Chapter XVI: Appendix: To Chapter VII (5)

The descent of the _Ampullaria_, and other fresh-water molluscs, into the mud of the tanks, has its parallel in the conduct of the _Bulimi_ and _Helices_ on land. The European snail, in the beginning of winter, either buries itself in the earth or withdraws to some crevice or overarching stone to await the returning vegetation of spring. So, in the season of intense heat, the _Helix Waltoni_ of Ceylon, and others of the same family, before retiring under cover, close the aperture of their shells with an impervious epiphragm, which effectually protects their moisture and juices from evaporation during the period of their æstivation. The Bulimi of Chili have been found alive in England in a box packed in cotton after an interval of two years, and the animal inhabiting a land-shell from Suez, which was attached to a tablet and deposited in the British Museum in 1846, was found in 1850 to have formed a fresh epiphragm, and on being immersed in tepid water, it emerged from its shell. It became torpid again on the 15th November, 1851, and was found dead and dried up in March, 1852.[1] But exceptions serve to prove the accuracy of Hunter's opinion almost as strikingly as accordances, since the same genera of animals that hybernate in Europe, where extreme cold disarranges their oeconomy, evince no symptoms of lethargy in the tropics, provided their food be not diminished by the heat. Ants, which are torpid in Europe during winter, work all the year round in India, where sustenance is uniform.[2] The shrews of Ceylon (_Sorex montanus_ and _S. ferrugineus_ of Kelaart), like those at home, subsist upon insects, but as they inhabit a region where the equable temperature admits of the pursuit of their prey at all seasons of the year, unlike those of Europe, they never hybernate. A similar observation applies to bats, which are dormant during a northern winter when insects are rare, but never become torpid in any part of the tropics. The bear, in like manner, is nowhere deprived of its activity except when the rigour of severe frost cuts off its access to its accustomed food. On the other hand, the tortoise, which in Venezuela immerses itself in indurated mud during the hot months shows no tendency to torpor in Ceylon, where its food is permanent; and yet it is subject to hybernation when carried to the colder regions of Europe.

[Footnote 1: _Annals of Natural History_, 1860. See Dr. BAIRD'S _Account of Helix desertorum; Excelsior,_ &c., ch. i. p. 345.]

[Footnote 2: Colonel SKYES has described in the _Entomological Trans._ the operations of an ant in India which lays up a store of hay against the rainy season.]

To the fish in the detached tanks and pools when the heat, by exhausting the water, deprives them at once of motion and sustenance, the practical effect must be the same as when the frost of a northern winter encases them in ice. Nor is it difficult to believe that they can successfully undergo the one crisis when we know beyond question that they may survive the other.[1]

[Footnote 1: YARRELL, vol. i. p. 364, quotes the authority of Dr. J. Hunter in his _Animal oeconomy_, that fish, "after being frozen still retain so much of life as when thawed to resume their vital actions;" and in-the same volume (_Introd_. vol. i. p. xvii.) he relates from JESSE'S _Gleanings in Natural History_, the story of a gold fish (_Cyprinus auratus_), which, together with the a marble basin, was frozen into one solid lump of ice, yet, on the water being thawed, the fish became as lively as usual. Dr. RICHARDSON in the third vol of his _Fauna Borealis Americana_, says the grey sucking carp, found in the fur countries of North America, may be frozen and thawed again without being killed in the process.]

_Hot-water Fishes_.--Another incident is striking in connection with the fresh-water fishes of Ceylon. I have described elsewhere the hot springs of Kannea[1], in the vicinity of Trincomalie, the water in which flows at a temperature varying at different seasons from 85° to 115°. In the stream formed by these wells M. Reynaud found and forwarded to Cuvier two fishes which he took from the water at a time when his thermometer indicated a temperature of 37° Reaumur, equal to 115° of Fahrenheit. The one was an Apogon, the other an Ambassis, and to each, from the heat of its habitat, he assigned the specific name of "thermalis."[2]

[Footnote 1: See SIR J. EMERSON TENNET's _Ceylon_, &c., vol. ii. p. 496.]

[Footnote 2: CUV. and VAL., vol. iii. p. 363. In addition to the two fishes above named, a loche _Cobitis thermalis_, and a carp, _Nuria thermoicos_, were found in the hot-springs of Kannea, at a heat 40° Cent., 114° Fahr., and a roach, _Leuciscus thermalis_, when the thermometer indicated 50° Cent, 122° Fahr.--_Ib_. xviii. p. 59, xvi. p. 182, xvii. p. 94. Fish have been taken from a hot spring at Pooree when the thermometer stood at 112° Fahr., and as they belonged to a carnivorous genus, they must have found prey living in the same high temperature.--_Journ. Asiatic Soc. of Beng._ vol. vi. p. 465. Fishes have been observed in a hot spring at Manila which raises the thermometer to 187°, and in another in Barbary, the usual temperature of which is 172°; and Humboldt and Bonpland, when travelling in South America, saw fishes thrown up alive from a volcano, in water that raised the temperature to 210°, being two degrees below the boiling point. PATTERSON'S _Zoology_, Pt. ii. p. 211; YARRELL'S _History of British Fishes_, vol. i. In. p. xvi.]

* * * * *

_List of Ceylon Fishes._

In the following list, the Acanthopterygian fishes of Ceylon has been prepared for me by Dr. GÜNTHER, and will be found the most complete which has appeared of this order. I am also indebted to him for the correction of the list of Malacopterygians, which I hope ere long to render still more extended, as well as that of the Cartilaginous fishes.

I. OSSEOUS.

ACANTHOPTERYGII

BERYCIDÆ, _Lowe_.
Myripristis murdjan, _Forsk_.
Holocentrum rubrum, _Forsk_.
spiniferum, _Forsk_.
diadema, _Lacép_.

