. They were considered good food and are still
eaten by some Washo. However, in addition they were credited with having
great powers to lure fish and were rubbed on harpoons, hooks, and lines.
Perhaps this material was considered a fish medicine because these larvae
are said to be generated from the scales of a giant fish. This leviathan
is reported to have traveled through all the lakes in the Sierran area
looking for a lake large enough in which to live. At Mono Lake it scraped
some scales into the water before it left to find a permanent home in Lake
Tahoe (Steward 1936). Whether the Washo share this story with the Owens
Valley Paiute, I do not know, but Mono Lake, because of its saline water
and its lack of any fish life, is thought of with some fear and awe. Today
I get the impression that some Washo still keep a bit of this material
with their fishing gear, although they are apt to rationalize it as a lure
rather than real medicine. It should be remembered that hook-and-line or
spear fishing accounted for a much smaller percentage of the total annual
take than did trapping, damning, netting, or other communal methods which
entailed no ritual.

Miscellaneous Concepts About Hunting And Fishing

A number of ritual activities cluster around hunting and fishing. Perhaps
the most important is the requirement that women, particularly
menstruating women, avoid the hunting and fishing equipment. If a woman
touched such gear the owner would bathe it and pray "I'm giving you a bath
to wash away the bad luck." (2354-2378).

A further restriction placed on menstruating women was that they must not
eat meat during their periods. To do so meant bad hunting for the man who
killed the game.

The meat from the neck of a deer and the intestinal organs were forbidden
to vigorous young people. If a man ate neck meat his aim would be bad
(360-368). Neck meat was reserved for children and the old. In actuality
it would seem that only the children and the almost decrepit ate such
meat. One of my informants who is seventy-five, thus certainly qualifying
for old age, has never tasted either neck meat or internal organs. To do
so appa