FRESH-WATEK FISHES OF CEYLON. 245 



ill search of suitable feeding ground. Just exactly how long this 

 happy state of things lasts seems to depend on various circumstances, 

 and very little is definitely known on that point. What we do know 

 however — and I sorrowfully record so sad an end to so happy a 

 beginning — is that as soon as the fry get big enough to be worth 

 eating both parents proceed to make a hearty meal on those members 

 of the family who have not developed sufficient sense to get under 

 adequate cover. 



Before we part with our cannibal friend, I wish to call your 

 attention to another peculiarity of his, namely, that of breathing 

 the air, much as human beings breathe. According to Thomas, 

 this is the way of it : " The murral (or loola) lives a long time 

 without water, and the reason for this is that, unlike most fish 

 which breathe only the oxygen contained in solution in the water, 

 the Ophiocephalidag inhale the atmospheric air direct. They may 

 be seen coming up to the surface continually, exhaling a bubble 

 and taking in a mouthful of fresh air, and they have an air cavity 

 for the storage of fresh air. If confined in a globe or other vessel, 

 with a net stretched across a little below the surface of the water, 

 so as to prevent them breathing the atmospheric air direct, they 

 will die from not being able to oxygenate their blood, however fully 

 supplied with oxygen the water may be. Being thus able to breathe 

 our air, and being commonly dependent on it, they do not suffer 

 like other fish on being transferred to it. Indeed, they travel on 

 land of their own accord, and one allowed to jump out of your can 

 or tub will soon be seen to wriggle a considerable distance on land, 

 and to keep it up long after any of the carps would be dead." 



The foregoing references to loola spawn suggest a brief word or 

 two on the important subject of reproduction generally, and more 

 particular!}' with regard to the pecuhar conditions existing in this 

 country. You will all be aware that in most countries legislation 

 has been brought to bear on this subject, and, very properly, strin- 

 gent laws have been enacted for the protection of fish during their 

 breeding season. In England coarse fish enjoy a close season from 

 March 15 to June 15 or 30, and trout from October 2 to February 

 1, while in certain districts the dates are varied slightly to meet 

 peculiar local conditions. 



In Ceylon, however, little or nothing has been done in this 

 direction, and although official inquiries into an alleged depletion 

 of our fresh- water fish supply are now in progress, it seems likely to 

 be some years before we arrive at anything adequate in the shape of 

 protection. * 



To the uninitiated this would appear to be an excellent oppor- 

 tunity to cast another stone at an apathetic Government, but the 

 results of many years of close observation has taught us that there 

 is hardly a month in the year in which one or more varieties of our 

 fresh- water fishes are not propagating their species, and that several 