PERCIDÆ, _Günther_.
*Lates calcarifer, _Bl._
Serranus louti, _Forsk_.
pachycentrum, _C. & V._
guttatus, _Bl._
Sonneratii, _C. & V._
angularis, _C.& V._
marginalis, _Bl._
hexagonatis, _Forsk_.
flavocoeruleus, _Lacép_.
biguttatus, _C. & V._
lemniscatus, _C. & V._
Amboinensis, _Bleek_.
boenak, _C. & V._
Grammistes orientalis, _Bl._
Genyoroge Sebæ, _C. & V._
Bengalensis, _C. & V._
marginata, _C. & V._
rivulata, _C. & V._
gibba, _Forsk_.
spilura, _Benn_.
Mesoprion aurolineatus, _C. & V._
rangus, _C. & V._
quinquelineatus, _Rüpp_.
Johnii, _Bl._
annularis, _C. & V._
?Priacanthus Blochii, _Bleek_.
Ambassis n. sp., _Günth_.
Commersonii, _C. & V._
thermalis, _C. & V._
Apogon Ceylonicus, _C. & V._
thermalis, _C. & V._
annularis, _Rüpp_. Var. roseipinnis.
Chilodipterus quinquelineatus, _C. & V._

PRISTIPOMATIDÆ, _Günther_.
Dules Bennettii, _Bleek_.
*Therapon servus, _Bloch_.
*trivittatus, _Buch. Ham_.
quadrilineatus, _Bl._
*Helotes polytænia, _Bleek_.
Pristipoma hasta, _Bloch_.
maculatum, _Bl._
Diagramma punctatum, _Ehrenb_.
orientale, _Bl._
poecilopterum, _C. & V._
Blochii, _C. & V._
lineatum, _Gm_.
Radja, _Bleek_.
Lobotes auctorum, _Günth_.
Gerres oblongus, _C & V._
Scolopsia Japonicus, _Bl._
bimaculatus, _Rüpp_.
monogramma, _k. & v. H._
Synagris furcosus, _C. & V._
Pentapus aurolineatus, _Lacép_.
Smaris balteatus, _C. & V._
Cæsio coerulaureus, _Lacép_.

MULLIDÆ, _Gray_.
Upeneus tæniopterus, _C. & V._
Indicus, _Shaw_.
cyclostoma, _Lacép_.
Upe. trifasciatus, _Lacép_.
cinnabarinus, _C. & V._
Upeneoides vittatus, _Forsk._
tragula.
sulphureus, _C. & V._
Mulloides flavolineatus, _Lacép_.
Ceylonicus, _C. & V._

SPARIDÆ, _Günther_.
Lethrinus frenatus, _C. & V._
cinereus, _C. & V._
fasciatus, _C. & V._
?ramak, _Forsk._
opercularis, _C. & V._
erythrurus, _C. & V._
Pagrus spinifer, _Forsk_.
Crysophrys hasta, _Bl._
?Pimelepterus Ternatensis, _Bleek_.

SQUAMIPINNES, _Günthier_.
Chætodon Layardi, _Blyth_.
oligacanthus, _Bleek_.
setifer, _Bl._
vagabundus, _L._
guttatissimus, _Benn_.
pictus, _Forsk_.
xanthocephalus, _Benn_.
Sebæ, _C. & V._
Heniochus macrolepidotus, _Artedi_.
Holacanthus annularis, _Bl._
xanthurus, _Benn_.
imperator, _B1_.
Scatophagus argus, _Gm_.
Ephippus orbis, _Bl._
Drepane punctata, _Gm_.

CIRRHITIDÆ, _Gray_.
Cirrhites Forsteri, _Schn_.

CATAPHRACTI, _Cuv_.
Scorpæna polyprion, _Bleek_.
Pterois volitans, _L._
miles, _Benn_.
Tetraroge longispinis, _C. & V._
Platycephalus insidiator, _Forsk_.
punctatus, _C. & V._
serratus, _C. & V._
tuberculatus, _C. & V._
suppositus, _Trosch_.
Dactylopterus orientalis, _C. & V._

TRACHINIDÆ, _Günther_.
?Uranoscopus guttatus, _C. & V._
Percis millepunctata, _Günth_.
Sillago siliama, _Forsk_.

SCIÆNIDÆ, _Günther_.
Sciæna diacantha, _Lacép_.
maculata, _Schn_.
Dussumieri, _C & V._
Corvina miles, _C. & V._
Otolithus argenteus, _k. & v. H._

POLYNEMIDÆ, _Günther_.
Polynemus heptadactylus, _C. & V._
hexanemus, _C. & V._
Indicus, _Shaw_.
plebeius, _Gm._
tetradactylus, _Shaw_.

SPHYRÆNIDÆ, _Agass_.
Sphyræna jello, _C. & V._
obtusata, _C. & V._

TRICHIURIDÆ, _Günther_.
Trichiurus savala, _Cuv._

SCOMBRIDÆ, _Günther_.
?Thynnus affinis, _Cant._
Cybium Commersonii, _Lacép._
guttatum, _Schn._
Naucrates ductor, _L._
Elacate nigra, _Bl._
?n. sp.
Echeneis remora, _L._
scutata, _Günth._
naucrates, _L._
Stromateus cinereus, _Bl._
niger, _Bl._
Coryphæna hippurus, _L._
Mene maculata, _Schn._

CARANGIDÆ, _Günther._
Caranx Heberi, _Benn._
Rottleri, _Bl._
calla, _C.&V._
xanthurus, _K.&v.H._
talamparoides, _Bleek._
Malabaricus, _Schn._
speciosus, _Forsk._
carangus, _Bl._
hippos, _L._
armatus, _Forsk._
ciliaris, _Bl._
gallus, _L._
Micropteryx chrysurus, _L._
Seriola nigro-fasciata, _Rüpp._
Chorinemus lysan, _Forsk._
Sancti Petri, _C. & V._
Trachynotus oblongus, _C. & V._
ovatus, _L._
Psettus argenteus, _L._
Platax vespertilio, _Bl._
Raynaldi, _C.&V._
Zanclus sp. n.
Lactarius delicatulus, _C. & V._
Equula fasciata, _Lacép._
edentula, _Bl._
daura, _Cuv._
inlerrupta.
Gazza minuta, _Bl._
equulæformis, _Rüpp._
Pempheris sp.

XIPHIIDÆ, _Agass._
Histiophorus immaculatus, _Rüpp._

THEUTYIDÆ, _Günther._
Theutys Javus, _L._
stellata, _Forsk._
nebulosa, _A. & G._

ACRONURIDÆ, _Günther._
Acanthurus triostegus, _L._
nigrofuscus, _Forsk._
lineatus, _L._
Tennentii, _Gthr._
leucosternon, _Bennett._
ctenodon, _C.&V._
rhombeus, _Kittl._
xanthurus, _Blyth._
Acronurus melas, _C. & V._
melanurus, _C. & V._
Naseus unicornis, _Forsk,_
brevirostris, _C. & V._
tuberosus, _Lacép._
lituratus, _Forster._

AULOSTOMATA, _Cuvier._
Fistularia serrata, _Bl._

BLENNIIDÆ, _Müll._
Salarias fasclatus, _Bl._
Sal. marmoratus, _Benn._
tridactylus, _Schn._
quadricornis, _C.&V._

GOBIIDÆ, _Müll._
Gobius ornatus, _Rüpp._
giuris, _Buch. Ham._
albopunctatus, _C. & V._
grammepomus, _Bleek._
Apocryptes lanceolatus, _Bl._
Periophthalmus Koelreuteri, _Pall._
Eleotris ophiocephalus, _K. & v.H._
fusca, _Bl._
sexguttata, _C. & V._
muralis, _A. & G._

