NOTES. 149 



minimum length of 6 inches, and it would be possible, sooner or 

 later, to establish reserves for rearing the young in places where the 

 supply shows signs of diminution. 



The laboratory experiment described above shows that the transi- 

 tion from a late postlarval stage (without any trace of the definitive 

 body-markings) to an early adolescent stage takes place slowly, and 

 that during this transition period they are exposed not only to the 

 rapacity of avowed enemies, but also to the more insidious attacks 

 of internal parasites. 



III. — ^Fry of Mada-karaya. 



Madaya or mada-karaya {Ophiocepfialus punctatus) is a near 

 relative of the lula, from which it differs in colour, scale-rows, fin-rays, 

 and in habits. A young lula compared with a madaya of approxi- 

 mately the same length (5-6 inches) had 46 dorsal fin-rays, as against 

 31 in the latter ; the lateral line dipped down two rows of scales 

 below the twelfth dorsal ray in the lula, whereas it dipped to the 

 next row only in madaya ; anal fin of lula with 28 rays, of madaya 

 22 ; about 57 scales along the lateral line in lula, about 40 in 

 madaya ; ventral fins of lula below the pectorals, in madaya nearly 

 reaching the vent. 



The madaya is a mud-burrowing fish, extensively eaten, and also 

 used as live bait for " moda " (Lates calcarifer) and other large river 

 fish, which are caught with a special bamboo rod supported over 

 crossed sticks from the bank after sundown, for example, in the 

 Kalu-ganga at Tebuwana. 



On April 15, 1908, during rainy weather with intervals of sunshine, 

 I observed a couple of mada-karaya in a clear shallow " wala " in 

 the paddy fields at Bellana on the Matugama-Badureliya road in 

 Pasdun Korale East. They were guarding a small brood of very 

 young fry, a sample of which I secured with the assistance of 

 Mr. John Dassenaike of Bellana, who accompanied me. One of the 

 elders, rather smaller than the other (estimated about 6 inches long) 

 and more brightly spotted, was probably the male. They were 

 frightened away at our approach, but returned to the brood, which 

 was advancing slowly in unison. 



The young fry were all of one age, and measured only 6 milli- 

 metres in total length. They present (after preservation) three 

 longitudinal white bands, namely, one median dorsal band with 

 two spindle-shaped enlargements in front (see figure) and a pair of 

 broad lateral bands commencing from the eyes. 



They were moving about freely exposed in very shallow water 

 under bright sunlight, in contrast with the usual habits of the adults, 

 which are intensely cryptozoic. My sample consisted of upwards 

 of 130 individuals, perhaps about one-tenth of the entire brood. 



Some much older madaya fry were brought from Hanwella on 

 May 22 in company with the second lot of lula mentioned above, and 



