Part 31 (1/2)

Even admitting the soundness of his theory, and the probability that, under favourable circ.u.mstances, the sp.a.w.n 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 disappearance, by burying themselves in the mud to await the return of the rains.

It is an ill.u.s.tration of the eagerness with which, after the expedition of Alexander the Great, particulars connected 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 in ARISTOTLE'S treatise _De Respiratione_[1], where he mentions the strange discovery of living fish found beneath the surface of the soil, ”[Greek: ton ichthyon oi polloi zosin en te ge, akinetizontes mentoi, kai euriskontai oryttomenoi?]” and in his History of Animals he conjectures that in ponds periodically dried the ova of the fish so buried become vivified at the change of the season.[2] HERODOTUS had previously hazarded a similar theory to account for the sudden appearance of fry in the Egyptian marshes on the rising of the Nile; but the cases are not parallel. THEOPHRASTUS, the friend and pupil of Aristotle, gave importance to the subject by devoting to it his essay [Greek: Peri tes ton ichthyon en zero diamones], _De Piscibus in sicco degentibus_. In this, after adverting to the fish called _exocoetus_, from its habit of going on sh.o.r.e to sleep, ”[Greek: apo tes koites,]” he instances the small fish ([Greek: ichthydia]), that leave the rivers of India to wander like frogs on the land; and likewise a species found near Babylon, which, when the Euphrates runs low, leave the dry channels in search of food, ”moving themselves along by means of their fins and tail.” He proceeds to state that at Heraclea Pontica there are places in which fish are dug out of the earth, ”[Greek: oryktoi ton ichthyon],”

and he accounts for their being found under such circ.u.mstances by the subsidence of the rivers, ”when the water being evaporated the fish gradually descend beneath the soil in search of moisture; and the surface becoming hard they are preserved in the damp clay below it, in a state of torpor, but are capable of vigorous movements when disturbed.”

”In, this manner, too,” adds Theophrastus, ”the buried fish propagate, leaving behind them their sp.a.w.n, which becomes vivified on the return of the waters to their accustomed bed.” This work of Theophrastus became the great authority for all subsequent writers on this question.

ATHENaeUS quotes it[3], and adds the further testimony of POLYBIUS, that in Gallia Narbonensis fish are similarly dug out of the ground.[4]

STRABO repeats the story[5], and the Greek naturalists one and all received the statement as founded on reliable authority.

[Footnote 1: Chap. ix.]

[Footnote 2: Lib. vi. ch. 15, 16, 17.]

[Footnote 3: Lib. viii. ch. 2.]

[Footnote 4: _Ib._ ch. 4.]

[Footnote 5: Lib. iv. and xii.]

Not so the Romans. LIVY mentions it as one of the prodigies which were to be ”expiated” on the approach of a rupture with Macedon, that ”in Gallico agro qua induceretur aratrum sub glebis pisces emersisse,”[1]

thus taking it out of the category of natural occurrences. POMPONIUS MELA, obliged to notice the matter in his account of Narbon Gaul, accompanies it with the intimation that although a.s.serted by both Greek and Roman authorities, the story was either a delusion or a fraud, JUVENAL has a sneer for the rustic--

”miranti sub aratro Piscibus inventis.”--_Sat_. xiii. 63.

[Footnote 1: Lib. xlii. ch. 2.]

And SENECA, whilst he quotes Theophrastus, adds ironically, that now we must go to fish with a _hatchet_ instead of a hook; ”non c.u.m hamis, sed c.u.m dolabra ire piscatum.” PLINY, who devotes the 35th chapter of his 9th book to this subject, uses the narrative of Theophrastus, but with obvious caution, and universally the Latin writers treated the story as a fable.

In later times the subject received more enlightened attention, and Beekman, who in 1736 published his commentary on the collection [Greek: Peri Thaumasion akousmaton], ascribed to Aristotle, has given a list of the authorities about his own times,--GEORGIUS AGRICOLA, GESNER, RONDELET, DALECHAMP, BOMARE, and GRONOVIUS, who not only gave credence to the a.s.sertions of Theophrastus, but adduced modern instances in corroboration of his Indian authorities.