MASTACEMBELIDÆ. _Günther._
Mastacembelus armatus, _Lacép._

PEDICULATI, _Cuv._
Antennarius marmoratus, _Günth._
hispidus, _Schn._
pinniceps, _Commers._
Commersonii, _Lacép._
multiocellatus _Günth._
bigibbus, _Lacép._

ATHERINIDÆ, _Günther._
Atherina Forskalii, _Rüpp._
duodecimalis, _C. & V._

MUGILIDÆ, _Günther._
Mugil planiceps, _C. & V._
Waigiensis, _A.G._
Ceylonensis, _Günth._

OPHIOCEPHALIDÆ, _Günther._
Ophiocephalus punctatus, _Bl._
Kelaartii, _Günth._
striatus, _Bl._
marulius, _Ham. Buch._
Channa orientalis, _Schn._

LABYRINTHICI, _Cuv._
Anabas oligolepis, _Bleek._
Polyacanthus signatus, _Günth._

PHARYNGOGNATHI.
Amphiprion Clarkii, _J. Benn._
Dascyllus aruanus, _C. & V._
trimaculatus, _Rüpp._
Glyphisodon septem-fasciatus, _C. & V._
Brownrigii, _Benn,_
coelestinus, _Sol._
Etroplus Suratensis, _Bl._
Julis lunaris _Linn._
decussatus, _W Benn._
formosus, _C.&V._
quadricolor. _Lesson._
dorsalis, _Quoy & Gaim._
aureomaculatus, _W. Benn._
Cellanicus, _E. Benn._
Finlaysoni, _C. & V._
purpureo-lineatus, _C. & V._
cingulum, _C. & V._
Gomphosus fuscus, _C. & V._
coeruleus, _Comm._
viridis, _W. Benn._
Scarus pepo, _W. Benn._
harid. _Forsk._
Tautoga fasciata, _Thunb._
Hemirhamphus Reynaldi, _C. & V._
Georgii _C.& V._
Exocoetus evolans. _Linn._
Belone annulata, _C. & V._

MALACOPTERYGII (ABDOMINALES).
Bagrus gulio, _Buch_.
albilabris, _C. & V._
Plotosus lineatus, _C. & V._
Barbus tor, _C. & V._
Nuria thermoicos, _C. & V._
Leuciscus dandia, _C. & V._
scalpellus, _C. & V._
Ceylonicus, _E. Benn_.
thermalis, _C. & V._
Cobitis thermalis, _C. & V._
Chirocentrus dorab, _Forsk_.
Elops saurus, _L._
Megalops cundinga, _Buch_.
Engraulis Brownii, _Gm_.
Sardinella leiogaster, _C. & V._
lineolata, _C. & V._
Neohowii.
Saurus myops, _Val_.
Saurida tombil, _Bl._

MALACOPTERYGII (SUB-BRANCHIATI).
Pleuronectes, _L._

MALACOPTERYGII (APODA).
Muræna.

LOPHOBRANCHI.
Syngnathus, _L._

PLECTOGNATHII.
Tetraodon ocellatus, _W. Benn_.
tepa, _Buch_.
argyropleura, _E. Bennett_.
argentatus, _Blyth_.
Balistes biaculeatus, _W. Benn_.
lineatus, _Bl._
Triacanthus biaculeatus, _W. Benn_.
Alutarius lævis, _Bl._

II. CARTILAGINOUS.

Pristis antiquorum, _Lath_.
cuspidatus, _Lath_.
pectinatus, _Lath_.
Chiloscyllium plagiosum, _Benn_.
Stegostoma fasciatum, _Bl._
Carcharias acutus, _Rüpp_.
Sphyrna zygæna, _L._
Rhynchobatus lævis, _Bl._
Trygon uarnak, _Forsk_.
Pteroplatea micrura, _Bl._
Tæniura lymna, _Forsk_.
Myliobatis Nieuhofii, _Bl._
Aëtobates narinari, _Bl._

* * * * *

NOTE (A.)

INSTANCES OF FISHES FALLING FROM THE CLOUDS IN INDIA.

(_From the Bombay Times,_ 1856.)

See Page 343.

The late Dr. Buist, after enumerating cases in which fishes were said to have been thrown out from volcanoes in South America and precipitated from clouds in various parts of the world, adduced the following instances of similar occurrences in India. "In 1824," he says, "fishes fell at Meerut, on the men of Her Majesty's 14th Regiment, then out at drill, and were caught in numbers. In July, 1826, live fish were seen to fall on the grass at Moradabad during a storm. They were the common cyprinus, so prevalent in our Indian waters. On the 19th of February, 1830, at noon, a heavy fall of fish occurred at the Nokulhatty factory, in the Daccah zillah; depositions on the subject were obtained from nine different parties. The fish were all dead; most of them were large; some were fresh, others were rotten and mutilated. They were seen at first in the sky, like a flock of birds, descending rapidly to the ground; there was rain drizzling, but no storm. On the 16th and 17th of May, 1833, a fall of fish occurred in the zillah of Futtehpoor, about three miles north of the Jumna, after a violent storm of wind and rain. The fish were from a pound and a half to three pounds in weight, and of the same species as those found in the tanks in the neighbourhood. They were all dead and dry. A fall of fish occurred at Allahabad, during a storm in May, 1835; they were of the chowla species, and were found dead and dry after the storm had passed over the district. On the 20th of September, 1839, after a smart shower of rain, a quantity of live fish, about three inches in length and all of the same kind, fell at the Sunderbunds, about twenty miles south of Calcutta. On this occasion it was remarked that the fish did not fall here and there irregularly over the ground, but in a continuous straight line, not more than a span in breadth. The vast multitudes of fish, with which the low grounds round Bombay are covered, about a week or ten days after the first burst of the monsoon, appear to be derived from the adjoining pools or rivulets, and not to descend from the sky. They are not, so far as I know, found in the higher parts of the island. I have never seen them, (though I have watched carefully,) in casks collecting water from the roofs of buildings, or heard of them on the decks or awnings of vessels in the harbour, where they must have appeared had they descended from the sky. One of the most remarkable phenomena of this kind occurred during a tremendous deluge of rain at Kattywar, on the 25th of July, 1850, when the ground around Rajkote was found literally covered with fish; some of them were found on the tops of haystacks, where probably they had been drifted by the storm. In the course of twenty-four successive hours twenty-seven inches of rain fell, thirty-five fell in twenty-six hours, seven inches within one hour and a half, being the heaviest fall on record. At Poonah, on the 3rd of August, 1852, after a very heavy fall of rain, multitudes of fish were caught on the ground in the cantonments, full half a mile from the nearest stream. If showers of fish are to be explained on the assumption that they are carried up by squalls or violent winds, from rivers or spaces of water not far away from where they fall, it would be nothing wonderful were they seen to descend from the air during the furious squalls which occasionally occur in June."

