mm OF CEYLON. 



139 



my visits, of a fish which is caught at certain seasons in very large 

 quantities, and which has the singular habit, when held up by the 

 tail, of emitting from the mouth a quantity of eggs. So great is 

 the number thus emitted, that, when many fish are captured, the 

 eggs are eagerly collected from the bottoms of the boats, and car- 

 ried away to be fried, and are greatly relished by the villagers 

 when so prepared, while the fish themselves, being too numerous 

 to be consumed in their fresh state, are salted and dried, and often 

 form an ingredient in the curries which appear at our tables." 



" The description, which I received of the manner in which the 

 eggs are procured, seemed to point to the conclusion, universally 

 believed by the natives, that the regular mode of bringing forth 

 their young is, in the case of these fish, through the mouth; a fact 

 which seemed to me to be so singular, that I determined to stay a 

 day or two longer at Oaltura, when I next visited it, for the pur- 

 pose of investigating the circumstances which seemed to indicate 

 so singular a conclusion." 



" The result of my investigation was, as might have been expected, 

 that I ascertained, that the circumstances had not been fully or 

 accurately observed, and consequently that the conclusion, to which 

 they pointed, was erroneous; but I, at the same time, satisfied my- 

 self of a fact in the natural history of those fish, which will perhaps 

 be regarded as but little less extraordinary, than their novelj mode 

 of parturition would have been, if it had been established as true; 

 and which, as Ceylon has acquired some notoriety for marvellous 

 stories respecting its Zoology, I should feel some hesitation in 

 stating, were it not, that, in addition to the abundance of unexcep- 

 tionable testimony, I was able to procure specimens illustrating the 

 whole extraordinary process." 



" These fish produce their eggs, in the first instance, very much 

 in the same manner as other inhabitants of the waters do, with this 

 exception, that the eggs seem to come to maturity in batches of 

 ten or twelve. Bottle No. 1 will illustrate this. It contains the 

 roe of one out of a large number offish that I examined. You will 

 perceive that, besides eight or ten large eggs, there is a whitish 



