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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
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 Boston Library Consortium IVIember Libraries 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/oceanworldbeingdOOfigu 
 

 FLEET OF MEDUSA. 
 
 (See page i6i.) 
 
THE 
 
 OCEAN WORLD 
 
 hp:ing a description of 
 
 The Sea and some of its Inhabitants. 
 
 l-ROM l^HK KRKXCH OF 
 
 LOUIS FICxUIER 
 'I 
 
 XFJr EDITION, R Ens ED BV 
 
 E. PERCEVAL WRIGHT, M.D. F.L.S.,^ 
 
 Professor of Botany in tlic Unk'crsity of Dublin. 
 
 WITH 435 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co. 
 
 LONDON, PARIS 0- NEW YORK. 
 [all rights reserved.] 
 
 60ST0N COLLEGE LIBRARt 
 CHËâTi^UT UILU MASS. 
 
6bl36 
 
PREFACE 
 
 A NEW edition of this work having been called for, 1 
 was requested to revise it and see it through the press. 
 
 The attempt to render scientific subjects popular and 
 attractive to the general reader has always appeared to me 
 a most laudable one. It has always received the support of 
 our most original workers and deepest thinkers ; and yet, so 
 far as the English language is concerned, the attempt to make 
 zoological science familiar to the ordinary reader has, in my 
 opinion, most generally been a failure. Such essays as the 
 " Studies of Animal Life," by G. H. Lewes, were indeed full 
 of promise ; but such served scarcely more than to introduce 
 the reader to the very threshold of the science, though they 
 at the same time showed what thoroughly good work could 
 be done in this direction by our British scientific men. 
 
 In the meanwhile, a series of most attractive works on 
 biological science, and beautifully illustrated, was being pub- 
 lished in France, some written or edited by names well 
 known in the fields of scientific research, others — as those by 
 M. Figuier — by men eloquent after the fashion of their 
 countrymen, but much wanting in that exact knowledge of 
 the sciences about which they wrote, and which would 
 have enabled them to avoid falling into many and grievous 
 errors. 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 With the faint hope that I would have no difficulty in 
 simply retaining the text that helps to explain the in general 
 excellent woodcuts that illustrate the present volume, 1 
 undertook to revise it Those familiar with the subject will 
 perhaps appreciate the statement that, as it proved, it would 
 have been an easier and certainly a more pleasant task to 
 have re-written the work. Those who will compare the 
 present edition with that of 1869, will see that the alterations 
 in this one have been very numerous and important, several 
 chapters being nearly re-written ; that all the dogmatic asser- 
 tions, so striking in the edition of 1869, have been toned down 
 in conformity with that modesty that should characterise the 
 searchers after truth ; and that the more rampant twigs of 
 French eloquence have been pruned in conformity with our 
 quieter if not better taste. Would that I could add that they 
 will also find all errors corrected, but of the contrary I am 
 painfully aware. At the same time, I believe the candid 
 critic will see that if in this matter I have not done all I 
 should, I have at least, under all the circumstances, done all 
 I could. 
 
 I am indebted to my friend, G. J. Stoney, M.A., F.R.S., 
 for the short account of the cause of the tides, to be found 
 on pages 32 to 35. Perhaps never before has the subject 
 been treated in a more popular and yet scientific a way. 
 
 E. P. W. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER 1. 
 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Ocean 
 
 I 
 
 Actinozoa ; Zoantharia 
 
 171 
 
 Depth of the Sea 
 
 3 
 
 Antipathidae 
 
 172 
 
 Coloui of the Sea 
 
 ID 
 
 Madreporidae 
 
 173 
 
 Phosphorescence 
 
 II 
 
 Coral Islands 
 
 190 
 
 Saltness of the Sea 
 
 13 
 
 Actinidae 
 
 • 203 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 
 Currents of the Ocean 
 
 . 25 
 
 Actinozoa; Alcyo.\aria 
 
 218 
 
 Trade Winds . 
 
 26 
 
 Tubiporida} 
 
 218 
 
 Gulf Stream 
 
 28 
 
 Gorgonidae . 
 
 220 
 
 Tides 
 
 32 
 
 Isidmae 
 
 224 
 
 The Arctic Regions 
 
 40 
 
 Corallinae . 
 
 , 225 
 
 The Antarctic Regions 
 
 46 
 
 Coral Fishing 
 
 236 
 
 
 
 Pennatulidœ 
 
 240 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 
 Alcyonidœ . 
 
 244 
 
 Life in the Ocean 
 
 55 
 
 Actinozoa; Ctenophora 
 
 248 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 
 Protozoa . . . 
 
 . 62 
 
 Echinodermata 
 
 253 
 
 Sponges 
 
 Rhizopods 
 
 Infusoria 
 
 65 
 76 
 
 Crinoideae . 
 Asteriadse . 
 
 263 
 269 
 
 88 
 
 Ophiuridae . 
 
 269 
 
 
 
 Echinidae 
 
 27^ 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 
 Holothuroideae . . . 286 
 MoLLUscA. General Remarks 300 
 
 Cœlenterata 
 
 . 107 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 
 M0LLUSCOÏDA . 
 
 302 
 
 Hydrozoa 
 
 , no 
 
 Polyzoa . . . 
 
 302 
 
 Hydridse 
 
 . 113 
 
 Tunicata 
 
 308 
 
 Corynidse . 
 Sertulariadae . . 
 
 . 122 
 124 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 
 Calycophoridae . 
 
 126 
 
 MoLLUSCA Proper , 
 
 316 
 
 Physophoridae 
 
 128 
 
 Acf.fhala 
 
 317 
 
 Medusid?c . 
 
 156 
 
 Siphonida . 
 
 321 
 
VI 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 ccyvy 
 
 ËL1\ / .3. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 
 PAGB 
 
 ACEPHALA .... 
 
 354 
 
 III. Cephalopoda . 
 
 470 
 
 Asiphonida .... 
 
 354 
 
 Order i. Tetrabranchiata 
 
 470 
 
 Mussel Fisheries . 
 
 356 
 
 ,, 2. Dibranchiata 
 
 473 
 
 Pearl Oyster Fisheries . 
 
 366 
 
 Distribution of Mollusca 
 
 498 
 
 Oyster Fisheries and Parks . 
 
 385 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Crustacea 
 
 503 
 
 Brachiopoda .... 
 
 407 
 
 Orders of Crustacea . 
 
 510 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 
 Cephala 
 
 409 
 
 
 
 Three classes of Cephala 
 I. Gasteropoda 
 
 409 
 409 
 
 Fishes .... 
 Leptocardia 
 
 527 
 533 
 
 Order I. Nucleo-branchiata^ 
 ,, 2. Opistho-branchiata 
 
 410 
 410 
 
 Cyclostomata 
 Selachia 
 Ganoid ea . 
 
 533 
 535 
 552 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 
 Order 3. Pulmonifera . 
 
 414 
 
 
 
 
 
 Teleostea, or Bony fishes 
 
 558 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 
 Plectognatha 
 
 558 
 
 
 
 Lophobranchia . 
 
 562 
 
 Order 4. Prosobranchiata . 
 
 _ 
 428 
 
 Pharyngognatha . 
 
 565 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 
 Physostomata 
 Anacanthina 
 
 570 
 
 . 604 
 
 II, Pteropods 
 
 466 
 
 Acanthopterygea 
 
 621 
 
FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PLATE 
 
 Fleet of Medus^î; , 
 
 I. Sponge Fishing on the Coast of Syria . 
 II. Galeolaria aurantiaca 
 
 III, Agalma Rubra 
 
 IV. Coral Island in the Pomotouan Archipelago 
 V. Sea Anemones (I.) 
 
 VI. Sea Anemones (II.) 
 
 VII. Coral Fishing off the Coast of Sicily . 
 
 VIII. Sea-Urchins 
 
 IX. Fishing for Holothuria 
 
 X, Synapta Duvernea 
 
 XI. Temple of Serapis 
 
 XII. SoLENiD^ {Razor-fish) 
 
 XIII. Venus and Cytherea 
 
 XIV. Tridacna gigantea 
 
 XV. Anodonta 
 
 XVI. Dredging for Oysters • . 
 
 XVII. Oyster Parks on Lake Fusaro .... 
 
 XVIII. Pectid^ 
 
 XIX. Spondylus . . . . . . . 
 
 XX. Voluta 
 
 XXI. Conus 
 
 XXII. Capture of a Gigantic Cuttle-fish . 
 
 XXIII. Shark Fishing 
 
 XXIV. Sturgeon Fishing on the Volga 
 XXV. Fishing for Electrical Eels 
 
 XXVI. The Herring Fishery 
 
 XXVII. Greenlanders Fishing for Holibut . 
 XXVIII. A Roman Feast .... . . 
 
 XXIX. Fishing for Tunny in Provence 
 XXX. Fishing for Mackerel off the Cornwall Coast 
 
 PAGB 
 
 Frontispiece 
 To face 70 
 128 
 
 135 
 
 192 
 211 
 212 
 
 239 
 275 
 290 
 296 
 331 
 334 
 341 
 344 
 348 
 38s 
 388 
 401 
 405 
 449 
 450 
 489 
 546 
 554 
 572 
 592 
 
 613 
 624 
 
 633 
 636 
 
The Ocean World 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE OCEAN. 
 "'hpiffTov fiev uScop — "The best of all things is water. "—Pindar. 
 
 It is estimated that the sea covers nearly two-thirds of the surface of 
 the earth. The calculation, as given by astronomers, is as follows : 
 The surface of the earth is 31,625,625-3^ square miles, that portion 
 occupied by the waters being about 23,814,121 square miles, and 
 that consisting of continents, peninsulas, and islands, being 7,811,504 
 miles ; whence it follows that the surface covered with water is to 
 dry land as 3*8 is to i*2. The waters thus cover a little more than 
 seven-tenths of the whole surface. " On the surface of the globe," 
 Michelet remarks, " water is the rule, dry land the exception." 
 
 Nevertheless, the immensity and depth of the seas are aids rather 
 than obstacles to the intercourse and commerce of nations ; the 
 maritime routes are now traversed by ships and steamers conveying 
 cargoes and passengers equal in extent and in point of numbers to 
 the land routes. One of the features most characteristic of the ocean 
 is its continuity ; for, with the exception of inland seas, such as the 
 Caspian, the Dead Sea, and some others, the ocean is one and 
 indivisible — "it embraces the whole earth with an uninterrupted 
 wave." 
 
 riept iracrav 9' el\i<T(TO)x4vovs 
 
 ^SCHYLUS in Prome,'hetis Vinctus, 
 
 The mean depth of the sea is not very exactly ascertained, but 
 certain phenomena observed in the movement of tides are supposed 
 to be incapable of explanation without admitting a mean depth of 
 
2 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 3,500 fathoms. It is true that a great number of deep-sea soundings 
 fall short of that limit ; but, on the other hand, many others reach 
 7,000 or 8,000. Admitting that 3,000 fathoms represent the mean 
 depth of the ocean. Sir John Herschel finds that the volume of its 
 waters would exceed 3,279,000,000 cubic yards. 
 
 This vaiit volume of water is divided by geographers into five 
 great oceans : the Arctic, the Atlantic, Indian, Pacific, and Antarctic 
 Oceans. 
 
 The Arctic Ocean extends from the Pole to the Polar Circle ; it 
 is situated between Asia, Europe, and America. 
 
 The Atlantic Ocean commences at the Polar Circle, and reaches 
 Cape Horn. It is situated between America, Europe, and Africa, in 
 length of about 9,000 miles, with a mean breadth of 2,700, covering 
 a surface of about 25,000,000 square miles, placed between the Old 
 World and the New. Beyond the Cape of Storms, as Cape Horn may 
 be truly called, it is only separated by an imaginary line from the vast 
 seas of the south, in which the waves, which are the principal source 
 of tides, have their birth. Here, according to Maury, the young tidal 
 wave, rising in the circumpolar seas of the south, and obedient to the 
 sun and moon, rolls on to the Atlantic, and in twelve hours after passing 
 the parallel of Cape Horn is found pouring its flood into the Bay of 
 Eundy, whence it is projected in great waves across the Atlantic and 
 round the globe, sweeping along its shores and penetrating its gulfs 
 and estuaries, rising and falling in the open sea two or three feet, but 
 along the shore having a range of ten or twelve feet ; sometimes, as 
 at Eundy on the American coast, at Brest on the Erench coast, and 
 Milford Haven and the mouth of the Severn in the Bristol Channel, 
 rising and falling thirty or forty feet, " impetuously rushing against 
 the shores, but gently stopping at a given line, and flowing back to 
 its place when the word goes forth, ' Thus far shalt thou go and no 
 farther.' That which no human power could repel returns at its 
 appointed time so regularly and surely, that the hour of its approach 
 and the measure of its mass may be predicted v/ith unerring certainty 
 centuries beforehand." 
 
 The Indian Ocean is bounded on the north by Asia, on the west 
 by Africa, on the east by the peninsula of Molucca, the Sunda Isles, 
 and Australia. 
 
 The Pacific, or Great Ocean, stretches from north to south, trom 
 the Arctic to the Antarctic Circle ; being bounded on one side by 
 Asia, the island of Sunda, and Australia, on the other by the west 
 coast of America. This ocean contrasts in a striking manner with 
 the Atlantic : the one has its greatest length from north to south, the 
 
THE SEA, 3 
 
 Other from east to west ; the currents of the Pacific are broad and 
 slow, those of the other narrow and rapid ; the waves of this are low, 
 those of the other very high. If we represent the volume of water 
 which falls into the Pacific by one, that received by the Atlantic will 
 be represented by the figure five. The Pacific is the calmest of seas, 
 and the Atlantic Ocean is the most stormy. 
 
 The Antarctic Ocean extends from the Antarctic Polar Circle to 
 the South Pole. 
 
 It is remarkable that one half of the globe should be entirely 
 covered with water, whilst the other contains less of water than dry 
 land ; moreover, the distribution of land and water — if, in considering 
 the extent of the oceanic basins, we compare the hemispheres 
 separated by the Equator and the northern and southern halves of 
 the globe — is found to be very unequal. 
 
 Oceans communicate with continents and islands by coasts, which 
 are said to be scarped when a rocky coast makes a steep and sudden 
 descent to the sea, as, for example, in Brittany, Norway, and the 
 west coast of the British Islands. In this kind of coast certain rocky 
 indentations encircle it, sometimes above, sometimes under water, 
 forming a labyrinth of islands, as at the Land's End, Cornwall, where 
 the Scilly Islands form a compact group of from loo to 200 rocky 
 islets, rising out of a deep sea. The coast is said to be flat when it 
 consists of soft argillaceous soil descending to the shore with a gentle 
 slope. Of this description of coast there are two — namely, sandy 
 beaches, and hillocks or dunes. 
 
 Wliat is the average depth of the sea ? It is difiiicult to give an 
 exact answer to this question, because of the great difficulty met with 
 in taking soundings, caused chiefly by the deviations of submarine 
 currents. No reliable soundings have yet been made in water over 
 five miles in depth. 
 
 Laplace found, on astronomical consideration, that the mean 
 depth of the ocean could not be more than 10,000 feet. Alexander 
 von Humboldt adopts the same figures. Dr. Young attributes to 
 the Atlantic a mean depth of 1,000 yards, and to the Pacific, 4,000^ 
 Mr. Airy, the Astronomer Royal, has laid down a formula, that waves 
 of a given breadth will travel with certain velocities at a given depth, 
 from which it is estimated that the average depth of the North 
 Pacific, between Japan and California, is 2,149 fathoms, or two miles 
 and a half. But these estimates fall far short of the soundings 
 reported by navigators, in which, however, as we shall see, there are 
 important and only recently-discovered elements of error. Du Petit 
 
4 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 Thouars, during his scientific voyage in the frigate Venus, took some 
 very remarkable soundings in the Southern Pacific Ocean : one, 
 without finding bottom at 2,411 fathoms ; another, in the equinoctial 
 region, indicated bottom at 3,790. 
 
 In his last expedition in search of a north-west passage. Captain 
 Ross found soundings at 5,000 fathoms. Lieutenant Walsh, of the 
 American Navy, reports a cast of the deep-sea lead, not far from 
 the American coast, at 34,000 feet without bottom. Lieutenant 
 Berryman reported another unsuccessful attempt to fathom mid ocean 
 with a line 39,000 feet in length. Captain Denman, of H.M.S. Herald, 
 reported bottom in the South Atlantic at the depth of 46,000 feet ; 
 and Lieutenant J. P. Parker, of the United States frigate Congress, on 
 attempting soundings near the same region, let go his plummet, after 
 it had run out a line 50,000 feet long, as if the bottom had not been 
 reached. We have the authority of Lieutenant Maury for saying, 
 however, that " there are no such depths as these." The under- 
 currents of the deep sea have power to take the line out long after 
 the plummet has ceased to sink, and it was before this fact was 
 discovered that these great soundings were reported. It has also 
 been discovered that the line, once dragged down into the depths of 
 the ocean, runs out unceasingly. This difficulty was finally overcome 
 by the ingenuity of Midshipman Brooke. Under the judicious 
 patronage of the Secretary to the United States Navy, Mr. Brooke 
 invented the simple and ingenious apparatus (Fig. 1), by which 
 sound ngs are now made, in a manner which not only establishes the 
 depth, but brings up specimens of the bottom. The sounding line 
 in this apparatus is attached to a weighty rod of iron, the lower 
 extremity of which contains a hollow cup for the reception of tallow 
 or some other soft substance. This rod is passed through a hole in 
 a thirty-two pound spherical shot, being supported in its position by 
 slings A, which are hooked on to the line by the swivels a. When 
 the rod strikes the bottom, the tension on the line ceases, the swivels 
 are reversed, the slings b are thrown out of the hooks, the ball falls 
 to the ground, and the rod, released from its weight, is easily drawn 
 up, bringing with it portions of the bottom attached to the greasy 
 substance in the cup. By means of this apparatus, specimens of the 
 bottom have been brought up from the depth of four miles. 
 
 The greatest depth at which the bottom has been reached 
 with this plummet is in the North Atlantic between the parallels 
 of 35^ and 40^ north, and immediately south of the great bank 
 of rocks off Newfoundland. This does not appear to be. more 
 ihan 20,000 feet deep. " The basin of the Atlantic," says Maury, 
 
DEPTH OF THE OCEAN. 5 
 
 '•according to the deep-sea soundings in the accompanying dia- 
 gram, IS a long trough separating the Old World from the New 
 and extendmg, probably, from pole to pole. In breadth it contrasts 
 strongly with the Pacific Ocean. From the top of Chimborazo to 
 
 Fig. I —Brooke's Sounding Apparatus 
 
 the bottom of the Atlantic, at the deepest place yet reached by the 
 plummet in that ocean, the distance in a vertical line is nine miles.'' 
 
 " Could the waters of the Atlantic be drawn oft^ so as to expose 
 to view this great sea gash which separates continents, and extends 
 from the Arctic to the Antarctic Seas, it would present a scene the 
 most rugged, grand, and imposing ; the very ribs of the solid earth 
 
6 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 with the foundations of the sea would be brought to light, and we 
 should have presented to us in one view, in the empty cradle of the 
 ocean, *a thousand fearful wrecks,' with the array of 'dead men's 
 skulls, great anchors, heaps of pearls, and inestimable stones,' which, 
 in the poet's eye, lie scattered on the bottom of the sea, making it 
 hideous with the sight of ugly death." 
 
 The depth of the Mediterranean is comparatively inconsiderable. 
 Between Gibraltar and Ceuta, Captain Smith estimates the depth at 
 
 Fig 2.— Chart of the Atlantic Ocean. 
 
 about 5,700 feet, and from 1,000 to 3,000 in the narrower parts of 
 the straits. Near Nice Saussure found bottom at 3,250. It is said 
 that the bottom is shallower in the Adriatic, and does not exceed 
 140 feet between the coast of Dalmatia and the mouths of the Po. 
 
 The Baltic Sea is remarkable for its shallow waters, its maximum 
 depth rarely exceeding 600 feet. 
 
 It thus appears that- the sea has similar inequalities to those 
 observed on land ; it has its mountains, valleys, hills, and plains. 
 
 The deep-sea sounding apparatus of Lieutenant Brooke has 
 already ■ furnished some very remarkable results. . Aided by it, 
 
DEPTH OF THE OCEAN. ^ 
 
 Dr. Maury has constructed his fine orographic map of the basin of 
 the Atlantic. Dr. Maury has also published many charts, giving the 
 depths of the ocean, the substance of which is given in the accom- 
 panying map, which represents the configuration of the Atlantic up 
 to the tenth degree of south latitude, not in figures, as in Dr. Maury's 
 charts, but in tints ; diagonal lines from right to left, representing the 
 shores of both hemispheres, indicate a depth of less than 1,000 
 Lthoms ; from left to right indicate bottom at 1,000 to 2,000 \ hori- 
 zontal lines, 2,000 to 3,000 fathoms ; cross lines show an average 
 depth of 3,000 to 4,000 fathoms ; finally, the perpendicular lines in- 
 dicate a depth of 4,000 fathoms and upwards. Solid black indicates 
 continents and islands ; waving lines, surrounding both continents at 
 a short distance from the shore, indicate the sands which surround 
 the coast line at a Httle distance from the shore. 
 
 The question may be asked, what useful purpose is served by 
 taking soundings at great depths? To this we may quote the 
 answer of Franklin to a question of similar tendency, addressed to 
 aeronauts — "What purpose is served by the birth of a child?'' 
 Every fact in physics is interesting in itself; it forms a rallying point, 
 round which, sooner or later, others will meet, in order to establish 
 some useful truth ; and the importance of making and recording 
 deep-sea soundings is established by the successful immersion of the 
 transatlantic telegraph. 
 
 At the bottom of the Atlantic there exists a remarkable plateau, 
 extending from Cape Race in Newfoundland, to Cape Clear in 
 Ireland, a distance of over 2,000 miles, with a breadth of 470 miles; 
 its mean depth along the whole route is estimated at two miles and a 
 half. It is upon this telegraphic plateau, as it has been called, that 
 the attempt was made to lay down the cable in 1858, and it is 
 on it that the enterprise was so successfully completed during the 
 year 1866. The surface of the plateau had been previously explored 
 by means of Brooke's apparatus, and the bottom was found to be 
 composed chiefly of microscopic calcareous shells {Foraminiferd), 
 and a few sihceous shells (Diatomaceœ). These delicate and fragile 
 shells, which seemed to strew the bottom of the sea in beds of great 
 thickness, were brought up by the sounding-rod in a state of perfect 
 preservation, which proves that the water is remarkably quiet in 
 these depths — an inference which is fully borne out by the condition 
 in which the cable of 1858 was found, when picked up in 1866. 
 
 The first exploration of this plateau was undertaken by the 
 American brig Dolphin, which took 100 soundings 100 miles from 
 
8 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 the coast of Scotland, afterwards taking the direction of 
 the Azores, to the north of which bottom was found, 
 consisting of chalk and yellow sand, at 9,600 feet. To 
 the south of Newfoundland the depth was found to 
 be 16,500 feet. In 1856, Lieutenant Berryman, of the 
 American steamer Arctic, completed a line of soundings 
 from St. John, Newfoundland, to Valentia, off the Irish 
 coast; and in 1857, Lieutenant Dayman, of the English 
 steamship Cyclops, repeated the same operation : this last 
 line of soundings, the result of which is represented in 
 the accompanying section, differed slightly from that 
 followed by Lieutenant Berryman. In the Gulf of 
 Mexico the depth does not seem to exceed 7,000 feet. 
 
 The Arctic Ocean has, probably, no great depth. 
 Hence, salt water, following the general law of con- 
 tracting as it cools, until it freezes, no ice can be formed 
 on its surface till the temperature has fallen through its 
 entire depth nearly to freezing point, when the entire 
 mass is consolidated into pack-ice. According to Baron 
 Wrangel, the bottom of the glacial sea, on the north 
 coast of Siberia, forms a gentle slope, and, at the distance 
 of 200 miles from the shore, it is still only from ninety to 
 100 feet. Nevertheless, in Baffin's Bay, Dr. Kane made 
 soundings at 11,600 feet. 
 
 The inequalities of the basin of the Pacific Ocean 
 are, comparatively, unknown to us. The greatest depth 
 observed by Lieutenant Brooke in the great ocean is 
 2,700 fathoms, which he found in 59° north latitude and 
 166° east longitude. Applying the theory of waves to 
 the billows propelled from the coast of Japan to Cali- 
 fornia, during the earthquake of the 23rd of December, 
 1854, Professor Bache calculated that the mean depth of 
 this part of the Pacific is 14,400 feet. In the Pacific 
 Ocean, latitude 60° south and 160'^ east longitude, he 
 found soundings at 14,600 feet — about two miles and a 
 half. Another cast of the lead in the Indian Ocean was 
 made in 7,040 fathoms, but without bringing up any soil 
 from the bottom. Among the fragments brought up from 
 the bottom of the Coral Sea, a remarkable absence of 
 calcareous shells was noted, wnilst the siliceous frag- 
 ments of sponges were found in great quantities. Other 
 soundings made in the Pacific, at a depth of tour or five 
 
DEPTH OF THE OCEAN. 9 
 
 miles, were examined by Ehrenberg, who found 135 different forms 
 of Infusoria represented, and among them twenty-two species new to 
 him. These Protozoa draw from the sea the mineral matter with 
 which it is charged— that is, the hme or the silica, which form their 
 shell. These shells accumulate after the death of the animal, and 
 form the bottom of the ocean. The animals construct their habitations 
 near the surface ; when they die, they fall into the depths of the ocean, 
 where they accumulate in myriads, forming mountains and plains in 
 mid ocean. In this manner, we may remark e?i passant, many of 
 the existing continents probably had their birth in geological times. 
 The horizontal beds of marine deposits, which are called sedimentary 
 rocks, and especially the cretaceous rocks and calcareous beds of the 
 Jurassic and Tertiary periods, all result from such remains.* 
 
 The sea levelis, in general, the same everywhere. It represents 
 the spherical form of our planet, and is the basis for calculating all 
 terrestrial heights ; but many gulfs and inland seas open on the east 
 are supposed to be exceptions to this rule : the accumulation of 
 waters, pressed into these receptacles by the general movement oi 
 the sea from east to west, it is alleged, may pile up the waters, in 
 some cases to a greater height than the general level. 
 
 It had long been admitted, on the faith of inexact observation, 
 that the level of the Red Sea was higher than that of the Mediter- 
 ranean. It has also been said that the level of the Pacific Ocean at 
 Panama is higher by about forty inches than the mean level of the 
 Atlantic at Chagres, and that, at the moment of high water, this 
 difference is increased to about thirteen feet, while at low it is over 
 six feet in the opposite direction. This has been proved, so far as 
 direct evidence goes, to be an error in so far as regards the difference 
 in level of the Red Sea and Mediterranean ; and the opening of the 
 Suez Canal has now furnished convincing proofs of it. Recent 
 soundings . show that the mean level of the Pacific and Atlantic 
 Oceans are identical. 
 
 It has been calculated that aU the waters of the several seas 
 gathered together would form a sphere of fifty or sixty leagues in 
 diameter, and, supposing the surface of the globe perfectly level, 
 that these waters would submerge it to the depth of more than 600 
 feet. Again, admitting the mean depth of the sea to be 13,000 feet, 
 its estimated contents ought to be nearly 2,250,000,000 of cubic 
 miles of water J and, if the sea could be imagined to be dried up, all 
 
 ^ •" World Before -the Deluge^" 2nd edition. 
 
lO THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 the rivers of the earrh would require to pour their waters into it for 
 40,000 years, in order to fill the vast basins anew. 
 
 If we could imagine the entire globe to be divided into 1,786 
 parts by weight, we should find approximately, according to Sir John 
 Herschel, that the total weight of the oceanic waters is equivalent to 
 one of these parts. 
 
 The specific density of sea water is a little above that of fresh 
 water, the proportion being as 1,000 to 1,027. The Dead Sea, 
 which receives no fresh water so as to enable it to maintain itself at 
 the same level as other seas, acquires a higher degree of saltness 
 each year : its present density is equal to 1,028. 
 
 The colour of the sea is continually varying, and is chiefly caused 
 by filtration of the solar rays. According to the testimony of the 
 majority of observers, the ocean, seen by reflection, presents a fine 
 azure blue or ultramarine {cœi'uleum mare). When the air is pure 
 and the surface calm, this tint softens insensibly, until it is lost and 
 blended with the blue of the heavens. Near the shore it becomes 
 more of a green or glaucous tint, and more or less brilliant, according 
 to circumstances. There are some days when the ocean assumes a 
 livid aspect, and others when it becomes a very pure green ; at other 
 times, the green is sombre and sad. When the sea is agitated, the 
 green takes a brownish hue. At sunset the surface of the sea is 
 illumined with tints of every hue of purple and emerald. Placed in 
 a vase, sea water appears perfectly transparent and colourless. 
 According to Scoresby, the Polar seas are of brilliant ultramarine 
 blue. Castaz says of the Mediterranean, that it is celestial blue, and 
 Tuckey describes the equinoctial Atlantic as being of a vivid blue. 
 
 Many local causes influence 'the colours of marine waters, and 
 give them certain decided and constant shades. A bottom of white 
 sand will communicate a greyish or apple-green colour to the water, 
 if not very deep ; when the sand is yellow, the green appears more 
 sombre ; the presence of rocks is often announced by the deep 
 colour which the sea takes in their vicinity. In the Bay of Loango 
 the waters appear of a deep red, because the bottom is there naturally 
 red. It appears white in the Gulf of Guinea, yellow on the coast of 
 Japan, green to the west of the Canaries, and black round the 
 Maldive group of islands. The Mediterranean, towards the Grecian 
 Archipelago, sometimes becomes more or less red. The White and 
 Black Seas appear to be named after the ice of the one and the 
 tempests to which the other is subject. 
 
PHOSPHORESCENCE OF THE SEA. tl 
 
 At other times coloured animal or vegetable bodies give to the 
 water a particular tint. The Red Sea owes its colour to a minute 
 microscopic algae {Trichodesmium erythrœum), which was examined 
 under the microscope by Ehrenberg; but various other causes of 
 its colouration have been suggested. Some microscopists maintain 
 that it is imparted to it by the presence of minute Infusoria ; others, 
 again, ascribe its colour to the fact that the evaporation which goes 
 on unceasingly in that riverless district produces reddish salt rocks 
 on a great scale all round its shores. In the same manner sea water, 
 concentrated by the action of the solar rays in the salt marshes ot 
 the south of France, when they arrive at a certain stage of concentra- 
 tion, take a fine red colour, which, however, is due to the presence of a 
 species of red-shelled Entomostracon which only appear in sea water of 
 this strength. The red saline lakes on the Great Thibetian watersheds 
 are also said to be due to this cause. Strangely enough, these minute 
 creatures die when the waters attain greater density by further con- 
 centration, and also if it becomes weaker from the effects of rain. 
 