* * * * *

NOTE (B.)

CEYLON FISHES.

(_Memorandum by Professor Huxley._)

See Page 324.

The large series of beautifully coloured drawings of the fishes of Ceylon, which has been submitted to my inspection, possesses an unusual value for several reasons.

The fishes, it appears, were all captured at Colombo, and even had those from other parts of Ceylon been added, the geographical area would not have been very extended. Nevertheless there are more than 600 drawings, and though it is possible that some of these represent varieties in different stages of growth of the same species, I have not been able to find definite evidence of the fact in any of those groups which I have particularly tested. If, however, these drawings represent _six hundred_ distinct species of fish, they constitute, so far as I know, the largest collection of fish from one locality in existence.

The number of known British fishes may be safely assumed to be less than 250, and Mr. Yarrell enumerates only 226, Dr. Cantor's valuable work on Malayan fishes enumerates not more than 238, while Dr. Russell has figured only 200 from Coromandel. Even the enormous area of the Chinese and Japanese seas has as yet not yielded 800 species of fishes.

The large extent of the collection alone, then, renders it of great importance: but its value is immeasurably enhanced by the two circumstances,--_first_, that every drawing was made while the fish retained all that vividness of colouring which becomes lost so soon after its removal from its native element; and _secondly_, that when the sketch was finished its subject was carefully labelled, preserved in spirits, and forwarded to England, so that at the present moment the original of every drawing can be subjected to anatomical examination, and compared with already named species.

Under these circumstances, I do not hesitate to say that the collection is one of the most valuable in existence, and might, if properly worked out, become a large and secure foundation for all future investigation into the ichthyology of the Indian Ocean.

It would be very hazardous to express an opinion as to the novelty or otherwise of the species and genera figured without the study of the specimens themselves, as the specific distinctions of fish are for the most part based upon character--the fin-rays, teeth, the operculum, &c., which can only be made out by close and careful examination of the object, and cannot be represented in ordinary drawings however accurate.

There are certain groups of fish, however, whose family traits are so marked as to render it almost impossible to mistake even their portraits, and hence I may venture, without fear of being far wrong, upon a few remarks as to the general features of the ichthyological fauna of Ceylon.

In our own seas rather less than a tenth of the species of fishes belong to the cod tribe. I have not found one represented in these drawings, nor do either Russell or Cantor mention any in the surrounding seas, and the result is in general harmony with the known laws of distribution of these most useful of fishes.

On the other hand, the mackerel family, including the tunnies, the bonitas, the dories, the horse-mackerels, &c., which form not more than one sixteenth of our own fish fauna, but which are known to increase their proportion in hot climates, appear in wonderful variety of form and colour, and constitute not less than one fifth of the whole of the species of Ceylon fish. In Russell's catalogue they form less than one fifth, in Cantor's less than one sixth.

Marine and other siluroid fishes, a group represented on the continent of Europe, but doubtfully, if at all, in this country, constitute one twentieth of the Ceylon fishes. In Russell's and Cantor's lists they form about one thirtieth of the whole.

The sharks and rays form about one seventh of our own fish fauna. They constitute about one tenth or one eleventh of Russell's and Cantor's lists, while among these Ceylon drawings I find not more than twenty, or about one thirtieth of the whole, which can be referred to this group of fishes. It must be extremely interesting to know whether this circumstance is owing to accident, or to the local peculiarities of Colombo, or whether the fauna of Ceylon really is deficient in such fishes.

The like exceptional character is to be noticed in the proportion of the tribe of flat fishes, or _Pleuronectidæ_. Soles, turbots, and the like, form nearly one twelfth of our own fishes. Both Cantor and Russell give the flat fishes as making one twenty-second part of their collection, while in the whole 600 Ceylon drawings I can find but five _Pleuronectidæ_.

When this great collection has been carefully studied, I doubt not that many more interesting distributional facts will be evolved.

* * * * *

Since receiving this note from Professor Huxley, the drawings in question have been submitted to Dr. Gray, of the British Museum. That eminent naturalist, after a careful analysis, has favoured me with the following memorandum of the fishes they represent, numerically contrasting them with those of China and Japan, so far as we are acquainted with the ichthyology of those seas:--

CARTILAGINEA.

Ceylon. China and Japan.

Squali 12 15
Raiæ 19 20
Sturiones 0 1

OSTINOPTERYGII.

Plectognathi.
tetraodontidæ 10 21
balistidæ 9 19
Lophobranchii.
syngnathidæ 2 2
pegasidæ 0 3
Ctenobranchii.
lophidæ 1 3
Cyclopodi.
echeneidæ 0 1
cyclopteridæ 0 1
gobidæ 7 35
Percini.
callionymidæ 0 7
uranoscopidæ 0 7
cottidæ 0 13
triglidæ 11 37
polynemidæ 12 3
mullidæ 1 7
perecidæ 26 12
berycidæ 0 5
sillaginidæ 3 1
sciænidæ 19 13
hæmullinidæ 6 12
serranidæ 31 38
theraponidæ 8 20
cirrhitidæ 0 2
mænidiæ 37 25
sparidæ 16 17
acanthuridæ 14 6
chætodontidæ 25 21
fistularidæ 2 3
Periodopharyngi.
mugilidæ 5 7
anabantidæ 6 15
pomacentridæ 10 11
Pharyngognathi.
labridæ 16 35
scomberesocidæ 13 6
blenniidæ 3 8
Scomberina.
zeidæ 0 2
sphyrænidæ 5 4
scomberidæ 118 62
xiphlidæ 0 1
cepolidæ 0 5
Heterosomata.
platessoideæ 5 22
siluridæ 31 24
cyprinidæ 19 52
scopelinidæ 2 7
salmonidæ 0 1
clupeidæ 43 22
gadidæ 0 2
macruridæ 1 0
Apodes.
anguillidæ 8 12
murænidæ 8 6
sphagebranchidæ 8 10

* * * * *

NOTE (C).

ON THE BORA-CHUNG, OR "GROUND-FISH" OF BHOOTAN.

See P. 353.