As regards the fresh-water fishes of India and Ceylon, the fact is now established that certain of them possess the power of leaving the rivers and returning to them again after long migrations on dry land, and modern observation has fully confirmed their statements. They leave the pools and nullahs in the dry season, and led by an instinct as yet unexplained, shape their course through the gra.s.s towards the nearest pool of water. A similar phenomenon is observable in countries similarly circ.u.mstanced. The Doras of Guiana[1] have been seen travelling over land during the dry season in search of their natural element[2], in such droves that the negroes fill baskets with them during these terrestrial excursions. PALLEGOIX in his account of Siam, enumerates three species of fishes which leave the tanks and channels and traverse the damp gra.s.s[3]; and SIR JOHN BOWRING, in his account of his emba.s.sy to the Siamese kings in 1855, states, that in ascending and descending the river Meinam to Bankok, he was amused with the novel sight of fish leaving the river, gliding over the wet banks, and losing themselves amongst the trees of the jungle.[4]

[Footnote 1: _D. Hanc.o.c.kii_, CUV. et VAL.]

[Footnote 2: Sir R. Schomburgk's _Fishes of Guiana_, vol. i. pp. 113, 151, 160. Another migratory fish was found by Bose very numerous in the fresh waters of Carolina and in ponds liable to become dry in summer.

When captured and placed on the ground, ”they _always, directed themselves towards the nearest water, which they could not possibly see_, and which they must have discovered by some internal index. They belong to the genus _Hydrargyra_ and are called Swampines.--KIRBY, _Bridgewater Treatise_, vol. i. p. 143.

Eels kept in a garden, when August arrived (the period at which instinct impels them to go to the sea to sp.a.w.n) were in the habit of leaving the pond, and were invariably found moving eastward _in the direction of the sea_.--YARRELL, vol. ii. p. 384. Anglers observe that fish newly caught, when placed out of sight of water, always struggle towards it to escape.]

[Footnote 3: PALLEGOIX, vol. i. p. 144.]

[Footnote 4: Sir J. BOWERING'S _Siam,_ &c., vol. i. p. 10.]

The cla.s.s of fishes endowed with this power are chiefly those with labyrinthiform pharyngeal bones, so disposed in plates and cells as to retain a supply of moisture, which, whilst they are crawling on land, gradually exudes so as to keep the gills damp.[1]

[Footnote 1: CUVIER and VALENCIENNES, _Hist. Nat. des Poissons_, tom.

vii. p. 246.]

The individual most frequently seen in these excursions in Ceylon is a perch called by the Singhalese _Kavaya_ or _Kawhy-ya_, and by the Tamils _Pannei-eri_, or _Sennal_. It is closely allied to the _Anabas scandens_ of Cuvier, the _Perca scandens_ of Daldorf. It grows to about six inches in length, the head round and covered with scales, and the edges of the gill-covers strongly denticulated. Aided by the apparatus already adverted to in its head, this little creature issues boldly from its native pools and addresses itself to its toilsome march generally at night or in the early morning, whilst the gra.s.s is still damp with the dew; but in its distress it is sometimes compelled to move by day, and Mr. E.L. Layard on one occasion encountered a number of them travelling along a hot and dusty road under the midday sun.[1]

[Footnote 1: _Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist_., May, 1853, p. 390. Mr.

Morris, the government-agent of Trincomalie, writing to me on this subject in 1856, says--”I was lately on duty inspecting the kind of a large tank at Nade-cadua, which, being out of repair, the remaining water was confined in a small hollow in the otherwise dry bed. Whilst there heavy rain came on, and, as we stood on the high ground, we, observed a pelican on the margin of the shallow pool gorging himself; our people went towards him and raised a cry of fis.h.!.+ fis.h.!.+ We hurried down, and found numbers of fish struggling upwards through the gra.s.s in the rills formed by the trickling of the rain. There was scarcely water enough to cover them, but nevertheless they made rapid progress up the bank, on which our followers collected about two bushels of them at a distance of forty yards from the tank. They were forcing their way up the knoll, and, had they not been intercepted first by the pelican and afterwards by ourselves, they would in a few minutes have gained the highest point and descended on the other side into a pool which formed another portion of the tank. They were chub, the same as are found in the mud after the tanks dry up.” In a subsequent communication in July, 1857, the same gentleman says--”As the tanks dry up the fish congregate in the little pools till at last you find them in thousands in the moistest parts of the beds, rolling in the blue mud which is at that time about the consistence of thick gruel.”