 Navigators often traverse long patches of green, red, white, or 
 yellow coloured waters, their colouration being consequent on the 
 presence of microscopic crustaceans, medusae, zoophytes, and marine 
 plants — the Vermilion Sea on the Californian coast is probably due 
 to the latter cause. 
 
 The phenomenon known as Phosphorescence of the Sea is due to 
 analogous causes. This wonderful sight is observable in all seas, 
 but is most striking in the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Gulf, and 
 other tropical seas. In the Indian Ocean, Captain Kingman, of the 
 American ship Shooting Star, traversed a zone twenty-three miles 
 in length so filled with phosphorescent matter, that a little before 
 eight o'clock at night, the water was seen rapidly assuming a white, 
 milky appearance, and during the night it presented the appear- 
 ance of a vast field of snow. "There was scarcely a cloud in the 
 heavens," he continues, "yet the sky, for about io° above the hori- 
 zon, appeared as black as if a storm were raging ; stars of the first 
 magnitude shone with a feeble light, and the * Milky Way ' of the 
 heavens was almost entirely eclipsed by that through which we were 
 sailing." Some of the animals which produced this appearance were 
 thought to be about six inches long, and appeared formed of a 
 gelatinous and translucent matter. At times, the sea was one blaze 
 of fight, produced by countless millions of those minute globular 
 creatures, called Noctiluca. The motion of a vessel or the splash of 
 
12 TîiË OCÉAN WORLD, 
 
 an oar will often excite their luminosity, and sometimes, after the ebb 
 of tide, the rocks and seaweed of the coast will be found glowing 
 with them. Various other tribes of animals there are which con- 
 tribute to this luminous appearance of the sea. M. Peron thus 
 describes the effect produced by Fy?vsoma atianttcum, on his voyage 
 to the Isle of France : — " The wind was blowing with great violence, 
 the night was dark, and the vessel was making rapid way, when what 
 appeared to be a vast sheet of phosphorus presented itself floating 
 on the waves, and occupying a great space ahead of the ship. The 
 vessel having passed through this fiery mass, it was discovered that 
 the light was occasioned by organised bodies swimming about in the 
 sea at various depths round the ship. Those which were deepest in 
 the water looked like red-hot balls, while those on the surface 
 resembled cylinders of red-hot iron. Some of the latter were caught: 
 they were found to vary in size from three to seven inches. All the 
 exterior of the creatures bristled with long thick tubercles, shining 
 like so many diamonds, and these seemed to be the principal seat of 
 their luminosity. Inside also there appeared to be a multitude of 
 oblong narrow glands, exhibiting a high degree of phosphoric power. 
 The colour of these animals when in repose is an opal yellow, mixed 
 with green ; but, on the slightest movement, the animal exhibits a spon- 
 taneous contractile power, and assumes a luminous brilliancy, passing 
 through various shades of deep red, orange green, and azure blue." 
 
 The phosphorescence of the sea is a spectacle at once imposing 
 and magnificent. A ship, in plunging through the waves, seems to 
 advance through a sea of bright flame, which is thrown off by the 
 keel like so much lightning. Myriads of phosphorescent creatures 
 float and play on the surface of the waves, so as to form one vast 
 field of fire. In stormy weather the luminous waves roll and break 
 in a silvery foam. Glittering particles, which might be taken foi 
 sparks of living fire, seem to pursue and catch each other — lose their 
 hold, and dart after each other anew. From time immemorial, the 
 phosphorescence of the sea has been observed by navigators. The 
 luminous appearance presents itself on the crest of the waves, which 
 in falling scatter it in all directions. It attaches itself to the rudder, 
 and dashes against the bows of the vessel. It plays round the reefs 
 and rocks against which the waves beat, and on silent nights, in the 
 tropics, the effects are truly magical. This phosphorescence is due 
 for the most part to the presence of a multitude of Noctiluca, larval 
 crustacean forms, some few Molluscs and Acalephes, which seem to 
 shine by their own light. Of the most remarkable of the molluscs 
 met with are several species of Fyrosotna which present the 
 
SALTNESS OF THE SEA. 13 
 
 appearance of a sort of rxiucous sac of about an inch long, which, 
 thrown upon the deck of a ship, emits a Hght Hke a rod of iron 
 heated to a white heat. Sir John Herschel noted on the surface of 
 cahn water a very curious form of phosphorescence; it was a polygon 
 of rectilinear shape, covering many square feet of surface, and it 
 illuminated the whole region for som_e moments with a vivid light, 
 which traversed it with great rapidity. 
 
 The phosphorescence of the sea may also result from another cause. 
 When animal matter is decomposed it becomes phosphorescent. The 
 bodies of certain fishes, when they become a prey to putrefaction, 
 emit an intense light. MM. Becquerel and Breschet have noted 
 fine phosphorescent effects from this cause in the waters of the Brenta 
 at Venice. Animal matter in a state of decomposition, proceeding 
 from dead fish which floats on the surface of ponds, is capable of 
 producing large patches of oleaginous matter, which, piled upon the 
 water, communicates, to a considerable extent, especially when the 
 water is agitated, a phosphorescent appearance. 
 
 Whatever may be the case elsewhere, there are local causes which 
 affect the colour of the waters in certain rivers, and even originate 
 their names. The Guainia, which with the Casiquaire forms the Rio 
 Negro, is of a deep bro^vn, which scarcely interferes with the 
 limpidity of its waters. The waters of the Orinoco and the Casiquaire 
 have also a brownish colour. The Ganges is of a muddy brown, 
 while the Djumna, which it receives, is green or blue. A whitish 
 colour is characteristic of the Rio Bianco, or White River, and of 
 many other rivers. The Ohio in America, the Torgedale, the 
 Goetha, the Traun at Ischl and most of the Norwegian rivers, are of 
 a delicate limpid green. The Yellow River and the Blue River in 
 China are distinguished by the characteristic tint of their waters. 
 The Arkajisas, the Red River, and the Lobregat in Catalonia, are 
 remarkable for their red colour, which, like the Dart and other 
 English rivers, they owe to the earth over which they flow, or which 
 their waters hold in suspension. 
 
 The water of the sea is essentially salt, of a peculiar flavour, 
 slightly acrid and bitter, and a little nauseous. It has an odour 
 peculiarly its own, and is slightly viscous. In short, it includes a 
 great number of mineral salts, which give it a very disagreeable taste, 
 and render it unfit for domestic use. It contains, among the soluble 
 substances which exist on the globe, principally chloride of sodium, 
 and sulphates of magnesia, of potassium, and of lime. 
 
1 4 THE OCEAN , WOELD. . 
 
 Pure water is produced by a combination of one volume of 
 oxygen and of two yolumes of hydrogen, or in weight, loo oxygen, 
 12*50 hydrogen. Sea water is composed of the same; but we find 
 there, besides, other elements, the presence of which chemistry 
 reveals to us. In 1,000 grains of sea water the following ingredients 
 are found : — 
 
 Water 962 'o 
 
 Chloride of sodium 27 'i 
 
 Chloride of magnesium 5-4 
 
 Chloride of potassium 0*4 
 
 Bromide of magnesia o*i 
 
 Sulphate of magnesia i -2 
 
 Sulphate of lime . 0*8 
 
 Carbonate of Lime o"i 
 
 leaving a residuum of 2*9, consisting of sulphuretted hydrogen, 
 hydrochlorate of ammonia, iodine, iron, copper, and even silver in 
 various quantities and proportions, according to the locality of the 
 specimen. In examining the plates of copper taken from the bottom 
 of a ship at Valparaiso, which had been long at sea, distinct traces 
 of silver were found deposited by the sea. Finally, we find dissolved 
 in the ocean a peculiar mucus, which seems of a mixed animal and 
 vegetable nature, and is apparently organic matter proceeding from 
 the successive decomposition of the innumerable generations of 
 animals which have disappeared since the beginning of the world. 
 This matter has been described by the Count Marsigli, who 
 designates it sometimes under the name of ghi, and sometimes as an 
 unctuosity. It is the ''ooze" of marine sui-veyors, and consists chiefly 
 of carbonate of lime, ninety per cent, of which is formed of minute 
 animal organisms. Its mealy adhesiveness results from the pres- 
 sure of the superimposed water. The numerous salts which exist 
 in the sea can neither be deposited in its bed, nor exhaled with 
 the vapour, to be again poured upon the soil in showers of rain. 
 Particular agents retain these salts in solution, transform them, and 
 prevent their accumulation. Hence sea water always maintains a 
 certain degree of saltness and bitterness ; and the ocean continues to 
 present the chemical characters which it has exhibited in all times, 
 varying only in certain localities where more or less fresh water is 
 poured into the sea basin from rivers ; thus, the saltness of the Medi- 
 terranean is greater than that of the open ocean, probably because it 
 loses moïe water by evaporation than it receives from its fresh-water 
 affiuents. For the opposite reason, the Black and the Caspian Seas 
 are less charged with these salts. The Dead Sea is so strongly 
 
SALTNESS OF THE SEA. 1$ 
 
 impregnated with salt that the body of a man floats on its surface 
 without sinking, Uke a piece of cork upon fresh water. The supposed 
 causes are excessive evaporation and the absence of rivers of any 
 importance. 
 
 The saltness of the sea seems to be generally less towards the 
 poles than the equator ; but there are exceptions to this law. In 
 the Irish Channel, near the Cumberland coast, the water contains 
 salt equal to the fortieth of its weight ; on the coast of France it is 
 equal to one thirty-second ; in the Baltic it is equal to a thirtieth ; 
 at Teneriffe a twenty-eighth; and off the coast of Spain to a 
 sixteenth. Again, in many places the sea is less salt at the surface 
 than at the bottom. In the Straits of the Dardanelles at Constan- 
 tinople the proportion is as seventy-two to sixty-two ; in the Medi- 
 terranean it is as thirty-two to twenty-nine. It is also stated that as 
 the salt increases at a certain depth the water becomes less bitter. 
 At the mouths of the great rivers, it is scarcely necessary to add, 
 the water is always less saline than on shores which receive no 
 supplies of fresh water j the same remark applies to sea water in the 
 vicinity of polar ice, the melting of which is productive of much 
 fresh water. A recent analysis of the water of the Dead Sea by 
 M. Roux gives about two pounds of salt to one gallon of water; 
 no mineral water, if we except that of the Salt Lake of Utah, is so 
 largely impregnated with saline substances ; the quantity of bromide 
 of magnesia is 0*35 grammes to the htre. The water of the Dead 
 Sea is, according to these proportions, a rich natural depository of 
 bromide, which it might be made to furnish abundantly. The waters 
 of the great Lake of Utah and Lake Ourmiah in Persia are both 
 highly saHne. In Lake Ourmiah, as in the Dead Sea, the proportion 
 of salt is six times greater than in the ocean. Many of our fresh- 
 water lakes were probably salt originally, but have by degrees lost 
 their saline properties by the mingling of their waters with those of 
 the rivers which traverse or flow into them. Among the lakes which 
 appear to have been divested of their saline properties may be 
 mentioned the great lakes of Canada and the Sea of Baikal, in all of 
 which seals and other marine animals are still found, which have 
 become acclimatised as the water gradually became fresh. 
 
 The saltness of sea water increases its density, and at the same 
 time its buoyancy, thus adapting it for bearing ships and other 
 burdens on its bosom ; moreover, to abbreviate slightly Dr. Maury's 
 remark, " the brine of the ocean is the ley of the earth." From it 
 the sea derives dynamical power, and its currents their main strength. 
 It is the salt of the sea that imparts to its waters those curious 
 
1 6 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 anomalies in the laws of freezing and of thermal dilatation, that 
 assist the rays of heat to penetrate its bosom ; the salts of the sea 
 invest it with adaptations which fresh water could not possess. In 
 the latter case the maximum density would be 39^ 5" instead of 
 25° 6", when the dynamical force of the sea would be insufficient 
 to put the Gulf Stream in motion, nor could .it regulate those 
 climates we call marine. 
 
 We have said that sea water contains nearly all the soluble sub- 
 stances which exist in the globe. Nevertheless, when evaporated it is 
 comparatively pure. "The water which evaporates from the sea," 
 says Youman, in his *' Chemistry," " is nearly pure, containing very 
 minute traces of salts. Falling as rain upon the land, it washes the 
 soil, percolates through the rocky layers, and becomes charged with 
 saline substances, which are borne seaward by the returning currents'. 
 The ocean, therefore, is the great depository of all substances that 
 water can dissolve and carry down from the surface of the continents '; 
 and, as there is no channel for their escape, they would constantly 
 accumulate were it not for the creatures which inhabit the seas and 
 utihse the material thus brought within their reach." These sub- 
 smiices are chloride of sodium or common salt, sulphates of magnesia, 
 potassium, lime, and other substances, which the water of various seas 
 is found to contain. 
 
 In the year 1847 I made an analysis of water taken a few leagues 
 from the coast at Havre, which gave the following result, from one 
 litre (i pint 760773) : — * 
 
 Gramnies. 
 
 Chloride of sodium 25704 
 
 Chloride of magnesium 2*905 
 
 - Sulphate of magnesia 2*462 
 
 Sulphate of lime . , , . . • i'2io 
 
 Sulphate of potassium ,, . 0*094 
 
 Carbonate of lime 0*132 
 
 Silicate of soda 0*017 
 
 Bromide of sodium 0*103 
 
 Bromide of magnesium 0*030 
 
 Oxide of iron, carbonate and phosphate of mag- Only 
 
 nesia, and oxide of manganese traces. 
 
 32*657 
 
 * Examen Comparatif des Principales Eaux Minérales de France et d'Alle- 
 magne, par MM. L. Figuier et Mialhe. Read at the Académie de Médecin, 
 23rd of May, 1848. 
 
SALTNESS OF THE SEA, 1 7 
 
 The water of the Mediterranean contains more salts than that of 
 tne ocean. 
 
 The following are, according to M. Usiglio— who was one of a 
 commission sent to examine the different kinds of salt water in the 
 south of France — the component parts of one hundred gallons of 
 Mediterranean water : — 
 
 lbs. 
 
 Chloride of sodium 29-524 
 
 Chloride of potassium .,..,.... 0'405 
 
 Chlo*-vde of magnesium 3 '2 19 
 
 Sul^nate of magnesia 2*477 
 
 Chloride of calcium 6'o8o 
 
 Sulphate of lime i'557 
 
 Carbonate of lime o'ii4 
 
 Bromide of sodium . , 0'356 
 
 Protoxide of irot» , , o'oo3 
 
 43735 
 
 We conclude, from the quantity of sea salt contained' in the 
 water of the ocean, that if it were spread over the surface of the 
 globe, it would form a layer of more than thirty feet in height. 
 
 The salt contained in sea water gives it a greater density than 
 fresh water; its average specific weight is i'o2 7. The density of 
 the water of the Mediterranean is, according to M. Usiglio, 1*025 
 when at the temperature of seventy degrees. But the saltness of 
 the sea varies very much under the influence of a great many 
 local circumstances, among which we must count principally cur- 
 rents, winds favourable to evaporation, rivers coming from the 
 continents, &c. 
 
 It has been remarked that the sea is less salt towards the poles 
 than at the equator ; that the saltness increases, in general, with the 
 distance from land, and the depth of the water ; that the interior 
 seas, such as the Baltic, the Black Sea, the White Sea, the Sea of 
 Marmora, and the Yellow Sea, are less salt than the ocean. The 
 Mediterranean is an exception to this last rule ; it is, as we have 
 seen, Salter than the ocean, This difference is explained by the fact 
 that the quantity of fresh water brought into it by rivers is less than 
 that lost by evaporation. The Mediterranean must therefore grow 
 Salter with time, unless its water is discharged into the ocean by a 
 counter current, which would run under the current coming from the 
 Atlantic by the Straits of Gibraltar. 
 
 The Black Sea, on the contrary, the water of which has a density 
 of only I'ci^, receives from rivers more fresh water than it loses by 
 
ï8 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 evaporation. The saltness of this interior sea is only half as intense 
 as that of the ocean. 
 
 The Sea of Azov and the Caspian Sea are still less salt than the 
 Black Sea. 
 
 The following table shows the relative composition of the watei 
 in these three interior seas : — 
 
 In loo Gallons of Water. 
 
 Chloride of 
 Chloride of 
 Chloride of 
 Sulphate of 
 Sulphate of 
 Bicarbonate 
 Bicarbonate 
 Bromide of 
 
 sodium 
 potassium 
 magnesium 
 magnesia 
 lime . . 
 of magnesia 
 of lime . 
 magnesium , 
 
 Black Sea. 
 
 Density 
 
 1*013. 
 
 Sea of Azov. 
 
 Density 
 
 1-009. 
 
 Caspian Sea. 
 
 Density 
 
 I "005. 
 
 14-0195 
 9-1892 
 1-3045 
 1-4704 
 0-I047 
 0-2086 
 0-3646 
 0-0052 
 
 9-6583 
 
 0-I279 
 0-8870 
 0-7642 
 0-2879 
 0-1286 
 00221 
 00035 
 
 3-6731 
 00761 
 0-6324 
 1-2389 
 0-4903 
 0-0129 
 0-1705 
 
 traces 
 
 17-6663 
 
 11-8795 
 
 6-2942 
 
 In some lakes without any outlet, as the Dead Sea and the Lake 
 of Ural, the degree of saltness is considerably augmented. Nume- 
 rous experiments have proved that the water of the Dead Sea is six 
 times Salter than that of the ocean. MM. Boutron and O'Henry 
 analysed, in April, 1850, after the rainy season, some water of the 
 Dead Sea, taken at about two leagues from the mouth of the Jordan ; 
 its density was then 1*10. 
 
 The saltness of sea water makes it more fitted to float ships, 
 because its density is increased by the salts which are dissolved in it. 
 Besides this, these salts contribute to prevent the water becoming 
 contaminated with decomposed organic matter. 
 
 By the table representing the composition of the water of the 
 ocean and that of the Mediterranean, we see that salts of lime and 
 potassium, as well as iodine and silica, are only found in infinitely 
 small quantities. Nevertheless, the lime and silica contained in the 
 sea water are of very great importance ; for these quantities, which 
 appear to us so small in the table of a chemical analysis, become 
 enormous in the entire extent of the ocean. The marine plants take 
 up the lime, the silex, the potassium, and the iodides which are dis- 
 solved in the sea water, and these mineral substances enter into 
 their textures. It is from the carbonate of lime and silex that the 
 
THE S ALT NESS OF SEA. 1 9 
 
 various marine animals form their solid covering, their shell or cara- 
 pace ; and the Infusoria make use of the lime, silex, and potassium, 
 for the same purpose. It is by knowing all the life-history and 
 habits of the Cœlenterata that we explain the appearance of those 
 Coral Islands found in the ocean, the existence of which has been 
 a subject of much astonishment, and the history of which shall find 
 a place in another chapter. 
 
 The Pacific and Indian Oceans are studded with islands — some in 
 a state of formation — which owe their origin to the coral polyps. 
 These extract from the sea water the lime and silex which are found 
 there in the state of soluble salts. In order to grow and develop, 
 they must be continually under water. They are constantly pro- 
 ducing calcareous deposits ; these deposits rise rapidly, and at last 
 reach the surface of the water. Then the seaweed and the rubbish 
 of all kinds that the sea carries along with it, arrested by these 
 emerging masses, cover them with a layer of fertile soil, which is 
 soon again covered with vegetation, as the birds and the waves bring 
 seeds thither. 
 
 The coral islands of the Pacific, which are described in another 
 chapter, are formed in this manner. 
 
 Besides the substances named, sea water also contains, but in 
 infinitesimally small quantities, metals, such as iron, copper, lead, and 
 silver ; the old copper collecting round the keels of ships some- 
 times so much silver that it has been thought worth extracting ! A 
 curious calculation has been attempted, based on the age of ships 
 and the distance they have gone during all their voyages, to show 
 that the sea contains in solution 2,000,000 tons of silver. "^ 
 
 The question has often been asked. Whence comes the salt and 
 other substances held in solution in sea water ? If our readers will 
 turn back to the first few pages of " The World Before the Deluge," 
 they will better understand the very simple geological explanation 
 that we are going to give of the origin of the different substances 
 dissolved in sea water. 
 
 In the first stage of our planet, before the watery vapours con- 
 tained in the primitive atmosphere were condensed, and before they 
 had begun to fall on the earth in the form of a boiling rain, the shell 
 of the earth contained an infinite variety of heterogeneous mineral 
 substances, some soluble in water, others not. When rain fell on 
 the burning surface for the first time, the waters became charged 
 with all the soluble substances, which were reunited and afterwards 
 
 * Sir J. Herschel's " Physical Geography," p. 22, gives the basis and details 
 of this calculation. 
 
20 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 deposited, accumulating in the large depressions of the soil. The 
 seas of the primitive globe were thus formed of rain water, holding 
 in solution all that the earth had given up, collected in large basins. 
 Chloride of sodium, sulphates of soda, magnesia, potassium, limé, 
 and silex, this latter in the form of a soluble silicate ; in a word, 
 every soluble matter that the primitive globe contained formed part 
 of the mineral contingent of this water. If we reflect that through 
 all time up to the present day none of the general laws of Nature 
 have changed — if we consider that the soluble substances contained 
 in the water of the primitive seas have remained there, and that the 
 fresh water of the rivers constantly replaces the water which disap- 
 pears by evaporation — we have the true explanation of the saltness 
 of sea water. " It is a very simple theory, it is true," adds M. Figuier", 
 "but one that we have found nowhere, and the responsibility of 
 which we therefore claim. The chloride of sodium is by no means 
 the only substance dissolved in sea water. It contains, besides, 
 many other mineral substances ; in short, every soluble salt on the 
 face of the globe, and, along with them, portions of different metals' 
 in infinitely small quantities." 
 
 The mean temperature of the surface of the sea is nearly the 
 same as the atmosphere, so long as no currents of heat or cold in- 
 terpose their perturbing influence. In the neighbourhood of the 
 Tropics, it appears that the surface of the water is shghtly warmer 
 than the ambient air, but experiments on the temperature of the sea 
 from the surface to the bottom reveal, according to our author,* 
 "some evidence which establishes a curious law. In very deep 
 water a perfectly uniform temperature of 4° below zero prevails, 
 which corresponds, as physics have established, to the maximum 
 density of water. Under the Equator this temperature exists at 
 the depth of 7,000 feet. In the Polar regions, where water is 
 colder at the surface, this temperature is maintained at 4,600 feet. 
 The isothermal lines of 4^^ form a line of demarcation between the 
 zones, where the surface of the sea is colder, and those where it is 
 warmer than the bed of four degrees below zero." This is more 
 clearly shown in Fig. 4, which represents a section of the ocean, the 
 curved line which touches two points at the surface indicating the 
 depths where the temperature is constantly fixed at 4°. 
 
 Dr. Maury's account of this phenomenon is asserted with less 
 confidence. The existence of an isothermal floor of the ocean, as he 
 calls it, was first suggested by the observations of Kotzebue, Admiral 
 
 * " La TeiTe et les Mers," p. 517, troisième édition. 
 
USES OF SALT SEAS. 21 
 
 Beechey, and Sir James C. Ross. " Its temperature, according to 
 Kotzebue, is 7,6^ Fahr., or 4° Centigrade ; the depth of this 
 bed, of invariable and uniform temperature, is 1,200 fathoms at the 
 Equator ; thence it graduaUy rises to the parallel of about 56^ north 
 and south, when it crops out, and there the temperature of the sea 
 from top to bottom is conjectured to be permanent at 2)^"^. The 
 place of this outcrop, no doubt, shifts with the seasons, vibrating 
 north and south, after the manner of the Calm Belts. Proceeding 
 onwards to the Frigid zones, this aqueous stratum of an unchanging 
 temperature dips again, and continues to incline till it reaches the 
 Poles, at the depth of 750 fathoms; so that on the equatorial side of 
 
 I 
 
 EcfllcLtOT 
 
 j^90° 75° 60° 45" 30° 15° "*■ 15° 30" 45° 60" 75° 90°^ 
 PoléT I I H--*01 I I I I I I H-4Q°| I "iPole 
 
 4.— Thermal Lines of equal Temperature. 
 
 the outcrop the water above the isothermal floor is the warmer, but 
 in Polar seas the supernatant water is the colder." 
 
 In the saline properties of sea water Maury discovers one of the 
 principal forces from which currents in the ocean proceed. " The 
 brine of the ocean is the ley of the earth," he says ; '' from it the 
 sea derives dynamical powers, and its currents their main strength. 
 Hence, to understand the dynamics of the ocean, it is necessary to 
 study the effects of their saltness upon the equilibrium of the waves. 
 Why IS the sea made salt ? It is the salts of the sea that impart to 
 its waters those curious anomalies in the laws of freezing and of 
 thermal dilatation. It is the salts of the sea that assist the rays of 
 heat to penetrate its bosom." The circulation of the ocean is indis- 
 pensable to the distribution of temperature— to the maintenance of 
 the meteorological and climatic conditions which rule the develop- 
 ment of life ; and this circulation could not exist — at least, the 
 
22 THE OCEAN WORLD: 
 
 character of its waters would be completely changed — ^if they were 
 fresh in place of salt. " Let us imagine," says M. Julien, " that the 
 sea, now entirely composed of fresh water, of one uniform tempera- 
 ture from the Pole to the Equator, and from the surface to its 
 greatest depths ; the solar heat would penetrate the liquid beds 
 nearest to the Equator ; it would dilate them, so as to raise them 
 above their primitive level ; by the single effect of gravitation, they 
 would glide on the surface towards the Polar zones. The absence of 
 all solar radiation would tend, on the contrary, to cool and contract 
 them without this tendency. An exchange would be established 
 from the extremities towards the centre ; in other words, a counter 
 current of cold and heavy water, calculated to replace the losses 
 occasioned by the action of solar radiation, would descend from 
 the Poles, but quite maintaining itself beneath the light and warm 
 current from the Equator." 
 
 In a like system of general circulation, the physical properties of 
 pure water, which attains its maximum of density 7° 2" F. below 
 zero, would produce the most singular consequences. As its tem- 
 perature rose above that point, the water would become hghter, 
 having consequently a tendency to ascend towards the upper beds. 
 After this, the equatorial current, meeting in its progress towards the 
 Poles the cold water, would itself be cooled down ; and when its 
 temperature had reached 4° below zero, being now heavier than the 
 polar current, would change places with it, descending until it reached 
 water equally dense, while the polar current would ascend. Hence 
 would arise a sort of confusion of currents, which would give to a 
 fresh-water ocean the strangest results, disarranging every instant the 
 regular circulation of its waters. It could not be so, however, in an 
 ocean of salt water, which attains its maximum specific gravity at 
 4° 8" below zero. By evaporation at the surface it is concentrated 
 and precipitated, and thus rendered densei- than that immediately 
 below the surface. It consequently sinks, while the lower beds come 
 up to replace, in order to modify it, and in turn to be precipitated in 
 the same manner. " In this manner we find established a continually 
 ascending and descending movement, which carries down into the 
 depths of ocean the water warmed at the surface by the solar rays of 
 the Torrid zone. This double vertical current facilitates and pre- 
 pares the grand horizontal current which puts these submarine 
 reservoirs of heat in communication with the lower beds of the 
 glacial sea. In the Arctic basin the clouds, the melted snow, and 
 the great rivers, which have their mouths on the north of both con- 
 tinents, produce considerable quantities of fresh water, which, mixing 
 
USES OF SALT SEAS. 23 
 
 with the waves of the Polar Sea, form a bed of mean density light 
 enough to maintain itself and flow off towards the Atlantic Ocean. 
 These surface movements determine in the lower regions certain 
 contrary movements, whence originate the powerful counter currents 
 which ascend the Straits from Baffin's Bay and reappear in the 
 mysterious ' Polynia ' of Kane, diffusing there its treasure of heat 
 brought from intertropical seas." Dr. Kane, in his interesting 
 narrative, reports an open sea north of the parallel of 82^, which he 
 and his party crossed a barrier of ice eighty miles broad to reach, 
 and before he reached it the thermometer marked 60°. Beyond this 
 ice-bound region he found himself on the shores of an iceless sea, 
 extending in an unbroken sheet of water as far as the eye could 
 reach towards the Pole. Its waves were dashing on the beach with 
 the swell of a great ocean ; the tides ebbed and flowed. Now the 
 question arises. Where did those tides have their origin ? The tidal 
 wave of the Atlantic could not have passed under the icy barrier 
 which De Haven found so firm ; therefore they must have been 
 cradled in the cold sea round the Pole ; in which case it follows that 
 most, if not all, the unexplored regions about the Pole must be 
 covered with deep water, the only source of strong and regular tides. 
 Seals were sporting, and water-fowl feeding, in this open sea, as Dr. 
 Kane tells us ; and the temperature of the water which rolled in and 
 dashed at his feet with measured beat was 36°, while the bottom of 
 the icy barrier of eighty miles was probably hundreds of feet below 
 the surface level. 
 
 " The existence of these tides," says Maury, " with the immense 
 flow and drift which annually take place from the Polar Seas and the 
 Atlantic, suggests many conjectures as to the condition of these 
 unexplored regions. Whalers have always been puzzled as to the 
 breeding-place of the great whale. It is a cold-water animal, and, 
 following up the train of thought, the question arises. Is not the 
 nursery for the great whale in this Polar Sea, which is so set about 
 and hemmed in by a hedge of ice, that man may not attempt to 
 trespass there ?" 
 
 One or two points worthy of notice may be recorded here. 
 Shallow water, and water near the coast, or covering raised sand- 
 banks, is colder than water in the open sea. Alexander von 
 Humboldt explains this phenomenon by supposing that deep waters 
 of higher temperature re-ascend from the lowest depths and mingle 
 with the upper beds. Fogs are frequently formed over sand-banks, 
 because the cold water which covers them produces a local precipita- 
 tion of atmospheric vapour. The contour of these fogs are perfectly 
 
24 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 defined when seen from a distance: they reproduce the form and 
 accidents due to the submarine soil. Moreover, we often see 
 clouds arrested over these points, which look from afar like the 
 peaks of mountains. 
 
25 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 CURRENTS OF THE OCEAN, 
 
 ' seas that sweep 
 
 The three-decker's oaken mast."— Tennyson. 
 
 The ocean is a scene of unceasing agitation ; " its vast surface rises 
 and falls," to use the image suggested by Schleiden, "as if it 
 were gifted with a gentle power of respiration ; its movements, 
 gentle or powerful, slow or rapid, are all determined by differences 
 of temperature." 
 
 Heat increases its volume and changes the specific gravity of the 
 water, which is dilated or condensed in proportion to the change of 
 temperature. In proportion as it cools, water increases in density, 
 and descends into the depths until it reaches a constant temperature 
 of 4° 25' Centigrade below zero, which it preserves in all latitudes at 
 the depth of 1,000 yards, according to M. D'Urville. 
 
