246 SPOLIA ZEYLANIOA. 



varieties are known to produce a« many as thi"ee or four families in 

 the course of twelve months — in other words, breeding all the year 

 round. The difficulty therefore would appear to lie, not so much 

 in Avhen to restrict fishing, as to ascertain the period that will afford 

 the greatest protection to the greatest variety of valuable fish, 

 recognizmg that in any case a certain amount of sacrifice has to be 

 faced. We now know that, unfortunately, another difficulty has to 

 be overcome in the fact that certain fish vary their time of spawning 

 from year to year, and so upset all ordinary calculations. From 

 my notes I find that the moda {Lates calcarifer) in Negombo lagoon 

 were spawning freely in December and January, 1909, and that out 

 of eighteen specimens I examined at Christmas fourteen were full of 

 ova. This year, however (at the same place), I found no indication 

 of spawn in January, and was informed by rehable fishermen that 

 no fry had been observed for several months. In March (last) I 

 caught two specimens there, and examined them with several others, 

 all of which had the appearance of having recently spawned, and 

 were in the worst possible condition. But my own opinion in this 

 matter of protection is that, to be of any real value, protection will 

 have to come rather from greater restriction in the use of small- 

 meshed nets than from prohibition during any set season. The 

 abolition of nets capable of taking fry, and the suppression of river 

 kraals, combined with the bi-annual floods most of our rivers are 

 subject to during the two monsoons, would, I beUeve, do more in 

 the way of protection than a three months close season. This, 

 however, is a matter which, as I have already said, is now 

 receiving the attention of Government, and to those who care to 

 look further into what has already been done, I commend a perusal 

 of the Administrative Reports dealing with the subject. I may 

 add, however, that in some parts of the Southern Province river 

 kraals have been officially recognized as an unnecessary evil 

 and abolished accordingly. 



Before leaving the subject of reproduction, I should like to make 

 brief reference to a well known fresh-w^ater fish common throughout 

 the East, and found in practically every river, tank, and pond in 

 Ceylon. I refer to Arius falcarius or the anguluwa, to give its 

 Sinhalese name. A more repulsive -looking creature it would be 

 difficult to imagine, but nevertheless he has several redeeming 

 features, not the least of which is that he is uncommonly good to 

 eat if freshly caught. But Arius, in common with one or two 

 other varieties of the Siluridge family, has a more important claim 

 on our attention than the flavour of his flesh, for he has developed 

 the extraordinary habit, not only of hatching his family in his 

 mouth, but of permitting his offspring to take shelter therein when 

 pursued by enemies. 



Thomas, the distinguished Indian Qvilian, who devoted many 

 years to the study of fresh- water fish, says, referring to the Siluroids 



