342 
FISHES. [Cuar. X. 
suddenly appear in the replenished tanks and in the 
hollows which they overflow, are mature and well-grown 
FISH CORRAL. 
fish.! Besides, the latter are found, under 
the circumstances I have described, 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 vi- 
cinity of the sea, or of some inland water. 
The surmise of the buried spawn is one 
sanctioned by the very highest authority. 
Mr. Yarrett 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 com- 
mencement 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 preserved till the recurrence, and contact 
1 [Thad an opportunity, on one 
occasion only, of witnessing the 
phenomenon which gives rise to 
this popular belief. I was driving 
in the cinnamon gardens near the 
fort of Colombo, and saw a violent 
but partial shower descend at no 
great distance before me. On 
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 uncon- 
nected with any watercourse or 
pool. 
Mr, Wartive, who was many 
years resident in Trincomalie, 
writes me that he “had often been 
told by the natives on that side of 
the island that it sometimes rained 
fishes; and on one occasion” (he 
adds) “I wastaken 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 