 If the water continues to cool, and reaches zero, it becomes 
 lighter than it was at 4° 25' Centigrade, and ascends in a state of 
 congelation — a process which, by an admirable provision of Nature, 
 can only take place at the surface. So long as the temperature is 
 above 4° 25', water is light, and ascends to the surface, while colder 
 water sinks to the bottom. Below 4*^ 25' the process is reversed ; 
 the first phenomenon is always in force under the Equator, the second 
 near the Poles. The evaporation which is in continual operation in 
 warm seas, forming vast rain-clouds at the expense of the sea, is 
 compensated by unceasing currents of colder water flowing from 
 the Poles. This evaporation has a direct influence, moreover, on 
 the density of sea water, and is pointed out by Dr. Maury as a 
 remarkable instance of the compensations by which the oceanic 
 waters are governed. "According to Rodgers' observations," he 
 says, " the average specific gravity of the sea water on the parallels 
 of 34° north and south, at a mean temperature of 64*", is just what 
 it ought to be, according to saline and thermal laws ; but its specific 
 gravity, when taken from the Equator at a mean temperature of 
 
26 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 8i*^, IS much greater than, according to the same la\yj, it ought to be 
 — the observed difference being '0015, whereas it ought to be '0025. 
 Let us inquire," he adds, "what makes the equatorial waters so 
 much heavier than they ought to be. 
 
 " The anomaly occurs in the trade-wind region, and is best 
 developed between the parallel of 40° in the North Atlantic and the 
 Equator, where the water grows warmer, but not proportionally 
 lighter. The water sucked up by the trade- wind s is fresh water, and 
 the salt it contained, being left behind, is just sufficient to counteract 
 by its weight the effect of thermal dilatation upon the specific gravity 
 of water between the parallels of 34° north and south. The thirsting 
 of the trade-winds for vapour is so balanced as to produce perfect 
 compensation; and a more beautiful instance than we have here 
 stumbled upon is not, it appears to me, to be found in the mechanism 
 of the universe." 
 
 The oceanic currents are due to a great number of causes : the 
 duration and force of the winds, for instance ; the rise and fall of 
 tides all over the globe ; the variations in the density of the water, 
 according to its temperature and the evaporating powers of the 
 atmosphere ; the depth and degree of saltness to which we have 
 already alluded ; finally, to the variations of barometric pressure. 
 
 The currents which furrow the ocean often present a striking 
 contrast with the immobility of tiie neighbouring waters ; they may 
 be seen to form rivers of a determinate breadth, whose banks are 
 formed by the water in repose, and whose course is often made quite 
 perceptible by stray floating particles, and often by several aquatic 
 plants which follow in their train. 
 
 In order to comprehend the origin of these pelagic rivers, it is 
 necessary to consider the laws which govern the atmospheric currents, 
 in particular the trade winds. "Hence," says Maury, " in studying 
 the system of oceanic circulation, we set out with the very simple 
 assumption, that from whatever part of the ocean a current is found 
 to run, to that same part a current of equal volume is bound to 
 return; for on this principle is based the whole system of currents 
 and counter currents." The differences of temperature between 
 equinoctial and polar countries generate two opposing currents, the 
 upper one proceeding from the Equator to the Poles, the lower one 
 directed from the Poles towards the Equator. On reaching the 
 Equator, the cold current of air from the Poles is v/armed and 
 rarefied, and ascends to the upper beds of the atmosphere, whence it 
 is again led to its point of departure; there it is again cooled, and 
 returns with the lower current towards the tropical regions. But the 
 
CURRENTS OF THE OCEAN. 2J 
 
 rotatory movement of the earth modifies the direction of these 
 atmospheric currents. The movement by which it is carried from 
 west to east being almost nothing at the Poles, but inconceivably 
 rapid under the Equator, it follows that the cold air, in proportion as 
 it advances towards the Tropics, ought to incline a little towards the 
 west. This is just what takes place with these counter currents. 
 The north-east trade winds, which prevail in the northern hemisphere, 
 move in a sort of spiral curve, turning to the west as they rush from 
 the Poles to the Equator, and in the opposite direction as they move 
 from the Equator towards the Poles : the immediate cause of this 
 motion being the rotation of the earth on its axis. "The earth," 
 says Dr. Maury, " moves from west to east. Now, if we imagine a 
 particle of atmosphere at the North Pole, where it is at rest, to be 
 put in motion in a straight line towards the Equator, we can easily 
 see how this particle of air, coming from the very axis of diurnal 
 rotation, where it did not partake of the diurnal motion, would, in 
 consequence of its own vis inertiœ, find as it travelled south that the 
 earth was slipping from under it, as it were, and it would appear to 
 be coming from the north-east and going towards the south-west ; in 
 other words, it would be a north-east wind." 
 
 In the same manner, the upper currents of air, which proceed 
 towards the Poles with equatorial rapidity, ought to outstrip the 
 atmospheric beds, which are gifted with much smaller rapidity of 
 motion towards the Poles, and turn them towards the east in conse- 
 quence. These are the south-west and north-west counter trade- 
 winds, which, passing above the north and south-east trades, often 
 sweep the surface of the sea in the latitudes of the temperate zone. 
 The two trades are separated by a belt more or less broad, where the 
 friction experienced at the surface of the sea neutralises their impulse 
 towards the west ; in general, the current of air there is an ascending 
 current. This belt, which does not exactly correspond with the 
 Equator, is called the Zone of Calms, where atmospheric tempests 
 frequently occur, and the winds make the entire tour of the compass, 
 which has acquired for them the name of tornadoes. 
 
 The trade-winds, whose movement towards the west is retarded 
 by the friction which the waves of the ocean oppose to them, com- 
 municate to these waves, by a sort of reaction, a tendency towards 
 the west, or, to speak more exactly, towards the south-west in the 
 northern hemisphere, and towards the north-west in the opposite 
 hemisphere. The currents on the surface of the water which result 
 from this reaction, reunite under the Ecpator, and form the gra?id 
 equi?toctial current which impels the waters of the east towards the 
 
28 THE OCEAN H ORLD, 
 
 west. This movement is stronger at the edges than in the middle of 
 the current, because the force which produces it acts there with more 
 energy : it results from this, that the currents bifurcate more readily 
 when any obstacle presents itself to their movement. In the Atlantic 
 Ocean, bifurcation takes place a little to the south of the Equator ; 
 the southern branch descends along the coast of Brazil, and probably 
 returns by re-ascending along the west coast of Africa. The northern 
 branch follows the coast of Brazil and Guiana, enters the Sea of the 
 Antilles, and directs its course, reinforced by the current which 
 reaches it from the north-east, into the Bay of Honduras, traverses 
 the Yucatan Channel, and enters the Gulf of Mexico, whence it 
 debouches by the Florida Channel, under the name of the Gulf 
 Stream. Of this oceanic marvel Dr. Maury observes that " there is 
 a river in the bosom of the ocean ; in the several droughts it never 
 fails, and in the mightiest floods it never overflows ; its banks and its 
 bottom are of cold water, while its current is of warm ; it takes its 
 rise in the Gulf of Mexico, and empties itself into the Arctic Seas ; 
 this mighty river is the Gulf Stream. In no other part of the world 
 is there such a majestic flow of water ; its current is more rapid than 
 the Amazon, more impetuous than the Mississippi, and its volume is 
 more than a thousand times greater. Its waters, as far as the CaroHna 
 coast, are of indigo blue ; they are so distinctly indicated that their 
 Hne of junction can be marked by the eye." Such is Dr. Maury's 
 description of this powerful current of warm water, which traverses 
 the Atlantic Ocean, and influences in no slight manner the climate 
 of Northern Europe, and especially our own shores. 
 
 The Gulf Stream thus described by the American savant issues 
 from the Florida Channel, with a breadth of thirty-four miles, and a 
 depth of 2,200 feet, moving at the rate of four and a half miles per 
 hour. The temperature of the wa^er in the vicinity is about 30^ Centi- 
 grade. From the American coast the current takes a north-east 
 direction towards Spitzbergen, its velocity and volume diminishing 
 as it expands in breadth. Towards 43*^ of latitude it forms two 
 branches, one of which strikes the coast of Ireland and of Norway, 
 whither it frequently transports seeds of tropical origin ; it also warms 
 the frozen waters of the glacial sea. The other branch, inclining 
 towards the south, not far from the Azores, visits the coast of Africa, 
 whence it returns to the Antilles. Throughout this vast circuit may 
 be seen all sorts of plants and driftwood, with waifs and strays of 
 every description borne on the bosom of the ocean. " Midway in 
 the Atlantic, iri the triangular space between the Azores, Canaries, 
 and Cape de Verd Islands, is the great Sargassum Sea, covering an 
 
CURRENTS OF THE OCEAN, 2<) 
 
 area equal in extent to the Mississippi Valley ; it is so thickly matted 
 over with the Gulf Weed {Sargassum bacaferuni), that the speed of 
 vessels passing through it is actually retarded, and to the companions 
 of Columbus it seemed to mark the limits of navigation; they became 
 alarmed. To the eye at a little distance it seemed sufficiently sub- 
 stantial to walk upon." These moving vegetable masses, always 
 of a brownish green, which tail off to a steady breeze, serving as 
 an anemometer to the mariner, afford an asylum to multitudes of 
 molluscs and crustaceans. 
 
 The Gulf Stream plays a grand part in the Atlantic sj^stem. It 
 carries the tepid water of the equinoctial regions into the high lati- 
 tudes ; beyond the fortieth parallel the temperature is i6^ Centi- 
 grade. Urged by the south-west winds which predominate in that 
 zone, its tepid waters mix with those of the Northern Sea, softening 
 the rigour of the climate in these regions. To the south of the great 
 bank of Newfoundland, the warm current, in vast volume, rushing 
 from the Florida Straits meets the cold currents descending from the 
 Arctic Circle through Baffin's Bay and the Sea of Greenland, running 
 with equal velocity towards the south. A portion of these waters 
 re-ascend towards the pole along the western coast of Greenland. It 
 is to this conflict of the polar and equatorial waters, that the formation 
 of the Banks of Newfoundland is ascribed. Each of these great 
 currents having unceasingly deposited the débris carried in its bosom, 
 the bank has been thus formed bit by bit in the concourse of ages. 
 
 The difference of temperature between the Gulf Stream and the 
 waters it traverses gives birth inevitably to tempests and cyclones. In 
 1780 a terrible storm ravaged the Antilles, in which 20,000 persons 
 perished. The ocean quitted its bed and inundated whole cities ; 
 the trunks of trees, mingled with other débris, were tossed into the 
 air. Numerous catastrophes of this kind have earned for the Gulf 
 Stream the title of the " King of the Tempests." In consequence of 
 the numerous nautical documents which have been placed at the 
 command of the National Observatory of Washington, and the 
 admirable use made of them by the late Naval Secretary and his 
 assistants, the directions and range of these cyclones engendered by 
 the Gulf Stream may be foreseen, and their most dangerous ravages 
 turned aside. As an example of the utility of Dr. Maury's labours 
 in settling the direction of storms in the trajet of the Gulf Stream, 
 we quote a well-known instance : In the month of December, 1859, 
 the American packet San Francisco was employed as a transport to 
 convey a regiment to CaHfornia. It was overtaken by one of these 
 sudden storms, which placed the ship and its freight in a most 
 
3^ THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 dangerous position. A single wave, which swept the deck, tore out 
 the masts, stopped the engines, and washed overboard 129 persons, 
 officers and soldiers. From that moment the unfortunate steamer 
 floated upon the waters, a waif abandoned to the fury of the wind. 
 The day after the disaster the San Francisco was seen in this desperate 
 situation by a ship, which reached New York, although unable to assist 
 her. Another ship met her some days after, but, like the other, 
 could render no assistance. When the report reached New York, 
 two steamers were despatched to her assistance ; but in what direc- 
 tion were they to go ? what part of the ocean were they to explore ? 
 The authorities at the Washington Observatory were appealed to. 
 Having consulted his charts as to the direction and limits of the Gulf 
 Stream at that period of the year. Dr. Maury traced on a chart the 
 spot to which the disabled steamer was likely to be driven by the 
 current, and the course to be taken by the vessels sent to her 
 assistance. The crew and passengers of the San Francisco were 
 saved before their arrival. Three ships, which had seen their 
 distressing situation, had been able to reach them, and the steamers 
 sent to their assistance only arrived to witness the safety of the 
 passengers and crew. But the point where the steamer foundered 
 shortly after they were transferred to the rescuing ships was precisely 
 that indicated by Dr. Maury. If the ships sent to her assistance had 
 reached in time, the triumph of Science would have been complete. 
 
 The equinoctial currents of the Pacific are very imperfectly known. 
 It is believed, however, that they traverse the great ocean in its 
 whole length, and bifurcate opposite the Asiatic coast, where the 
 weakest branch bends northward until it encounters the polar current 
 from Behring's Straits, when it returns along the Mexican coast. The 
 larger branch inclines towards the south, passing round Australia, 
 where it is met by one or many counter currents coming from the 
 Indian Ocean — of the complicated and dangerous nature of which 
 both Cook and La Peyrouse speak. 
 
 The cold waters from the Antarctic Pole are carried towards the 
 Equator by three great, oceanic rivers. The first bifurcates in 45° ; 
 one portion goes round Cape Horn ; the other — Humboldt's current 
 — ascends the Chilian and Peruvian coasts up to the Equator, ame- 
 liorating the rainless climate as it goes, and making it delightful. A 
 second great current takes the direction of the African coast, and is 
 divided at the Cape, ascending both the east and west coasts of 
 Africa. On either side of the warm current which escapes from the 
 intertropical parts of the Indian Ocean, but especially along the 
 Australian coast, a polar current wends its way from the Antarctic 
 
CURRENTS OF THE OCEAN. 3 1 
 
 regions, carrying supplies of cold water to modify the climate and 
 restore the equilibrium in that part of the world. This cold current 
 turns at first towards the west, then towards the south in the direction 
 of Madagascar ; more to the south still it is driven back by the polar 
 current from Cape Horn. It is thus that the warm waters from the 
 Bay of Bengal, pressed by the Indian polar current, circulate between 
 Africa and Australia, one lateral branch of the current sweeping along 
 the south coast of this vast continent. The monsoons which reign in 
 the Indian Ocean tend still more to complicate the currents, already 
 sufficiently intricate and confused. 
 
 We have already spoken of a submarine current which appears to 
 carry the waters of the Mediterranean into the Atlantic Ocean. Its 
 existence is in some respects established by calculations which prove 
 that the quantity of salt water supplied by the upper current through 
 the Straits of Gibraltar is equal to seventy- two cubic miles per annum, 
 while the quantity of fresh water brought down by the rivers is equal 
 to six, and the quantity lost by evaporation to twelve cubic miles per 
 annum. This would leave an annual excess of sixty-six cubic miles, 
 if the equilibrium was not re-established by an under current flowing 
 into the Atlantic. This hypothesis would appear to have been 
 confirmed by a very curious fact. 
 
 Towards the end of the seventeenth century a Dutch brig, pursued 
 by the French corsair Phœnix, was overhauled between Tangier and 
 Tarifa, and seemed to be sunk by a single broadside ; but, in place of 
 foundering and going down, the brig, being freighted with a cargo of 
 oil and alcohol, floated between the two currents, and drifting towards 
 the west, finally ran aground, after two or three days, in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Tangier, more than twelve miles from the spot where she 
 had disappeared under the waves. She had therefore traversed that 
 distance, drawn by the action of the under current in a direction 
 opposite to that of the surface current. This ascertained fact, added 
 to some recent experiments, lends its support to the opinion which 
 admits of the existence of an outward current through the Straits of 
 Gibraltar. Dr. Maury quotes an extract from the " log" of Lieutenant 
 Temple, of the United States Navy, bearing the same inference. At 
 noon on the 8th of March, 1855, the ship Levant stood into Almeira 
 Bay, where many ships were waiting for a chance to get westwards. 
 Here he was told that at least a thousand sail were waiting between 
 the bay and Gibraltar, " some of them having got as far as Malaga 
 only to be swept back again. Indeed," he adds, " no vessel had 
 been able to get out into the Atlantic for three months past." 
 Supposing this current to run- no faster than two knots an hour, and 
 
32 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 assuming its depth to be 400 feet only, and its width seven miles, 
 and that it contained the average proportion of soHd matter, estimated 
 at one-thirtieth, it appears that salt enough to make eighty-eight cubic 
 miles of solid matter were carried into the Mediterranean in those 
 ninety days. " Now," continues Dr. Maury, '' unless there were 
 some escape for all this solid matter which has been running into this 
 sea, not for ninety days, but for ages, it is very clear that the Medi- 
 terranean would long ere this have been a vat of strong brine, or a 
 bed of cubic crystals of salt." 
 
 For the same reason. Dr. Maury considers it certain that there is 
 an under current to the south of Cape Horn, which carries into the 
 Pacific Ocean the overflowings of the Atlantic. In fact, the Atlantic 
 is fed unceasingly by the Great American rivers, while the Pacific 
 receives no important affluent, therefore ought to be, and is, sub- 
 jected to enormous losses, in consequence of the evaporation con- 
 tinually taking place at the surface. 
 
 Tides. 
 
 Tides manifest themselves upon our planet by the alternate 
 rising and falling of the waters of the ocean, and by currents also 
 in narrow seas. These effects are produced by two pairs of waves 
 which travel round the earth every day — a greater pair of waves 
 caused by the attraction of the moon, and a smaller pair caused by 
 the sun. The principal pair of waves which form the lunar tide 
 occupy a lunar day, which consists of twenty-four hours and fifty-four 
 minutes, in travelling round the earth ; while the smaller waves, 
 caused by the sun, take only twenty-four hours to traverse the same 
 distance. It thus sometimes happens that the crests and depressions 
 of the solar and lunar waves coincide. . When this occurs we have 
 what are called spring tides, in which, owing to the union of the two 
 waves, the waters advance to their greatest height at the flood, and 
 retreat farthest in the ebb. The spring tides are followed after a 
 certain number of days by neap tides, in which the rising and falling 
 of the water is least. This comes to pass because the solar tide 
 travels quicker round the earth than the lunar tide, and accordingly 
 gains upon it day by day, until in about six or seven days after 
 spring tides the crest of the solar wave has advanced into the depres- 
 sion of the lunar wave, and partly fills it. 
 
 By measuring the height of the spring tides, we get a quantity 
 equal to the sum of the heights of the solar and lunar waves, and by 
 measuring the neap tides we get their diflerence. We may thus learn 
 by observation that the lunar wave is about two and a half times 
 
TIDES. 
 
 33 
 
 higher than the solar. It may appear a matter of surprise that the 
 sun, which attracts the earth with a force amazingly more powerful 
 than that exerted by the moon, should pioduce a feebler tide. But 
 the reason of this will be apparent when the cause of the tides is 
 understood ; it will be then seen that it results from the proximity of 
 the moon. 
 
 Let us first inquire into the cause of the solar tide. The sun 
 
 ^S 
 
 Fig.5- 
 
 attracts the earth with that force which prevents the earth from 
 maintaining a straight course ; which bends its path into the vast 
 eclipse that the earth sweeps out round the sun every year. It will 
 be convenient in the first stage of our inquiry to leave out of con- 
 sideration the daily rotation of the earth on its axis. Let then the 
 dotted lines of the figure (Fig. 5) represent portions of the annual paths 
 which would be pursued by the points o, b, and d, if we suppose 
 that, instead of a daily rotation, b is kept always turned towards the 
 sun. These orbits would be all of them traversed in the same period, 
 viz., a )ear; and they differ slightly in size, the orbit of which d z is 
 a portion being the largest, while a x is the smallest, and b y of 
 intermediate size. Now, when orbits of different sizes are thus 
 
34 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 traversed in the same time, the force, directed towards the sun, which 
 must be exerted to effect the necessary bending, is greater the larger 
 the orbit. This is proved in all treatises on mechanics. Hence a 
 f'jreater force in the direction d s is required at d to keep that part 
 of the earth in its orbit than the force acting upon the central parts 
 at o, A, and c; and a less force is sufficient at b. Now, the sun does 
 not supply a force which varies in this way ; on the contrary, the sun's 
 attraction is least at d and greatest at b, since the attraction of the 
 sun is a force which decreases with distance. Hence the sun exerts 
 more than a sufficient attraction at b, and less than a sufficient 
 attraction at d, i.e.^ more and less than would keep those parts of the 
 earth in the orbits which they actually pursue. Hence, at b there is 
 a small surplus of solar attraction, which is not employed in keeping 
 that part of the earth in its path \ and as it acts there in the opposite 
 direction to the attraction of the earth, it makes bodies at b less 
 heavy than they would otherwise be. And, again, at d a force some- 
 what more powerful than the sun's attraction is required to keep this 
 part of the earth in its orbit, and therefore a portion of the force of 
 gravity, i.e.^ of the attraction towards the centre of the earth, has to 
 assist in this situation and supply the deficiency. This diminishes 
 the weight of bodies at d. Th-2 upshot, tJien, is that at b and d bodies 
 are a little less heavy than t]\ey would be in other situations, as at 
 A or c. This defect of weight is very îilight, amounting at b and d, 
 where it is greatest, to a loss of not more than one twenty-five- 
 millionth of the whole gravity, but, small as it is, it produces the 
 solar tide. For, keeping stiM to the supposition of an earth without 
 daily rotation, and supposing fiirther that our imaginary earth is 
 covered everywhere with an ocean, it is evident that water being 
 slightly lighter at b and d than at a and c, there will be an exceed- 
 ingly feeble tendency to flow from a and c towards b and d, so as to 
 raise protuberances there. The distance from a to b is about 6,200 
 miles, and as soon as the water has risen about twenty-three inches 
 higher at b and d than at a and c, the tendency to slip back caused, 
 by the protuberance is enough to balance the feeble force with which 
 we have to deal. Hence the sun would cause two excessively broad 
 and flat protuberances of the height of twenty-three inches on our 
 imaginary earth. 
 
 Let us now take into account the further circumstance that the 
 earth rotates daily on its axis in the direction a b c d. This rotation 
 will carry the protuberance at b towards c. When it is removed 
 from B it will tend to return to its natural station at b, and will take 
 up its position in some situation such as //, where its own tendency 
 
TIDES. 35 
 
 to return towards b is equal to the tendency of the earth's rotation to 
 carry it towards c. The crests of the tide will under these circum- 
 stances remain at m and n, while the earth continues to rotate ; and 
 of course they will to us, inhabitants of the earth, seem to travel 
 westward, just as the sun and stars seem to travel westward. The 
 solar tide thus assumes the appearance of an immensely broad and 
 excessively flat pair of waves travelling once round the earth from 
 east to west eveiy day. 
 
 In the same way the attraction of the moon causes the lunar 
 tide. The moon is so close to the earth — at a distance only T-4ooth 
 part of the distance of the sun — that, although the whole force of 
 the moon's attraction is small in comparison with the sun's, there is 
 a more sensible difference in the degree in which a body is attracted 
 by the moon, according as the body is on the side of the earth next 
 the moon or on the farthest side. And by going through the com- 
 putation, it appears that the moon, on this account, produces a tide 
 about two and a half times the height of the solar tide. 
 
 Such is a picture of what would happen if the earth were covered 
 everywhere by a deep ocean. But the phenomena are complicated 
 upon the earth by the obstacle which continents present to the even 
 advance of the tidal waves, and by the modifications which they 
 undergo in shallow or narrow seas, in which they rise to an exag- 
 gerated height. 
 
 The height of the tide varies in the different regions of the globe 
 according to local circumstances. The eastern coast of Asia and the 
 western coast of Europe are exposed to extremely high tides ; while in 
 the South Sea Islands, where they are very regular, they scarcely reach 
 the height of twenty inches. On the western coast of South America, 
 the tides rarely reach three yards ; on the western coast of India 
 they reach the height of six or seven ; and in the Gulf of Cambay it 
 ranges from five to six fathoms. This great difference makes itself 
 felt in our own and adjoining countries : thus, the tide which at 
 Cherbourg is seven and eight yards high, attains the height of fourteen 
 yards at Saint Malo, while it reaches the height of ten yards at 
 Swansea, at the mouth of the Bristol Channel, increasing to double 
 that height at Chepstow, higher up the river. In general, the tide 
 is higher at the bottom of a gulf than at its mouth. 
 
 The highest tide which is known occurs in the Bay of Fundy, 
 which opens up to the south of the isthmus uniting Nova Scotia and 
 New Brunswick. There the tide reaches forty, fifty, and even sixty 
 feet, while it only attains the height of seven or eight in the bay to 
 
36 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 the north of the liame isthmus. It is related that a ship was cast 
 ashore upon a rock during the night, so high, that at daybreak the 
 crew found themselves and their ship suspended in mid-air far above 
 the water ! 
 
 In the Mediterranean, which only communicates with the ocean 
 by a narrow channel, the phenomenon of tides is scarcely felt, and 
 from this cause — that the moon acts at the same time upon its whole 
 surface, which is not sufficiently large to increase the swelling mass 
 of waters formed by the moon's attraction ; consequently, the swell- 
 ing 'remains scarcely perceptible. This is the reason why neither 
 the Black Sea or White Sea presents a tide, and the Mediterranean a 
 very inconsiderable one. Nevertheless, at Alexandria the tide rises 
 twenty inches, and at Venice this height is increased to about four 
 and a, half feet. Lake Michigan is slightly affected by the lunar 
 attraction. 
 
 Professor Whewell has prepared a map in which the course of the 
 tidal wave is traced in every country of the globe. We see there that 
 it traverses the Atlmtic, from 50^ of south latitude up to the fiftieth 
 parallel north, at the rate of 560 miles an hour. But the rapidity 
 with which it proceeds is least in shallow water. h\ the North Sea 
 it travels at the rate of 180 miles. The tidal wave which proceeds 
 round the coast of Scotland traverses the German Ocean and meets 
 in St. George's Channel, between England and Ireland, where the 
 conflict between the two opposing waves presents some very compli- 
 cated phenomena. 
 
 The winds, again, exercise a great influence on the height of the 
 tides. When the impulse of the wind is added to that of the 
 attracting moon, the normal height of the wave is consider.if)ly 
 increased. If the wind is contrary, the flux of the tide is almost 
 annihilated. This happens in the Gulf of Vera Cruz, where the tide 
 is only perceptible once in three days, when the wind blows with 
 violence. An analogous phenomenon is observable on the coast of 
 Tasmania. 
 
 The rising tide sometimes strikes the shore with a continuous and 
 incredible force. This violent shock is called the surf. The swell 
 then forms a billow, which expands to half a mile. The surf increases 
 as it approaches the coast, when it sometimes attains the height of 
 six or seven yards, forming an overhanging mountain of water, which 
 gradually sinks as it rolls over itself. But this motion is not in 
 reality progressive — it transports no floating body. The surf is very 
 strong at the Isle of Fogo, one of the Cape de Verd Islands, in the 
 
WHIRLPOOLS AMD EDDIES. 37 
 
 Indian Ocean, and at Sumatra, where the surf renders it dangerous 
 and sometimes impossible to land on the coast. Fig. 6 represents 
 the effects of the surf at Point du Raz, on the coast of Brittany. 
 The winds adding their influence to these causes, give birth on the 
 
 Fig. 6. — Point du Raz, Coast of Brittany. 
 
 surface of the sea to waves or billows, which increase rapidly, rismg 
 in foaming mountains, rolling, bounding, and breaking one agamst 
 the other. " In one moment,^^ says Malte-Brun, " the wave seems 
 to cany sea-goddesses on its breast, which seem to revel m sports 
 and dances ; in the next instant, a tempest rising out of them, seems 
 to be animated by its fury. They seem to swell with passion, and 
 
38 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 we think we see in them marine monsters which are prepared for 
 war. A strong, constant, and equal wind produces long swelling 
 billows, which, rising on the same line, advance with a uniform 
 -movement, one after the other, precipitating themselves upon the 
 coast. Sometimes these billows are suspended by the wind or 
 arrested by some current, thus forming, as it were, a liquid wall. In 
 this position, unhappy is the daring navigator who is subjected to its 
 
 Fig. 7. — Height of Waves off the Cape of Good Hope. 
 
 fury !" The highest waves are those which prevail ni the offing off 
 the Cape of Good Hope at the period of high tide, under the influence 
 of a strong north-west wind, which has traversed the South Atlantic, 
 pressing its waters towards the Cape. " The billows there lift 
 themselves up in long ridges," says Dr. Maury, " with deep hollows 
 between them. They run high and fast, tossing their white caps aloft 
 in the air, looking like the green hills of a rolling prairie capped with 
 snow, and chasing each other in sport. Still, their march is stately, 
 and their roll majestic. Many an AustraHan-bound trader, after 
 
WHIRLPOOLS AND EDDIES. 39 
 
 doubling the Cape, finds herself followed for weeks at a time by these 
 magnificent rolling swells, furiously driven and lashed by the ' brave 
 west winds.' These billows are said to attain the height of thirty, 
 and even forty feet ; but no very exact measurement of the height of 
 waves is recorded." One of these mountain waves placed between 
 two ships conceals each of them from the other — an eftect which is 
 partially represented in Fig. 7. In rounding Cape Horn, waves are 
 encountered from twenty to thirty feet high ; but in the Channel they 
 rarely exceed the height of nine or ten feet, except when they come 
 in contact with some powerful resisting obstacle. Thus, when billows 
 are dashed violently against the Eddystone Lighthouse, the spray 
 goes right over the building, which stands 130 feet above the sea, and 
 falls in torrents on the roof After the storm of Barbadoes, in 1780, 
 some old guns were found on the shore, which had been thrown up 
 from the bottom of the sea by the force of the tempest. 
 
 If the waves, in their reflux, meet with obstacles, whirlpools and 
 whirlwinds are the result — the former the terror of navigators. Such 
 are the whirlpools known in the Straits of Messina, between the 
 rocks of Charybdis and Scylla, celebrated as the terror of ancient 
 mariners, and which were sung by Homer, Ovid, and Virgil : — 
 
 "Scylla latus dextrum, lœvum irrequieta Charybdis, 
 Infestât ; vorat hsec raptis revomitque carinas. 
 
 Incidit in Scyllam, cupiens vitare Charybdim. '* 
 
 These rocks are better understood and less feared in our days. At 
 Charybdis there is a foaming whirlpool ; at Scylla the waves dash 
 against the low wall of rock which forms the promontory, and are 
 scarcely noticed by the navigator of our days. 
 
 Another celebrated whirlpool is that of Euripus, near the Island 
 of Eubœa ; another is known in the Gulf of Bothnia. But perhaps 
 the best known whirlpool is the Maelstrom, whose waters have a 
 gyratory movement, producing a whirlpool at certain states oi the 
 tide, the result of opposing currents, which change every six hours, 
 and which, from its power and magnitude, was at one time thought 
 capable of attracting and engulfing ships to their destruction, although 
 it is now known not to be dangerous even to very small craft. 
 
