Chap. X.] 
FISHES OF CEYLON. 
365 
Coromandel. Even the enormous area of the Chinese and 
Japanese seas has as yet not yielded 800 species of fishes. 
The large extent of the collection alone, then, renders it of 
great importance : but its value is immeasurably enhanced by 
the two circumstances, — -first, that every drawing was made 
while the fish retained all that vividness of colouring which 
becomes lost so soon after its removal from its native element ; 
and secondly, that when the sketch was finished its subject 
was carefully labelled, preserved in spirits, and forwarded to 
England, so that at the present moment the original of every 
drawing can be subjected to anatomical examination, and 
compared with already named sjoecies. 
Under these circumstances, I do not hesitate to say that the 
collection is one of the most valuable in existence, and might, 
if properly worked out, become a large and secure foundation 
for all future investigation into the ichthyology of the Indian 
Ocean. 
It would be very hazardous to express an opinion as to the 
novelty or otherwise of the species and genera figured without 
the study of the specimens themselves, as the specific distinc- 
tions of fish are for the most part based upon character the 
fin-rays, teeth, the operculum, &c, which can only be made 
out by close and careful examination of the object, and cannot 
be represented in ordinary drawings however accurate. 
There are certain groups of fish, however, whose family 
traits are so marked as to render it almost impossible to mis- 
take even their portraits, and hence I may venture, without 
fear of being far wrong, upon a few remarks as to the general 
features of the ichthyological fauna of Ceylon. 
In our own seas rather less than a tenth of the species of 
fishes belong to the cod tribe. I have not found one repre- 
sented in these drawings, nor do either Eussell or Cantor men- 
tion any in the surrounding seas, and the result is in general 
harmony with the known laws of distribution of these most 
useful of fishes. 
On the other hand, the mackerel family, including the tun- 