In Bhootan, at the south-eastern extremity of the Himalayas, a fish is found, the scientific name of which is unknown to me, but it is called by the natives the _Bora-chung_, and by European residents the "ground-fish of Bhootan." It is described in the _Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal for_ 1839, by a writer (who had seen it alive), as being about two feet in length, and cylindrical, with a thick body, somewhat shaped like a pike, but rounder, the nose curved upwards, the colour olive-green, with orange stripes, and the head speckled with crimson.[1] This fish, according to the native story, is caught not in the rivers in whose vicinity it is found, but "in perfectly dry places in the middle of grassy jungle, sometimes as far as two miles from the banks." Here, on finding a hole four or five inches in diameter, they commence to dig, and continue till they come to water; and presently the _bora-chung_ rises to the surface, sometimes from a depth of nineteen feet. In these extemporised wells these fishes are found always in pairs, and I when brought to the surface they glide rapidly over the ground with a serpentine motion. This account appeared in 1839; but some years later, Mr. Campbell, the Superintendent of Darjeeling, in a communication to the same journal[2], divested the story of much of its exaggeration, by stating, as the result of personal inquiry in Bhootan, that the _bora-chung_ inhabits the jheels and slow-running streams near the hills, but lives principally on the banks, into which it penetrates from one to five or six feet. The entrance to these retreats leading from the river into the bank is generally a few inches below the surface, so that the fish can return to the water at pleasure. The mode of catching them is by introducing the hand into these holes; and the _bora-chungs_ are found generally two in each chamber, coiled concentrically like snakes. It is not believed that they bore their own burrows, but that they take possession of those made by land-crabs. Mr. Campbell denies that they are more capable than other fish of moving on dry ground. From the particulars given, the _bora-chung_ would appear to be an _Ophiocephalus_, probably the _O. barka_ described by Buchanan, as inhabiting holes in the banks of rivers tributary to the Ganges.

[Footnote 1: Paper by Mr. J.T. PEARSON, _Journ. Asiat. Soc. Beng._, vol. viii p. 551.]

[Footnote 2: _Journ. Asiat. Soc. Beng._, vol. xi. p. 963.]

CHAP. XI.

SHELLS.

* * * * *

_Mollusca.--Radiata, &c._

Ceylon has long been renowned for the beauty and variety of the shells which abound in its seas and inland waters, and in which an active trade has been organised by the industrious Moors, who clean them with great expertness, arrange them in satin-wood boxes, and send them to Colombo and all parts of the island for sale. In general, however, these specimens are more prized for their beauty than valued for their rarity, though some of the "Argus" cowries[1] have been sold as high as _four guineas_ a pair.

[Footnote 1: _Cypræa Argus_.]

One of the principal sources whence their supplies are derived is the beautiful Bay of Venloos, to the north of Batticaloa, formed by the embouchure of the Natoor river. The scenery at this spot is enchanting. The sea is overhung by gentle acclivities wooded to the summit; and in an opening between two of these eminences the river flows through a cluster of little islands covered with mangroves and acacias. A bar of rocks projects across it, at a short distance from the shore; and these are frequented all day long by pelicans, that come at sunrise to fish, and at evening return to their solitary breeding-places remote from the beach. The strand is literally covered with beautiful shells in rich profusion, and the dealers from Trincomalie know the proper season to visit the bay for each particular description. The entire coast, however, as far north as the Elephant Pass, is indented by little rocky inlets, where shells of endless variety may be collected in great abundance.[1] During the north-east monsoon a formidable surf bursts upon the shore, which is here piled high with mounds of yellow sand; and the remains of shells upon the water mark show how rich the sea is in mollusca. Amongst them are prodigious numbers of the ubiquitous violet-coloured _Ianthina_[2], which rises when the ocean is calm, and by means of its inflated vesicles floats lightly on the surface.

[Footnote 1: In one of these beautiful little bays near Catchavelly, between Trincomalie and Batticaloa, I found the sand within the wash of the sea literally covered with mollusca and shells, and amongst others a species of _Bullia_ (B. vittata, I think), the inhabitant of which, has the faculty of mooring itself firmly by sending down its membranous foot into the wet sand, where, imbibing the water, this organ expands horizontally into a broad, fleshy disc, by which the animal anchors itself, and thus secured, collects its food in the ripple of the waves. On the slightest alarm, the water is discharged, the disc collapses into its original dimensions, and the shell and its inhabitant disappear together beneath the sand.]

[Footnote 2: _Ianthina communis_, Krause and _I. prolongata_, Blainv.]

The trade in shells is one of extreme antiquity in Ceylon. The Gulf of Manaar has been fished from the earliest times for the large chank shell, _Turbinella_ _rapa_, to be exported to India, where it is still sawn into rings and worn as anklets and bracelets by the women of Hindustan. Another use for these shells is their conversion into wind instruments, which are sounded in the temples on all occasions of ceremony. A chank, in which the whorls, instead of running from left to right, as in the ordinary shell, are reversed, and run from right to left, is regarded with such reverence that a specimen formerly sold for its weight in gold, but one may now be had for four or five pounds. COSMAS INDICO-PLEUSTES, writing in the fifth century, describes a place on the west coast of Ceylon, which he calls Marallo, and says it produced "[Greek: kochlious]," which THEVENOT translates "oysters;" in which case Marallo might be conjectured to be Bentotte, near Colombo, which yields the best edible "oysters" in Ceylon.[1] But the shell in question was most probably the chank, and Marallo was Mantotte, off which it is found in great numbers.[2] In fact, two centuries later Abouzeyd, an Arab, who wrote an account of the trade and productions of India, speaks of these shells by the name they still bear, which he states to be _schenek_[3]; but "schenek" is not an Arabic word, and is merely an attempt to spell the local term, _chank_, in Arabic characters.

[Footnote 1: COSMAS INDICO-PLEUSTES, in Thevenot's ed. t i. p. 21.]

[Footnote 2: At Kottiar, near Trincomalie, I was struck with the prodigious size of the edible oysters, which were brought to us at the rest-house. The shell of one of these measured a little more than eleven inches in length, by half as many broad: thus unexpectedly attesting the correctness of one of the stories related by the historians of Alexander's expedition, that in India they had found oysters a foot long. PLINY says: "In Indico mari Alexandri rerum auctores pedalia inveniri prodidere."--_Nat. Hist._ lib. xxxii. ch. 31. DARWIN says, that amongst the fossils of Patagonia, he found "a massive gigantic oyster, sometimes even a foot in diameter."--_Nat. Voy._, ch. viii.]

[Footnote 3:--ABOUZEYD, _Voyages Arabes,_ &c., t. i. p. 6; REINAUD, _Mémoire sur l'Inde,_ &c p. 222.]

BERTOLACCI mentions a curious local peculiarity[1] observed by the fishermen in the natural history of the chank. "All shells," he says, "found to the northward of a line drawn from a point about midway from Manaar to the opposite coast (of India) are of the kind called _patty_, and are distinguished by a short flat head; and all those found to the southward of that line are of the kind called _pajel_, and are known from having a longer and more pointed head than the former. Nor is there ever an instance of deviation from this singular law of nature. The _Wallampory_, or 'right-hand chanks,' are found of both kinds."

