Perilampus. INDIAN CYPRINID^. 401 



Cirri however, when they do occur in the Perilamps, are of that setaceous 

 character which we observe in birds of similar habits, and their use in both 

 cases is the same. But for this unity of design that extends throughout nature, 

 reconciling to certain ends all the infinite variety we behold, we might justly 

 exclaim — How perplexing must the study of nature be, when a single group 

 presents such diversity in form and structure as belongs to the Cyprinidce ! 

 A wider view however of those relations of analogy and affinity pointed out 

 by Mr. Macleay dispels all our difficulty, and we find by this means, that a 

 knowledge of one group serves us as the key to every other. After passing 

 through the first section of the Perilamps, the remaining species are furnished 

 with slender setaceous cirri, as already stated, and their low and elongated 

 shapes gradually bring us back again to the ordinary form of Cyprinidce. 

 Their graceful forms, peculiar structure, and brilliancy of colour still how- 

 ever mark them as Perilamps, and certainly give this group an equal claim 

 to beauty in its own circle, with the fly-catchers and butterflies of other classes 

 in theirs. Nor can we altogether say that the dense and gloomy medium to 

 which the Perilamps in common with all fishes are consigned, prevents them 

 from contributing, like corresponding types in other classes, to cheer and enliven 

 the solitary landscape. With fishes we have certainly fewer sympathies, be 

 their beauty what it may, than with beings whose occupations and business of 

 life are carried on before our eyes ; but to those whose thoughts are accustom- 

 ed to dwell on the works of nature, all living beings present something to 

 excite either wonder or admiration. During the stillness of morning, before 

 sun-rise, as well as on the approach of twilight, the Perilamps are almost the 

 only disturbers of our peaceful lakes, and at those hours in particular the 

 surface of ponds is kept in constant ripple by Perilamps in pursuit of insects. 

 Numerous troops of them may also be observed advancing with the tides 

 in the Hoogly and other rivers in Bengal, where they separate into small 

 bands on either side of the current, and spreading with the waters over 



shallow banks and low inundated tracts covered with vegetation, constitute 



3 B 



