Chap. IV.] 



CLIMBING FISH. 



217 



There is considerable obscurity about tlie story of 

 this ascent, although corroborated by M. John. Its 

 motive for climbing is not apparent, since water being 

 close at hand it could not have gone for sake of the 

 moisture contained in the fissures of the palm ; nor could 

 it be in search of food, as it hves not on fruit but on 

 aquatic insects.^ The descent, too, is a question of diffi- 

 culty. The position of its fins, and the spines on its gill- 

 covers, might assist its journey upwards, but the same 

 apparatus would prove anytliing but a facihty in steady- 

 ing its journey down. The probabihty is, as suggested 

 by Buchanan, that the ascent which was witnessed by 

 Paldorf was accidental, and ought not to be regarded as 

 the habit of the animal. In Ceylon I heard of no in- 

 stance of the perch ascending trees ^, but the fact is 

 weU estabhshed that both it, the pullata (a species of 

 polyacanthus), and others, are capable of long journeys 

 on the level ground.^ 



the Travels of Tivo 3Iahometans, 

 states tliat Siileymau, one of his in- 

 formants, who visited India at the 

 close of the ninth ceutuiy, was told 

 there of a fish which, issuing from 

 the waters, ascended the coco-nut 

 palms to drink their sap, and re- 

 tiu-ned to the sea. " On parle d'lm 

 poisson de nier que sortant de I'eau, 

 monte sur la cocotier et hoit le sue 

 de la plante ; ensuite il retourno a 

 la mer." See Eeinaud, Relations 

 des Voy(i(/es fails par les Arabcs et 

 Persans dans le neuvicme siecle, torn. 

 i. p. 21, torn. ii. p. 9.3. 



' Kirby says that it is " in pursuit 

 of certain crustaceans that form its 

 food " {liridtjewater Treatise, vol. i. 

 p. 144) ; but I am not aware of anj^ 

 crustaceans in the island which as- 

 cend the palmyra or feed upon its 

 fruit. Birgus latro, which inhabits 

 Mauritius, and is said to climb the 

 coco-nut for this purpose, has not 

 been observed in Ceylon. 



^ This assertion must be qualified 

 by a fact stated by Mr. E. A. Layard, 

 who mentions that on visiting' one of 



the fishing stations on a Singhalese 

 river, where the fish are caught in 

 staked enclosures, as described at 

 p. 212, and observing that the 

 chambers were covered with net- 

 ting, he asked the reason, and was 

 told " that some of the fish climbed up 

 the sticks and got over.'^ — 3Ia(/. Nat. 

 Hist, for May 1823, p. 390-1. 



^ Strange accidents have more 

 than once occurred in Ceylon arising 

 from the habit of the native anglers ; 

 who, having neither baskets nor 

 pockets in which to place what they 

 catch, will seize a fisli in their teeth 

 whilst putting fresh bait on their 

 hook. In Augvist, 1853, a man was 

 carried into the Pettah hospital at 

 Colombo, having a climbing perch, 

 which he thus attempted to hold, 

 firmly imbedded in his throat. The 

 spines of its dorsal tin prevented its 

 descent, whilst those of the gill- 

 covers equally forbade its return. 

 It was eventually extracted by the 

 forceps through an incision in the 

 oesophagus, and the patient recovered. 

 Other similar cases have proved fatal. 



