The like exceptional character is to be noticed in the proportion of the tribe of flat fishes, or Pleuronectidæ. Soles, turbots, and the like, form nearly one twelfth of our own fishes. Both Cantor and Russell give the flat fishes as making one twenty-second part of their collection, while in the whole 600 Ceylon drawings I can find but five Pleuronectidæ.
When this great collection has been carefully studied, I doubt not that many more interesting distributional facts will be evolved.
Since receiving this note from Professor Huxley, the drawings in question have been submitted to Dr. Gray, of the British Museum, and that eminent naturalist, after a careful analysis, has favoured me with the following memorandum of the fishes they exhibit, numerically contrasting them with those of China and Japan, so far as we are acquainted with the ichthyology of those seas:—
| Cartilaginea. | ||
| Ceylon | China and Japan. | |
|---|---|---|
| Squali | 12 | 15 |
| Raiæ | 19 | 20 |
| Sturiones | 0 | 1 |
| Ostinopterygii. | ||
| Plectognathi. | ||
| tetraodontidæ | 10 | 21 |
| balistidæ | 9 | 19 |
| Lophobranchii | ||
| syngnathidæ | 2 | 2 |
| pegasidæ | 0 | 3 |
| Ctenobranchii | ||
| lophidæ | 1 | 3 |
| Cyclopodii. | ||
| echeneidæ | 0 | 1 |
| cyclopteridæ | 0 | 1 |
| gobidæ | 7 | 35 |
| Percini. | ||
| callionymidæ | 0 | 7 |
| uranoscopidæ | 0 | 7 |
| cottidæ | 0 | 13 |
| triglidæ | 11 | 37 |
| polynemidæ | 12 | 3 |
| mullidæ | 1 | 7 |
| percidæ | 26 | 12 |
| berycidæ | 0 | 5 |
| sillaginidæ | 3 | 1 |
| sciænidæ | 19 | 13 |
| hæmulinidæ | 6 | 12 |
| serranidæ | 31 | 38 |
| theraponidæ | 8 | 20 |
| cirrhitidæ | 0 | 2 |
| mænidiæ | 37 | 25 |
| sparidæ | 16 | 17 |
| acanthuridæ | 14 | 6 |
| chætodontidæ | 25 | 21 |
| fistularidæ | 2 | 3 |
| Periodopharyngi. | ||
| mugilidæ | 5 | 7 |
| anabantidæ | 6 | 15 |
| pomacentridæ | 10 | 11 |
| Pharyngognathi. | ||
| labridæ | 16 | 35 |
| scomberesocidæ | 13 | 6 |
| blenniidæ | 3 | 8 |
| Scomberina. | ||
| zeidæ | 0 | 2 |
| sphyrænidæ | 5 | 4 |
| scomberidæ | 118 | 62 |
| xiphiidæ | 0 | 1 |
| cepolidæ | 0 | 5 |
| Heterosomata. | ||
| platessoideæ | 5 | 22 |
| siluridæ | 31 | 24 |
| cyprinidæ | 19 | 52 |
| scopelinidæ | 2 | 7 |
| salmonidæ | 0 | 1 |
| clupeidæ | 43 | 22 |
| gadidæ | 0 | 2 |
| macruridæ | 1 | 0 |
| Apodes. | ||
| anguillidæ | 8 | 12 |
| murænidæ | 8 | 6 |
| sphagebranchidæ | 8 | 10 |