[Footnote 1: In extenuation of the little that is known of the fresh-water fishes of Ceylon, it may be observed that very few of them are used at table by Europeans, and there is therefore no stimulus on the part of the natives to catch them. The burbot and grey mullet are occasionally eaten, but they taste of mud, and are not in request.]
Of eight of these, which were from the Mahawelli-ganga, and caught in the vicinity of Kandy, five were carps[1], of which two were _Leucisci_, and one a _Mastacemblus_, to which Col. H. Smith has given the name of its discoverer, _M. Skinneri_[2], one was an _Ophicephalus_, and one a _Polyacanthus_, with no serræ on the gills. Six were from the Kalany-ganga, close to Colombo, of which two were _Helastoma_, in shape approaching the Choetodon; two _Ophicephali_, one a _Silurus_, and one an _Anabas_, but the gills were without denticulation. From the still water of the lake, close to the walls of Colombo, there were two species of _Eleotris_, one _Silurus_ with barbels, and two _Malacopterygians_, which appear to be _Bagri_.
[Footnote 1: Of the fresh-water fishes belonging to the family Cyprinidæ, there are about eighteen species from Ceylon in the collection of the British Museum.]
[Footnote 2: This fish bears the native name of _Theliya_ in Major Skinner's list; and is described by Colonel Hamilton Smith as being "of the proportions of an eel; beautifully mottled, with eyes and spots of a lighter olive upon a dark green." This so nearly corresponds with a fish of the same name, _Theliya_, which was brought to Gronovius from Ceylon, and proved to be identical with the _Aral_ of the Coromandel coast, that it may be doubtful whether it be not the individual already noted by Cuvier as _Rhyncobdella ocellata_, Cuv. and Val. viii. 445.]
In this collection, brought together without premeditation, the naturalist will be struck by the preponderance of those genera which are adapted by nature to endure a temporary privation of moisture; and this, taken in connection with the vicissitudes affecting the waters they inhabit, exhibits a surprising illustration of the wisdom of the Creator in adapting the organisation of His creatures to the peculiar circumstances under which they are destined to exist.