Part 29 (1/2)

EMYDOSAURI.

Crocodilus biporcatus. _Cuv._ pal.u.s.tris, _Less._

BATRACHIA.

Rana hexadactyla, _Less._ Kuhlii, _Schleg._ cutipora, _Dum. & Bib._ tigrina, _Daud._ vittigera, _Wiegm._ Malabarica, _Dum. & Bib._ Kandiana, _Kelaart._ Neuera-elliana, _Kel._ Bufo melanostictus, _Schneid._ Kelaartii, _Gunth._ Ixalus variabilis, _Gunth._ leucorhinus, _Martens._ poecilopleurus, _Mart._ aurifasciatus, _Schleg._ schmarda.n.u.s, _Kelaart._ Polypedates maculatus, _Gray._ microtympanum, _Gth._ eques, _Gunth._ Limnodytes lividus, _Blyth._ macularis, _Blyth._ mutabilis, _Kelaart._ maculatus, _Kelaart._ Kaloula pulchra, _Gray._ balteata, var. _Gunth._ stellata, _Kelaart._ Adenomus badioflavus, _Copr._ Pyxicephalus fodiens, _Jerd._ Engystoma rubrum, _Jerd._

PSEUDOPHIDIA.

Caecilia glutinosa, _Linn._

NOTE.--The following species are peculiar to Ceylon (and the genera Ceratophora, Otocryptis, Uropeltis, Aspidura. Cercaspis, and Haplocercus would appear to be similarly restricted);--Lygosoma fallax; Trimesurus Ceylonensis, T. nigromarginatus; Megaera Trigonocephala; Trigonocephalus hypnalis; Daboia elegans; Rhinophis punctatus, Rh. h.o.m.olepis, Rh.

planiceps, Rh. Blythii, Rh. melanogaster; Uropeltis grandis; Silybura Ceylonica; Cylindrophis maculata; Aspidura brachyorrhos; Haplocercus Ceylonensis; OliG.o.don sublineatus; Cynophis Helena; Cyclophis calamaria; Dipsadomorphus Ceylonensis; Cercaspis carinata; Ixalus variabilis, I.

leucorhinus, I. poecilopleurus; Polypedates microtympanum. P. eques.

CHAP. X.

FISHES.

Hitherto no branch of the zoology of Ceylon has been so imperfectly investigated as its Ichthyology. Little has been done in the examination and description of its fishes, especially those which frequent the rivers and inland waters. Mr. BENNETT, who was for some years employed in the Civil Service, directed his attention to the subject, and published in 1830 some portions of a projected work on the marine fishes of the island[1], but it never proceeded beyond the description of thirty individuals. The great work of Cuvier and Valenciennes[2]

particularises about one hundred species, specimens of which were procured from Ceylon by Reynard, Leschenault and other correspondents; but of these not more than half a dozen belong to fresh water.

[Footnote 1: _A Selection of the most Remarkable and Interesting Fishes found on the Coast of Ceylon._ By J.W. BENNETT, Esp. London, 1830.]

[Footnote 2: _Histoire Naturelle des Poissons._]

The fishes of the coast, as far as they have been examined, present few that are not in all probability common to the seas of Ceylon and India.

A series of drawings, including upwards of six hundred species and varieties of Ceylon fish, all made from recently-captured specimens, have been submitted to Professor Huxley, and a notice of their general characteristics forms an interesting appendix to the present chapter.[1]

[Footnote 1: See note B appended to this chapter.]

Of those in ordinary use for the table the finest by far is the Seir-fish[1], a species of s...o...b..roids, which is called _Tora-malu_ by the natives. It is in size and form very similar to the salmon, to which the flesh of the female fish, notwithstanding its white colour, bears a very close resemblance both in firmness and flavour.

[Footnote 1: _Cybium_ (_s...o...b..r_, Linn.) _guttatum_.]

Mackerel, carp, whitings, mullet both red and striped, perches and soles are abundant, and a sardine (_Sardinella Neohowii_, Val.) frequents the southern and eastern coast in such profusion that in one instance in 1839, a gentleman who was present saw upwards of four hundred thousand taken in a haul of the nets in the little bay of Goyapanna, east of Point-de-Galle. As this vast shoal approached the sh.o.r.e the broken water became as smooth as if a sheet of ice had been floating below the surface.[1]

[Footnote 1: These facts serve to explain the story told by the friar ODORIC of Friuli, who visited Ceylon about the year 1320 A.D., and says there are ”fishes in those seas that come swimming towards the said country in such abundance that for a great distance into the sea nothing can be seen but the backs of fishes, which casting themselves on the sh.o.r.e, do suffer men for the s.p.a.ce of three daies to come and to take as many of them as they please, and then they return again into the sea.”--_Hakluyt_, vol. ii. p. 57.]

_Poisonous Fishes._--The sardine has the reputation of being poisonous at certain seasons, and accidents ascribed to eating it are recorded in all parts of the island. Whole families of fishermen who have partaken of it have died. Twelve persons in the jail of Chilaw were thus poisoned, about the year 1829; and the deaths of soldiers have repeatedly been ascribed to the same cause. It is difficult in such instances to say with certainty whether the fish were in fault; whether there was not a peculiar susceptibility in the condition of the recipients; or whether the mischief may not have been occasioned by the wilful administration of poison, or its accidental occurrence in the bra.s.s cooking vessels used by the natives. The popular belief was, however, deferred to by an order pa.s.sed by the Governor in Council in February, 1824, which, after reciting that ”Whereas it appears by information conveyed to the Government that at three several periods at Trincomalie, death has been the consequence to several persons from eating the fish called Sardinia during the months of January and December,” enacts that it shall not be lawful in that district to catch sardines during these months, under pain of fine and imprisonment. This order is still in force, but the fis.h.i.+ng continues notwithstanding.[1]

[Footnote 1: There are other species of Sardine found at Ceylon besides the _S. Neohowii_; such as the _S. lineolata_, Cuv. and Val. and the _S.

leiogaster_, Cuv. and Val. xx. 270, which was found by M. Reynaud at Trincomalie. It occurs also off the coast of Java. Another Ceylon fish of the same group, a Clupea, is known as the ”poisonous sprat;” the bonito (_Thynnus affinis_, Cang.), the kangewena, or unicorn fish (_Balistes?_), and a number of others, are more or less in bad repute from the same imputation.]

_Sharks._--Sharks appear on all parts of the coast, and instances continually occur of persons being seized by them whilst bathing even in the harbours of Trincomalie and Colombo. In the Gulf of Manaar they are taken for the sake of their oil, of which they yield such a quant.i.ty that ”shark's oil” is a recognised export. A trade also exists in drying their fins, for which, owing to the gelatine contained in them, a ready market is found in China; whither the skin of the basking shark is also sent, to be converted, it is said, into s.h.a.green.