[Footnote 1: See also the _Asiatic Journal for_ 1827, p. 469.]

This tendency of particular localities to re-produce certain specialities of form and colour is not confined to the sea or to the instance of the chank shell. In the gardens which line the suburbs of Galle in the direction of Matura the stems of the coco-nut and jak trees are profusely covered with the shells of the beautiful striped _Helix hamastoma_. Stopping frequently to collect them, I was led to observe that each separate garden seemed to possess a variety almost peculiar to itself; in one the mouth of every individual shell was _red_; in another, separated from the first only by a wall, _black_; and in others (but less frequently) _pure white_; whilst the varieties of external colouring were equally local. In one enclosure they were nearly all red, and in an adjoining one brown.[1]

[Footnote 1: DARWIN, in his _Naturalist's Voyage_, mentions a parallel instance of the localised propagation of colours amoungst the cattle which range the pasturage of East Falkland Island: "Round Mount Osborne about half of some of the herds were mouse-coloured, a tint no common anywhere else,--near Mount Pleasant dark-brown prevailed; whereas south of Choiseul Sound white beasts with black heads and feet were common."--Ch. ix. p. 192.]

A trade more ancient by far than that carried on in chanks, and infinitely more renowned, is the fishery of pearls on the west coast of Ceylon, bordering the Gulf of Manaar. No scene in Ceylon presents so dreary an aspect as the long sweep of desolate shore to which, from time immemorial, adventurers have resorted from the uttermost ends of the earth in search of the precious pearls for which this gulf is renowned. On approaching it from sea the only perceptible landmark is a building erected by Lord Guildford, as a temporary residence for the Governor, and known by the name of the "Doric," from the style of its architecture. A few coco-nut palms appear next above the low sandy beach, and presently are discovered the scattered houses which form the villages of Aripo and Condatchy.

Between these two places, or rather between the Kalaar and Arrive river, the shore is raised to a height of many feet, by enormous mounds of shells, the accumulations of ages, the millions of oysters[1], robbed of their pearls, having been year after year flung into heaps, that extend for a distance of many miles.

[Footnote 1: It is almost unnecessary to say that the shell fish which produces the true Oriental pearls is not an oyster, but belongs to the genus Avicula, or more correctly, Meleagrina. It is the _Meleagrina Margaritifera_ of Lamarck.]

During the progress of a pearl-fishery, this singular and dreary expanse becomes suddenly enlivened by the crowds who congregate from distant parts of India; a town is improvised by the construction of temporary dwellings, huts of timber and cajans[1], with tents of palm leaves or canvas; and bazaars spring up, to feed the multitude on land, as well as the seamen and divers in the fleets of boats that cover the bay.

[Footnote 1: _Cajan_ is the local term for the plaited fronds of a coco-nut.]

I visited the pearl banks officially in 1848 in company with Capt. Stenart, the official inspector. My immediate object was to inquire into the causes of the suspension of the fisheries, and to ascertain the probability of reviving a source of revenue, the gross receipts from which had failed for several years to defray the cost of conservancy. In fact, between 1837 and 1854, the pearl banks were an annual charge, instead of producing an annual income, to the colony. The conjecture, hastily adopted, to account for the disappearance of mature shells, had reference to mechanical causes; the received hypothesis being that the young broods had been swept off their accustomed feeding grounds, by the establishment of unusual currents, occasioned by deepening the narrow passage between Ceylon and India at Paumbam. It was also suggested, that a previous Governor, in his eagerness to replenish the colonial treasury, had so "scraped" and impoverished the beds as to exterminate the oysters. To me, neither of these suppositions appeared worthy of acceptance; for, in the frequent disruptions of Adam's Bridge, there was ample evidence that the currents in the Gulf of Manaar had been changed at former times without destroying the pearl beds: and moreover the oysters had disappeared on many former occasions, without any imputation of improper management on the part of the conservators; and returned after much longer intervals of absence than that which fell under my own notice, and which was then creating serious apprehension in the colony.

A similar interruption had been experienced between 1820 and 1828: the Dutch had had no fishing for twenty-seven years, from 1768 till 1796[1]; and they had been equally unsuccessful from 1732 till 1746. The Arabs were well acquainted with similar vicissitudes, and Albyronni (a contemporary of Avicenna), who served under Mahmoud of Ghuznee, and wrote in the eleventh century, says that the pearl fishery, which formerly existed in the Gulf of Serendib, had become exhausted in his time, simultaneously with the appearance of a fishery at Sofala, in the country of the Zends, where pearls were unknown before; and hence, he says, arose the conjecture that the pearl oyster of Serendib had migrated to Sofala.[2]

[Footnote 1: This suspension was in some degree attributable to disputes with the Nabob of Arcot and other chiefs, and the proprietors of temples on the opposite coast of India, who claimed, a right to participate in the fisheries of the Gulf of Manaar.]

[Footnote 2: "Il y avait autrefois dans le Golfe de Serendyb, une pêcherie de perles qui s'est épuiseé de notre temps. D'un autre côté il s'est formé une pêcherie de Sofala dans le pays des Zends, là ou il n'en existait pas auparavant--on dit que c'est la pêcherie de Serendyb qui s'est transportée à Sofala."--ALBYROUNI, _in_ RENAUD'S _Fragmens Arabes, &c_, p. 125; see also REINAUD'S _Mémoire sur l'Inde_, p. 228.]

It appeared to me that the explanation of the phenomenon was to be sought, not merely in external causes, but also in the instincts and faculties of the animals themselves, and, on my return to Colombo, I ventured to renew a recommendation, which had been made years before, that a scientific inspector should be appointed to study the habits and the natural history of the pearl-oyster, and that his investigations should be facilitated by the means at the disposal of the Government.

Dr. Kelaart was appointed to this office, by Sir H.G. Ward, in 1857, and his researches speedily developed results of great interest. In opposition to the received opinion that the pearl-oyster is incapable of voluntary movement, and unable of itself to quit the place to which it is originally attached[1], he demonstrated, not only that it possesses locomotive powers, but also that their exercise is indispensable to its oeconomy when obliged to search for food, or compelled to escape from local impurities. He showed that, for this purpose, it can sever its byssus, and re-form it at pleasure, so as to migrate and moor itself in favourable situations.[2] The establishment of this important fact may tend to solve the mystery of the occasional disappearances of the oyster; and if coupled with the further discovery that it is susceptible of translation from place to place, and even from salt to brackish water, it seems reasonable to expect that beds may be formed with advantage in positions suitable for its growth and protection. Thus, like the edible oyster of our own shores, the pearl-oyster may be brought within the domain of pisciculture, and banks may be created in suitable places, just as the southern shores of France are now being colonised with oysters, under the direction of M. Coste.[3] The operation of sowing the sea with pearl, should the experiment succeed, would be as gorgeous in reality, as it is grand in conception: and the wealth of Ceylon, in her "treasures of the deep," might eclipse the renown of her gems when she merited the title of the "Island of Rubies."

