224 



ZOOLOGY, 



[Part IL 



Hot-water Fishes. — Another incident is striking in 

 connection with the fresli-water fishes of Ceylon. I have 

 mentioned elsewhere the hot springs of Ivannea, in the 

 vicinity of Trincomalie, the water in which flows at a 

 temperature varying at different seasons from 85° to 115°. 

 In the stream formed by these wells M. Eeynaud found 

 and forwarded to Cuvier two fishes which he took from 

 the water at a time when his thermometer indicated a 

 temperature of 37° Eeaumur, equal to 115° of Fahrenheit. 

 The one was an Apogon, the other an Ambassis, and to 

 each, from the heat of its habitat, he assigned the specific 

 name of " Thermahs." ^ 



List of Ceylon Fishes. 



I. OSSEOUS. 



Acanthopterygii. 



Perca argentca, Bcnnclt, 

 Apogon roseipinuis, Cuv. §• Val. 



Zeylonicus, Cuv. &f Val. 



tliernialis, Cuv. §- Val. 

 Ambassis thermal is, Cuv. &f Val. 

 Serranus biguttatus, Cuv. §• Val. 



Tanlvcvvilla!, Beiin. 



lemniscatus, Cuv. Sf Val. 



JSoniieratii, Cuv. Sf Vul. 



flavo-ceruleus, Lacep. 



marginalis, Cuv. ^ Val. 



Boelang, Cuv. §• Val. 



Serranus favcatus, Cuv. ^ Val. 



angularis, Cuv. ^ Val. 



punctulatus, Cuv. §* Val. 

 Diiicopc decera-lineatus, Cuv. §* Val. 



spilura, Benn. 



xaiitliopus, Cnv. Sf Val. 

 Mcsopriun annularis, Cuv. Sf Val. 

 Holocentrus orientale, Cuv. ^ Val. 



spinifera, Cuv. Sf Val. 



argcnteus, Cuv. Sf Val. 

 Upcncus tseniopterus, Cuv. Sf Val. 



Zeylonicus, Cuv. ^ Val. 



llusseli, Cuv. §• Vul. 



cinnabarinus, Cuv. Sf Val. 

 riatycephalus punctatus, Cuv. §• Val. 



on the water being thawed, the fish 

 became as lively as usual. Dr. 

 RxcHAEDSON, iu the third vol. of his 

 Fauna Borvalis Americana, says the 

 gTey sucking carp, found in the fur 

 countries of North America, may be 

 frozen and thawed again without 

 being killed in the process. 



1 Cuv. and Val., vol. iii. p. 363. In 

 addition to the two fishes above named, 

 a loche Cobitis fkennalis, and a carp, 

 Nuria thennoicos, were found in the 

 hot-springs of Kaunea, at a heat 40° 

 Cent., 114° Falir., and a roach, Leu- 

 ciscus thermaUs, when the thermo- 

 meter indicated 50° Cent, 122° Fahr. 

 — lb. xviii. p. 59, xvi. p. 182, xvii. 

 p. 94. Fish have been taken from 

 a hot spring at Pooree when the 



thermometer stood at 112° Fahr., 

 and as they belonged to a carnivo- 

 rous genus, they must have found 

 prey living in the same high tempera- 

 ture. — Journ. Asiatic Soc. Bemj. vol. 

 vi. p. 4(55. Fishes have been observed 

 in a hot spring at Manilla whicJi 

 raises the thermometer to 187°, and in 

 another in Barbary, the usual tempe- 

 rature of which is 172°; and Humboldt 

 and Bonpland, when travelling in 

 South America, saw fishes thrown up 

 alive from a volcano, in water that 

 raised the temperature to 210°, being 

 two degrees below the boiling point. 

 Pattehson's Zoolof/y, Pt. ii. p. 211 ; 

 Yae-RELl's History of British FisJics, 

 vol. i. In. p. xvi. 