 To the combined eftects of tides and cyclones may also be attri- 
 buted the hurricanes, so dreaded by navigators, which so frequently 
 visit the Mauritius and other parts of the Indian Ocean. In periods 
 of the utmost calm, when there is scarcely a breath to ruffle the air, 
 these shores are sometimes visited by immense waves, accompanied 
 
40 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 by whirlwinds, which seem capable of blowing the ships out of the 
 water, seizing them by the keel, whirling them round on an axis, 
 and finally capsizing them. "At the period of the changing mon- 
 soon, the winds, breaking loose from their controlling forces, seem to 
 rage with a fury capable of breaking up the very foundations of the 
 deep." 
 
 The hurricanes of the Atlantic occur in the months of August and 
 September, while the south-west monsoon of Africa and the south- 
 east monsoon of the West Indies are at their height ; the agents of 
 the one drawing the north-east trade-winds into the interior of Mexico 
 and Texas, the other drawing them into the interior of Africa, greatly 
 disturbing the equilibrium of the atmosphere. 
 
 The Arctic Regions. 
 
 The extreme columns of the known world are Mount Parry, 
 situated at eight degrees from the North Pole, and Mount Ross, 
 twelve degrees from the South Pole. Beyond these limits our maps 
 tell us nothing ; a blank space marks each extremity of the terrestrial 
 axis. Will man ever succeed in passing these icy barriers ? Will he 
 ever justify the prediction of the poet Seneca, who tells us that " the 
 time will come in the distant future when Ocean will relax her hold 
 on the world, when the immense earth will be open, when Tethys 
 will appear amid new orbs, and where Thule (Iceland) shall no 
 longer be the extreme limit of the earth?" 
 
 ' ' Venient annis 
 Ssecula seris quibus oceanus 
 Vincula rerum laxet et ingens 
 Pateat tellus, Tethysque novos 
 Detegat orbes, nee sit terris 
 Ultime Thule." 
 
 No one can say. Every step we have taken in order to approach 
 the North Pole has been dearly purchased ; and it is not without 
 reason that navigators have named the south point of Greenland 
 Cape Farewell. Of the number of expeditions, for the most part 
 English, which have been fitted out, at the cost of nearly a million 
 sterling, to explore the Frozen Ocean, one-twentieth have had for 
 their mission to ascertain the fate of the lamented Sir John Franklin. 
 Scandinavian traditions attribute the first attempts to penetrate 
 the Arctic circle to the son of the King Rodian, who lived in the 
 seventh century; to Osher, the Norwegian, in 873 ; and to the 
 Princes Harold and Magnus, in 1150; but the first navigator in 
 
THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 4I 
 
 historic times who penetrated to Arctic polar regions was Sébastian 
 Cabot, who, in 1498, sought a north-west passage from Europe to 
 China and the Indies. Considering the date, and the state of navi- 
 gation at that period, this was perhaps the boldest attempt on 
 record. 
 
 Sebastian Cabot reached as high as Hudson's Bay, but a mutiny 
 of his sailors forced him to retrace his steps. In 1500, Gaspard de 
 Cortereal discovered Labrador; in 1553, Sir Hugh Willoughby Nova 
 Zembla, and Chancellor the White Sea about the same time. 
 Davis visited in 1585 the west coast of Greenland, and two years 
 later he discovered the strait which bears his name. In 1596 
 Barentz discovered Spitzbergen, which was again seen by Hendrich 
 Hudson, who sailed up to and beyond the eighty-second parallel. 
 Three years later Hudson gave his name to the great Labrador Bay, 
 but he could get no farther. His crew revolted, and he was left in 
 the ship's launch with his son, seven sailors, and the carpenter^ who 
 remained faithful ; one by one they died, and thus perished one of 
 our greatest navigators. 
 
 The Island of Jan Mayen was discovered in 161 1 ; the channel 
 which Baffin took for a bay, and which bears his name, was dis- 
 covered in 1616. Behring discovered, in his first voyage in 1727, 
 the strait which separates Siberia from America ; he sailed through 
 it in 1 741, but his ship was stranded, and he himself died of scor- 
 butic disease. 
 
 In the year 177 1 the Polar Sea was discovered by Hearne, a fur 
 merchant ; it was explored long after by Mackenzie. 
 
 From the year 18 10, when Sir John Ross, Franklin, and Parry, 
 turned their attention to the Arctic regions, expeditions to the Polar 
 Seas rapidly succeeded each other. 
 
 In his first voyage, made in 1818, Sir John Ross was led to think 
 tha.t Lancaster Sound was closed by a chain of mountains, which he 
 called the Croker Mountains ; but in the following year Captain 
 Parry, in command of two ships, the Hecla and Griper, discovered 
 that this was an error. This celebrated navigator discovered Barrow's 
 Straits, Wellington Channel, and Prince Regent Inlet, Cornwallis, 
 Sir Byam Martin, and Melville Islands, to which the name of Parry's 
 Archipelago has been given. In this short voyage he gathered more 
 new results than were obtained by his successors during the next 
 forty years. He was the first to traverse these seas. Upon Sir 
 Byam Martin Island he discovered and described the ruins of some 
 ancient habitations of the Esquimaux. He passed the winter on 
 Melville Island. In order to attain his chosen anchorage in Winter's 
 c * 
 
42 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 Bay, he was compelled to saw a passage in the ice of a league in 
 length, which involved the labour of three days; but scarcely 
 were they moored in their chosen harbour than the thermometer 
 fell to 1 8^ below zero. They carried ashore the ship's boats, 
 the cables, the sails, and log-books. The masts were struck to the 
 maintop; the rest of the rigging served to form a roof, sloping to 
 the gunwale, with a thick covering of sail-cloth, which formed an 
 admirable shelter from the wind and snow. Numberless precautions 
 were taken against cold and wet under the decks. Stoves and other 
 contrivances maintained a supportable degree of temperature. In 
 each dormitory a false ceiling of impermeable cloth interposed to 
 prevent the collection of moisture on the wooden walls of the ship. 
 The crew were divided into companies, each company being under 
 the charge of an officer, charged with the daily inspection of their 
 clothes and cleanliness — an essential protection against scurvy. As 
 a measure of precaution. Captain Parry reduced by one-third the 
 ordinary ration of bread ; beer and wine were substituted for spirits ; 
 and citron and lime-juice were served out daily to the sailors. Game 
 was sometimes substituted, to vary a repast worthy of Spartans. As 
 a remedy against en7iui, a theatre was fitted up, and comedies acted, 
 for which occasions Parry himself composed a vaudeville, entitled 
 " The North-West Passage ; or, the End of the Voyage." During 
 this long night of eighty-four days, the thermometer in the saloons 
 marked 28^, and outside 35*^, below zero, and for a few minutes 
 actually reached 47^. Some of the sailors had their noses, fingers, 
 and toes frozen, from the effects of which they never quite recovered. 
 One day the hut which served as an observatory was discovered to 
 be on fire ; a sailor who saved one of the precious instruments lost 
 his hands in the effort; they were completely frost-bitten in the 
 attempt. 
 
 Nevertheless, the month of June arrived, and with it the oppor- 
 tunity of making excuisions in the neighbourhood. It was found 
 that in Melville Island the earth was carpeted with moss and 
 herbage, with saxifrages and poppies. Hares, reindeer, the musk-ox, 
 northern geese, plovers, white wolves and foxes, began to roam 
 around their haunts, disputing their booty with the crew. Captain 
 Parry could not risk a second winter in this terrible region, but 
 returned home as soon as the thaw left the passage open. 
 
 In 182 1 Captain Parry undertook a second voyage with the 
 Fury and Hecla. He visited Hudson's Bay and Fox's Channel. In 
 his third voyage, undertaken in 1824, he was surprised by the frost 
 in Prince Regent's Channel, and was constrained to pass the winter 
 
THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 43 
 
 there. The Fury was dismantled, and, being found unfit for service, 
 Captain Parry was obliged to abandon her and return to England. 
 
 Accompanied by Sir James Ross, Parry again put to sea in the 
 Heda, in April, 1826. On this, his third voyage, on leaving Table 
 Island on the north of Spitzbergen, Parry placed his crew in the two 
 training ships, Enterprise and Endeavotir ; the first under his own 
 command, the second under the orders of Sir James Ross. Some- 
 times they sailed, sometimes they w^ere hauled through the crust of 
 the ice ; sometimes the ice, which pierced their shoes, showed itself 
 bristhng with points, and was split up into valleys and little hills, 
 which it was difficult to scale. In spite of the courage and energy of 
 their crews, the two ships scarcely advanced four miles a day, while 
 the drifting of the ice towards the south led them imperceptibly 
 towards their point of departure. They reached latitude 82'' 45' 15", 
 however, and this was the extreme point which they attained. 
 
 In the month of May, 1829, Sir John Ross, accompanied by his 
 nephew, James Clark Ross, again turned towards the Polar Seas. He 
 entered Prince Regent's Channel, and there he found the Fu?y, which 
 had been dismantled and abandoned by Parry in these regions eight 
 years before. The provisions which the old ship still contained 
 were quite a providential resource to Ross's crews. The distinguished 
 navigator explored the Boothian Peninsula, and passed four years 
 consecutively in Port Felix, without being able to disengage his 
 vessel, the Victory, from the ice. This gave him ample leisure to 
 become familiar with the Esquimaux. Sir John Ross, in his account 
 of this long sojourn in polar countries, has recorded many conversa- 
 tions with the natives, which our space does not permit us to quote. 
 From this terrible position, bound in by the ice, he was at last 
 extricated, and emerged with his crew from this icy prison, when all 
 hope of his return had been abandoned. After being exposed to a 
 thousand dangers, Ross and his crew were at last observed, after 
 many efi"orts on their parts to attract attention, by a whaling ship, 
 which received them on board. On learning that the ship which 
 had saved them was the Isabella, formerly commanded by Captain 
 Ross, he made himself known. " But Captain Ross has been dead 
 two years," was the reply. 
 
 We need not repeat here the enthusiastic reception Sir John Ross 
 and his companions met with on their arrival in London. 
 
 During an excursion made by the nephew of the Commander 
 (afterwards Sir James Clark Ross), he very closely approached the 
 North Magnetic Pole. This was at eight o'clock on the morning of 
 the ist of June, 1831, and on the west coast of Boothia. The dip of 
 
44 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 the magnetic needle was nearly vertical, being 89^ 59" — one minute 
 short of 90°. The site was a low flat shore, rising into ridges from 
 fifty to sixty feet high, and about a mile inland. 
 
 Contrary to the judgment of many officers of experience in polar 
 explorations, the last and most fatal of all the expeditions was 
 undertaken by Sir John P^anklin, with 137 picked officers and men, 
 in the ships Erebus and Terror. The adventurers left Sheerness on 
 the 26th of May, 1846, the ships having been strengthened in every 
 conceivable way, and found in everything calculated to secure the 
 safety of the expedition. On the 22nd of July the ships were spoken 
 by the whaler Enterprise, and, four days later, they were sighted by 
 the Prince of Wales., of Hull, moored to an iceberg, waiting an 
 opening to enter Lancaster Sound. There the veil drops over the 
 ships and their unhappy crews. In 1848 their fate began to excite a 
 lively interest in the public mind. Expedition in search of them 
 succeeded expedition, at immense cost, sent both by the English 
 and American authorities, and one by Lady Franklin herself, some of 
 which penetrated the Polar Seas through Behring's Straits, while the 
 majority took Baffin's Bay. In 1850, Captains Ommaney and Penny 
 discovered, at the opening of Wellington Channel, some vestiges of 
 Franklin, which led to another expedition in 1857, which was got up 
 by private enterprise, and of which Captain Sir Leopold M'Clintock 
 had the command. Guided by the indications collected in the previous 
 expedition, and by intelligence gathered from the Esquimaux by 
 Dr. Rae in his land expedition. Captain M'Chntock, in the yacht 
 Fox, discovered, on the 6th of May, 1859, upon the north point of 
 King William's Land, a cairn or heap of stones. Several leaves of 
 parchment, which were buried under the stones, bearing date the 
 28th of May, 1848, solved the fatal enigma. The first, dated the 
 24th of May, 1847, ga-ve som^. details, ending with "all well;" but 
 the papers had been dug up twelve months later to record the death 
 of Franklin, on the nth of June, 1847, The survivors are supposed 
 to have -been at this time on their way to the mouth of the River 
 Back ; but they must have sunk under the terrible hardships to which 
 they were exposed, in addition to cold and hunger. 
 
 In September, 1859, Captain M'Clintock returned to England, 
 bringing with him many relics of our lost countrymen, found in the 
 country of their misfortunes. 
 
 To go back to the period between 1848 and this latter period. 
 After the return of Captain M'Clintock, in 1850, Captain Sir R. 
 M'Clure, leaving Behring's Straits, discovered the north-west passage 
 
THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 45 
 
 between Melville and Baring's Islands, which passage had been sought 
 for without success during so many ages. He saw the thermometer 
 descend 50^ below zero. In the month of October, 1854, he 
 returned to England, and, at a subsequent period, it was ascertained 
 with certainty that, before his death, Franklin knew of the other 
 passage which exists to the north of America, to the south of Victoria 
 Land and Wollaston. 
 
 The expedition of Dr. Kane entered Smith's Strait in 1853, and 
 advanced towards the north upon sledges drawn by dogs ; the mean 
 temperature, which ranged between 30° and 40° below zero, fell at 
 last to 50*^. At 11*^ from the Pole they found two Esquimaux 
 villages, called Etah and Peterovik. A detachment, conducted by 
 Lieutenant Morton, discovered, beyond 80^ of latitude, an open 
 channel inhabited by innumerable swarms of birds, consisting of sea 
 swallows, ducks, and gulls, which delighted them by their shrill, 
 piercing cries. Seals enjoyed themselves on the floating ice. In 
 ascending the banks they met with flowering plants belonging to 
 such genera as Lychnis^ Hesperts^ &c. On the 24th ol June, Morton 
 hoisted the flag of the Antarctic., which had before this seen the ice 
 of the South Pole on Cape Independence, situated beyond 81^. To 
 the north stretched an open sea. On the left was the western bank 
 of the Kennedy Channel, which seemed to terminate in a chain of 
 mountains, the principal peak rising from 9,000 to 10,000 feet, which 
 was named Mount Parry. The expedition returned towards the south, 
 and reached the port of Uppernavick exhausted with hunger, where 
 it was received on board an American ship. Dr. Kane, weakened by 
 his sufferings, from which he never quite recovered, died in 1857. 
 
 We cannot conclude this rapid sketch of events connected with 
 the expeditions to the Arctic Pole without noting a geological fact 
 of great and singular interest. When opportunities have presented 
 themselves of examining the rocks in the regions adjoining the North 
 Pole, it has been found that many of them belong to the coal 
 measures. Such is the case in Melville Island and Prince Patrick's 
 Island. Under the ice which covers the soil in these islands coal 
 exists, with all the fossil plants which invariably accompany it. This 
 shows that in the coal period of geology, the North Pole was covered 
 with a rich and abundant vegetation whose remains constitute the 
 coal-fields of the present day ; and proves to demonstration that the 
 temperature of these regions was, at one period of the earth's history, 
 equal to that of the more temperate regions of the present day. 
 What a wonderful change in the temperature of these regions is thus 
 indicated ! It is, indeed, a strange contrast to find coal formations 
 
46 THE OCEAN WORLD'. 
 
 under the soil covered by the polar ice. Strange would it be if human 
 industry should dream of establishing itself in these countries, and 
 drawing from the earth the combustible material so needed to make 
 it habitable, thus furnishing the means of overcoming the rigorous 
 climatic conditions of these inhospitable regions ! 
 
 The Antarctic Regions. 
 
 The Antarctic Pole is probably surrounded by an icy canopy not 
 less than 2,500 miles in diameter; and numerous circumstances seem 
 to lead to the conclusion that the vast mass has somewhat diminished 
 since 1774, when the region was visited by Captain Cook. The 
 Antarctic region can only be approached during its summer season, 
 namely, in December, January, and February. 
 
 The first navigator who penetrated the Antarctic circle was the 
 Dutch captain, Theodoric de Gheritk, whose vessel formed part of 
 the squadron commanded by Simon de Cordes, destined for the East 
 Indies. In January, 1600, a tempest having dispersed the squadron, 
 Captain Gheritk was driven as far south as the sixty-fourth parallel, 
 where he observed a coast which reminded him of Norway. It was 
 mountainous, covered with snow, stretching from the coast to the 
 Isles of Solomon. The report of Simon de Cordes was received with 
 great incredulity, and the doubts raised were only dissipated when the 
 New South Shetland Islands were definitely recognised. The idea of 
 an Antarctic continent is, however, one of the oldest conceptions of 
 speculative geography, and one which mariners and philosophers aUke 
 have found it most difficult to relinquish. The existence of a southern 
 continent seemed to them to be the necessary counterpoise to the 
 Arctic land. The terra Australis incog?iita is marked on all the 
 maps of Mercator round the South Pole, and when the Dutch officer, 
 Kerguelen, discovered, in 1772, the island which bears his name, he 
 quoted this idea of Mercator as the motive which suggested the 
 voyage. In 1774, Captain Cook ventured up to and beyond 71° 
 of latitude under 109° west longitude. He traversed 180 leagues, 
 between 50*^ and 60*^ of south latitude without finding the land of 
 which mariners had spoken ; this led him to conclude that mountains 
 of ice, or the great fog-banks of the region, had been mistaken tor a 
 continent. Nevertheless, Cook himself clung to the idea of the 
 existence of a southern continent. " I firmly believe," he says, 
 " that near the South Pole there is land, where most part of the ice is 
 formed which is spread over the vast Southern Ocean. I cannot 
 believe that the ice could extend itself so far if it had not land— and 
 
THE ANTARCTIC REGIONS. 47 
 
 I venture to say land of considerable extent — to the south. I believe, 
 nevertheless, that the greater part of this southern continent ought 
 to lie within the Polar Circle, where the sea is so encumbered with ice 
 as to be unapproachable. The danger run in surveying a coast in 
 these unknown seas is so great, that I dare say no one will venture 
 to go farther than I have, and that the land that lies to the south 
 will always remain unknown. The fogs are there too dense; the 
 snow-storms and tempests too frequent ; the cold too severe ; all the 
 dangers of navigation too numerous. The appearance of the coast is 
 the most horrible that can be imagined. The country is condemned 
 by Nature to remain unvisited by the sun, and buried under eternal 
 hoar frost. After this report, I believe that we shall hear no more of 
 searches for a southern continent." This description of these desolate 
 regions, to which the great navigator might have applied the words 
 of Pliny, " Pars mundi a natura damnata et densa mersa caligine," 
 only excited the courage of his successors. In our days, several 
 expeditions have been fitted out for the express survey of regions 
 which may be characterised as the abode of cold, silence, and death. 
 In 1833 a free passage opened itself into the Antarctic Sea. A 
 Scottish whaling ship, commanded by James Weddell, entered the 
 pack ice, and penetrated it in pursuit of seals ; but having, by chance, 
 found the sea open on his course, he forced his way up to 74^ south 
 latitude, and under 34^ of longitude ; but the season v/as too advanced 
 for further investigation, and he and his crew retraced their steps. 
 The voyage of Captain Weddell caused a great sensation, and sug- 
 gested the possibility of more serious expeditions. Twelve years later 
 three great expeditions were fitted out : one, under Dumont D'Urville, 
 of the French Marine; an American expedition, under Captain 
 Wilkes, of the United States Navy ; and an English expedition, under 
 Sir James Clark Ross. 
 
 Dumont D'Urville, who perished so miserably in the railway 
 catastrophe at Versailles in 1842, passed the Straits of Magellan on 
 the 9th of January, 1838, having under his command the two cor- 
 vettes Astrolabe and Zélée. He expected to find it as Weddell had 
 described, and that, after passing the first icy barrier, he should find 
 an open sea before him. But he was soon compelled to renounce 
 this hope. The floating icebergs became more and more closely 
 packed and dangerous. The southern icebergs do not appear to 
 circulate in straits and channels already formed, like those of the 
 North Pole, but form enormous detached blocks which hug the land. 
 Sometimes in shallow water they form belts parallel to the base of 
 the cliffs, intersected by a small number of sinuous narrow channels. 
 
48 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 These icy cliffs present a face more or less disintegrated as they 
 approach to the rocky shore. The blocks of ice form at first huge 
 prisms, or tabular regular masses ; but they get broken up by degrees, 
 and rounded oft' and separated under the action of the waves, which 
 chafe them, and their colour becomes more and more limpid and 
 bluish. They ascend freely towards the north, often in spite of the 
 winds and currents which tend to carry them in the contrary direction. 
 One year with another these floating icebergs accumulate with very 
 striking difterences, and it is only by a rare chance that they open up 
 a free passage such as Captain Weddell had discovered. These 
 floating islands of ice have been met with in 35^ south latitude, and 
 even as high as Cape Horn. 
 
 The two French ships frequently found themselves shut up in the 
 icebergs, which continued to press upon them while driven before 
 the north winds, then the south wind would again disperse their vast 
 masses, enabling the ships to issue from their prison all safe and 
 sound. In some cases D'Urville found it necessary to force his ships 
 through fields of ice by which he was surrounded and imprisoned, 
 and to cut his way by force through the accumulating blocks, using 
 the corvette as a sort of battering ram. In 1838 he recognised, about 
 fifty leagues from the South Orkney Isles, a coast, to which he gave 
 the name of Louis Philippe s and Joinvillês Land. This coast is 
 covered with enormous masses of ice, which seemed to rise to the 
 height of 2,600 feet. The crew of D'Urville's ship being sickly and 
 overworked, he returned to the port of Chili, whence he again issued 
 for the South Pole in the following January. 
 
 On this occasion his approach was made from a point diame- 
 trically opposite to his former attempt. He very soon found himself 
 in the middle of the ice. He discovered within the Antarctic Circle 
 land, to which he gave the name of Adelta's Land. The long and 
 lofty cliffs of this island or continent he describes as being surrounded 
 by a belt of islands of ice at once numerous and threatening. D'Urville 
 did not hesitate to navigate his corvettes through the middle of the 
 band of enormous icebergs which seemed to guard the Pole and 
 forbid his approach to it. For some time his vessels were so 
 surrounded that they had reason to fear, from moment to moment, 
 some terrible shock, some irreparable disaster. In addition to this, 
 the sea produces around these floating icebergs, eddies, which were 
 not unlikely to draw on the ship to the destruction with which it was 
 threatened at every instant. It was in passing at their base that 
 D'Urville was able to judge. of the height of these icy cliffs, "The 
 walls of these blocks of ice," he says, " far exceeded our masts and 
 
THE ANTARCTIC REGIONS. 49 
 
 rigging in height ; they overhung our ships, whose dimensions seemed 
 ridiculously curtailed. We seem to be traversing the narrow streets 
 of some city of giants. At the foot of these gigantic mountains we 
 perceived vast caverns hollowed by the waves, which were engulfed 
 there with a crashing tumult. The sun darted his oblique rays upon 
 the immense walls of ice, making them look as if they were crystal, and 
 presenting effects of light and shade truly magical and startling. 
 From the summit of these mountains, numerous brooks, fed by the 
 melting ice produced by the summer heat of a January sun in these 
 regions, threw themselves in cascades into the icy sea. Occasionally 
 these icebergs would approach each other so as to conceal the land 
 entirely, and we could only perceive two walls of threatening ice, 
 whose sonorous echoes sent back the word of command of the 
 officers. I'he corvette which followed the Astrolabe appeared so 
 small, and its masts so slender, that the ship's crew were seized 
 with terror. For nearlv an hour we only saw vertical walls of 
 ice." 
 
 Ultimately they reached a vast basin, formed on one side by the 
 chain of floating islands which they had traversed and on the other 
 by high land rising 3,000 and 4,000 feet, rugged and undulating on 
 the surface, but clothed all over with an icy mantle which was 
 rendered dazzlingly imposing in its whiteness by the rays of the sun. 
 The officers could only advance by means of the ship's boats through 
 a labyrinth of icebergs up to a httle islet lying opposite to the coast. 
 They landed on this islet ; the French flag was planted, possession 
 was taken of the new territory, and, in proof of possession, some 
 portions of rock were torn from the scarped and denuded cliffs. 
 These rocks were found to be composed of quartz and gneiss. The 
 southern continent, therefore, apparently belongs to the primitive 
 formation, while the northern region belongs in great part to the 
 carboniferous period. According to D'Urville, who surveyed the 
 region of Adelia's Land over an extent of thirty leagues of country, 
 the region is one of death and desolation, without any trace of 
 vegetation. 
 
 A Uttle more to the south the French navigator had a vague 
 virion of the white outlines of the horizon of another land, which he 
 named Côte Claire^ or Coast Clear, the existence of which was soon 
 afterwards confirmed by the American expedition under Commodore 
 Wilkes. This officer has explored the southern land on a larger 
 scale than any other navigator ; but he suftered himself to be led into 
 error by the dense fogs of the region, and has laid down coast lines 
 on his map where Sir James Ross subsequently fo'ind only open 
 
50 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 sea — an error which has very unjustly thrown discredit on the whole, 
 expedition. 
 
 The English expedition, under Sir J. C. Ross, entered this region 
 on Christmas Day, 1840, which Was passed by Ross in a strong gale, 
 with constant snow or rain. Soon after, the first icebergs were seen, 
 having flat tubular summits, and being in some instances two miles 
 in circumference ; they were bounded on all sides by perpendicular 
 cliffs of ice. On New Year's Day, 1841, the ships crossed the 
 Antarctic Circle, and reached the edge of the pack ice, which they 
 entered, after skirting it for several days. On the 5th the pack was 
 passed through, amid blinding snow and thick fog, which on clearing 
 away revealed an open sea; and on the nth of January land was 
 seen directly ahead of the ships. A coast Hne rose in lofty snow- 
 covered peaks at a great distance. On a nearer view, this coast is 
 thus described : — " It was a beautifully clear evening, and two 
 magnificent ranges of mountains rose to elevations varying from 
 7,000 to 10,000 feet above the level of the sea. The glaciers which 
 filled their intervening valleys, and which descended from near the 
 mountain summits, projected in many places several miles into the 
 sea, and terminated in lofty perpendicular cliffs. In a few places the 
 locks broke through their icy covering, by which alone we could be 
 assured that masses of lava formed the nucleus of this, to all appear- 
 ance, enormous iceberg. This antarctic land was named Victoria 
 Land, in honour of the Queen of England. It was coasted up to 
 78° south latitude, and near to this a magnificent volcanic mountain 
 presented itself, rising 12,000 feet above the level of the sea, which 
 emitted flame and smoke in great quantities. The flanks of this 
 gigantic mountain were clothed with snow almost to the mouth of 
 the very crater from which the flame and smoke issued. At a 
 short distance, Ross discovered the cone of an extinct, or, at least, 
 inactive volcano. He gave to these two volcanoes the names of 
 his vessels, Erebus and Terror (Fig. 8) — names perfectly in harmony 
 with the surrounding desolation. The ice-covered cliffs rose about 
 190 feet high, and appeared to be about 300 feet deep; soundings 
 were found at about 400 fathoms. In the distance, towards the 
 south, a range of lofty mountains was observed, which Ross named 
 Mount Farry, in honour of his old commander. When Ross 
 commenced to retrace his steps, the expedition had advanced as far 
 as 79^ of south latitude. 
 
 It may be said of the polar countries that they form a transition 
 state between land and sea, for water is always present, although in a 
 
THE ANTARCTIC REGIONS. 
 
 51 
 
 solid state ; the surface is always at a very low temperature ; snow 
 does not melt as it falls, and the sea is thus sometimes covered with 
 a continuous sheet of frozen snow j sometimes with enormous floating 
 blocks of ice which are driven by the currents. Meeting with these 
 floating masses of ice is one of the dangers of polar navigation. 
 Captain Scoresby has given a very detailed description of the different 
 
 Fig. 8. — Mounts Erebus .and Terror. 
 
 kinds of ice met with in the Arctic Seas. The ice-fields of this writer 
 are extensive masses of solid water, of which the eye often cannot 
 trace the limits ; some of them have been met with thirty-five leagues 
 in length and ten broad, with, a thickness of from seven to eight 
 fathoms ; but generally these ice-fields rise only four to six feet above 
 the water, and reach from three to four fathoms beneath its surface. 
 Scoresby has seen these ice-fields forming in the open sea. When 
 the first crystals appear, the surface of the ocean is cold enough to 
 
52 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 prevent snow from melting as it falls. On the approach of congela- 
 tion the surface solidifies, and seems as if covered with oil ; small 
 circles are formed, which press against each other, and are finally 
 soldered together until they form a vast field of ice, the thickness of 
 which increases from the lower surface. 
 
 The water produced from melted ice is perfectly fresh — -the result 
 of a well-known physical cause. When a saline solution like sea- 
 water is congealed by cold, pure water alone passes into the solid 
 state, the salme solution becomes more concentrated, increases in. 
 density, and sinks to the bottom. Blocks of ice, therefore, in the 
 Polar Seas, are always available for use. There are, however, salt 
 blocks of ice, which are distinguished from fresh- water ice by their 
 opaqueness and their dazzling white colour — their saltness is due to 
 the sea-water retained in llheir interstices. 
 
 The ice-fields, which are formed in high latitudes, are driven 
 towards the south both by winds and currents ; but sooner or later 
 the action of the waves breaks them up into fragments. The edges 
 of the broken icebergs are thus often rising and continually changing. 
 These asperities and protuberances are called hummocks by English 
 navigators ; they give to the polar ice an odd, irregular appearance. 
 Hummocks form themselves of the stray, broken icebergs which come 
 in contact with each other at their edges, and thus form vast rafts, 
 the pieces of which may exceed loo yards in length. 
 
 When these icebergs are separated by open spaces, through which 
 vessels can be navigated, the pack ice is said to be open ; but it often 
 happens that mountains of ice occur partly submerged, where one 
 edge is retained under the principal mass, while the other is above the 
 water. Scoresby once passed over a calf, as English mariners call 
 these icy mountains ; but he trembled while he did so, dreading lest 
 it should throw his vessel, himself, and crew into the air before he 
 could pass it. The aspect of the ice-fields varies in a thousand ways. 
 Here one forms an incoherent chaos resembling some volcanic dis- 
 trict, with crevices in all directions, bristling with unshapely blocks 
 piled up at random ; there it is a strongly-marked plain, an immense 
 mosaic formed of vast blocks of ice of every age and thickness, the 
 divisions of which are marked by long ridges of the most irregular 
 forms ; sometimes resembling walls composed of great rectangular 
 blocks, sometimes resembling chains of hills, with great rounded 
 summits. 
 
 In the spring, when a thaw sets in, and the fields begin to break 
 up, the pieces of liglit ice which unite the great blocks into single 
 masses are the first to melt j the several blocks then separate, and 
 
ICE FIELDS. 53 
 
 the motion of the water soon disperses them, and the ships 
 imprisoned by them find a free passage. But a day of cahTi is still 
 sufficient to unite the dispersed masses, which oscillate and grind 
 against each other with a strange noise, which sailors compare to 
 the yelping of young dogs. 
 