[Footnote 1: STEUART'S _Pearl Fisheries of Ceylon_, p. 27: CORDINER'S _Ceylon, &c_, vol. ii. p. 45.]

[Footnote 2: See Dr. KELAART'S Report on the Pearl Oyster in the _Ceylon Calendar for 1858--Appendix_, p. 14.]

[Footnote 3: _Rapport de_ M. COSTE, Professeur d'Embryogénie, &c., Paris, 1858.]

On my arrival at Aripo, the pearl-divers, under the orders of their Adapanaar, put to sea, and commenced the examination of the banks.[1] The persons engaged in this calling are chiefly Tamils and Moors, who are trained for the service by diving for chanks. The pieces of apparatus employed to assist the diver in his operations are exceedingly simple in their character: they consist merely of a stone, about thirty pounds' weight, (to accelerate the rapidity of his descent,) which is suspended over the side of the boat, with a loop attached to it for receiving the foot; and of a net-work basket, which he takes down to the bottom and fills with the oysters as he collects them. MASSOUDI, one of the earliest Arabian geographers, describing, in the ninth century, the habits of the pearl-divers in the Persian Gulf, says that, before descending, each filled his ears with cotton steeped in oil, and compressed his nostrils by a piece of tortoise-shell.[2] This practice continues there to the present day[3]; but the diver of Ceylon rejects all such expedients; he inserts his foot in the "sinking stone" and inhales a full breath; presses his nostrils with his left hand; raises his body as high as possible above water, to give force to his descent: and, liberating the stone from its fastenings, he sinks rapidly below the surface. As soon as he has reached the bottom, the stone is drawn up, and the diver, throwing himself on his face, commences with alacrity to fill his basket with oysters. This, on a concerted signal, is hauled rapidly to the surface; the diver assisting his own ascent by springing on the rope as it rises.

[Footnote 1: Detailed accounts of the pearl fishery of Ceylon and the conduct of the divers, will be found in PERCIVAL's _Ceylon_, ch. iii.: and in CORDINER'S _Ceylon_, vol. ii. ch. xvi. There is also a valuable paper on the same subject by Mr. LE BECK, in the _Asiatic Researches_, vol. v. p. 993; but by far the most able and intelligent description is contained in the _Account of the Pearl Fisheries of Ceylon_, by JAMES STEUART, Esq., Inspector of the Pearl Banks, 4to. Colombo, 1843.]

[Footnote 2: MASSOUDI says that the Persian divers, as they could not breathe through their nostrils, _cleft the root of the ear_ for that purpose: "_Ils se fendaient la racine de l'oreille pour respirer_; en effet, ils ne peuvent se servir pour cet objet des narines, vu qu'ils se les bouchent avec des morceaux d'écailles de tortue marine on bien avec des morceaux de corne ayant la forme d'un fer de lance. En même temps ils se mettent dans l'oreille du coton trempé dans de l'huile."--_Moroudj-al-Dzeheb,_ &c., REINAUD, _Mémoire sur l'Inde,_ p. 228.]

[Footnote 3: Colonel WILSON says they compress the nose with horn, and close the ears with beeswax. See _Memorandum on the Pearl Fisheries in Persian Gulf.--Journ. Geogr. Soc._ 1833, vol. iii. p. 283.]

Improbable tales have been told of the capacity which these men acquire of remaining for prolonged periods under water. The divers who attended on this occasion were amongst the most expert on the coast, yet not one of them was able to complete a full minute below. Captain Steuart, who filled for many years the office of Inspector of the Pearl Banks, assured me that he had never known a diver to continue at the bottom longer than eighty-seven seconds, nor to attain a greater depth than thirteen fathoms; and on ordinary occasions they seldom exceeded fifty-five seconds in nine fathom water[1].

[Footnote 1: RIBEYRO says that a diver could remain below whilst two _credos_ were being repeated: "Il s'y tient l'espace de deux _credo_."--Lib. i. ch. xxii. p. 169. PERCIVAL says the usual time for them to be under water was two minutes, but that some divers stayed _four_ or _five_, and one _six_ minutes,--_Ceylon_ p. 91; LE BECK says that in 1797 he saw a Caffre boy from Karical remain down for the space of seven minutes.--_Asiat. Res_ vol. v. p. 402.]

The only precaution to which the Ceylon diver devotedly resorts, is the mystic ceremony of the shark-charmer, whose exorcism is an indispensable preliminary to every fishery. His power is believed to be hereditary; nor is it supposed that the value of his incantations is at all dependent upon the religious faith professed by the operator, for the present head of the family happens to be a Roman Catholic. At the time of our visit this mysterious functionary was ill and unable to attend; but he sent an accredited substitute, who assured me that although he himself was ignorant of the grand and mystic secret, the mere fact of his presence, as a representative of the higher authority, would be recognised and respected by the sharks.

Strange to say, though the Gulf of Manaar abounds with these hideous creatures, not more than one well authenticated accident[1] is known to have occurred from this source during any pearl fishery since the British have had possession of Ceylon. In all probability the reason is that the sharks are alarmed by the unusual number of boats, the multitude of divers, the noise of the crews, the incessant plunging of the sinking stones, and the descent and ascent of the baskets filled with shells. The dark colour of the divers themselves may also be a protection; whiter skins might not experience an equal impunity. Massoudi relates that the divers of the Persian Gulf were so conscious of this advantage of colour, that they were accustomed to blacken their limbs, in order to baffle the sea monsters.[2]

[Footnote 1: CORDINER'S _Ceylon_, vol. ii p. 52.]

[Footnote 2: "Ils s'enduisaient les pieds et les jambes d'une substance noirâtre, atin de faire peur aux monstres marins, que, sans cela, seraient tentés de les dévorer."--_Moroudj-al-Dzekeb,_ REINAUD, _Mém. sur l'Inde_, p. 228.]

The result of our examination of the pearl banks, on this occasion, was such as to discourage the hope of an early fishery. The oysters in point of number were abundant, but in size they were little more than "spat," the largest being barely a fourth of an inch in diameter. As at least seven years are required to furnish the growth at which pearls may be sought with advantage[1], the inspection served only to suggest the prospect (which has since been realised) that in time the income from this source might be expected to revive;--and, forced to content ourselves with this anticipation, we weighed anchor from Condatchy, on the 30th March, and arrived on the following day at Colombo.

