172 



Oyi the Statistics of Dulchun. 



[Jan. 



ducks, and teals abound most in the cold season, and are at that period 

 excellent eating. The domestic goose and duck of Europe is not in- 

 cluded in the above list, but both are extensively bred in Dukhun. 

 That rare English bird the Firalva Anglica is very common in Dukhun. 

 I did not meet with the Pelican, although it is a native of India, 



Ichthyology.— T.h.Q rivers of Dukhun abound with fish, and some of 

 them are not only palatable, but very fine flavoured, particularly the 

 Tambra, a new species of Cyprtnus, and the Waam, Macrognathus ar- 

 matus ; the Singhala ov Ptmelodus is also in very general use by the 

 people, but is not esteemed by Europeans. The fish observed by me 

 consisted of forty-six species ; two belonged to the sub-order Apodes, 

 three to Thoracici, and forty-one to Abdominales. The whole were 

 comprised in twelve genera. There was one Murena, one Macrogna- 

 thus, one Chanda, one Ophiocephalus, one Gobius, two species of Silu- 

 rus, nine of Pirnelodus and sub-genera, one Ageneiosus, one Mystus, 

 twenty -four of Cyprinus and sub-genera, one Essox, and three species of 

 Cobitus, It is remarkable that the fresh water Essox of Dukhun so 

 closely resembles the salt water species of England, as to be scarcely 

 distinguished from it, not only in external characters, but in the colour 

 of its bones. 



Reptilia. — Reptiles are numerous in Dukhun. The Trionyx Indica 

 abounds in the rivers, and there are two smaller species. Many genera 

 of the Saurian family are met with from the four to five feet Monitor 

 to the minutest Zacej'ifa. Serpents of all kinds, from the gigantic Boa 

 Constiictor to the small and beautiful carpet snake. The first, how- 

 ever, I have only seen carried about the country by people who exhibit 

 the feats of the reptile in swallowing small animals. Independently of 

 the deadly Cobra da Capello, {Caluber Naag) there are some other 

 poisonous species, but in general the snakes are harmless. 



Crustacea. — Of the Crustacea, I shall have only to notice the Ken- 

 kra, Thelphusa cunicularis, a new species which pervades the valleys 

 and table-lands of the Ghats, and whose numbers are so great that their 

 burrows riddle the earth ; they remain quiet in their holes during the 

 cold and dry seasons, but, in the monsoon, they are abroad in such num- 

 bers, that travellers drive over them, ride over them, and trample upon 

 them in the high roads : they are not an article of food with the natives, 

 but are, I believe, wholesome. 



7 e,9^acea.— There are some few genera and species of land and fluvia- 

 tile shells, the largest of which is a Unio : but they do not call for 

 notice. 