 When a ship is shut up in one of these floating ice-fields, inexpHcable 
 changes sometimes occur amid their vast incoherent aggregations. 
 Vessels which appear to their crew immovable are found in a few hours 
 to have completely reversed their positions. Two ships shut in at a 
 short distance from each other were driven many leagues asunder 
 without being able to perceive any change in the surrounding ice. 
 At other times ships are drawn along with the floating ice-fields, just as 
 the white bears are who make long voyages at sea upon these monster 
 vehicles. In 1777 the Dutch vessel the Wilhelmina was carried 
 along with some other whaling ships from 80^ north back to 62^, in 
 sight of the Iceland coast. During this terrible journey the ships 
 were broken up one after the other. More than 200 persons 
 perished, and the remainder at last reached land with difficulty. 
 
 Lieutenant De Haven, navigating in search of Sir John Franklin, 
 was caught in the ice in the middle of the channel in WeUington 
 Strait. During the nine months which he remained in captivity, he 
 drifted nearly 1,300 miles towards the south ; and the ship Resolute, 
 abandoned by Captain Kellet in an ice-field of immense extent, was 
 drifted towards the south with this vast mass to a much greater 
 distance. 
 
 Some curious speculations are hazarded by Dr. Maury, arising 
 out of some investigations of his upon the winds and currents, some 
 facts seeming to indicate the existensce of a climate, mild by com- 
 parison, within the Antarctic Circle. These indications are a low 
 barometer, a high degree of aerial rarefaction, and strong winds from 
 the north. " The winds,'' he says, " were the first to whisper of 
 this strange state of things, and to intimate to us that the Antarctic 
 climates are in winter very unlike the Arctic for rigour and severity." 
 The result of an immense mass of observation on the polar and 
 equatorial winds reveals a marked difference in atmospherical move- 
 ments north, as compared with the same movements south, of the 
 Equator ; the equatorial winds of the northern hemisphere being only 
 in excess between the tenth and thirteenth parallels, while those of 
 the southern hemisphere are dominant over a zone of 45°, or from 
 35*^ south to 10° north. 
 
 "The fact that the influence of the polar indraught upon the 
 winds should extend from the Antarctic to the parallel of 40^ south, 
 
54 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 while that from the Arctic is so feeble as scarcely to be felt in 50^ 
 north, is indication enough as to the difference in degree of aerial 
 rarefaction over the two regions. The significance of the fact is 
 enhanced by the consideration that the ' brave west winds,' which 
 are bound to the place of greatest rarefaction, rush more violently 
 and constantly along to their destination than do the counter trades 
 of the nortliern hemisphere. Why should these polar-bound winds 
 differ so much in strength and prevalence, unless there be a much 
 more abundant supply of caloric, and, consequently, a higher degree 
 of rarefaction, at one pole than at the other?" 
 
 That this is the case is confirmed by all the known barometrical 
 observations, which are very much lower in th'^^ Antarctic than in the 
 Arctic, and Dr. Maury thinks this is doubtless due to the excess in 
 the Antarctic regions of aqueous vapour and of latent heat. 
 
 "There is," he writes, "rarefaction in the Arctic regions. The 
 winds show it, the barometer attests it, and the fact is consistent 
 with the Russian theory of a Polynia in polar waters. Within the 
 Antarctic Circle, on the contrary, the winds bring air w^hich has come 
 over the water for the distance of hundreds of leagues all around ; 
 consequently, a large portion of atmospheric air is driven away from 
 the austral regions by the force of vapour." 
 
55 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 LIFE IN THE OCEAN. 
 
 ** See what a lovely shell, 
 Small and pure as a pearl. 
 Frail, but a work divine, 
 Made so fairly well, 
 With delicate spire and whorl, 
 A miracle of design." 
 
 Tennyson. 
 
 " The appearance of the open sea," says Fredol, from whose work 
 this chapter is chiefly compiled, "far from the shore — the boundless 
 ocean — is to the man who loves to create a world of his own, in 
 which he can freely exercise his thoughts, filled with sublime ideas of 
 the Infinite. His searching eye rests upon the far-distant horizon. 
 He sees there the ocean and the heavens meeting in a vapoury 
 outline, where the stars ascend and descend, appear and disappear in 
 their turn. Presently this everlasting change in Nature awakens in 
 him a vague feeling of that sadness ' which,' says Humboldt, ' lies 
 at the root of all our heartfelt joys.'" 
 
 Emotions of another kind are produced by the contemplation 
 and study of the habits of the innumerable organised beings which 
 inhabit this great deep. In fact, that immense expanse of water, 
 which we call the sea, is no vast liquid desert ; life dwells in its 
 bosom as it does on that of the dry land. Here this mystery of life 
 reigns supreme. It is among the most beautiful, the most noble, and 
 the most incomprehensible of His manifestations. Without life, the 
 world would be as nothing. All the beings endowed with it transmit 
 it faithfully to other beings, they again to their successors, which will 
 be, like them, the depositaries of the same mysterious gift ; the 
 marvellous heritage thus traverses years and hundreds of years without 
 losing its powers ; the globe is teeming with the life which has been 
 so bounteously distributed over it. 
 
 In every living being there are two powers, between which a 
 
56 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 silent but incessant combat is being carried on — life^ which builds 
 up, and death, which pulls asunder. At first, life is all powerful — it 
 lords it over matter ; but its reign is limited. Beyond a certain 
 point its physical vigour becomes gradually impaired ; with old age 
 it feebly struggles; and it is finally extinguished with time, when the 
 chemical and physical laws seize upon it, and its organisation is 
 destroyed. But in turn the very elements, though inert at first, are 
 soon reanimated and occupied with a new life. Every plant, every 
 animal is bound up with the past, and is part of the future, for every 
 generation which starts into life is only the corollary upon that which 
 expires, and the prelude of another which is about to be born. Life 
 is the school of death ; death is the foster-mother of life. 
 
 Life, however, does not always exhibit itself at the actual moment 
 of its formation. It is visible later, and only after other phenomena. 
 In order to develop itself a suitable medium must be prepared, and 
 other determinate physical and chemical conditions provided. The 
 presence and diffusion of living beings are by no means due to 
 chance ; they follow rigorously an order of law. Speaking of the 
 higher forms of animal life, the Duke of Argyll says ("The Reign of 
 Law"): — "In all these there is an observed order in the most rigid 
 scientific sense, that is, phenomena in uniform connection and mutual 
 relations which can be made, and are made, the basis of systematic 
 classification. These classifications are imperfect, not because they 
 are founded on ideal connections where none exist, but only because 
 they fail in representing adequately the subtle and pervading order 
 which binds together all living things." 
 
 The knowledge of extinct forms of animals and pîants has thrown 
 great light upon the regular and progressive development of organisa- 
 tion. The evolution of living beings seems to have commenced with 
 the more rudimentary forms; the more ancient rocks, until very 
 recently, had revealed no traces of life, and what has been lately 
 revealed tends to confirm this view. In the Cambrian rocks of Bray 
 Head, county Wicklow, the Oldhamia aniiqua is found — it is a form 
 of very simple organisation ; and the Rhizopods {Eozoon canadense) 
 found in the otherwise Azoic rocks of Canada is among the lowest 
 forms of organised beings. It is only in beds of comparatively recent 
 formation that we meet with animals of the higher classes. When 
 plants first show themselves, even among these the simplest forms 
 nave priority. The combinations of life, at first simple, have become 
 more and more complex, until the creation of man, who may be 
 considered the masterpiece of organisation. 
 
 If we expose a quantity of pure water to the light and air in the 
 
LIFE IN THE OCEAN, 57 
 
 spring time or summer season we would soon see it producing minute 
 spots of a yellowish or greenish colour. These spots, examined 
 through the microscope, reveal thousands " of vegetable forms. 
 Presently thousands of Rhizopods and Infusoria appear, which move 
 and swim about the floating vegetable forms upon which they nourish 
 themselves. Other Infusoria then appear, which, in their turn, pursue 
 and devour the first. 
 
 In short, life transforms unorganised into organised matter. 
 Vegetables appear first, then come herbivorous animals, and then 
 come the carnivorous. Life maintains life. The death oi one 
 provides food and development to others, for all are bound up 
 together; all assist at the metamorphoses continually occurring in 
 the organic as in the inorganic world, the result being general and 
 profound harmony — harmony always worthy of admiration. The 
 Creator alone is unchangeable, omnipotent, and permanent ; all else 
 is transition. 
 
 The inhabitants of the water are at least as numerous as those of 
 the solid earth. " Upon a surface less varied than we find on conti- 
 nents,'' says Humboldt, " the sea contains in its bosom an exuberance 
 of life of which no other portion of the globe could give us any idea. 
 It expands in the north as in the south ; in the east as in the west. 
 The seas, above all, abound with this life ; in the bosom of the deep, 
 creatures corresponding and harmonising with each other sport and 
 play. Among these the naturalist finds instiiiction, and the philo- 
 sopher subjects for meditation. The changes they undergo only 
 impress upon our minds more and more a sentiment of thankfulness 
 to the Author of the universe." 
 
 Yes, the ocean in its profoundest depths — its plains and its 
 mountains, its valleys, its precipices — is animated and beautified by 
 the presence of innumerable organised beings. Among these we find 
 the Algae, sohtary or social, erect or drooping, spreading into prairies, 
 grouped in patches, or forming vast forests in the ocean valleys. 
 These submarine forests protect and nourish milHons of animals 
 which creep, which run, which swim among them ; others again sink 
 into the sands, attach themselves to rocks, or lodge themselves in 
 their crevices ; these construct dwelhngs for themselves ; they seek or 
 fly from each other ; they pursue or fight, caress each other lovingly, 
 or devour each other without pity. Charles Darwin truly remarks 
 somewhere that our terrestrial forests do not maintain nearly so many 
 living beings as those which swarm in the bosom of the sea. The 
 ocean, which for man is the region of asphyxia and death, is for millions 
 
58 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 of animals the region of life and health : there is enjoyment foi 
 myriads in its waves ; there is happiness on its banks. 
 
 The sea influences its numerous inhabitants, animal or vegetable, 
 Dy its temperature, by its density, by its saltness, by its bitterness, by 
 the never-ceasing agitation of its waves, and by the rapidity of its 
 currents. 
 
 We have seen in preceding chapters that the sea only freezes 
 under intense cold, and then only at the surface. 
 
 What immense varieties of size, shape, form, and colour, from the 
 nearly invisible algae which serve to nourish the small zoophytes and 
 molluscs, to the long, slender algae of fifty, and even 500, yards in 
 length ! How vast the disparity between the microscopic Infusoria 
 and the gigantic Whales ! 
 
 "We find in the sea," says Lacepede, '-unity and diversity, 
 which constitute its beauty ; grandeur and simplicity, which give it 
 sublimity ; puissance and immensity, which command our wonder." 
 
 In the following pages v/e shall figure and describe many inhabit- 
 ants of the sea ; but how many will still remain to be figured and 
 described ! From the days of Aristotle research has been succeeded 
 by research, without interruption. " But how vast the field," as 
 Lamarck observes, " which Science has still to cultivate, in order to 
 carry the knowledge already acquired to the degree of perfection 
 ot which it is susceptible V 
 
 " When the tide retires from the shore, the sea leaves upon the 
 coast some few of the numberless beings which it carries in its 
 bosom. In the first moments of its retreat, the naturalist may collect 
 a crowd of substances, vegetable and animal, of various characteristic 
 colours and properties. The inhabitants of the coast may find there 
 their food, their commerce, and their occupations. At low water the 
 nearest villages and hamlets send their contingents, old and young, 
 men, women, and children, to the harvest Some apply themselves 
 to gathering the riband seaweed {Zostera), the membranous Uh'a, the 
 sombre brown Fucus vesiadosus a source of great wealth to the 
 dwellers by the sea, being much used in making kelp ; others gather 
 the small shells left on the sand ; boys mount upon the rocks in search 
 of whelks {BiLccinum) and of mussels (Afytilus), and detach limpets 
 {Patella) from the rocks to which they attach themselves. On some 
 coasts shells are sought for their beauty. By turning the stones, or 
 by sounding the crevices of the rocks with a hook at the end of a 
 pole, cuttles and calmars are sometimes surprised — sometimes even 
 
LIFE ÎN THE OCEAN. 59 
 
 â young conger eel, which has sought refuge there ; while the pools, 
 left here and there by the retiring tide are dragged by nets of very 
 small mesh, in which the smaller Crustacea, molluscs, and small fish 
 are secured." 
 
 In the Mediterranean and other inland seas, where the tide is 
 almost inappreciable, there will be found to exist a great number of 
 animals and Algae belonging to the deep sea, which the waves or 
 currents very rarely leave upon the sea-shore. There are others, again, 
 so fugitive, or which attach themselves so firmly to the rocks, that 
 we can watch them only in their habitats. It is necessary to study 
 them floating on the surface of the waves, or in their mysterious 
 retirements. Hence it is often necessary that naturalists should 
 study the living productions of the sea, both on the bosom of the 
 ocean as well as on the sea-shore. 
 
 The means generally employed for scraping the sea-bottom is a 
 dredge-net, or other suitable engine. In a voyage which Milne- 
 Edwards made round the coast of Sicily, he formed the idea of 
 employing an apparatus invented by Colonel Paulin, which consisted 
 of a metallic casque provided with a visor of glass, and consequently 
 transparent, which was fixed round the neck by means of a copper 
 collar made water-tight by stufiing — a diving-bell, in short, in miniature. 
 It communicated with an air-pump by means of a flexible tube. 
 Four men were employed in serving the pump, two working while 
 the other two rested themselves. Other men held the extremity of a 
 rope, which was passed over a pulley attached at a higher elevation, 
 and enabled them to hoist up the diver with the necessary rapidity 
 in case of emergency. A vigilant observer held in his hand a small 
 signal cord. I'he immersion of the diver was facilitated by heavy 
 leaden shoes, which assisted him at the same time to maintain his ver- 
 tical position at the bottom. Milne-Edwards made the descent with 
 this apparatus in three fathoms water with perfect success. He was 
 thus enabled to study, in their most hidden and most iHaccessible 
 retreats, the radiate animals, molluscs, crustaceans, and annehds, and 
 by his descriptions he has contributed most essentially to our know- 
 ledge of the manners and mode of development of certain in- 
 habitants of the sea, whose sojourn and habits would have seemed 
 to sequestrate them for ever from our observation. 
 
 Another and easier mode of studying the living creatures 
 sheltered by the sea was first suggested by M. Charles des Moulins, 
 of Bordeaux, in .1830. The aqiia?'ium, which is a tank or large 
 water-tight vessel charged with fresh or salt water, according to the 
 
6o THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 beings it is intended to contain, serves the same purpose for the 
 inhabitants of the deep which the aviary does for the birds of the 
 air — cages of glass being used in place of cages of iron wire or wicker- 
 work, and water taking, in a measure, the place of atmospheric air. 
 
 When the globe is filled with fresh water, and molluscs, crus- 
 taceans, or fishes are placed in it, it is observed, after a few days, 
 that the water loses its transparency and purity, and becomes slightly 
 corrupt. It necessarily follows that the water must be changed from 
 time to time. Changing the water, however, too frequently causes 
 much suffering, and even death, to the animals. Besides, the new 
 water does not always present the same composition, the same 
 aeration, or the same temperature, with that which is replaced. To 
 obviate this defect, and taking a leai out of Nature's book, M. des 
 Moulins proposed to put into the vase a certain number of aquatic 
 plants, floating or submerged — duckweed, for example — which would 
 oxygenate the water, and so keep it fit for the animals inhabiting it. 
 It is known that plants assimilate carbon, while decomposing the 
 carbonic acid produced by the respiration of animals, thus dis- 
 engaging the oxygen indispensable to animal life. In this simple 
 manner was the too constant change oi the water obviated. The 
 same happy idea has been successfully applied to salt water ; and 
 aquariums for salt water plants and animals have been proposed on 
 a great scale, such as that of the Zoological Gardens of Paris, belong- 
 ing to the French Acclimatisation Society, in the Bois de Boulogne, 
 inaugurated in 1861. It is a soHd stone building of fifty yards in 
 length by about twelve broad, presenting a range of forty tanks made 
 of Angers slate, running north and south. The tanks are nearly 
 cubical, and are lined in front with the strong glass of Saint Gobain. 
 They are lighted from above ; but the light is weak, greenish, uniform, 
 and consequently mysterious and gloomy, giving, however, a pretty 
 exact imitation of the submarine light some fathoms down. Each 
 tank contains about 200 gallons of water, and is furnished with rocks 
 disposed a little in the form of an amphitheatre, and arranged in 
 a picturesque manner. Upon the rocks various species of marine 
 algae are planted. The bottom is of shingle, gravel, and sand, in 
 order to give certain animals a sufficiently natural habitat. 
 
 Ten of these tanks are intended for marine animals. The water 
 employed is never changed, but it is kept in continual agitation by 
 a circulation, which is produced by a current of water led from the 
 great pipe which feeds the Bois de Boulogne. This water, being 
 subjected to a strong pressure, compresses a certain portion of air, 
 which, being permitted to act on a portion of the sea water contained 
 
LIFE IN THE OCEAN. 6 1 
 
 in a closed cylinder placed below the level of the aquarium, makes 
 it ascend, and enter with great force into a reservoir, into which it is 
 thrown from a small jet. The sea water thus pressed absorbs a 
 portion of the air, which is drawn with it into the reservoir. A tube 
 placed in a corner of the reservoir receives the overflow, and 
 conducts it into a closed carbon filter, whence it passes into a gravelly 
 underground reservoir, returning again to the closed cylinder. The 
 water is once more subjected to the pressure of air, and again 
 ascends to the aquarium. The cylinder being underground, a 
 temperature equal to about i6° Centigrade, which is nearly the 
 uniform temperature of the ocean, is easily maintained. During 
 winter the aquarium is heated artifically. 
 
 We ought not to conclude our remarks on this subject without a 
 passing allusion to the large aquarium at the Sydenham Palace, and 
 to the still larger one more recently opened at Brighton, which, for 
 abundance of specimens and tastefulness of arrangement, far surpass 
 anything of the sort previously attempted in England. 
 
62 
 
 CHAPTER lY. 
 
 Protozoa„ 
 
 *• Natura nusquam magis quàm in minimis tota est." 
 
 *• Nature is nowhere more perfect than in her smaller works." — Pliny, 
 
 It will not be out of place here to offer some remarks on the animal 
 kingdom in general, as well as on the great divisions thereof which 
 form the subject of this volume. But, considering the vastness of the 
 subject, we must be indeed brief The divisions, classes, orders, 
 famihes, genera, and species, which naturalists have established in 
 order to study and describe animals, are admirable contrivances for 
 facilitating the study of creatures numerous as the sands of the sea- 
 shore. Without this precious means of logical distribution, the 
 individual mind would recoil before the task of describing the in- 
 numerable groups of existing animal hfe. But the reader must never 
 forget that these methodical divisions are, after all, due to human 
 invention : they form no part of Nature ; Linn^us tells us that Nature 
 makes no leaps — natura non facit saltus — she passes in a manner 
 almost insensibly from one stage of organisation to another ; human 
 systems but try to follow in her footsteps. 
 
 When we come to examine the organisms which stand as it 
 were on the confines of the animal and vegetable kingdoms, we 
 realise how difficult it is to see the precise line of demarcation 
 which separates these great kingdoms of Nature. We have seen 
 in '' The Vegetable World '' germs of the simplest organisation, 
 spores, as in the Algae, which seem to be invested with some of 
 the characteristics of animal life, for they appear to be gifted with 
 organs of locomotion, namely, vibratile cilia, by means of which they 
 execute movements which are to all appearance quite voluntary. 
 Side by side with these are the fecundating corpuscles, known as 
 antherozoids among the Algae, Mosses, and Ferns, which seem to go 
 and come like the inferior animals, seeking to penetrate into cavities, 
 withdrawing themselves, returning again, and again introducing 
 themselves, and exhibiting all the signs of an apparent effort. If we 
 compare some of the early stages of the Protozoa with these moving 
 
PROTOZOA. 63 
 
 vegetable organisms, we will not find it easy to determine, without 
 considerable study, which is to become the plant and which the 
 animal. It is indeed difficult to trace the precise line of demarcation 
 which it is so desirable to estabfish between these two kingdoms 
 k){ Nature. 
 
 The word zoophyte has been often appfied to these lower lorms of 
 animal life : it is derived from the Greek word iSiov^ animal^ and ^vrlv^ 
 plant. To adopt the name zoophyte to indicate a great division of 
 the animal kingdom, would, however, lead the reader to imagine that 
 there is a.n ambiguity about the creatures designated, or that they 
 belong <X once to both kingdoms, or that they might be ranged in- 
 differently in the one or the other. But the so-called zoophytes 
 are animals, and nothing but animals ; and the only jusdfication for 
 using a designation which signifies animal-plant is, that many of 
 them have, at first sight, an exterior resemblance to plants. 
 
 This likeness between plants and zoophytes was supposed to be 
 nowhere more apparent than in the coral. Rooted upon rocks, 
 the form of its branches many times subdivided, above all, the 
 coloured polyps which at certain stages of their expansion so closely 
 resemble the corolla of a flower, gave the coral, it was thought, all the 
 form and appearance of a plant. Until the eighteenth century most 
 naturahsts classed the coral, as Linnaeus once did without the least 
 hesitation, in the vegetable world. Reaumur long contended for 
 the contrary opinion. The sea anemone was also cited as another 
 example of the resemblance borne by certain of the lower animals to 
 vegetables. This resemblance, however, is not seen in the group 
 of the lower animals which we prefer to call Protozoa (from -n-pcoTà 
 the first, and i,m life), and we shall not surprise our readers by 
 telling them that the structure of these Protozoa, especially of some 
 of the lower forms is excessively simple. We find among them the 
 first steps in the scale of animal life, and here a very rudimentary 
 organisation was to be expected. In these beings the several parts 
 of the body, in place of being disposed symmetrically on each side of 
 its longitudinal plane, as occurs in animals of a higher organisation, 
 are found to have not as yet become differentiated. The Protozoa we 
 need hardly add have neither an articulate skeleton, either exterior 
 or interior, nor a nervous system. The' organs of the senses, other 
 than that perhaps of touch, are altogether absent in the beings which 
 belong to this the lowest class of the lowest division of the animal 
 kingdom. 
 
 Several questions arise here : Has the Protozoon sentiment, 
 feeling, preception? Has it consciousness, sense, sensibility? The 
 
64 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 question is insoluble ; it is sunk in an abyss of obscurity. The 
 coral, or rather the aggregation of living beings which bear the name, 
 are attached to the rock which has seen their birth, and which will 
 witness their death : the Infusoria, of microscopic dimensions, which 
 revolve perpetually in a circle infinitesimally small ; the marvellous 
 Amœbse, which in the space of a minute can change their form a 
 hundred times under the surprised eyes of the observer, are, in truth, 
 mere atoms charged with life. Yet all these beings have an existence 
 to appearance purely vegetative. In their obscure and blind life, 
 have they consciousness or instinct? Do they know what takes 
 place at the three-thousandth part of an inch from their microscopic 
 bodies ? To the Creator alone does the knowledge of this mystery 
 belong. 
 
 It would be foreign to the object of this work to enumerate all 
 the minute details concerning the innumerable creatures which swarm 
 in the ocean and on its confines. We shall perhaps best consult the 
 convenience of our readers by saying a few words about the Protozoa 
 in general, before proceeding to discuss the three classes which form 
 this division of the animal kingdom. 
 
 The Protozoa represent animal life reduced to its most simple 
 expression. They are organised atoms, mere animated and moving 
 points, living sparks. As they are the simplest forms of animal Hfe as 
 regards their structure, so also are they the smallest. Their micro- 
 scopic dimensions hide them from our view. The discovery of the 
 microscope was a necessary step to our becoming acquainted with 
 many of these beings, whose existence was ignored by the ancient 
 philosophers, and only revealed in the seventeenth century by the 
 discovery of the microscope. When, armed with this marvellous 
 instrument, we examine these minute organisms, as Leuwenhoek did 
 when, for example, he applied his magnifying glass to some infusions 
 of macerated vegetable and animal substances, or when he scrutinised 
 a drop of water taken from the ocean, from a river, or a lake, we, as 
 he did, will discover there a new world, a world which will be partly 
 unveiled in these pages. 
 
 Some modern writers believe that the Protozoa are mere cellular 
 organisms, such as we find among the vegetable kingdom. Accord- 
 ing to this hypothesis, the Protozoa would be to the animal kingdom 
 what the Algae and Fungi are to the vegetable world. This idea is 
 so far wrong, that it has been founded upon a basis of pure theory. 
 " In reality," says Paul Gervais and Van Beneden, " the animals 
 which we thus designate very rarely resemble elementary plants." 
 TW- substance of which the bodies of the Protozoa are composed is 
 
SPONGIDA. 65 
 
 habitually destitute of cellular structure. Their bodies are formed 
 of a sort of animated jelly, amorphous and diaphanous, which has 
 received from Dujardin the name of Sarcode. 
 
 Infinitely varied in their form, the Protozoa are chiefly charac- 
 terised by the absence of a nervous system, of organs of sense, and in 
 many of them the existence of a distinct alimentary system is still to 
 be ascertained. The more highly organised of the group possess 
 vibratile cilia, which act as organs of locomotion as well as enable 
 them to collect their food. Their bodies are sometimes naked, some- 
 times covered with a siHceous, chalky, or membranous shell, and in 
 some covered with cilia, and in the cortical layer of a species of 
 Bursaria, Professor Allman has detected urticating filaments. The 
 Protozoa may be divided into the Spongida^ the Rhizopoda^ and the 
 Infusoria. 
 
 I. — Spongida. 
 
 The sponge is a natural production, which has been known from 
 times of the highest antiquity. Aristotle, Pliny, and all other writers 
 who occupied themselves with natural history in ancient times, are 
 agreed in according to it a sensitive life. They recognise the curious 
 fact that the sponge shrinks from the hand which tries to seize it, 
 and clings to the rocks on which it is rooted, as if it would resist the 
 efforts made to detach it. Pliny, Dioscorides, and their commen- 
 tators, even formed the idea that sponges were capable of feeling, 
 and that they adhered to their native rock by special force. They 
 even distinguished males from females. Erasmus, however, criticising 
 Pliny, concludes that he may pass over all he has written upon the 
 sponge. The sponge, in short, was to the ancients something 
 between a plant and an animal. 
 
 Rondelet — the friend of the celebrated Rabelais, whom the merry 
 curate of Meudon designated under the name cl Rondibilis — who was 
 himself a physician and naturalist of Montpellier, denied at first the 
 existence of sensibility in sponges. He originated the idea that 
 these productions belonged to the vegetable kingdom — an idea which 
 Tournefort, Gaspard Bauhin,Rey, and even Linnasus in the first editions 
 of his " Systema Naturse," supported by the great authority of their 
 names. Afterwards, influenced by the convincing labours of Trembley 
 and some other observers, Linnaeus withdrew the sponges from the 
 vegetable kingdom. Pie satisfied himself, in short, that certain polyps 
 much resembled sponges in the nature of their parenchyma, and that, 
 on the other hand, the grouping of sponges with plants was not sucli 
 
66 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 a one as could be maintained. Neuremberg, Peyssonnel, and 
 Trembley maintained the animal nature of sponges, and their views 
 were adopted by Linnaeus, Guettard, Donati, Lamouroux, and Ehren- 
 berg on the Continent, and by Ellis, Fleming, and Grant in England. 
 Sponges live at the bottom of the seas in from 500 to 1,250 fathoms 
 of water, among the clefts and crevices of the rocks, always adhering 
 and attaching themselves, not only to inorganic bodies, but even 
 growing on algae and animals, spreading, erect, or pendent, according 
 to the body which supports them, and their natural habit. 
 
 The power of fixing themselves to other objects, which certain 
 animals possess, is very singular ; nevertheless, it is certain that 
 whole tribes exist, the species of which are strictly adherent, which 
 live and die attached to some rock or other object, and among these 
 are the sponges. It follows then that but for their cilia they would be 
 wholly dependent on external agencies for their means of existence. 
 "The poor Httle creatures," says Alfred Fredol, "receive their 
 nourishment from the wave which washes past them ; they inhale and 
 respire the bitter water all their lives; they are insensible to that 
 which is only the hundredth part of an inch from their mouth." 
 
 In the months of April and May these ' sponges develop ova 
 which are round, yellow, or white, and from whence proceed certain 
 ovoid granular emi3ryos, furnished towards their largest extremity with 
 small vibratile cilia. They are either carried off by the currents, or 
 form swarms of larvae round the parent sponge. They swim about 
 with a gliding wavy motion, and when they have been some time in 
 the water they usually come to the surface. During two or three 
 days they seem to seek a convenient place to fix themselves. Once 
 fixed, the larval form loses its cilia, spreads itself out, and soon grows 
 into the form of its parent. 
 
 " They soon attach themselves to some foreign body," says M. 
 Milne-Edwards, " and become henceforth immovable ; no longer 
 giving signs either of sensibility or of contractibilty, while in their 
 enlargement they are completely transformed. The substance of 
 tneir bodies is channelled and riddled with holes — the fibrous frame- 
 work is completed — the sponge is formed." 
 
 Their interior organisation consists of contractile cellules and 
 numerous spicula — "a tribe," says Gosse, "of the most debatable 
 forms of life, long denied a right to stand in the animal ranks at all, 
 and even still admitted there doubtingly and grudgingly by some 
 excellent naturalists. Yet such they certainly are, established beyond 
 reasonable controversy as true and proper examples of animal life." 
 
 It may, indeed, be safely asserted that all naturalists are now 
 
SPONGWA. 6y 
 
 satisfied of the animal nature of sponges, although they once were 
 thought to represent the lowest and most obscure grade of animal 
 existence, and that so close to the confines of the vegetable world, 
 that it was considered difficult in some species to determine whether 
 they were on the one side or the other. " Several of them, however," 
 says Mr. Gosse, " if viewed with a lens under water while in a living 
 state, display vigorous currents constantly pouring forth from certain 
 orifices ; and we necessarily infer that the water thus ejected must be 
 constantly taken in through some other channel. On tearing the 
 mass open, we see that the whole substance is perforated in all 
 directions by irregular canals,, leading into each other, of which some 
 are slender, and communicate with the surface by minute but 
 numerous pores, and others are wide, and open by ample orifices ; 
 through the former the water is admitted, through the latter it is 
 ejected." 
 
