364 



FISHES. 



[Chap. X. 



inches within one hour and a half, being the heaviest fall on 

 record. At Poonah, on the 3rd of August, 1852, after a very- 

 heavy fall of rain, multitudes of fish were caught on the ground 

 in the cantonments, full half a mile from the nearest stream. 

 If showers of fish are to be explained on the assumption that 

 they are carried up by squalls or violent winds, from rivers or 

 spaces of water not far away from where they fall, it would be 

 nothing wonderful were they seen to descend from the air 

 during the furious squalls which occasionally occur in June." 



NOTE (B.) 



CEYLON FISHES. 



(Memorandum by Professor Huxley.) 

 See Page 324. 



The large series of beautifully coloured drawings of the 

 fishes of Ceylon, which has been submitted to my inspection, 

 possesses an unusual value for several reasons. 



The fishes, it appears, were all captured at Colombo, and 

 even had those from other parts of Ceylon been added, the 

 geographical area would not have been very extended. Never- 

 theless there are more than 600 drawings, and though it is 

 possible that some of these represent varieties in different 

 stages of growth of the same species, I have not been able to 

 find definite evidence of the fact in any of those groups which 

 I have particularly tested. If, however, these drawings repre- 

 sent six hundred distinct species of fish, they constitute, so far 

 ,as I know, the largest collection of fish from one locality in 

 existence. 



The number of known British fishes may be safely assumed 

 to be less than 250, and Mr. Yarrell enumerates only 226, Dr. 

 Cantor's valuable work on Malayan fishes enumerates not 

 more than 238, while Dr. Eussell has figured only 200 from 



