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 

 ts 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 Great, particulars con- 

 nected with the natural history of India were sought for 

 and arranged by the Greeks, that in the works both of 

 Aristotle and Theophrastus 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 