 The physiological function of the tubes and orifices v/hich 
 present themselves on all parts of the sponge has been interpreted in 
 various ways. EUis, writing in 1765, supposes that they were the 
 orifices of the cells occupied by the polypes. In 181 6 Lamarck still 
 advocated this opinion ; and even now we find the observer whose 
 notes M. Fredol has edited with so much judgment asserting that 
 " the inhabitants of the sponge are a species of fleeting, transparent, 
 gelatinous tubes, susceptible of extension and contraction; young 
 polypes, as we may call them, without consistence, without cilia; 
 incipient polypes, in short, of very simple but sufiicient organisation. 
 The animalcule of the sponge is a stomach, without arms, very 
 simple, very elementary — in short, an animal all stomach ! " 
 
 This mode of considering the sponge is not conformable to the 
 views of the leaders of modern science. Professor Milne-Edwards, 
 for instance, in place of seeing in the sponge a collection of united 
 beings, forming as it were a colony, considers each to be an isolated 
 being, a unique individual. The innumerable canals by which the 
 sponge is traversed, according to that author, are at once its digestive 
 organs and breathing pores. The vibratile cilia are necessary to the 
 renewed aeration of the water required as a respiratory iluid in the 
 interior canals of the sponge. The currents in these channels have 
 one constant direction. The water penetrates the sponge by nu- 
 merous orifices of minute dimensions and irregular disposition ; it 
 traverses channels in the body of the mass, and finally makes its 
 escape by special openings. According to this view, the channels of 
 the sponge perform the two functions of digestion and respiration. 
 The rapid currents of aerated water which traverse them lead into 
 
68 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 them the substances necessary to the nourishment of these strange 
 creatures, and at the same thne carry off all excremental matter. At 
 the same time, the walls of these canals present a large absorbing 
 surface, which separates the oxygen with which the water is charged, 
 and disengages the carbonic acid which results from respiration. 
 
 Again, Dr. Johnson omitted them altogether from his work on 
 " British Zoophytes." " If they are not the production of polypi," 
 he says, " the zoologist who retains them in his province must contend 
 that they are individually animals, an opinion to which I cannot 
 assent, seeing that they have no animal structure or individual organs, 
 and exhibit not one function usually supposed to be characteristic 
 of the animal kingdom." Gervais and Van Beneden consider, as 
 Milne-Edwards does, that the embryos are at first movable, then 
 fixed, many of them uniting together, and melting, as it were, into 
 one common colony, which becomes a sponge, such as we see it. An 
 isolated embryo might also, by throwing out germs, produce a similar 
 colony, which would thus become a product of agamous generation. 
 Thus it appears that Science is far from being settled in its views as 
 to the organisation and development of these obscure and complex 
 creatures ; nor is it more advanced in its knowledge of the duration 
 of life and the quickness of growth in sponges. 
 
 It is not to be denied, also, that these beings constitute, in spite 
 of the investigations of modern naturalists, a group still somewhat 
 problematical as to their position in the scale of animal life, and 
 that they are still very imperfectly known as regards their internal 
 organisation. 
 
 Some sponges form masses of a light elastic tissue, which is, at 
 the same time resistant. The number of species or supposed species 
 at present known is very large. Dr. Bowerbank, in his work 
 on "British Sponges," published in 1866, describes nearly 200; 
 and many species have been since added to our Fauna. They are 
 met with presenting every possible diversity of size and outward 
 configuration. Many of them are very small, others are of immense 
 size. Neptune's Cup {Raphiophora patera^ Gray) is met with off 
 Singapore, and forms an immense mass, upwards of three or four 
 feet in height. The skeleton of sponges is usually composed of 
 horny, anastomising fibres (Fig. 9). In some sponges, as Grantia, 
 this is altogether wanting. In others again, as in Fheronejna, the 
 skeleton is chiefly composed of siliceous fibres. Calcareous or siliceous 
 bodies, called spicula, are met with in n^.ost sponges, and vary very 
 much in form and size. Many of these form most beautiful and 
 attractive objects for microscopic examination. Every one is familiar 
 
SPONGIDA. 
 
 69 
 
 Fig. 9. — Sponge, half the natural size, attached to its rocky bed. 
 
 with the porous aspect of any ordinary sponge. It will be found on 
 examination that these pores are of two kinds, the larger ones called 
 
JO THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 "oscula," and the smaller distinguished as "pores." In the living 
 state of the sponge water is being constantly absorbed by the 
 latter, while currents of water will be seen issuing out from the former, 
 thus serving to convey minute particles of food, as well as contributing 
 to the general aeration of the entire mass. It is also worthy of note 
 that sponges possess in a marked degree reparative powers. 
 
 At the present time sponge-fishing takes place principally in the 
 Grecian Archipelago and the Syrian httoral. The Greeks and Syrians 
 sell the product of their fishing to the Western nations, and the trade 
 has been immensely extended in recent times, the sponge having 
 become an almost necessary adjunct of the toilet as well as the stable. 
 
 Fishing usually commences towards the beginning of June on the 
 coast of Syria, and finishes at the end of October. But the months 
 of July and August are peculiarly favourable to the sponge harvest, 
 if we may use the term. Latakia furnishes about ten boats to the 
 fishery, Batroun twenty, Tripoli twenty-five to thirty, Kalki fifty, 
 Simi about 170 to 180, and Kalminos more than 200. 
 
 The operations of one of these boats fishing for sponges on the 
 Syrian coast is represented in Plate I. The boat's crew consists 
 of four or five men, who scatter themselves along the coast for two 
 or three miles in search of sponges under the cliffs and ledges of 
 rock. Sponges of inferior quality are gathered in shallow waters. 
 The finer kinds are found only at a depth of from twenty to thirty 
 fathoms. The first are fished for with three-toothed harpoons, by 
 the aid of which they are torn from their native rock -, but not without 
 deteriorating them more or less. The finer kinds of sponges, on the 
 other hand, are collected by divers ; aided by a knife, they are care- 
 fully detached. Thus, the price of a sponge brought up by diving is 
 much more considerable than that of a harpooned sponge. Among 
 divers, those of Kalminos and of Psara are particularly renowned. 
 They will descend to the depth of twenty-five fathoms, remain down 
 a shorter time than the Syrian divers, and yet bring up a more 
 abundant harvest. The fishing of the Archipelago furnishes few 
 fine sponges to commerce, but a great quantity of very common 
 ones. The Syrian fisheries furnish many of the finer kinds, which 
 find a ready market in France ; they are of medium size. On 
 the other hand, those which are furnished from the Barbary coast 
 are of great dimensions, of a very fine tissue, and much sought 
 for in England. 
 
 Sponge-fishing is carried on at various other stations in the 
 Mediterranean, but without any intelligent direction, and in conse- 
 sequence it is effected without any conservative foresight. At the 
 
I.— Sponge Fishing on the Coast of Syria. 
 
SPONGIDA. 73 
 
 same time, however, the trade in this product goes on yearly increasmg. 
 But it is only a question of time when the trade shall cease ; the 
 demand which every year clears the submarine fields of these sponges 
 causing such destruction that their reproduction will soon cease to be 
 adequate. 
 
 In order to prevent such a result, it is very desirable that 
 attempts should at once be made to naturaUse the several species of 
 sponges on the French and Algerian coasts, and that their cultivation 
 and reproduction should be protected. For this purpose the rocky 
 coasts of the Mediterranean, from Cape Cruz to Nice, at Hyeres, 
 and even some of the salt lakes of the departments in Algeria near 
 the Mediterranean, might be utilised ; large portions of the Southern 
 Italian littoral zone would also be available for this purpose. 
 
 M. Lamiral considered that the composition of the water of the 
 Mediterranean being nearly the same on the coasts of France, of 
 Algeria, and of Syria, the difference of temperature between these 
 two places — especially at the depth where the sponges flourish most 
 — would not interfere with their existence, and he believed that 
 their acclimatisation on the coasts of France and Algeria would be a 
 certain success. He remarked, moreover, that the more the sponges 
 advanced towards the north the finer and compacter their tissues 
 became ; and he argued from this fact that a considerable improve- 
 ment in their quality would result from the experiment. 
 
 The only difficulty, then, would be in the transplanting sponges 
 from the Syrian waters to the coasts of France and Algeria. A sub- 
 marine boat, such as M. Lamiral makes use of for scientific operations 
 conducted in deep water, would, according to this naturaUst, give 
 every facility for collecting sponges for the purpose. This boat can 
 descend to great depths, and its crew can even dwell there for a 
 considerable time, for it is continually fed with fresh air, which is 
 conveyed by an air-pump and tube into the interior of the boat from 
 above, so that the men could readily select such specimens as were 
 suited for acclimatising ; removing whole blocks of rock along with 
 them, either by placing them in cases pierced with holes, or by 
 towing them to their new abode. 
 
 It might be possible, too, to collect the very young forms of sponge 
 in the months of April and May, shortly after they have commenced 
 their independent existence, and to transplant them to favourable 
 localities. At the end of three years, when these true submarine 
 fields would be probably ripe for harvesting, they could be farmed 
 out for methodical collection, which would be effected by means of 
 diving boats. 
 
74 T^HE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 The finer varieties of toilet sponge produce a high price, often 
 as much as forty shilHngs the pound weight for very choice specimens, 
 a price which few commercial products obtain, and which prohibits 
 their use, in short, to all but the wealthy. It is, therefore, very 
 desirable that attempts should be made to carry out the submarine 
 enterprise of M. Lamiral. With the assistance of the Acclimatisation 
 Society of Paris, some experiments have already been made in this 
 direction — so far without any satisfactory results, it is true, but every- 
 thing indicates that by perseverance we shall see the enterprise 
 crownod by the success it merits. 
 
 In the Red Sea the Arabs fish for sponges by diving, the produce 
 being either sold to the English at Aden or sent to Egypt. 
 
 On the Bahama banks, and in the Gulf of Mexico, the sponges 
 grow in water of small depth. The fishermen — Spanish, American, 
 and English — sink a long mast or perch into the water moored near 
 the boat, down which they drop upon the sponges; by this means 
 they are easily gathered. 
 
 The fine soft Syrian sponge is distinguished by its lightness, its 
 fine flaxen colour, its form, which is that of a cup, its surface convex, 
 voluted, pierced with innumerable small orifices, the concave part of 
 which presents canals of much greater diameter, which are prolonged 
 to the exterior surface in such a manner that the summit is nearly 
 always pierced throughout in many places. This sponge is sometimes 
 blanched by the aid of caustic alkalies ; but this preparation not only 
 helps to destroy its texture, but also changes its colour. This sponge 
 is specially employed for the toilet, and its price is high. Specimens 
 which are round-shaped, large, and soft, sometimes produce very 
 high prices. 
 
 The fine sponge of the Grecian Archipelago is scarcely dis- 
 tinguishable from that of Syria, either before or after being cleansed ; 
 nevertheless, it is weightier, its texture is not so fine, and the holes 
 with which it is pierced are at once larger and less in number. It is 
 nearly of the same country as the former, in fact, the fishing for it 
 extends along the Syrian coast as well as the littoral zone of the 
 Archipelago and Barbary. 
 
 The fine hard sponge, called Greek, is less sought for than either 
 of the preceding ; it is, however, most useful for domestic and for 
 certain industrial purposes. Its mass is irregular, it is of a yellowish 
 colour ; it is hard and compact, and pierced with small holes. 
 
 The white sponge of Syria, called Venetian, is esteemed for its 
 lightness, the regularity of its form, and its solidity. In its rough 
 state it is brown in colour, of a fine texture, compact and firm. 
 
SPONGIDA, ■ 75 
 
 When cleansed it becomes flaxen -coloured and of a looser texture. 
 The orifice of the great channels which traverse it are rough and 
 bristly. 
 
 The brown Barbary sponge, when first taken out of the water, 
 presents itself as an elongated flattened body, gelatinous, and charged 
 with blackish mud. It is then hard, heavy, coarse, and of a reddish 
 colour. When well washed in water, it becomes round in shape, still 
 remaining heavy and reddish. It presents many gaps, the intervals 
 of which are occupied by a sinuous and tenacious network. It is 
 valuable for domestic use, because of the facility with which it 
 absorbs water, and its great strength. 
 
 Other sorts of sponges are very abundant. The Blonde Sponge 
 of the Archipelago, often confounded with the Venetian ; the Hard 
 Barbary Sponge, called Gelina, which only comes by accident into 
 France ; the Salonica Sponge is of middling quality ; finally, the 
 Bahama Sponge, from the Antilles, is wanting in flexibiHty, and is a 
 little harsh, and so is sold at a low price, having few useful properties 
 to recommend it. 
 
 Many species of Sponge are described as inhabiting the British 
 seas, but none are of any commercial value. 
 
 No very satisfactory classification of the Sponges has as yet been 
 made, although many recent writers have attempted with more or 
 less success to arrange the very numerous forms now known into 
 definite groups. Among these we may mention Dr. J. E. Gray, Dr. 
 Bowerbank, and Professor Oscar Schmidt. With a few exceptions, 
 all sponges, as we have seen, contain spicules : these are either 
 siliceous or calcareous. We may therefore divide the sponges into 
 two sections, the first being called 
 
 Calcarea. 
 
 Skeleton chiefly composed of calcareous spicules, which are 
 generally three-rayed. All the species are marine, and none appear 
 to attain large dimensions, while some of the very smallest sponges 
 known belong to this section. Grantia compressa^ one of our com- 
 monest British sponges, will serve as an example. 
 
 SiLICEA. 
 
 Skeleton mostly horny, most frequently strengthened with 
 siliceous spicules ; these sometimes absent; and, in at least one genus, 
 the sarcode becomes not even difterentiated into a horny skeleton. 
 The sponges belonging to this section are found both in fresh and 
 
^6 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 salt water. Professor O. Schmidt proposes to divide it into three 
 divisions : — 
 
 1. Where the spicules assume a sex-radiate type. To this will 
 belong some of the most remarkable and beautiful of sponges, as 
 Euplectella^ Aphrocallistes^ Pheronema. 
 
 2. Where the spicules are anchor- shaped, or of a pyramidal form, 
 containing many very familiar genera, especially the genus Spongilla, 
 met with in fresh water. 
 
 3. Where the spicules are monaxial, polyaxial, or wanting. Here, 
 amid a host of genera and species, would be placed the genus 
 Spongia, to one or more species of which the various sponges pre- 
 viously alluded to as Sponges of Commerce, must h% referred. (For 
 Spongia officinalis^ see Fig. 9). 
 
 Rhizopoda. 
 
 Gervais and Van Beneden include under the name of Rhizopods^ 
 or root-footed animals (so called from piia root; irohs, irodhs, footed 
 animals), those of the simplest organisation, which may be charac- 
 terised by the absence of a distinct digestive cavity, and by the 
 presence of diverging processes, or pseudopodia, which admit of 
 extension, and are sometimes simple, sometimes branched. These 
 pseudopodia can be completely withdrawn into the body substance 
 of the Rhizopod, and they receive their technical name from the fact 
 that they in many cases assist in the locomotion of these animals. 
 
 The Rhizopods are found both in fresh and salt water, but 
 the marine forms are much the more numerous. The class is 
 divided into three orders, namely, the Lobosa, the Reticiilosa^ and 
 the Radiolaria. 
 
 LOBOSA, OR AmCEBINA. 
 
 In nearly all decaying animal and vegetable infusions, not quite 
 putrid, upon all oozy beds which have remained for some time 
 covered by fresh or sea water, as well as in our lakes and peat pools, 
 we find the singular beings which belong to this Order. They are 
 among the simplest organisms in creation, being reduced to but a 
 mere particle of living matter. Their bodies are formed of a gela- 
 tinous substance, without any appreciable organisation. The quantity 
 of matter which forms them is so small, that it becomes incredibly 
 diaphanous, and so transparent, that the eye, assisted by the powers 
 of the microscope, can often only take cognisance of it by a careful 
 arrangement of the light. 
 
RHIZOPODA — AMŒBINA, y J 
 
 It would be difficult to say exactly what is the form these creatures 
 assume. They frequently have the appearance of small, rounded 
 masses, like drops of water ; but, whatever their form may be, it is 
 often so unstable, that it changes, so to speak, every moment. 
 This instability is one characteristic manifestation of life in the 
 Amœbce, which are naked beings, without any apparent organisation ; 
 in fact, they may be said to occupy the first step in the scale of 
 creation. 
 
 If we examine one, at first it looks like a transparent immovable 
 drop. We then see it putting forth a pseudopod, which, gliding like 
 a streak of oil under the thin covering glass, as we view it through a 
 microscope, begins by fixing itself to some point, afterwards slowly 
 attracting to itself the whole of its body mass, and thus gradually 
 increasing its bulk under the observer's eye. 
 
 The Amœbœ, according to their dimensions and degree of develop- 
 ment and activity, successively emit a greater or smaller number of 
 pseudopod s, none of which are precisely alike, but after having 
 appeared for a short time, each successively will be seen to re-enter 
 the common mass, with which it becomes completely incorporated. 
 Variable in their respective forms, these pseudopods present ap- 
 pearances quite different in the several genera. They are more or 
 less attenuated, and often branching ; sometimes they spring in all 
 directions from the animal mass. 
 
 If we ask how these animals are nourished in which no digestive 
 apparatus can be distinguished, the question is difficult to answer. 
 It was once thought that they are nourished by simple absorption, 
 and by absorption only. In the interior of the gelatinous mass which 
 constitutes these animals, however, microscopic algae are frequently 
 discovered. Indeed, some of them are very voracious feeders, and 
 may be seen completely stuffed with diatoms, or pretty green desmids. 
 "We can conceive," says Dujardin, "how these objects have pene- 
 trated to the interior, if we remark that in creeping on the surface of 
 the glass, to which they adhere very exactly, the Amœbœ, can be 
 made to receive by pressure foreign substances into their own bodies 
 by means of the alternate contraction and extension of the various 
 parts natural to them. 
 
 The Amœbœ are often observed to be tinted red or green ; this 
 apparently arises from a special colouring matter which has been 
 absorbed into their body substance, and the brightness of their colour 
 is in direct proportion to their state of health. 
 
 The question arises, How do these creatures, so simple in theii 
 organisation, propagate their species ? 
 
7S 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 It is believed that they are chiefly multiplied by parting with a 
 portion of their body substance, which is enabled to take on an 
 independent existence, and thus form a new individual. This is 
 what naturalists term generation by division— 2>., fissmi. The 
 absence of a nutritive and reproductive system in the Amœbœ, and 
 the want of stability in their forms, explain how nearly impossible 
 it is to characterise as species the numerous individuals to be met 
 with living in fresh or salt water. 
 
 We shall be able to form some idea of the appearance of these 
 
 
 
 Fig. lo.— Amœba princeps (Ehrenberg^, 
 magnified loo times, 
 
 Fig. II.— Various forms of Amœba diffluens 
 (Muller), magnified. 
 
 beings, rendered mysterious by their very simplicity, by throwing a 
 glance upon the two accompanying figures (Figs. lo and ii), bor- 
 rowed from the Atlas of Dujafdin's " Les Infusoires," which we 
 shall have occasion to quote more than once. 
 
 We have said that the Amœbœ change their form every few 
 moments under the very eyes of the observer. Fig. lo represents 
 some of the changes of form through which they pass when examined 
 under the microscope. 
 
 Dujardin points out very clearly the identity of structure between 
 organisms like Amœba and such forms as Difflugia and Aixella. 
 All these creatures are without a trace of mouth or true digestive 
 
RHIZOPODA — FORAMINIFERA. 79 
 
 cavity, but although they have neither mouth nor stomach, yet. 
 according to Professor KoUiker, and as has been mentioned 
 before, they take in soUd nutriment, and reject what is indigestible. 
 When in its progress through the water one of these minute organisms 
 approaches one of the equally minute AlgEe, from which it draws 
 nourishment, it seizes the plant with its pseudopods, and gradually 
 encloses it on all sides ; the pseudopods, to all appearance, be- 
 coming more or less shortened in the process. In this way the 
 captive is brought close to the surface of the body; a cavity is 
 apparently then formed, in which the prey is lodged, which closes 
 round it on all sides. In this situation it is gradually drawn towards 
 the centre, and passes at last entirely into the mass, when the 
 engulfed morsel is gradually dissolved and digested. 
 
 Reticulosa, or Foraminifera, 
 
 What, then, is a Foraminifer ? It is a very small calcareous shell 
 nearly invisible to the naked eye ; for, in general, its dimensions 
 range between -005 to "050 of an inch in length. Examine under a 
 microscope the sand of the ocean, and it will be found that one-half of 
 it consists of the débris of minute shells, of various but well-defined 
 forms, each pierced with a number of holes. To this they are 
 indebted for their name Foraminifera, from foramen^ a hole. With 
 these microscopic animals Nature has worked wonders in geological 
 times ; nor have the wonders ceased in our days. 
 
 The sand of the littoral zone of all existing seas is so full of these 
 minute but elegant shells, that it is often nearly one half composed 
 of them. Ehrenberg, the celebrated German microscopist, was 
 recently invited by the Prussian Government to assist in tracing the 
 robbery of a special case of wine. It had been re-packed in littoral 
 sand only found in an ancient sea-board in Germany. The criminal 
 was thus detected. M. d'Orbigny found in three grammes (forty- 
 six grains troy) of sand from the Antilles, 440,000 shells of Fora- 
 minifera. Bianchi found in thirty grammes (467 grains) from the 
 Adriatic, 6,000 of these shells. If we calculate from these facts 
 the proportion of these beings contained in a cubic metre alone of 
 sea-sand, we reach a figure which passes all conception. What would 
 this be if we could extend the calculation to the immensity of surface 
 covered by the waves which surround the globe ? 
 
 M. d'Orbigny has satisfied himself, by microscopic examination of 
 sands from all parts of the globe, that it is the débris of Foraminifera 
 along with the sea-sand, which form, in all existing seas, those 
 
^O THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 enoimous deposits which raise banks, obstruct the navigation in 
 gulfs and straits, and fill up ports, as may be seen in the port of 
 Alexandria. In common with the corals and madrepores, the 
 Foraminifera are great agents in helping to form the isles which surge 
 up under our eyes from the bosom of the ocean in the warmer regions 
 of the globe. Thus may these little bodies, scarcely appreciable to 
 the sight, suffice by their accumulations to fill up seas, while perform- 
 ing, too, a very considerable part in the great operations of Nature. 
 
 Many beds of the terrestrial crust consist entirely of the remains 
 of Foraminifera. In the most remote ages in the history of our 
 planet, they must have lived in innumerable swarms in the seas of 
 the period ; they buried themselves in the bottoms of the seas, and 
 their shells, heaped up during many ages, now form hills of great 
 thickness and extent. We may say, to give an example, that during 
 the Carboniferous period, a single species of Fusulina has formed in 
 Russia and the United States enormous beds of calcareous rock. 
 Many beds of cretaceous formation are, in great part, composed of 
 Foraminifera, and they exist in immense numbers in the white chalk 
 which covers and forms the vast mountains ranging from Champagne 
 in France nearly to the centre of England. 
 
 But it is to the Tertiary formation that this group has contributed 
 the most enormous deposits. The Nummulitic formation extends 
 from the Alps to the Carpathians; is met with in Algiers and 
 Morocco. In Egypt it was largely quarried for the building of the 
 Pyramids. It is next met with in Asia Minor, and has been traced 
 across Persia, and as far eastward as Bengal and the frontiers of 
 China. The remains of these creatures are so abundant in the Paris 
 chalk, that M. d'Orbigny found upwards of 58,000 in a small 
 block (scarcely exceeding a cubic inch) of chalk from the quarries 
 of Chantilly. This fact, according to this author, implies the 
 existence of 3,000,000,000 of them in the cubic mètre (thirty-nine 
 inches square and a small fraction) of rock ! As the chalk from 
 these quarries has served to build Paris, as well as the towns and 
 villages of the neighbouring departments, it may be said that Paris, 
 and other great centres of population which surround it, are built 
 with the shells of these microscopic animals. 
 
 Fig. 12 represents a drawing from Nature, by Messrs. d'Archiac 
 and Haime, of a piece of nummulitic rock, from Nousse, in the 
 Landes, which contains several species 01 Foraminifers. In the cele- 
 brated quarries of St. Peter,at Maestrecht, the Calcarina calcitrapoides 
 of Lamarck is found in the upper chalk (Fig. 13). In the calcareous 
 formation of Chaussy, in the Seine and Oise district, and other paits 
 
R H I ZO PO DA -^FO RA MINIFE RA . 
 
 8i 
 
 of the Paris basin, the Fabidaria discolithes (Fig. 14) of Defrance, 
 and the Alveolina ovdidea of d'Orbigny (Fig. 15) are found, and the 
 
 Fig. 12.— Nummulites Rouaulti (d'Archiac and J. Haime). 
 
 Calcarina (Siderolites) calcitrapoides (Lamarck), natural size and magnified. 
 
 Dactylopora cylindracea of Lamarck (Fig. 16) is found in the eocene 
 formation of Valmondois, and in the chalk of Grignon. At- first, 
 
82 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 this little creature was thought to be a polyzoon ; but d'Orbigny, 
 in his " Prodrome de Paléontologie/' has correctly placed it among 
 
 the Foraminifera, thinking that it 
 appeared to occupy a place be- 
 tween the two classes. 
 
 Our exact knowledge of the 
 Foraminifera is of comparatively 
 recent date. Great numbers of 
 minute particles, of regular and 
 symmetrical form, were long dis- 
 tinguished as existing on the 
 sands of the sea-shore. These 
 early attracted the attention of 
 observers. But with the dis- 
 covery of the microscope, these 
 small elegant shells, which were 
 among the curiosities revealed by the instrument, assumed immense 
 importance. Linnaeus placed them with the beautiful genus Naittilus 
 as a group, which would include, according- to that author^ all the 
 multilocular shells. In 1804 Lamarck also classed them among 
 
 Fig. 14. — Fabularia discolithes (Defrance), 
 natural size and magnified. 
 
 Fig. 15. — Alveolina ovoïdea (d'Orbigny), 
 natural size and magnified. 
 
 Fig. 16. — Dactylopora cylindracea (Lamarck), 
 natural size and magnified. 
 
 the molluscous cephalopods. But Alcide d^Orbigny, who had devoted 
 long years to their study and observation, and may be considered 
 the great historian of the Foraminifera, showed that this method 
 of classification was inexact. Dujardin separated them altogether 
 from the class of molluscs, and showed that they ought to be con- 
 signed to a much lower class of animals. 
 
 We have stated that the Foraminifera are of microscopic dimen- 
 sions. With some trifling exceptions, this is generally true ; but 
 
RHIZOPODA — FORAMINIFERA. 83 
 
 there exist a number of recent species which are Tisible to the naked 
 eye. Some species of OrbitoHtes are nearly half an inch in diameter, 
 and the discs of Cycloclypeus, dredged living off the coast of Borneo, 
 are more than two inches in diameter; and among fossil forms of 
 large dimensions may be mentioned Parkeria (Carpenter), from the 
 Upper Greensand near Cambridge, which sometimes reaches to three 
 inches in length ; and Loftusia (Brady), from Persia, specimens of 
 which have been met with three inches long and one inch and a half 
 in diameter. Here also allusion may be made to the gigantic Eozoon 
 caiiadense, lately discovered in the Palaeozoic rocks of Canada. 
 
 After these remarks, we may venture to give some idea of the 
 structure and classification of beings whose part in the work of 
 creation has in former times been so considerable. 
 
 The existing Foraminifera are by no means equally distributed in 
 every ocean. Some genera belong to warm countries, others to 
 temperate and cold climates. They are much more numerous, 
 however, and much more varied in their forms, in warm than in 
 cold climates. 
 
 And first as to their structure. We find this to consist of a soft 
 sarcodous material of the same nature as that met with among the 
 Lobosa, and in addition they possess a calcareous skeleton. There is 
 even less approach than with the Amoebae to either shape, size, or 
 number in their pseudopodial extensions — these often present them- 
 selves as marvellously attenuated threads, requiring very high powers 
 indeed of the microscope to discern them. They coalesce both readily 
 and completely with one another, while along their margins streams ot 
 granules may be seen continuously passing. There is an apparent 
 absence either of "nucleus" or of a "contractile vesicle," which 
 were occasionally present among the Lobosa. By far the larger 
 number are enclosed in calcareous shells, which are perforated with 
 minute pore-like openings for the escape of the pseudopods, and 
 from the presence of which the familiar name of Foraminifera has 
 been given to the class. These pseudopodial extensions present in 
 this group a peculiar reticulated character, whence the name oî 
 Reticulosa, given to it by Dr. Carpenter, whose monograph on the 
 group is a monument of patient industry and research. 
 
 We have already said that the shells of these minute creatures 
 vary much in form. They are generally many-chambered, each 
 chamber communicating by pores in its walls. Alcide d'Orbigny, 
 to whom — until Carpenter's " Introduction to the Study of the Fora- 
 minifera" was published — -we owed almost all that was known of the 
 class, has distributed it into six families, making the form of the shell 
 
84 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 the basis of his arrangement. These six famihes include sixty genera, 
 and more than i,6oo species, the famihes being as follows : — 
 
 I. Mo7iostega. — Body consisting of a single segment. Shell of a 
 single chamber, 
 
 II. Stichostega. — Body composed of segments, arranged in a single 
 
 Fig. 17.— Orbulina 
 universa. 
 
 Nummulina perforata. 
 
 Fig. 18. — Dentalina 
 subarcuata. 
 
 Fig. 21. — Cassiduli 
 laevigata. 
 
 Fig. 
 
 laria 
 
 Fig. 23. — Spiroloculina 
 depressa. 
 
 single line. Shell in chambers, superimposed linearly on a straight 
 or curved axis. 
 
 III. Helicostega. — Body composed of segments, spirally arranged. 
 Chambers piled or superimposed on one axis, forming a spiral. 
 
 IV. E7ito7niostega. — Body composed of ahernating segment form- 
 ing a spiral. Chambers superimposed on two alternating axes, also 
 forming a spiral. 
 
 ^^. Enallostega. — Body composed ot alternate segments not 
 
RHIZOPODA — FORAMINIFERA. 85 
 
 forming a spiral. Chambers disposed alternately along two 01 three 
 axes, also non-spiral. 
 
 VI. Agathistega. — Body composed of segments wound round an 
 axis. Chambers formed round a common axis, each investing half 
 the circumference. 
 
 One of the simplest forms of Foraminifer is illustrated by Fig. 17 
 {Orhdina universa), which is a small spherical shell, having a lateral 
 aperture, the interior of which has been occupied by the living 
 sarcode, to which the shell owes its existence. In Dentalina siibarcuata 
 the shell (Fig. 18), advances beyond this simple type by a process of 
 linear budding, the first cell being spherical, with an opening through 
 which a second segment is formed, generally a little larger than the 
 first. This new growth is successively followed by others developed 
 in the same way, until the organism attains its maturity, when it ex- 
 hibits a series of cells arranged end on end, in a slightly curved line. 
 
 In the next group the gemmation takes a spiral form, producing 
 the nautilus shape which misled the earlier naturalists. In some 
 cases all the convolutions are visible, as in Operculina (Fig. 19). In 
 others, the external convolutions conceal those previously formed, as 
 in Nwnmulina perforata (Fig. 20), Textularia variabilis (Fig. 22), 
 and Alveolina ovoïdea, d'Orbigny (Fig. 16), the latter of its natural 
 size. 
 
