344 
FISHES. 
[Chap. X. 
But supposing it possible to carry the spawn suffi- 
ciently deep, and to deposit it safely in the mud below, 
which is still damp, whence it could be liberated on the 
return of the rains, a considerable interval would still 
be necessary after the replenishing of the ponds with 
water to admit of vivification and growth. Yet so far 
from this interval being allowed to elapse, the rains 
have no sooner fallen than the taking of the fish com- 
mences, and those captured by the natives in wicker 
cages are mature and full grown instead of being 
<f small fish " or fry, as supposed by Mr. Yarrell. 
Even admitting the soundness of his theory, and the 
probability that, under favourable circumstances, the 
spawn in the tanks might be preserved during the dry 
season so as to contribute to the perpetuation of their 
breed, the fact is no longer doubtful, that adult fish in 
Ceylon, like some of those that inhabit similar waters 
both in the New and Old World, have been endowed by 
the Creator with the singular faculty of providing against 
the periodical droughts either by journeying overland in 
search of still unexhausted water, or, on its utter disap- 
pearance, by burying themselves in the mud to await 
the return of the rains. 
It is an illustration of the eagerness with which, after 
the expedition of Alexander the Grreat, particulars con- 
nected with the natural history of India were sought for 
and arranged by the Greeks, that in the works both of 
Aeistotle and Theophkastus facts are recorded of 
the fishes in the Indian rivers migrating in search of 
water, of their burying themselves in the mud on its 
failure, of their being dug out thence alive during 
the dry season, and of their spontaneous reappearance 
on the return* of the rains. The earliest notice is 