[Footnote 1: Along with this two plates are given from drawings made for the Official Inspector, and exhibiting the ascertained size of the pearl oyster at every period of its growth, from the "spat" to the mature shell. The young "brood" are shown at Nos. 1 and 2. The shell at four months old, No. 3, No. 4. six months, No. 5. one year, No. 6, two years. The second plate exhibits the shell at its full growth.]

The banks of Aripo are not the only localities, nor is the _acicula_ the only mollusc, by which pearls are furnished. The Bay of Tamblegam, connected with the magnificent harbour of Trincomalie, is the seat of another pearl fishery, and the shell which produces them is the thin transparent oyster (_Placuna placenta_). whose clear white shells are used, in China and elsewhere, as a substitute for window glass. They are also collected annually for the sake of the diminutive pearls contained in them. These are exported to the coast of India, to be calcined for lime, which the luxurious affect to chew with their betel. These pearls are also burned in the mouths of the dead. So prolific are the mollusca of the _Placuna_, that the quantity of shells taken by the licensed renter in the three years prior to 1858, could not have been less than eighteen millions.[1] They delight in brackish water, and on more than one recent occasion, an excess of either salt water or fresh has proved fatal to great numbers of them.

[Footnote 1: _Report of_ Dr. KELAART, Oct. 1857.]

1, 2. The young brood or spat. 3. Four months old. 4. Six months old. 5. One year old. 6. Two years old.]

On the occasion of a visit which I made to Batticaloa. in September, 1848, I made some inquiries relative to a story which had reached me of musical sounds, said to be often heard issuing from the bottom of the lake, at several places, both above and below the ferry opposite the old Dutch Fort; and which the natives suppose to proceed from some fish peculiar to the locality. The report was confirmed in all its particulars, and one of the spots whence the sounds proceed was pointed out between the pier and a rock that intersects the channel, two or three hundred yards to the eastward. They were said to be heard at night, and most distinctly when the moon was nearest the full, and they were described as resembling the faint sweet notes of an Æolian harp. I sent for some of the fishermen, who said they were perfectly aware of the fact, and that their fathers had always known of the existence of the musical sounds, heard, they said, at the spot alluded to, but only during the dry season, as they cease when the lake is swollen by the freshes after the rain. They believed them to proceed not from a fish, but from a shell, which is known by the Tamil name of (_oorie cooleeroo cradoo_, or) the "crying shell," a name in which the sound seems to have been adopted as an echo to the sense. I sent them in search of the shell, and they returned bringing me some living specimens of different shells, chiefly _littorina_ and _cerithium._[1]

[Footnote 1: _Littorina lævis. Cerithium palustre._ Of the latter the specimens brought to me were dwarfed and solid, exhibiting in this particular the usual peculiarities that distinguish (1) shells inhabiting a rocky locality from (2) their congeners in a sandy bottom. Their longitudinal development was less, with greater breadth, and increased strength and weight.]

In the evening when the moon rose, I took a boat and accompanied the fishermen to the spot. We rowed about two hundred yards north-east of the jetty by the fort gate; there was not a breath of wind, nor a ripple except those caused by the dip of our oars. On coming to the point mentioned, I distinctly heard the sounds in question. They came up from the water like the gentle thrills of a musical chord, or the faint vibrations of a wine-glass when its rim is rubbed by a moistened finger. It was not one sustained note, but a multitude of tiny, sounds, each clear and distinct in itself; the sweetest treble mingling with the lowest bass. On applying the ear to the woodwork of the boat, the vibration was greatly increased in volume. The sounds varied considerably at different points, as we moved across the lake, as if the number of the animals from which they proceeded was greatest in particular spots; and occasionally we rowed out of hearing of them altogether, until on returning to the original locality the sounds were at once renewed.

This fact seems to indicate that the causes of the sounds, whatever they may be, are stationary at several points; and this agrees with the statement of the natives, that they are produced by mollusca, and not by fish. They came evidently and sensibly from the depth of the lake, and there was nothing in the surrounding circumstances to support the conjecture that they could be the reverberation of noises made by insects on the shore conveyed along the surface of the water; for they were loudest and most distinct at points where the nature of the land, and the intervention of the fort and its buildings, forbade the possibility of this kind of conduction.

Sounds somewhat similar are heard under water at some places on the western coast of India, especially in the harbour of Bombay.[1] At Caldera, in Chili, musical cadences are stated to issue from the sea near the landing-place; they are described as rising and falling fully four notes, resembling the tones of harp strings, and mingling like those at Batticaloa, till they produce a musical discord of great delicacy and sweetness. The same interesting phenomenon has been observed at the mouth of the Pascagoula, in the State of Mississippi, and of another river called the "Bayou coq del Inde," on the northern shore of the Gulf of Mexico. The animals from which they proceed have not been identified at either of these places, and the mystery remains unsolved, whether the sounds at Batticaloa are given forth by fishes or by molluscs.

[Footnote 1: These sounds are thus described by Dr. BUIST in the _Bombay Times_ of January 1847: "A party lately crossing from the promontory in Salsette called the 'Neat's Tongue,' to near Sewree, were, about sunset, struck by hearing long distinct sounds like the protracted booming of a distant bell, the dying cadence of an Æolian harp, the note of a pitchpipe or pitch-fork, or any other long-drawn-out musical note. It was, at first, supposed to be music from Parell floating at intervals on the breeze; then it was perceived to come from all directions, almost in equal strength, and to arise from the surface of the water all around the vessel. The boatmen at once intimated that the sounds were produced by fish, abounding in the muddy creeks and shoals around Bombay and Salsette; they were perfectly well known, and very often heard. Accordingly, on inclining the ear towards the surface of the water; or, better still, by placing it close to the planks of the vessel, the notes appeared loud and distinct, and followed each other in constant succession. The boatmen next day produced specimens of the fish--a creature closely resembling, in size and shape the fresh-water perch of the north of Europe--and spoke of them as plentiful and perfectly well known. It is hoped they may be procured alive, and the means afforded of determining how the musical sounds are produced and emitted, with other particulars of interest supposed new in Ichthyology. We shall be thankful to receive from our readers any information they can give us in regard to a phenomenon which does not appear to have been heretofore noticed, and which cannot fail to attract the attention of the naturalist. Of the perfect accuracy with which the singular facts above related have been given, no doubt will be entertained when it is mentioned that the writer was one of a party of five intelligent persons, by all of whom they were most carefully observed, and the impressions of all of whom in regard to them were uniform. It is supposed that the fish are confined to particular localities--shallows, estuaries, and muddy creeks, rarely visited by Europeans; and that this is the reason why hitherto no mention, so far as we know, has been made of the peculiarity in any work on Natural History."