 In the fourth group the shell is spiral, with the chamber equilateral, 
 with a larger and smaller side; the position being alternately reversed, 
 as the segments are multiplied, as in Cassididina lœvigata (Fig. 21). 
 In the succeeding group the new segments are arranged alternately 
 on opposite sides of the central line, as in Textularia variabilis 
 (Fig. 22), thus forming two alternating non-spiral parallel segments, 
 each connected by a single orifice. 
 
 The sixth family differs entirely in appearance and structure from 
 the other Foraminifera. The shells are more opaque than those 
 met with in the other orders, having a resemblance to white por- 
 celain, and present a rich amber-brown hue when viewed by trans- 
 mitted light. They are more or less oblong, each new segment being 
 nearly equal to the entire length of the shell, so that the terminal 
 orifice presents itself alternately at its opposite extremities, some- 
 times in one uniform plane, as in Spiroloculi?ia depressa (Fig. 23), 
 and Rot alia (Fig. 24). At other times each new segment, instead of 
 being exactly opposite each other, is a little on one side. 
 
 This classification of d'Orbigny must now yield to that proposed 
 by Dr. Carpenter in his work before referred to. He divides the order 
 
se 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 Reticularia into two sub-orders; i. Imperforata ; and 2. Perforata. 
 'l'he former contains three provisional families : — i. Test membranous 
 — Gromida; 2. Shell porcellanous— Miliolida ; 3. Shell arenaceous— 
 Lituolida (Figs. 14, 15, 16, 23). The latter containing the famihes, 
 not as yet precisely defined, of :— Lagenida (Fig. 18) ; Globigerinida 
 (Figs. 17, 21, 22) ; Nummulinida (Figs. 19, 20, 24). 
 
 Professor Williamson has shown that the shell enclosing each new 
 
 sesfment is at first very 
 
 thin : but as additional calcareous chambers 
 
 are formed, each addition not only encases the new gemmation of the 
 
 
 Fig. 24. — Rotalia. 
 
 Fig. 25. — Haliomma hexacanthum. 
 
 soft animal, but extends over all the exterior of the previously formed 
 shell. The exact manner in which this is accomplished is doubtful ; 
 but it is probable that the soft animal has the power of diffiising its 
 substance over the shell, and then depositing upon its surface 
 additional layers of calcareous matter. 
 
 Radiolaria. 
 
 The order Radiolaria contains Rhizopods, in which the pseudo- 
 pods are very numerous, and long and slender. They issue from the 
 body mass in a radial direction, and do not undergo that complete 
 fusion which occurs in the Foraminifera. In some of the Actino- 
 phryna there is a more or less firm envelope ; in Acanthometrina the 
 body is supported by a regular framework of siliceous spicules ; 
 
RHIZOPODA — FORAMINIFERA. 8/ 
 
 Haliomma hexacanthum, figured fi-om Miiller (Fig. 25), is an example 
 of the Polycystina, in which the body is more or less encased in 
 a siliceous shell ; while in the Thallasicollina the body is composed 
 of aggregations of more or less fully differentiated cells, supported 
 upon a framework of sihceous spicules, and thus obviously estabUshes 
 a transition between typical Rhizopods and the Sponges. 
 
 Before passing on to the Infusoria, a few words may be offered 
 on the Nodiluca^ an organism certainly belonging to the Protozoa. 
 One species only of this genus has been described, which 
 occurs occasionally on the English coast in prodigious numbers, and 
 is the chief cause of the diffused phosphorescence of our seas. 
 It is a small creature, scarcely the hundredth part of an inch in 
 diameter (Fig. 26, Noctiluca viiliaris). It was discovered by 
 M. Surriray, in 18 10, who describes it as a spherical gelatinous mass, 
 scarcely bigger than a pin's head, 
 with a long fiUform tentacular ap- 
 pendage, a mouth, an oesophagus, 
 one or many stomachs, and 
 branching ovaries — thus exhibiting 
 a certain complexity of organisa- 
 tion, pointing to affinities with the 
 true Infusoria. De Blainville 
 placed it among the Diphydce. 
 Van Beneden and Doyere, on the 
 other hand, deny its relation to the 
 Acaleph^, conceiving its organi- 
 sation to be much more simple, 
 and place it with the Rhizopoda. 
 
 Quatrefages adopts the same view, denying the existence of a true 
 mouth or intestinal canal : he considers the so-called stomachs as 
 simple J' vacuoles," similar to those observed in the Rhizopoda and 
 Infusoria. Prof. Huxley, in the Journal of Microscopical Science 
 (vol. iii.), says it may be described as a gelatinous transparent body, 
 about one-sixtieth of an inch in diameter and having very nearly the 
 form of a peach, a filiform tentacle, equal in length to the diameter 
 of the body, occupying the place where the stalk of the peach might 
 be, which depends from it, and exhibits slow wavy motions when the 
 creature is in full activity. " I have even seen a Noctiluca," he adds, 
 " appear to push against obstacles with this tentacle." 
 
 " The body," he continues, " is composed of a structureless and 
 somewhat dense external membrane, which is continued on to the 
 
 Fig 26.— Noctiluca miliaris (magnified). 
 
88 THE OCEAN WORLD 
 
 tentacle. Beneath this is a layer of granules, or rather a gelatinous 
 membrane, through the substance of which minute granules are scat- 
 tered without any very definite arrangement ; from hence arises a 
 network of very delicate fibrils, whose meshes are not more than the 
 three-hundredth part of an inch in diameter, which gradually pass 
 internally — the reticulation becoming more and more open — into 
 coarser fibres, taking a convergent direction towards the stomach 
 and nucleus. All these fibres and fibrils are covered with minute 
 granules, which are usually larger towards the centre." 
 
 Prof Huxley is incfined to think, from all he has observed, that 
 the animal has a definite alimentary cavity, and that this cavity has 
 an excretory aperture distinct from the mouth. These facts, together 
 with the existence of a dental armature, greatly increase its affinity to 
 such forms as Colpoda and Nassula among the Infusoria, while the 
 general absence of cilia over the body, and the wide differences 
 in detail, would require the constitution of at least a distinct family 
 for this singular creature. 
 
 Surriray discovered the Noctiluca while investigating the cause of 
 the phosphorescence of sea water at Havre, where it was abundant 
 in the basins, sometimes in such abundance as to form a scum on 
 the surface of the water of considerable thickness. " This singular 
 little creature," says M. Fredol, " offers here and there in its interior 
 certain granules, probably germs, and also luminous points, which 
 appear and disappear with great rapidity, the least agitation bringing 
 out their lustre." The Noctiluca are so abundant in the Mediterranean 
 and on many parts of our English coasts, that in a cubic foot of sea 
 water, which has been rendered phosphorescent by their presence, it is 
 calculated that there may exist about 25,000. We now come to the 
 
 Infusoria. 
 
 Of this very interesting group a large proportion are marine, and 
 very many numerous varieties of them are found in the British seas. 
 In their minuteness and variety they almost baffle the attempts of 
 naturalists to classify them. 
 
 We find both fresh and salt water inhabited by legions of these 
 active, ever-moving beings, of dimensions so small as to be inappreci- 
 able to the naked eye ; these minute creatures are disseminated by 
 millions and thousands of millions in the great deep, and all know- 
 ledge of them would have escaped us, as they escaped the knowledge 
 of former scientific men, but for the discovery of the microscope, the 
 sixth sense of man, as it has been happily called by the poet and 
 
INFUSORIA. 89 
 
 historian Michelet. And M. Frédol tells us that "the infusorial 
 animalcules are so small that a drop of water may contain them in 
 many millions. They exist in all waters, the fresh as well as the salt, 
 the cold as well as the hot. The great rivers are continually dis- 
 charging them in vast quantities into the sea." 
 
 The Ganges transports them in the course of one year in masses 
 equal to six or eight times the size of the great pyramid of Egypt. 
 
 Water collected between the Philippine and the Marianne Isles, 
 at the depth of 22,000 feet (making some allowance for erroneous 
 soundings), has been found to contain 116 species. Near the Poles 
 the Infusoria are still met with in myriads \ many species were ob- 
 served in the Antarctic Seas during the voyages of Captain Sir James 
 Ross. In the residuum of the blocks of ice floating about in latitude 
 78° 10', nearly fifty different species were found. In many of them, 
 according to Ehrenberg, the contents were still green, which proved 
 that they had struggled successfully with the rigours of the climate in 
 searching for food. 
 
 Hum.boldt asserts that, at a depth which exceeds the height of 
 the loftiest mountain, every portion of the bottom of the sea is ani- 
 mated by an innumerable phalanx of inhabitants quite imperceptible 
 to the human eye. These microscopic creatures are, in short, the 
 smallest and among the most numerous creations in Nature. They 
 constitute, with human beings, one of the wheels of that very compli- 
 cated machine, the globe. They are in the rank and at the station 
 willed for them, as determined in the great First Thought. Suppress 
 these microscopic beings, and the world would be incomplete. It 
 was said, and wisely said, long, long ago, " there is nothing so small 
 to the view but that it may become great by reflection." 
 
 The Infusoria, in short, abound everywhere. We find their 
 remains on the loftiest mountain ridges, and in the profoundest 
 depths of the sea. They increase and multiply alike under the 
 Equator, and towards the polar regions. The seas, rivers, ponds— 
 the flower vase which rests upon the casement — even our tissues, and 
 the fluids of our bodies — may all contain infusorial animalcules. 
 Whole beds of strata, often many feet thick, and covering a surface 
 of considerable extent, are to be met with almost exclusively formed 
 of their accumulated débris. It is to the Infusoria that the mud of 
 the Nile and other fluviatile and lacustrine deposits are said to owe 
 their prodigious fertility. To them also is sometimes due the red or 
 green colouring matter to be found in ponds and tanks at certain 
 seasons. When water is exposed to great solar heat, in order to 
 extract the salt from it — as it is in the vast artificial basins hollowed 
 
QO THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 out for the purpose in the salt marshes near the sea-shore in the 
 south of France and elsewhere — the salt water often reaches a very 
 high degree of concentration, and is then found to acquire a fine rose 
 colour, which is due to the presence of innumerable masses of small 
 Infusoria or Crustacea having a reddish hue. At one time it was 
 thought that the Tripoli stone was formed of tens of millions of 
 the cases of Infusoria ; but it is now known that this stone contains 
 vast masses of sponge spicules and Diatomaceae. 
 
 The study of these creatures is intensely interesting to the 
 naturalist, the philosopher, the physician, and the general reader. 
 They have had a great part assigned to them in Nature, as is evident 
 in the formation of certain beds of rock of immense extent, in which 
 the geologist traces their action. 
 
 Our earliest knowledge of the Infusoria is traceable to the seven- 
 teenth century. In 1752 Hill essayed the first attempt at their 
 classification. In 1776 O. F. Miiller gave them the name of Infu- 
 soria, because he found them in such great abundance in animal and 
 vegetable infiisions. To the celebrated naturalist Leuwenhoek we 
 are indebted for much information about them. Miiller published 
 a special book upon them. 
 
 From that time the Infusoria have been considered as forming a 
 special group among the Protozoa ; afterwards, in the pages of von 
 Baer and of De Blainville, we see that they regarded these creatures, 
 so imperfect in appearance, as only the indeterminate prototype of 
 other classes. But ideas changed altogether respecting them when 
 microscopes well supplied with achromatic lenses were employed in 
 their study. Thanks to the labours of Ehrenberg and Dujardin, 
 Stein and Claparade, we have now arrived at a better comprehension 
 of the organisation of these infinitely small beings ; and naturalists 
 have established, with more exactness, the limits of the zoological 
 group to which they belong. 
 
 Some waters are so filled with Infusoria that it is only necessary 
 to dip at random into the liquid medium to procure them in abund- 
 ance. In other waters they form a stratum, occupying the whole 
 basin. In general, however, it is necessary to search for them where 
 the water is calm, and filled with vegetation of some kind, such as 
 Cojifervœ, or Lemfia, &c., in the marshes, and Algœ if in the sea. 
 Certain Infusoria live not only in water, but also in places habitually 
 moist, as among tufts of mosses, on moist soil, or on damp walls. 
 Others live as parasites on the exterior or sometimes in the interior 
 of animals. 
 
 But, as their name indicates, they will be found in all aqueous 
 
INFUSORIA. 91 
 
 infusions, vegetable or animal. With the assistance of a microscope 
 the reader may, with very little trouble, afford himself the pleasure ot 
 studying these animals. It is only necessary to place some organic 
 de'bris — the white of an egg, or some chopped hay, for example — in 
 a bottle with a large mouth, filled with water, and expose it to the 
 light and air, and it will be found in the course of a few days to 
 swarm with infusorial life. Certain reagents, as phosphate of soda, 
 the phosphates, nitrates, or oxalates of ammonia, or carbonate of 
 soda, added to these infusions, favour the development of Infusoria. 
 
 So much for the medium in which they live, move, and have their 
 being. Let us pass on to their organisation. We have already dwelt 
 on their extreme minuteness ; their mean size may be the fifth of a 
 line, or the sixtieth part of an inch ; the largest species scarcely reveal 
 themselves to the naked eye. They are generally colourless ; some 
 of them are, nevertheless, green, blue, red, brown, and even blackish. 
 Seen under the microscope, they appear either transparent and naked, 
 or invested with an envelope more or less résistent, which is homo- 
 genous, diaphanous, elastic, contractile, and apparently destitute of 
 every kind of organisation. They are of every imaginable shape. 
 Some of those most frequently met with, and which from their size 
 attract the most attention from observers, are furnished with vibratile 
 cilia, which either cover the whole body, or are attached to certain 
 portions of it, acting as paddles. These organs are evidently intended 
 to propel the animal from one place to another, while at other times 
 certain of them appear to be employed in conveying food to the 
 mouth. Some Infusoria are without these cilia, having only one or 
 many very slender filaments or flagella, the undulating movement ot 
 which suffices to determine their progression through the liquid 
 which surrounds them. 
 
 Authors who have written on the Infusoria have sometimes, like 
 Leuwenhoek and Ehrenberg, attributed to them a very complex 
 structure. Others, like Millier, Cuvier, Claparade, Lamarck, Stein, 
 and all recent writers, have considered them to be gifted with an 
 organisation extremely simple. 
 
 Some of the species are indeed of very lowly organisation ; while 
 again many of them are among the most highly organised of the 
 Protoza, for here we find the first appearance of a well differentiated 
 alimentary system. Indeed, the digestive system of the Infusoria has 
 been the subject of numerous observations, and was at one time the 
 subject of very animated discussions. In the inferior members of the 
 class, which comprehends the very smallest animalcules, it has not 
 
92 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 indeed been found possible to observe the organisation ot the diges- 
 tive system in a satisfactory manner. Some writers think they have 
 no mouth, what has been taken for that organ being only a hollow 
 dimple on the surface of the body ; others recognise the existence of 
 an oral orifice or mouth, sometimes specially furnished. 
 
 The digestive system is better understood in the superior Infusoria, 
 . tailed the dilate hifusoria^ namely, those provided with vlbratile cilia. 
 These cilia seem to determine the currents which convey the numerous 
 nutritive corpuscles suspended in the water towards the entrance of 
 the digestive system. They form, in some sort, the prehensile organs 
 which seize the aliment. 
 
 The minute particles of food thus directed towards the oral orifice 
 by the vibratile cilia are soon engulfed by the mouth and speedily 
 disappear into the interior of the animal. Availing himself of this 
 fact, and of the transparency of these creatures, Gleichen, a German 
 physiologist of the last century, conceived the happy idea of colouring 
 the water which contained Infusoria with finely-powdered carmine, 
 and he thus traced the colouring matter into the bodies of some of 
 them. But it was reserved for Ehrenberg to avail himself of the 
 same artifice in order to study more in detail the internal structure 
 of these minute creatures, as well as their mode of absorbing nutritive 
 matter. This physiologist fed many groups of Infusoria, some of 
 them with water coloured with carmine, others with indigo and other 
 colouring matters ; the coloured particles v/ere greedily swallowed, 
 and were thought to show the arrangement and disposition of the 
 alimentary system, for he arrived at the conclusion that, as the colour- 
 ing matter was deposited in apparently perfect cavities, so each of 
 these cavities was a stomach, and that the passage of the food into 
 each of these reservoirs was effected by means of an intestinal tube, 
 around which these stomachs were arranged. In some cases he even 
 thought he could distinguish, and again in others he figured, the out- 
 lines of this intestinal canal, and showed its connection with numbers 
 of the little bladder-like stomachs. We now know that his class 
 Infiisoria embraced two .very different forms of animal life, the Foly- 
 gastîdca and Rotlfera, the latter division including the well-known 
 Wheel animalcules ; the Polygastrlca being so called from his idea 
 that the .typical forms possessed a number of stomachs. That 
 Ehrenberg recognised a difference between them is apparent from 
 his division ; but the organisation of the Rotlfera remove them very 
 far indeed from the true Infusoria. 
 
 Other observers were not slow in raising objections to these views 
 of Ehrenberg. Dujardin, especially, did not beUeve in the complex 
 
INFUSORIA. 93 
 
 alimentary system attributed to these creatures by the German 
 physiologist. He laboured to establish the fact that the coloured 
 globules which appeared in the bodies of the Infusoria, while sub- 
 jected to a regimen of carmine and indigo, are not confined by a 
 membrane ; that is to say, they are not contained in special alimen- 
 tary sacs, and that these so-called stomachs are, as stated by Milne- 
 Edwards, " nothing but a species of reservoirs, constituted," as he 
 says, " by the alimentary matter with which each is gorged, united 
 into a rounded pasty mass, so that it could no longer be dispersed, 
 but would continue to advance, still preserving its form. We have, 
 in short, seen these spherules changmg their places, and passing one 
 another in their progress from the mouth through the intestinal canal. 
 That they could not do this is evident, if many stomachs were 
 attached to the intestinal canal !" 
 
 This opinion, due to the patient and precise studies of Dujardin, 
 has been adopted by most naturalists of eminence. Besides, this 
 learned rnicroscopist does not admit that there was in the sarcodic 
 mass of Infusoria any pre-existent special alimentary cavity destined 
 to receive the food. In a word, he does not recognise in them any 
 true stomach whatever. This view of the extreme simplicity of 
 structure in the Infusoria has, however, met with opposition even by 
 some recent writers. To accord them neither four nor two stomachs, 
 it is not necessary to deprive them of the organ altogether. Meyen 
 represents them as having one great hollow stomach occupied by a 
 pulpy matter, into which the alimentary masses are successively 
 absorbed. "All recent observations," says Milne-Edwards, "tend to 
 estabhsh the fact that the digestive apparatus of the ciliate Infusoria 
 consists of — first, a mouth ; second, of a pharyngeal canal, in which 
 the food often assumes the form of a bolus ; third, of one great 
 stomach with distinct walls, and more or less distant from the com- 
 mon tegumentary membrane ; fourth, of an excretory orifice." 
 
 This mouth presents sensible differences, both as to its position 
 and conformation, often occupying the bottom of a hollow, the edges 
 of which are furnished with well-developed cilia, the action of which 
 attracts the aliment ; in short, the mouth is a sort of decoy at the 
 bottom of a simple pit, being at once contractile and prehensile, the 
 interior part being sometimes capable, according to Milne-Edwards, 
 of being turned inside out in the form of a trumpet, while in a great 
 many species it is provided with a peculiar armature, consisting of a 
 band of rigid bristles disposed in the form of a bow-net, and suscep- 
 tible of dilatation and contraction, according to the wants of the 
 animal. The œsophagus, which is connected with the mouth, has 
 
94 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 generally an oblique direction backwards, often terminating in a 
 great undivided stomach. 
 
 The reproduction of the Infusoria exhibits some very surprising 
 phenomena, while it offers another proof of the wonderful means 
 Nature employs for perpetuating the races of animals. They can be 
 reproduced by three different processes :— i. By gemmation, or bud- 
 ding, somewhat after the manner of plants. 2. By the spontaneous 
 division of the animal into two individuals — a process known to 
 zoologists as fission. 3. By sexual reproduction ; for in these little 
 creatures it has recently been discovered that sexual differences exist. 
 
 Fig. 27. — Propagation of an Infusorian by spontaneous division. 
 
 The singular phenomenon of spontaneous division may be wit- 
 nessed by any one having patience to examine the creature long 
 enough, isolated from its innumerable companions, under the micro- 
 scope. The oblong body of the animal may be observed to contract 
 at the middle, the compression becoming more and more marked. 
 The lower segment soon begins to show at the place of construction 
 a few vibratile cilia, thus indicating the place which will soon be a 
 new mouth ; this organ soon becomes more and more distinct, and 
 now the Infusorian literally divides itself into two parts. The two 
 halves separate from each other very quickly, each moiety having a 
 perfect resemblance to the form which gave them origin, and both 
 swim about with all the activity of perfect life. This process is 
 represented in Fig. 27, a and b being the adult, c the same in course 
 
INFUSORIA, 95 
 
 of separation, d after its completion. Assuredly this is one of the 
 most remarkable phenomena which the study of living beings can 
 present. "By this mode of propagation," says Dujardin, "an In- 
 fusorian is the half of the one which preceded it, the fourth of the 
 parent of that, the eighth of its grand-parent, and so on, if indeed we 
 can apply the terms father or mother to animals which must see in its 
 two halves the grandfather himself by a new division again living in 
 his four parts. We might imagine such an Infusorian to be an aliquot 
 part of one Hke it, which had lived years, and even ages before, and 
 which by continued subdivisions into pairs might continue to live for 
 ever by its successive development." 
 
 This mode of generation, however, enables us to comprehend the 
 almost miraculous multipHcation of these beings. The amount defies 
 calculation, if we wished to be at all precise. We may, however, 
 arrive at a proximate estimate of the number which may be derived 
 from a single individual by this process of fission. It has been found 
 that at the end of a month two Stylonichice would have a progeny of 
 more than 1,048,000 individuals, and that in a lapse of forty-two 
 days a single Paramecium could produce more more than 1,364,000 
 forms like itself 
 
 The prodigious number to which they would reach, if we were to 
 add the other modes of propagation, viz., by germs and by budding, 
 we dare not calculate ; it would only be necessary to place a single 
 germ of one of these microscopic animalcules in a favourable con- 
 dition for its development, in order to produce myriads of them in a 
 very few days. 
 
 We have seen three modes of reproduction in the Infusoria ; it is 
 considered by some possible that a fourth mode exists, to which its 
 partisans give the name of spontaneous generation. According to their 
 views, an Infusorian can be produced, without egg-germ or pre-existent 
 parent. It is quite sufficient, they say, to expose organic matter, 
 animal or vegetable, to the action of the air and water at a suitable 
 temperature, in order to see this matter organise itself, and form itself 
 into living infusorial animals. 
 
 Such is the general theory of spontaneous or heterogeneous 
 generation, on which so much has been written within the last ten 
 years. Amongst great investigators of this theory have been the 
 two French naturaUsts, MM. Pouchet and Joly. Their views have, 
 however, made litde progress ; they have, on the contrary, met with 
 vigorous opposition from the generality of French naturalists, and 
 from most of the members of the Academy of Sciences of Paris, who 
 have raised their voices against a doctrine which, however possible, is 
 
96 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 certainly not yet demonstrated. In short, the direct observations 
 made upon the theory of " primitive generation" are as yet wanting 
 in the necessary exactness ; those observers who profess to have 
 witnessed the sudden origin of the minutest of the Infusoria from 
 elementary substances have in all probability overlooked the presence 
 of very minute organic germs in or among those elementary bodies. 
 
 Many of the Infusoria are subject to metamorphoses ; and it has 
 already been ascertained that certain species which have been con- 
 sidered as distinct are only transitional forms of the same species 
 depending on age. 
 
 We know that it is common for insects to enclose themselves in 
 protecting envelopes, and to remain for whole months shut up in this 
 their retreat, to all appearance dead. Similar facts have been 
 observed in the Infusoria, and indeed are intimately connected with 
 their development. Some of them, previously to undergoing lission, 
 become coated with a secretion of gelatinous matter, which gradually 
 hardens so as to enclose the body in a " cyst." We have even seen 
 some of these beings surrounding strange bodies, as if in a mass of 
 jelly, forming a sort of living envelope around them. 
 
 Certain species present, in relation to the tenacity of life, 
 phenomena which are only imperfectly known, but which will never 
 fail to excite the surprise and admiration of the naturalist. By drying 
 certain infusoria with care, it is found possible to suspend and in- 
 definitely prolong their life. Thus dried, these Infusoria may and 
 are without doubt carried to great distances, for even an indefinite 
 period of time, and then abandoned on some ledge of rock, on a 
 housetop, in the cleft of a wall, or under the capital of a column, lie 
 there undisturbed ; but let a drop of water approach it, and the 
 dormant being awakes immediately — the microscopic Lazarus springs 
 again into existence, feeds and multiplies as before, and its life, 
 suspended possibly for years, resumes its interrupted course ! 
 
 Into what a world of reflection does not a revelation of this 
 mysterious property of a living creature plunge us ! 
 
 The physiologist Miiller has noted another peculiarity in infusorial 
 life. These animalcules can lose a part of their bodies without being 
 destroyed ; the dead part disappears, and the individual, diminished 
 by one-half or reduced to a fourth of its lormer size, continues to 
 live as if nothing had happened. Miiller has observed an Infusorian 
 \Amphileptiis meleagris) thus melt before his eyes until scarcely a 
 sixteenth part of its body remained. After its loss, this sixteenth 
 part of an animal continued to swim about without troubling itself as 
 to its diminished proportions. " The Iniusoria," says Frédol, in " La 
 
INFUSORIA. 
 
 97 
 
 Monde de la Mer," " present yet another kind of decomposition. 
 If we approach the drop of water in which one swims with the barb 
 of a feather dipped in ammonia, the animalcule is arrested in its 
 movement, but its cilia continue to move rapidly. All at once, 
 upon some point of its circumference, a notch is formed, which 
 increases bit by bit until the whole animal is dissolved. If a drop of 
 pure water is added, the decomposition is suddenly stopped, and 
 what remains of the animalcule recommences its swimming move- 
 ments.'' (Dujardin.) 
 
 Life is spread over Nature in such abundance that the smallest 
 
 Fig. 28.— Paramecium aurelia and its Parasites. 
 
 Infusorian has often as its parasite a creature st^'ll smaller ; these in 
 their turn serving as "a dwelling and pasture ground," to use 
 Humboldt's words, for still smaller animalcules, as represented in 
 Fig. 28 — a being parasites in various stages of development; b, the 
 larger animalcule on which they have established themselves. 
 
 The Infusoria may be divided into two groups — the Flagelliferous 
 Tnfnsoj'ia, those, namely, which are provided with flagella, and the 
 Ciliate I?ifuso7'ia, namely, those provided with vibratile cilia. The 
 greater number of the Infusoria belong to the first group, which 
 comprehends many families ; our space limits us to the mention here 
 of a few typical forms only in each group, selecting those which 
 
98 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 appear the most interesting, from their size, structure, rarity, or 
 abundance. 
 
 Included among these, but, according to Cohn, apparently be- 
 longing to the vegetable kingdom, we find the family of Vibrionidœ, 
 so named from their darting or quivering motion, including the 
 eel-like microscopic animalcules which occur in stale paste, vinegar, 
 &c., with some others, which are parasitic on living vegetables, 
 such as Vibrio tritici, which infests the grains of wheat, producing 
 riie destructive disease called corn-cockle or purples. They are fili- 
 form, extremely slender, without appreciable organisation or apparent 
 organs of locomotion. They are among the first organisms which 
 show themselves in any infusion of organic matter. By using micro- 
 scopes of the highest magnifying power, they present the appear- 
 ance of very thin short lines, either straight or sinuous, the thickest 
 of them not exceeding the thousandth part of the fraction of an 
 inch. They are contractile, and propagate by spontaneous fission, 
 often imperfect in character, and hence giving rise to chains of 
 greater or less length. Among them some resemble right lines, more 
 or less distinctly articulated, and endowed with a very slow move- 
 ment, these are Bacteria ; others are flexuous and undulating, and 
 more or less lively ; these are true Vibrios ; others have the body 
 fashioned in the form of a corkscrew, turning unceasingly upon them- 
 selves with great rapidity, these are the Spirilla^ having an oblong 
 fusiform or filiform body, which undulates or turns spirally upon 
 itself. 
 
 The Bacterium termo (Fig. 29) is one of the smallest of these 
 organisms, and is, according to Cohn, the motile phase of an alga. 
 It is found, at the end of a short time, in all vegetable or animal 
 infusions exposed to the air. It shows itself in infinite numbers, 
 forming perfect swarms, which disappear as other species multiply in 
 the liquid, to which it serves for nourishment. When the infusion 
 becomes too foetid for these new species to live in it, in consequence 
 of fermentation or putrefaction, the Bacterium termo reappears. This 
 species was one of the first observed ; Leuwenhoek found it in the 
 white matter which is called teeth tartar, and which is met with 
 in the teeth and gums. It is also found in the fluids of various 
 animals which have been affected by disease. 
 
 The Wand-iike Vibrio (Fig. 30) has the body transparent, 
 filiform, and long articulations, often appearing as if broken at each 
 connection. It moves very slowly in the \j^ater, Leuwenhoek 
 observed this second species joined to the first in the teeth tartar, 
 and also in a great number of organic infusions. 
 
INFUSORIA. 
 
 99 
 
 " There is no microscopic object," says Dujardin, " which excites 
 the admiration of the observer more vividly than the twisting 
 Spirillum " (Fig. 31). He was struck with surprise when he first con- 
 templated this little creature, which, under very high magnifying 
 
 II w 
 
 / . Il 
 
 
 A. 
 
 Fig. 29, The same. 
 
 Bacterium termo magnified 
 
 (Muller), magnified i,6oo times. 
 600 times. 
 
 Fig. 30. 
 Vibrio (MuIIer), 
 magnified 300 times. 
 
 
 . . .Fig- 31. , 
 
 Spirillum (Ehr.), 
 
 magnified 300 times. 
 
 powers only presents the appearance of a thin black line, fashioned 
 Hke a corkscrew, which every instant turns upon itself with mar- 
 vellous velocity, so that the eye can scarcely follow it. 
 
 The Volvocineœ were also at one time included among the flagel- 
 
 Figs. 32 and 33. — Volvox globator (Muller), magnified 700 times. 
 
 late Infusoria, but now are more generally believed to- belong to the 
 vegetable kingdom, they are met with in fresh water full of Gonferv^e 
 and other aquatic plants. The Volvocineœ are of a green or yellowish 
 brown colour, with 300 spore-like bodies regularly disseminated in the 
 thickness and near the surface of a gelatinous hollow globe. In this 
 state, from five to eight sm.aller globules, with the same organisation, 
 appear destined to undergo the same changes when they are released 
 
100 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 by the rupture of the globule. These are each furnished with one or 
 two flagelliform filaments, which, by their agitation, determine the 
 movement by rotation of the mass. 
 
