Fishes. 7179 



have made no observations bearing upon such a question. Unless 

 the food consists of very minute particles, it would seem necessary 

 that, during the time of feeding, the eggs should be disgorged. If 

 this supposition be correct, it would give a very probable explanation 

 of the only fact which might be considered at variance with the con- 

 clusion staled above, viz., that we have in these fishes a mouth- 

 gestation. In the mass of eggs with which the mouth is filled I have 

 occasionally found the eggs, rarely more than one or two, of another 

 species. The only way in which their presence may be accounted 

 for, it seems to me, is by the supposition that while feeding, the eggs 

 are disgorged ; and as these fishes are gregarious in their habits, 

 when the ova are recovered the stray egg of another species may be 

 introduced into the mouth among those which naturally belong there.* 



Musical Fishes of the East. 



The existence of musical fishes is as firmly believed by residents 

 in various parts of our eastern empire as that of sea serpents by those 

 whose home is on the waters of the great deep. I desire to encourage 

 both beliefs, and demand that respectful credence shall be given to 

 respectable witnesses. At the same time I thoroughly commend, and 

 indeed enjoin, that caution which carefully sifts evidence, and admits 

 no more than is clearly demonstrated. Dr. Buist has lately collected 

 some very interesting paragraphs on the subject of the musical fishes 

 of the East, and published them in No. 1711 of the ^Athenaeum,' dated 

 August II, 1860. These I reprint below. 



The first is from Sir Emerson Tennent's ' Ceylon,* and the phe- 

 nomenon described was heard at Chilka Lake, a salt water creek close 

 to Batticaloa, on the eastern shores of Ceylon. It is as follows : — 

 f^' After speaking of these musical fishes vSir Emerson Tennent says, 

 ** 1 distinctly heard the sounds in question. They came up from the 

 water like the gentle thrills of a musical chord, or the faint vibrations 

 of a wine glass when its rim is rubbed by a wet finger. It was not 

 one sustained note, but a multitude of tiny sounds, each clear and 

 distinct in itself; the sweetest treble mingling with the lowest bass. 

 On applying the ear to the wood-work of the boat, the vibration was 



* Extracted from the ' Canadian Nittuialist and Geologist,' Vol. v. No. 3. 



