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.]
[Illustration: BULLIA VITTATA]
[Footnote 2: _Ianthina communis_, Krause and _I. prolongata_, Blainv.]
[Illustration: IANTHINA.]
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.]