CHAP. IV.J BURIED FISHES. 21S 



like the salmon scrape grooves in the sand and place 

 their spawn in inequalities and fissures ; yet as a general 

 rule spawn is deposited not beneath but on the surface 

 of the ground or sand over which the water flows, the 

 adhesive nature of each egg supplying the means of attach- 

 ment. But in the Ceylon tanks not only is the surface 

 of the soil dried to dust after the evaporation of the 

 water, but the_earth itself, twelve or eighteen inches deep, 

 is converted into sun-burnt clay, in which, although the 

 eggs of mollusca, in their calcareous covering, are in some 

 instances preserved, it would appear to be as impossible 

 for the ova of fish to be kept from decomposition as for 

 the fish themselves to sustain life. Besides, moisture in 

 such situations is only to be found at a depth to which 

 spawn could not be conveyed by the parent fish, by any 

 means with which we are yet acquainted. 



But supposing it possible to carry the spawn sufficiently 

 deep, and to deposit it safely in the mud below, which is 

 still damp, whence it could be liberated on the return of 

 the rains, a considerable interval would still be necessary 

 after the replenishing of the ponds with water to admit of 

 vivification and growth. Yet so far from this interval 

 being allowed to elapse, the rains have no sooner fallen 

 than the taking of the fish commences, and those captured 

 by the natives in wicker cages are mature and full grown 

 instead of being " small fish " or fry, as supposed by Mr. 

 Yarrell. 



Even admitting the soundness of his theory, and the 

 probability that, under favourable circumstances, the 

 spawn in the tanks might be preserved during the dry 

 season so as to contribute to the perpetuation of their 

 breed, the fact is no longer doubtful, that adult fish 

 in Ceylon, like some of those that inhabit similar waters 

 both in the New and Old World, have been endowed by 

 the Creator with the singular faculty of providing against 

 the periodical droughts either by journeying overland in 

 search of still unexhausted water, or, on its utter disap- 



P3 



