Part 27 (1/2)

BATRACHIA.

Rana cutipora, _Dum. & Bib._ Kuhlii, _Schleg._ vittigera, _Wiegm._ robusta, _Blyth._ tigrina, _Daud._ _Leschenaultii, Dum & Bib._ Kandiana, _Kelaart._ Neuera-elliana, _Kelaart._ Rana Malabarica, _Dum. & Bib._ Ixalus variabilis, _Gray._ leucorhinus, _Martens._ poecilopleurus, _Martens._ aurifasciatus, _Dum. & Bib._ Pyxicephalus fodiens, _Jerd._ Polypedates leucomystax, _Gray._ Polypedates microtympanum, _Gray._ eques, _Gray._ _stellata, Kelaart._ _schmardana, Kelaart._ Limnodytes lividus, _Blyth._ macularis, _Blyth._ mutabilis, _Kelaart._ maculatus, _Kelaart._ Bufo melanostictus, _Schneid._ Kelaartii, _Gray._ Engystoma marmoratum, _Cuv._ rubrum, _Jerd._ Kaloula pulchra, _Gray._ balteata, _Gunther._

PSEUDOPHIDIA.

Caecilia glutinosa, _Linn._

NOTE.--The following species are peculiar to Ceylon; and the genera Aspidura, Cercaspis, and Haplocercus would appear to be similarly restricted. Trimesurus Ceylonensis, T. nigro-marginatus; Megaera Trigonocephala; Trigonocephalus hypnalis; Daboia elegans; 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. IV.

FISHES.

Little has been yet done to examine and describe the fishes of Ceylon, 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 ichthyology of the island[1], but it never proceeded beyond the description of about 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, Esq. London, 1830.]

[Footnote 2: _Historie Naturelle des Poissons_.]

The fishes of the coast, so far as they have been examined, present few which are not 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, has been submitted to Professor Huxley, and a notice of their general characteristics forms an interesting article in the appendix to the present chapter.[1]

[Footnote 1: See note C 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..r, 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, dories, carp, whitings, mullet, red and striped, perches and soles, are abundant, and a sardine (_Sardinella Neohowii_, Val.) frequents the southern and eastern coast in such profusion that on 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 Friule, who visited India 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 its use 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 may not have been 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 two species of Sardine at Ceylon; the _S.

neohowii_, Val., alluded to above, and the _S. leiogaster_, Val. and Cuv. xx. 270, which was found by Mr. 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 (_s...o...b..r pelamys?_), 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 now a recognised export. A trade also exists in drying their fins, and from the gelatine contained in them, they find a ready market in China, to which the skin of the basking shark is also sent;--it is said to be there converted into s.h.a.green.

_Saw Fish._--The huge saw fish, the _Pristis antiquorum_[1], infests the eastern coast of the island[2], where it attains a length of from twelve to fifteen feet, including the powerful weapon from which its name is derived.

[Footnote 1: Two other species are found in the Ceylon waters, _P.

cuspidatus_ and _P. pectinatus_.]

[Footnote 2: ELIAN mentions, amongst the extraordinary marine animals found in the seas around Ceylon, a fish _with feet instead of fins; [Greek: poias ge men chelas e pteri gia.]_--Lib xvi. c. 18. Does not this drawing of a species of Chironectes, captured near Colombo, justify his description?