150 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 



some very young kavaiya {Anabas scandens, the climbing perch). 

 They evidently did not belong to one brood, since they varied in 

 length from 21 to 39 mm. One of about 32 mm., which may be 

 selected for description, showed only a faint indication of a median 

 dorsal golden line in front of the dorsal fin ; this, however, is more 

 distinct at a younger stage (21-26 mm.), where both the lateral and 

 dorsal bands have a brilliant greenish golden tinge. A bright golden 

 band commences from the snout, passes through the upper part of 

 the eye and above the pectoral fin to the tail fin. The rest of the 

 back is dark, the ground colour being resolved into about five close-set 

 dark stripes on each side between the dorsal fin and the lateral 

 golden band, and three or four similar stripes below the latter. 

 The ventral surface in front of the anal fin is whitish, as it is also 

 in lula fry. At the age represented by a length of 36-39 mm. the 

 dorsal band has gone and the lateral bands have faded, merging 

 into the ground colour and losing the golden sheen. The general 

 arrangement of pigment in longitudinal stripes shows up very clearly 

 after preservation. The madaya fry seemed to be rather less hardy 

 than the lula fry. 



IV. — The Jakotuwa Fishery in the Panadure River. 



When crossing the bridge on the coast railway over the Panadure 

 river one may notice that the river is traversed as far as the eye can 

 reach by a series of fences, which stretch a short distance from the 

 shore, or half-way across the river, or right across with but slight 

 interruption. It is to be feared that the interruption in an other- 

 wise continuous fence barricading the river is not made primarily 

 in the interests of the migrating fishes, for a net is often bent across 

 it, as will be seen later. Connected with each fence and forming 

 part of its construction is an elaborate fish-trap ; sometimes several 

 traps are intercalated in the course of a single fence. The whole is 

 called a jakotuwa, or fish-weir. 



A typical jakotuwa consists of a wattle fence of split bamboo 

 (batta-li) extending nearly half-way across the river from one side, 

 and a similar fence on the opposite side, leaving a passage between 

 them guarded by high bamboo scaffolding, which serves as watch 

 towers. At the shore end on each side of the river there is another 

 passage with coir ropes stretched across it under water, between the 

 strands of which the bleached leaflets of the coconut palm are looped, 

 forming a white fringe in the water, called " pan-rena " or " pan- 

 adinawa."* This is said to direct the fish alongside the fence 



* In Clough's Sinhalese Dictionary " pan-adinawa " is defined as thie 

 operation of drawing an extended rope on the water on which white strips of 

 coconut leaflets are suspended for the purpose of driving fish into nets. It 

 is thus employed as an aid to netting in the Kuda-ganga, a tributary of the 

 Kalu-ganga. 



