312 Major Gen. Hardwickc on the Goramy of India. 



state, were embarked on board a French vessel at the Isle of France, 

 in April, 1819, out of which number twenty- three only died during a 

 long voyage, and the remainder were distributed between Cayenne and 

 the Islands of Guadaloupe and Martinique. In these colonies, they not 

 only multiplied beyond expectation, but they gave early evidence of their 

 fitness to fulfil the purpose of creation, to the astonishment of those 

 Naturalists who witnessed the experiments made on the spot. Monsieur 

 Le Grand, Director of the Botanical Garden of the colony, Monsieur 

 Chauceir, a Merchant, and M. Guidon, Surgeon to the Hospital, were 

 present and bore testimony to a fact, not perhaps known in the history 

 and physiology of osseous fishes, i. e., that the Goramy is viviparous, 

 the young being formed in the eg^, previous to its exclusion from the 

 abdomen. 



Three female Ooramies were operated upon, the largest of which did 

 not exceed 20 lines (equal to If inch). From this specimen the sac con- 

 taining the spawn was removed, and, with the' aid of a lens, the young 

 fishes were perfectly perceptible through the transparent membrane 

 which contained them. With the help of a lancet ten distinct and 

 well formed little ones were extracted, and survived the operation, swim- 

 ming about in the plate which contained them, for half an hour. 



The second female produced but few eggs : they were of a yellow 

 colour, round, and the size of a millet seed. The third female possessed 

 a greater number, and though these were in a less advanced state than 

 in the first, with a magnifying glass the eyes of the little ones, and the 

 whiteness of their scales, were, nevertheless, quite distinct. 



The whole of these specimens, with their parts, have been preserved 

 in spirits, and are held ready at the call of those whom curiosity may 

 excite to inspect them. From all that the French Naturalists saw in the 

 foregoing experiments and facts, they record the following conclusions : — 



First, that the Goramies have been fit for generating at the end of six 

 months, although six years have passed away in the instance of those 

 which came from the Isle of France, before they manifested the same 

 faculty. 



Secondly, that they are viviparous, since it is evident that their spawn 

 receives in the womb of the mother a process sufficient to vivify the ova, 

 and to cause the exclusion of a living offspring. 



