212 



ZOOLOGY. 



[PAUT 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 spawn is one sanctioned by 

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

 of British Fishes" adverting to the fact that ponds (in 

 India) 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 

 impregnated ova of the fish of one rainy season, are left 

 unhatched in the mud through the dry season, and from 

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

 served till the recurrence, -and contact of the rain and 

 oxygen in the next wet season, when vivification takes 

 place from their joint influence." 1 



This hypothesis, however, appears to have been 

 advanced upon imperfect data ; for although some fish 



coming to the spot I found a multi- 

 tude of small silvery fish from one 

 and a half to two inches in length, 

 leaping on the gravel of the high 

 road, numbers of which I collected 

 and brought away in my palankin, 

 The spot was about half a mile from 

 the sea, and entirely unconnected 

 with any watercourse or pool. 



Mr. WHITING, who was many years 

 resident at Trincomalie; writes me 

 that he " had often been tuld 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 they were 

 produced, must of necessity have 

 fallen with the rain." 



Mr. J. PKINSEP, the eminent secre- 

 tary to the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 

 found a fish in the pluviometer at 

 Calcutta, in 1838. Journ. Asiat. Soc. 

 Benyal, vol. vi. p. 465. 



Aseries of instances in which fishes 

 have been found on the continent of 

 India under circumstances which lead 

 to the conclusion that they must have 

 fallen from the clouds, have been col- 

 lected by Dr. BTTIST of Bombay, and 

 will be found in the appendix to this 

 chapter. 



1 YABEELL, History of British 

 Fishes, introd. vol. i. p'. xxvi. This 

 too was the opinion of Aristotle, De 

 Respiratione, c. ix. 



