21-2 



ZOOLOGY. 



[r.AUT II. 



latter are found, under the circumstances I have de- 

 scribed, in all parts of the interior, whilst the prodigy 

 of a supposed fall of fish from the sky has been noticed, 

 I apprehend, only in the vicinity of the sea, or of some 

 inland water. 



The surmise of the buried spa\vn is one sanctioned by 

 the very highest authority. Mr. Yarrell in his " History 

 of British Fishes^'' adverting to the fact that ponds which 

 had been previously converted into hardened mud, are 

 replenished with small fish in a very few days after the 

 commencement of each rainy season, offers this solution 

 of the problem as probably the true one : " The impreg- 

 nated ova of the fish of one rainy season, are left un- 

 hatched in the mud through the dry season, and from 

 their low state of organisation as ova, the vitahty is pre- 

 served till the recurrence, and contact of the rain and 

 oxygen in the next Avet season, Avhen vivification takes 

 place from their joint influence." ^ 



This hypothesis, however, appears to have been 

 offered upon imperfect data ; for although some fish 



coming to the spot I found a multi- 

 tude of small silvery fisli from one 

 smd a half to two inches in length, 

 leaping o]i the gTavel of the high 

 road, numbers of which I collected 

 and brought away in my palankiu. 

 The spot was about half a mile from 

 the sea, and entirely unconnected 

 with any watercourse or pool. 



Mr. WniTiNG, who was many years 

 resident at Trincomalie, writes me 

 that ho " had often been tt)ld by the 

 natives on that side of the island that 

 it sometimes rained fishes ; and on 

 one occasion (he adds) I was taken 

 by them, in 1849, to a field at the 

 village of Karran-cotta-tivo, near 

 Batticaloa, which was dry when I 

 passed over it in the morning, but 

 had been covered in two hours by 

 sudden rain to the depth of three 

 inches, in which there was then a 

 quantity of small fish. The water 

 had no connection with any pond or 

 stream whatsoever." Mr. Cripps, in 

 like manner, in speaking of Galle, 



says ; " I have seen in the vicinity of 

 the fort, fish taken from rain-water 

 that had accumulated in the hollow 

 parts of land that in the hot season 

 are perfectly dry and parched. The 

 place is accessible to no running 

 stream or tank ; and either the fish, 

 or the spawn from which t\\ej were 

 produced, must of necessity have 

 fallen with the rain." 



Mr. J. Prinsep, the eminent secre- 

 tary to the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 

 found a fish in the pluviometer at 

 Calcutta, in 1838. — Journ. Astat. Soc. 

 Bcm/al, vol. vi. p. 4G5. 



Aseries of instances in which fishes 

 have been found on the continent of 

 India under circumstances which lead 

 to the conclusion that they must ha-\e 

 fallen from the clouds, have been col- 

 lected by Dr. Buist of Bombay, and 

 will be found in the appendix to this 

 chapter. 



1 Yarrell, History of British 

 Fi'^hes, introd. vol. i. p. xxvi. 



