IW Aquatic Lile 
egress when it decided to search for ati- 
other pool. Daldorf’s observations were 
at one time doubted, but have since been 
practically verified by many writers. 
In the Natural, History oF CEYLON, 
by Sir J. Emerson Tennent, appears the 
following account of a migration of this 
species, which is intensely interesting. It 
was contributed to the work by a govern- 
ment agent in Trincomalee: 
“T was lately on duty inspecting the 
bund of a large tank at Nade-cadua, 
which being out of repair, the remaining 
water was confined in a small hollow in 
the otherwise dry bed. Whilst. there. 
heavy rains came on, and as we stood on 
the high ground, we observed a pelican 
on the margin cf the shallow pool gorg- 
ing himself; cur people went towards 
him, and raised a cry of Fish! fish! We 
hurried down, and found numbers of 
fish struggling upward through the grass, 
in the rills formed by the trickling of the 
rain. ‘There was scarcely enough water 
to cover them, but nevertheless they 
made rapid progress up the bank, on 
which our followers collected about two 
baskets of them at a distance of about 
forty yards from the tank. They were 
forcing their way up the knoll, and had 
they not been interrupted first by the pel1- 
can and afterwards by ourselves, they 
would in a few minutes have gained the 
highest point, and descended on the other 
side in a pool which formed another por- 
tion of the tank. 
“As the tanks dry up, the fish congre- 
gate in the little pools till at last you find 
them in thousands in the moistest parts 
of the beds, rolling in the blue mud, 
which is at that time about the consist- 
ence of thick gruel. 
“As the moisture further evaporates, 
the surface fish are left uncovered, and 
they crawl away in search of fresh pools. 
In one place I saw hundreds diverging 
in every direction from the tank they had 
just abandoned, to a distance of fifty or 
sixty yards, and still traveling onwards. 
In going this distance, however, they 
must have used muscular 
enough to have taken them half a mile 
on level ground, for at these places all the 
cattle and wild animals of the neighbor- 
hood had latterly come to drink, so that 
the surface was everywhere indented 
with footmarks in addition to the cracks 
in the surrounding baked mud, into 
which the fish tumbled in their progress. 
In these holes, which were deep and the 
exertioli 
sides perpendicular, they remained to die. 
and were carried off by kites and crows. 
“My impression is, that this migration 
must take place at night or before sun- 
rise, for it was only early in the morning 
that I have seen them progressing, and | 
found that those | brought away with me 
in the chatties appeared quiet by day, but 
a large proportion managed to get out of 
the chatties by night—some escaped al- 
together, others were trodden on and 
killed. (A chatty is a large earthen dish. 
5th). 
“One peculiarity is the large size of the 
vertebral column, quite disproportioned 
to the bulk of the fish. I particularly 
noticed that all in the act of migrating 
had their gills expanded.” 
I have never bred the Climbing Perch. 
Those who have succeeded say that the 
eggs float loose at the surface of the 
water, and not in a nest of air-bubbles, 
such as is constructed by the related spe- 
cies of Labyrinth fishes (Macropodus, 
Polycanthus, Trichogaster, etc.), for the 
Climbing Perch is a Labyrinth fish. The 
eggs hatch in two or three days. The 
fry, like those of other fishes, feed upon 
microscopic animal life, and later on tiny 
Daphne and the other minute denizens of 
the water. This fish can stand pretty 
cool water; artificial heat, except during 
the winter months and when breeding, is 
(Concluded on page 16.) 
