42 ME. F. DAY OX THE 



how he kept two Ruffs (Acerina cernua) in an aquarium, where they 

 became very much attached to one another. He gave one away, 

 when the other became so miserable that it would not eat, and this 

 continued for nearly three weeks. Fearing his remaining fish might 

 die, he sent for its former companion, and on the two meeting they 

 became quite happy again. Jesse gives a similar account of two gold 

 Carp. Mr. Oliver has recorded how a Trout was placed in a well 

 at Dumbarton Castle, and died in 1809, after having inhabited that 

 locality twenty-eight years. It had become so tame that it would 

 receive its food from the hands of the soldiers. Lacepede relates 

 how some fish, which had been kept in the basin of the Tuileries 

 for upwards of a century, would come when they were called by 

 their names ; while in many parts of Germany, Trout, Carp, and 

 Tench were summoned to their food by the ringing of a bell. " At a 

 passage-place near to the city of Kandy,the fish formerly have been 

 nourished and fed by the king's order, to keep them there for his 

 majesty's pleasure ; whither, having been used to be thus pro- 

 vided for, notwithstanding floods and strong streams, they will 

 still resort, and are so tame that I have seen them eat out of 

 men's hands ""*. Ellis, in his ' Polynesian Researches,' speaks of a 

 native chief of the island of Hawaii who had brought eels to that 

 degree of tameness that he could call them from their retreat with 

 the shrill sound of a whistle. Pliny also remarks that eels may 

 be tamed so completely that they will eat out of your hand. At 

 Erritara Carvee, in the Cochin state of Malabar, is an umbalum 

 situated on the bank of the deep river, which is 500 yards 

 wide, where the fish receive a supply of food every week ; here 

 hundreds of Carp (jBarbus) flock up to obtain rice from passers- 

 by, and are so tame that they will take food from a person's hand f . 

 At many temples in India fishes are called to receive food by 

 means of ringing bells or by musical sounds. Lieutenant Conolly 

 remarks upon seeing numerous fishes coming to the ghaut at 

 Sidhnath to be fed when called ; and on expressing our admiration 

 of the size of the fish, " Wait," said a bystander, " until you have 

 seen ' Eaghu.' " " The Brahmin called out his name in a peculiar 

 tone of voice, but he would not hear. I threw in handful after 

 handful of ottah (flour) with the same success, and was just 

 leaving the ghaut, despairing and doubting, when a loud plunge 

 startled me. I thought somebody had jumped off the bastion of the 



* Knox, Ceylon, 1681, p. 56. 



t Day, 'Land of Perrnauls,' 1863, p. 502, 



