by the natives. It is distinct from Chaetodon, in which
Mr. Bennett placed it. Numerous species of this genus are scattered
throughout the Indian Ocean. It derives its name from the fine hair-like
character of its teeth. They are found chiefly among coral reefs, and,
though eaten, are not much esteemed. In the French colonies they are
called "Chauffe-soleil." One species is found on the shores of the New
World (_G. saxatilis_), and it is curious that Messrs. Quoy and Gaimard
found this fish at the Cape de Verde Islands in 1827.]

[Footnote 3: This fish has a sharp round spine on the side of the body
near the tail; a formidable weapon, which is generally partially
concealed within a scabbard-like incision. The fish raises or depresses
this spine at pleasure. It is yellow, with several nearly parallel blue
stripes on the back and sides; the belly is white, the tail and fins
brownish green, edged with blue.

It is found in rocky places; and according to Mr. Bennett, who has
figured it in his second plate, it is named _Seweya_. It is scarce on
the southern coast of Ceylon.]

_Fresh-water Fishes._--Of the fresh-water fish, which inhabit the rivers
and tanks, so very little has hitherto been known to naturalists[1],
that of nineteen drawings sent home by Major Skinner in 1852, although
specimens of well-known genera, Colonel Hamilton Smith pronounced nearly
the whole to be new and undescribed species.

[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 serrae 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 _Malacopter