FRESH-WATER FISHERIES OF CEYLON. 1038 
contiguous clusters to the concave side of the tile on long transparent 
stalks. Out of water the appearance was that of a growth of green 
algve, or like a green scum. The egg tubes, each of which contains 
a single egg at the slightly swollen distal free extremity, are 
connected with a shapeless basal stolon which adheres to the tile 
and is beset with débris, whereas the tubes are clear and separated 
from the stolon by constrictions. The length of the egg tubes 
varies from 3to8mm. The egg, as stated, lies in the distal dilated 
extremity ; it has green yolk with many oil-globules, and a diameter 
of about 0-5 mm. When the head of the embryo is formed and the 
tail detached from the yolk, the embryo lies at full length with the 
head pointing towards the base of attachment ; later, when the tail 
begins to jerk, the embryo can change its orientation, but just 
before hatching it is again found with head pointing to the base of 
the egg tube. The latter is nothing more than the enormously 
extended egg membrane ; a tube with its contained larva stretched 
at full length measured 64 mm., the larva 2 mm.; at hatching the 
total length of the larva is 2°25 mm. These remarkable eggs 
proved to be the spawn of the fresh-water goby, Gobius giuris, called 
“‘ weligowa,” an important food-fish ; they are, however, difficult to 
rear without special appliances. On June 6 a fresh lot of weligowa 
eggs was found in a piece of iron piping, together with the parent 
fish, in the Hunupitiya division of the Colombo lake ; and on July 
28 I saw another deposit of the spawn, attached to the underside 
of a coconut leaf stalk in about 3 feet of water in the Colpetty arm 
of the lake. 
On August 31 a half-spent spawning “ kendeya” (Barbus dorsalis), 
accompanied by a batch of adhesive eggs, was brought from the 
Colombo lake. The eggs measured 0°75 mm. in diameter, with a 
pale grayish translucent yolk nearly uniformly granular. The eggs 
had been caught in the act of being laid, and were apparently 
unfertilized. 
The above notes, necessarily fragmentary, will be found useful as 
giving indications of spawning seasons and habits, of which very 
little has been previously known in Ceylon. It seems to be the rule 
that solitary fishes or those that go about in pairs make nests and 
guard them ; gregarious fishes or those that go about in shoals do 
not generally make nests. The deposited eggs of such common 
fishes as kavaiya (Anabas), hunga (Saccobranchus), and magura 
(Clarias) are still unknown. : 
Lula is a predatory fish with excellent qualities. As mentioned 
above, it can be dried when obtained in superabundance ; a state- 
ment to the effect that lula is unsuitable for salting or drying in 
Spolia Zeylanica, Vol. V., 1908, p. 145, &c., requires to be modified ; 
the practice of drying is carried out locally, but not generally. 
Other fishes in Ceylon which are worth cultivating on account of 
their value as nutriment are also predatory. There seems to be no 
