906 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XX VII. 



In concluding this section, I cannot do better than quote in full a letter from 

 Mr. P. Fowke to the Hon. Secretary of the Ceylon Fishing Association. Although 

 he differs from the writers on one or two minor points, he is in thorough agree- 

 ment with them on all questions of importance : — 



NuwAEA Eliya, 



Ceylon, November 21th, 1920. 

 The Honorary Secretary, 



Ceylon Fishing Club, 



Nuwara Eliya. 

 Dear Sir, 



In thanking you for sending on the letter from Mr. Bryant, I would state that 

 it is true of our Ceylon Rainbows that they are becoming smaller, but, and this 

 is the important point, it is only true of them in some of the streams. 



Like Mr. Bryant I have been giving this matter a lot of careful attention, 

 especially just of late, and I am of the opinion that it is due to food supply alone, 

 or rather I should say, the lack of it. I have experimented by removing Rain- 

 bows from streams from A^hich they run fairly small, and putting them into 

 virgin streams in which there is plenty of food, and in every case the rise in their 

 bulk has been extraordinary. I do not thmk the diminution in size is due i:o 

 the larger fish going down stream, partly from the reason given above, and also 

 because we find that we get healthier ova from 2 or 3 lbs. fish than from the 

 larger ones, in fact the ova from 5 or 6 lbs. Rainbows kept in stock-ponds nearly 

 always appear to be unfertile. 



For years I have endeavoured to bring it home to the Ceylon Fishing Club 

 that if you introduce a voracious element like the Rainbow into streams, in which 

 for untold ages the indigenous food supply has only been able to exist in accord- 

 ance with Nature's laws of supply and demand, you are asking for trouble which 

 you will get as soon as the Rainbows begin to breed. 



This arrangement seems to me to be too simple even to admit of dispute, but 

 yet many members argue against it. The extra food supply which Avill be re- 

 quired should be established before the Trout are put in, and these latter should 

 be permanently fenced out from the breeding-places of the food sujDply. 



These are the lines I am now going to work on to prove my case to the Fishing 

 Club, and I shall be most happy to give Mr. Brj^ant the benefits of my experience 

 if I prove myself to be right ; for his part I would ask for any help he can give 

 me as nothing but good can come of a mutual exchange of experiences. 



Yours faithfully, 

 (Sd.) PHILIP FOWKE. 



Diseases • — Fungus may be due to overcrowding, to contagion or to fouling 

 of the water caused by unconsumed food. Bread is especially to be avoided. 

 Hooked fish often develope the disease after a time. Any curative treatment to 

 be successful must be attempted in the early stages of the malady. Once it has 

 established itself, it is better to destroy the fish affected. 



To attempt a cure, the fish should be placed in water in which salt has been 

 dissolved in the proportion of a table-spoonful of salt to half a gallon of water. 

 •Ordinary lump salt (rocksalt) should be used, not powdered tablesalt. The fish 

 should be given this bath daily. The treatment should be kept up for a time 

 even after a recovery has been effected. If the fish turns on its back, it must 

 at once be replaced in fresh water. 



The Hatchery : — The hatchery and attacked ponds are enclosed in a wide 

 fence in a pleasant glade in the woods. High hills shelter it from the winds. 

 The stock and fry ponds reproduce as far as possible conditions met with in 

 nature. The use of masonry and cement is cut down to a minimum, the walls 

 of the ponds being for the most part composed of earth or loose stones. Flower- 

 ing plants droop over the sides. Ferns grow in every crevice whilst a luxuriant 