 The common Volvox, V. globator (Figs. 32 and 33), is found in 
 great abundance, during summer and even in the depth of winter, in 
 lakes and ponds of fresh water. It consists of green or brownish-yellow 
 globules about the thirtieth part of an inch, formed of monadiform 
 beings scattered round a gelatinous and diaphanous spherical disc, 
 each furnished with a flagelliform filament and with a reddish in- 
 terior point, which Ehrenberg took for an eye. Leuwenhoek first 
 observed this Volvox in marshy waters. This eminent naturalist has 
 left a very interesting account of his observations on these micro- 
 scopic creatures, displaying an amount of patience and address which 
 cannot be too much admired ; his observations were made with a 
 simple lens, which he constructed himself In one hand he held his 
 instrument — which was very coarse if we compare it to the more 
 perfect and infinitely more powerful instruments now in use — whilst, 
 in the other hand, he carried to it the glass tube full of water which 
 contained the objects under observation. " The microscopes of 
 Leuwenhoek," says Dujardin, " were bi-convex lenses o-f the very 
 smallest size, mounted in a silver frame-work. He made a collection 
 of twenty-six, which he bequeathed to the Royal Society of London. 
 These instruments, subject to all the inconveniences of a maximum of 
 spherical aberration and a total want of stability, were only fit for 
 use in the hands of Leuwenhoek himself, who had acquired, by his 
 labours of twenty years, habits of observation which compensated, in 
 great part, for the want of perfection in his instruments." We now 
 come to those forms considered as belonging to the 
 
 Flagellate Infusoria. 
 
 The Monads are infusorial animalcules which make an early 
 appearance in vegetable infusions. They constitute a family that are 
 destitute of any tegumentary covering. The substance of their 
 bodies can shorten itself, or draw itself out more or less ; their whip- 
 Jike filaments serve as organs of locomotion. Their organisation is 
 extremely simple ; their whip-like filaments are so fine as to be 
 scarcely perceptible, their length is sometimes double and even 
 quadruple the length of the animal itself 
 
 The Le)is Monad (Fig. 34) is a species which is frequently met 
 with in vegetable and animal infusions. The older microscopists had 
 it mdicated under the form of a globule, moving in a slow and 
 
INFUSORIA. 
 
 lOI 
 
 vacillating manner. The globule is formed of a homogeneous trans- 
 parent substance, which throws out obliquely a whip-like filament, 
 three, four, or even five times the length of the body of 
 the Monad. 
 
 The genus Cercomonas of Dujardin has its body pyri- 
 form, having in front a vibratile filament, very long, very 
 flexible, and easily agitated. Behind the body there is a 
 thicker straight filament attaching itself sometimes to 
 neighbouring corpuscles, round which, in this case, the 
 Cercomonad oscillates like the ball of a pendulum round 
 its stem. 
 
 The Euglenœa are infusoria usually of a green or red 
 colour. Their form is very variable. They are oblong 
 or fusiform in shape, swelling at the middle during loco- 
 motion, and contracted or bowl-shaped in repose, or after death. 
 They are furnished with the usual whip-shaped filament, which issues 
 from an opening in front, and pos- 
 sess one or many reddish points 
 irregularly placed anteriorly. 
 
 Eiiglena viridis (Fig. 35) is the 
 most common species, and among 
 the most widely difiiised of all the 
 Infusoria. It is this animalcule 
 which is often met covering stag- 
 nant pools with a floating surface 
 of green, and which forms on the 
 surface of marshy waters the shin- 
 ing pellicle so strongly coloured, 
 which, collected upon paper, so 
 long preserves its brilliant tint. 
 
 The Eiiglena sanguinea, at first 
 green, becomes subsequently of 
 a blood colour. It has often 
 been met with by microscopists. 
 Ehrenberg, who first described 
 it, attributes to its great abun- 
 dance the red colour of some 
 stagnant waters. Its presence 
 may perhaps explain the pre- 
 tended miracle of water changing 
 into blood, which was frequently 
 invoked by the Egyptian priests. 
 
 t =/-#" 
 
 Fig 35 
 
 Euglena vindib (Ehr ) mignWied ^50 times. 
 
102 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 CiLiATE Infusoria. 
 
 Let us now take a glance at some of the more remarkable species 
 of Ciliate Infusoria. The bodies of these creatures are all more or 
 less translucent. Many of them have not consistence enough to 
 reach a state of opacity. Their bodies are more or less globular or 
 ovoid, sometimes fashioned like a shuttle, sometimes swollen in the 
 middle Hke an ampulla, sometimes they are bell-shaped, and again 
 they are often found flattened into a discoid shape. 
 
 Fig. 36. 
 Cothurnia pyxidiformis (Udekem). 
 
 Fig. 37. 
 Paramecium bursaria (Pritchard). 
 
 The Paramecians have a soft flexible body, usually of oblong form, 
 and more or less depressed. They are provided with a loose reticu- 
 lated covering, through which issue numerous vibratile cilia, arranged 
 in a regular series (Fig. 37). They were known to the older naturaHsts \ 
 and it is in this group that organisation is carried to the highest per- 
 fection it attains among the Infusoria. The Paramecium possess, 
 besides their reticulated and contractile tegument, cilia disposed, in 
 such a manner as to serve at once for locomotion, and for prehension 
 that is, for the seizing of food. They are furnished with a mouth, at 
 the bottom of which lies a cavity, formed after the manner of a cul- 
 de-sac, in which lies enclosed the substances which the Paramecium 
 have swallowed along with the water. 
 
INFUSORIA. 103 
 
 The Paramecians are propagated by spontaneous division, as 
 already described. They abound, as we have said, in semi-stagnant 
 water, or in pure water which is occupied by aquatic plants, some- 
 times in such prodigious quantities that they become troublesome. 
 They may occur also in flower vases where the water is not frequently 
 renewed. 
 
 The species of this genus have an oblong compressed body, with 
 an oblique longitudinal fold, directed towards the mouth, which is 
 lateral. They are sufficiently large to be observed with a common 
 lens, or eye-glass. Paramecium aiirelia is common in ditches, or 
 ponds, and moats, with aquatic plants. 
 
 Humboldt's assertion is fully verified in the case of the Infusorian 
 under consideration, which is often found with its parasites {jjide 
 Fig 28). These are small creatures, cyUndrical in form, and provided 
 with suckers. Swimming vigorously in the water, they devote them- 
 selves to chasing the Paramecium. When they have overtaken the 
 fugitive, they throw themselves upon it, and establish themselves 
 there. They soon multiply in the interior of its body, and their 
 progeny suck and devour the unfortunate animalcule, which thus 
 serves them at once for dwelling-house and larder. 
 
 Another of the parasites which prey upon the Paramecium, in 
 place of pursuing it, remains perfectly quiet until one of these 
 approach, when it throws itself upon its victim, and is carried along 
 with it. It buries itself in the body of the Paramecium, and, in a 
 short time, multiplies to such a degree, that sometimes fifty of them 
 are found on a single individual. 
 
 The species of the genus Nassula have the body entirely covered 
 with cilia ; they are ovoid or oblong in form, contractile, their mouth 
 is placed laterally, and provided with a circlet of teeth in the form of 
 a wheel [nassa), this circlet dilating and contracting according to the 
 size of the prey which it would swallow. They will either advance to 
 seize the prey, which the movement of the vibratile cilia have failed 
 to draw within the vortex of their mouth, or, as in the case of the 
 Paramecium, they are sometimes obliged to seek for their prey. 
 These curious Infusoria Hve in fresh water, feeding on the débris of 
 aquatic plants, from which they draw their chief nourishment. Their 
 colour is white or greenish, sometimes a brownish green, variegated 
 with violet vesicles. 
 
 The genus Bursaria contains animals with an oval or oblong con- 
 tractile body, provided also with vibratile cilia on the surface, having 
 also a large mouth, surrounded with cilia, forming a sort of micro- 
 scopic moustache, spirally arranged. 
 
104 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 Among the forms closely related to this group may be noted the 
 Kondylostoma patens (Fig. 38), remarkable for its size and voracity. 
 It sometimes attains to thesize of the twelfth of an inch, and abounds 
 on every shore from the Mediterranean to the Baltic, living among 
 algse. Another Bursarian, a species called Lumbrici, lives between 
 
 Fig. 
 
 -Kondylostoma patens (Duj.), magnified 350 times. Fig. 39.— Stentor Mueller! (Ehr). 
 
 the intestines and the external muscular coat of the earth-worm, 
 Lu?nbricus terj'estris. 
 
 To the group of VorticeUina belongs the genus Steîitor, some 
 species of which are quite perceptible to the naked eye. 
 
 The Stentors are inhabitants of fresh, tranquil water, not subject 
 to agitation, and covered with water plants. They are nearly all 
 coloured green, blackish, or blue ; their bodies are covered with 
 cilia. They are eminently contractile, and very variable in form. 
 Their body is without a stalk, but they can attach themselves 
 temporarily by means of the posterior ciUremity of their body ; they 
 
INFUSORIA. 
 
 105 
 
 can assume a trumpet-like form, the bell of which is dosed by a 
 convex membrane, the edge being furnished with a row of very strong 
 obliquely-placed cilia, ranged in a spiral, meeting at the mouth, which 
 is placed near this edge. When they swim freely, their body admits 
 of very considerable modifications of form. The Stentor Muelleri 
 (Fig. 39) is to be found in ponds everywhere, often freely swimming 
 in vast multitudes, or, again, attached in dense patches to some 
 aquatic plant. 
 
 Some of the animals which belong to the Vorticellina are fixed 
 during one part of their existence, and become free in another stage. 
 So long as they are fixed, they resemble, in their expanded state, 
 a bell or funnel, with the edges reversed and cifiate. When they 
 become free, they lose their crown of cilia, take a cylindrical form, 
 more or less ovoid and elongated, and move themselves by means of 
 a new row of a posterior circlet of cifia, which is temporarily 
 developed. "There is no animal," says Dujardin, "which excites 
 our admiration in a higher degree than a vorticellate Infusorian, by 
 its crown of cilia, and by the vortex which it produces ; by its ever- 
 varying form ; above all, by its pedicle, which is susceptible of rapid 
 spiral contraction, drawing the body backward, and again extending 
 it." This pedicle is remarkably contractile, drawing itself into a close 
 coil with extraordinary rapidity, and again uncoiling itself with equal 
 quickness. It is a hollow tube, containing a thread or band within 
 it, to which its great contractile power is due. The genus Cothurnia 
 belongs also to this group (Fig. ^i^). 
 
 We cannot conclude our brief history of these curiously-organised 
 beings without again recording the doubt which still exists in the 
 minds of our most eminent naturalists, whether some of them are, 
 as we have before mentioned, animal or vegetable in their origin. 
 The Desmideœ^ long classed among animals, are now general!}' 
 recognised as plants; so also the group of the Diatomaceœ. The 
 Monads and Volvocinea are still subjects of discussion, the evidence 
 apparently inclining in favour of those who argue for their vegetable 
 nature. Messrs. Busk, Williamson, and Cohn, have published, in 
 the Mic7'oscopical Transactions, minute details of the evolutions of 
 these curiously-organised Volvocinea, which seem to prove their 
 vegetable nature. On the other hand, it is somewhat difficult to 
 imagine so accurate an observer as Agassiz writing so positively 
 as he does on a doubtful subject, unless he had a very firm con- 
 viction as to the truth of his observations. Remarking on a former 
 paper, in which he had shown that the embryo hatched from 
 the egg of a Planarian was a true polygastric animalcule of the 
 
Î06 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 genus Paramecium, he adds, that in former writers a link was wanting, 
 viz., tracing the young actually hatched from the egg of a Planarian. 
 " This deficienc}'," he says, " I can now fill. It is another Infusorium^ 
 a genuine Opalina. With such facts before us, there is no longer any 
 doubt left respecting the character of all these Polygastria; they 
 are the earliest larval condition of worms.*' 
 
10/ 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CŒLENTERATA. 
 
 *•' Happy is he, who, satisfied with his humble fortune, lives contentedly in the 
 obscure state where God has placed him." — Racine. 
 
 Entering on the sub-class of the Cœlenterata, we leave the domain 
 of the infinitely small to enter on the examination of somewhat 
 larger beings. In comparison with the Infusoria, the Cœlenterata, 
 which are sometimes of large size, are very important beings. 
 Science lately has made great advances towards giving us an exact 
 knowledge of the history of these singular animals. Many scientific 
 prejudices have been dissipated, many errors have been corrected. 
 The Cœlenterata, as they are defined in the actual state of Science, 
 correspond not only with the Polypes, properly so called, of Cuvier 
 and De Blainville, but also with the Acalephae of the same authors. 
 We now know that certain of the Cœlenterata give origin to Medusae ; 
 and that the great majority of the organisms described as such are 
 in reality the detached reproductive bodies of certain Cœlenterates. 
 
 Thus regarded, the Cœlenterates comprehend a great variety of 
 animals, the bodies of which are generally of a soft or gelatinous sub- 
 stance. The alimentary canal freely communicates with the general 
 cavity of the animal's body ; there is no distinct blood system ; a 
 nervous system is absent in most • and peculiarly-constituted urticating 
 organs are almost invariably present. They are invested with a skin 
 or integument, which sometimes secretes peculiar calcareous bodies, 
 and even a portion of the deepest-lying tissues may be invaded by 
 a calcareous deposit, the mass of which belongs sometimes to an 
 individual ; sometimes it is common to many, constituting what Dr. 
 Johnston calls the Polypidom, of which Professor Grant says, " there is 
 iDut one life and one plan of development in the whole mass, and this 
 depends, not on the polyps, but on the general fleshy substance of 
 the body :""^ " the ramifications of the polypidom," says Dr. Johnston, 
 "are often disposed in a variety of elegant plant-like forms. The 
 
 * "Outlines of Comparative Anatomy." 
 
I08 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 Stem and branches are alike in texture : slender, horny, fistular, 
 and almost always jointed at short and regular intervals, the joint 
 being a mere break in the continuity of the sheath, without any 
 character of a proper hinge, and formed by regular periodical inter- 
 ruptions in the growth of the polypidoms. Along the sides of these, 
 or at their extremities, we find the denticles or cup-like cells of the 
 polyps arranged in a determinate order, either sessile or elevated on 
 a stalk." Near the base of each of these there is a partition or 
 diaphragm, on which the body of the polyps rests, with a plain or 
 tubulous perforation in the centre, through which the connection 
 between the individual polyps and the common medullary substance 
 is retained. Besides the polyps, there are found at certain seasons 
 a number of reproductive bodies, called gonophores, readily distin- 
 guished from the polyps by their size, and the irregularity of their 
 distribution, which are destined to contain and mature the ovules. 
 
 With these animals the digestive tube is very simple, and presents 
 only one distinct orifice ; the same opening serving at once for 
 receiving the food and the expulsion of the residuum of digestion, 
 as will be so easily seen in the common sea anemone. 
 
 In nearly all the Cœlenterata the sexes are separate ; the genera- 
 tion is sometimes sexual ; but these beings multiply also by what 
 zoologists call gemmation, or budding. Some are provided with 
 supposed organs of sense ; many of the swimming forms having eye- 
 like marginal bodies — a progress in organisation as compared with 
 the animals which have hitherto engaged our attention. Vibratile 
 cilia often cover the entire surface of the Polyps, and their tegumen- 
 tary system is richly supplied with thread cells. 
 
 These general remarks may appear obscure and insufficient to 
 the large number of our readers. They are necessarily so ; they are 
 at best but generalities upon an interesting group of animals. We 
 quit them, trusting to make the special study of the several classes 
 we shall have to describe more interesting. 
 
 The sub-kingdom Cœlenterata naturally divides itself into two 
 groups — that of the Hydrozoa, and that of the Actinozoa. The 
 pretty fresh-water Hydra will serve as an example of the first, and 
 the common sea anemone of the second group. The essential 
 difference between the two is, that in the former the stomachal 
 cavity is not separated from the general cavity of the body, and the 
 reproductive buds are external; while in the latter the stomachal 
 cavity is let down, as it were, as a partially-closed sac, into the 
 general cavity of the body ; and the reproductive buds make their 
 appearance between the walls of the general cavity and the alimentary 
 
CŒLENTERATA. lOÇ 
 
 or Stomachal sac, and consequently internally. But in both there is 
 a free communication between these two cavities — a communication 
 obvious in the Hydrozoa. and which may be often verified in the 
 case of the sea anemones, by the young anemones making their ap- 
 pearance at the mouth of the parent anemone, having first escaped 
 from the general cavity out into the alimentary cavity of its body. 
 
 The Hydrozoa contains no less than sev^en orders, which will be 
 referred to in our next chapter (VI). The Actinozoa contain three 
 recent orders : the Zoantharia (Chapter VII), the Alcyonaria, and 
 the Ctenophora (Chapter VIII), 
 
I TO 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Hydrozoa. 
 
 ** In nova fert animus mutatis dicere formas corpora." — OviD, Met. 
 
 The class Hydrozoa includes the Acalephae (from aKax-fj^ri, sl nettle, so 
 called from the stinging properties which many of them possess), as 
 well as a great number of radiate animals, of which the Medusae are 
 the type. Many of them are remarkable as floating and swimming in 
 the sea by means of the contraction and dilatation of their bodies, 
 their substance being gelatinous, without apparent fibres; many of 
 them, again, are attached and are only locomotive in their young state. 
 
 The great order of the Medusidse is characterised by having a disc, 
 more or less convex above, resembling a mushroom or expanded 
 umbrella, the edges of the umbrella, as well as the mouth and 
 suckers, being more or less prolonged into pedicles, which take their 
 place in the middle of the lower surface ; they are furnished with 
 tentacula, varying in form and size, which have given rise to many 
 subdivisions, with which we need not concern ourselves. 
 
 The substance of the disc presents a uniform cellular appearance 
 internally, but the cellular substance being very soft, no trace of 
 fibre is observable. Taken from the sea, and laid upon a stone, a 
 Medusa weighing fifty ounces will rapidly diminish to five or six 
 grains, sinking into a sort of deliquescence, from which Spalanzani 
 concluded that the sea-water penetrated the organic texture of its 
 substance, and constituted the principal volume of the animal. Those 
 which have cilia round their margins have also cellular bands running 
 along their bases, and most of the projectile and extensile tentacula 
 and filaments have sacs and canals containing fluids at their roots. 
 The indications of nerves or nervous system are too slight to be 
 received as evidence, although Dr. Grant observed some structures 
 which he thought could only belong to a nervous system, and 
 Ehrenberg thought he observed eyes in Medusa aurita^ as well as a 
 nervous circle formed of four ganglion-like masses disposed round the 
 
HYDROZOA. 1 1 1 
 
 mouth. But most naturalists seem to be of opinion that touch is the 
 only sense of which any conclusive proof can be advanced. 
 
 Here we behold a class of bell-shaped semi-transparent organisms, 
 which float gracefully in the sea — a great family of soft, wandering 
 animals, constituted in a most extraordinary manner. They look like 
 floating umbrellas, or, better still, floating mushrooms, the footstalk 
 replaced by an equally central body, but divided into divergent 
 lobes at once sinuous, twisted, and fringed, so that one is at first 
 tempted to take them for a species of root. The edges of the umbrella 
 or mushroom are entire or dentate, sometimes elegantly scolloped, 
 often ciliate, or provided with long filiform appendages which float 
 vertically in the water. 
 
 Sometimes the animal is transparent, and limpid as crystal ; some- 
 times it presents a slightly opaline appearance, now of a tender blue, 
 or of a delicate rose colour ; at other times it reflects the most brilliant 
 and vivid tints. 
 
 In certain species the central parts only are coloured, showing 
 brilliant reds and yellows, blues or violets, the rest being colourless. 
 In others the central mass seems clothed in a thin iridescent or 
 diaphanous veil, like the light evanescent soap-bubble, or the trans- 
 parent glass shade which covers a group of artificial flowers. 
 
 The Medusae are animals without much consistence, containing 
 much water, so that we can scarcely comprehend how they resist the 
 agitation of the waves and the force of the currents ; the waves, 
 however, float without hurting them, the tempest scatters without 
 killing them. When the sea retires, or they are withdrawn from their 
 native waters, their substance dissolves, the animal is decomposed, 
 they are reduced to nothing ; if the sun is strong, this disorganisation 
 occurs in the twinkling of an eye, so to speak. 
 
 When the Medusae travel their convex part is always kept in 
 advance and slightly oblique. If they are touched while swimming, 
 even lightly, they contract their tentacula, fold up their umbrella, 
 and sink into the sea. Like Ehrenberg, M. Kolliker thought he dis- 
 covered visual and auditory organs in an Oceania, and Gegenbauer 
 thought he detected them in other genera, such as Rhizostoma and 
 Felagia. The eyes are said to consist of certain small, hemispherical, 
 cellulose, coloured masses, in which are sunk small crystalline 
 globules, the free parts of which are perfectly naked. The supposed 
 auditory apparatus is seated close to these organs ; they are small 
 vesicles, filled with liquid ; the eyes having neither pupil nor cornea. 
 
 But it is in their reproduction that these evanescent beings present 
 the most marvellous phenomena. At one period of the year the 
 
112 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 Medusae are charged with numbers of very minute eggs, of the most 
 lively colours, which are suspended in large festoons from their 
 floating bodies. In some cases these eggs develop themselves while 
 still attached to their bodies, and are only detached at maturity. In 
 some cases the larval forms produced bear no resemblance to the 
 parent ; they are elongated and vermiform, broad at their extremity, 
 with vibrating cilia, scarcely perceptible, by which they execute the 
 most lively motions. At the end of a certain time they are 
 transformed into polyps, and furnished with eight tentacula. This 
 preparatory sort of animal seems to possess the faculty of reproduction 
 by means of certain buds or tubercles which develop themselves on 
 the surface of the body, so that a single zooid form originates a 
 numerous colony. The Hydra tuba is subjected to a transformation 
 still more remarkable ; its structure becomes complex, its body 
 articulate, and it seems to be composed of a dozen discs piled one 
 upon the other, like the jars of a voltaic pile ; the upper disc is 
 convex, and is separated from the colony after a convulsive effort ; 
 it becomes free, and an excessively small, star-like Medusa is the 
 result ; every disc, that is, every zooid form, is isolated one after the 
 other in the same manner. 
 
 Thus some of these forms propagate their kind according to the 
 usual laws, like producing Uke ; but others bring forth yoimg which 
 have no resemblance to the parent at all ; others are produced by 
 budding, or fission, from individuals like themselves. These can also 
 acquire sexual distinctions ; but before this change takes place, the 
 creature, which was simple, is transformed into a composite animal, 
 and it is from its disaggregation that individuals having sexual organs 
 are produced, the process being that which has been called alternate 
 generation. It goes on in a perfectly regular manner, although it 
 is a fact that the young never resemble their mothers, but their 
 grandmothers. 
 
 This great class of the Hydrozoa is divided, by Professor Greene, 
 into seven orders : — Hydridœ, where the polyps are locomotive and 
 consisting of such forms as Hydra viridis^ Fig. 4. Corynidœ^ where 
 the forms are attached and the ectodermic layer is generally firm ; 
 Tubularia indivisa is a well-known species. Sertulariadœ^ where the 
 animal is plant-like and much branched, and where the ectodermic 
 layer forms cups in which the polyps dwell ; as an example, Sertu- 
 laria ciipi'essina may be mentioned. Calycopkoridce, consisting of free 
 oceanic forms with nectocalyces, see Fraya diphyes, Fig, 42. Physo- 
 phoridce, also with free forms, but they are provided with a float or 
 pneumatophore, in addition to nectocalyces (see Plate III., p. 134, 
 
HYBRID M. r 1 5 
 
 Figs. 43, 46, 49, 50, 51. Medusidœ, where there is but a single 
 polyp, and it is free and oceanic (Figs. 52, 53). And lastly, Lucer- 
 naridce, which are easily distinguished from the previous order by 
 their umbrella (see Figs. 54, 55, 56, 57, 58). 
 
 Hydrid/e. 
 
 The order Hydridœ comprehends but the single genus Hydra, of 
 which many species are known, whose habits and metamorphoses it 
 will be our object to particularise. The best known of these so- 
 called species are B. vulgaris, H. viridis, H. fusca, and H. rubra; 
 these differ for the most part from each other in size, colour, the 
 form of the body, or in the relative proportions of the polypite and 
 tentacles. 
 
 In this order the polyps are attached by a base which can be 
 detached during locomotion. The integument does not secrete any 
 horny or calcareous covering, but is easily resolved into two 
 portions — an outer called the ectodermic layer, and an inner called 
 the enodermic layer. 
 
 Hydra vulgaris (Fig. 40) inhabits stagnant ponds and slowly-running 
 waters. It is of an orange-brown or red colour, the intensity of the 
 colour depending on the nature of its food, becoming almost blood- 
 red when fed on the small crimson worms and larva to be found in 
 such places. M. Laurent even succeeded in colouring them blue, 
 red, and white, by means of indigo, carmine, and chalk, without any 
 real penetration of the tissue, the buds from them acquiring the same 
 colour as the parent, while the colour of the ovum retains its natural 
 tint, even when the mother Hydra has been fed with coloured 
 substances during the progress of this mode of reproduction. The 
 tentacula, usually seven or eight in number^ never exceed the length 
 of the body, tapering insensibly to a point. 
 
 Hydra viridis, another fresh- water polyp, being more immediately 
 within the sphere of our observation, naturally presents itself to our 
 notice. It is common in ponds and still waters. It was noticed by 
 Pallas, who was of opinion that its young were produced from every 
 part of its body. De Blainville, on the contrary, was of opinion that 
 the young were always produced from the same place ; namely, at 
 the junction of that part which is hollow and that which is not. 
 Van der H oven, late Professor of Natural History at Leyden, 
 agrees with Pallas, and Dr. Johnstan's opinion is the same. The 
 green Hydra is common all over Europe, inhabiting, brooks filled 
 with herbage — attaching itself particularly to the duckweed of 
 
114 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 Stagnant ponds, and more especially to the under surface of the 
 leaf. The animal is composed of a small greenish tubular sac, 
 closed at one of its extremities, open at the other, and bearing 
 round this opening from six to ten tentacles, very slender, some- 
 times not exceeding a line in breadth. The tubulous sac is the 
 
 Fig. 40. — Hydra vulgaris, i. Hydra with ovum and young, unhatched. 2 Hydra of natural sizo 
 attached to a piece of floating wood. 3. Egg ready to burst its covering. 
 
 body of the animal (Fig. 41), the opening is at once its mouth and 
 the entrance to the digestive canal ; the appendages, the tentacula 
 or arms. 
 
 The Hydrae have no lungs, no liver, no intestines, no nervous 
 system, no heart. They have no organ of the senses, except those 
 which mav exist in their mouth and skin. The arms or tentacles are 
 
HYBRID. 
 
 115 
 
 hollow internally, and communicate with the stomach. They are 
 provided with vibratile cilia, and are furnished with a great number 
 of papillae disposed spirally, and containing in their interior a number 
 of capsules provided each with thread cells. These threads, which 
 are of extreme tenacity, are thrown out when the animal is irritated 
 
 Fig. 41.— Hydra viridis (Trembley). i. Hydra magnified, bearing an embryo ready to detach 
 itself. 2. Animal, natural size. 
 
 by contact with any strange body. We may see these filaments 
 wrapping themselves round their prey, sometimes even penetrating 
 its substance, and effectually subduing the enemy. The green 
 Hydra has thus a very simple organisation. Nevertheless, it would 
 be a mistake to say the animal was imperfect, for it possesses every- 
 thing necessary for its nourishment and for the propagation of its 
 species. 
 
Il6 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 There are learned men who have composed hundreds of volumes, 
 who have published whole libraries — naturalists and physicists who 
 have written more than Voltaire ever penned, but whose names are 
 almost forgotten. On the other hand, there are some who have left 
 only two or three monographs, and yet their names will live for ever. 
 Of this number is A. Trembley. This writer published in 1744 a 
 " Memoir on the Fresh-water Polyp." In this Httle work he recorded 
 his observations on some of these animals of the smallest dimensions. 
 He limited himself even to two sets of experiments ; he turned the 
 fresh-water polyp outside in, and he multiplied it by cutting it up. 
 These experiments upon this little creature, which few persons had 
 seen, have sufficed to secure immortality to his name. Trembley was 
 tutor to the two sons of Count de Bentinck. He made his observa- 
 tions at the country-house of the Dutch nobleman, and he had, as he 
 assures us, " frequent occasion to satisfy himself, in the case of his 
 two pupils, that we can even in infancy taste the pleasures derivable 
 from the studies of Nature !" Let us earnestly hope that this 
 thought, uttered by a celebrated naturalist, who spoke only what 
 he knew himself, may remain engraved on the minds of our younger 
 readers. 
 
 Trembley estabhslied by his observations, a thousand times repeated, 
 that Hydra viridis can be turned outside in as completely as a glove 
 may be, without injury to the animal, which a day or two after this 
 evolution resumes its ordinary functions. Such is the vitality of these 
 little beings, that what was once the outer surface soon fulfils all the 
 functions of a stomach, digesting its food, while the intestinal tube, 
 expanding its exterior, performs all the functions of an outer surface, 
 it absorbs and respires. But we shall leave Trembley to relate his very 
 remarkable experiments. 
 
 " I attempted," he says, " for the first time to turn these polyps 
 inside out in the month of July, 1741, but unsuccessfully. I was 
 more successful the following year, having found an expedient which 
 was of easy execution. I began by giving a worm to the polyp, 
 and put it, when the stomach was well filled, into a little water 
 which filled the hollow of my left hand. I pressed it afterwards with 
 a gentle pinch towards the posterior extremities. In this manner I 
 pressed the worm which was in the stomach against the mouth of 
 the polyp, forcing it to open — continuing the pinching pressure until 
 the worm was partly pressed out of the mouth. When the polyp was 
 in this state I conducted it gently out of the water, without damaging 
 it, and placed it upon the edge of my hand, which was simply mois- 
 tened in order that the polyp should not stick to it. I forced it to 
 
HYDRIDE, 117 
 
 contract itself more and more, and, in doing so, assisted in enlarging 
 the mouth and stomach. I now took in my right hand a thick and 
 pointless boar's bristle, which I held as a lancet is held in bleeding. 
 I approached its thicker end to the posterior extremity of the polyp, 
 which I pressed until it entered the stomach, which it does the more 
 easily since it is empty at this place and much enlarged. I continued 
 to advance the bristle, and, in proportion as it advanced, the polyp 
 became more and more inverted. When it came to the worm, by 
 which the mouth is kept open on one side, and the posterior part of 
 the polyp is passed through the mouth, the creature is thus turned 
 completely inside out ; the exterior superficies of the polyp has 
 become the interior." 
 
 The poor animal would be justified in feeling some surprise at its 
 new situation — disagreeably surprised, we may add, for it makes every 
 imaginable effort to recover its natural position, and it always succeeds 
 in the end : the glove is restored to its proper form. " 1 have seen 
 polyps," says Trembley, " which have recovered their natural exterior 
 in less than an hour." But this would not have served the purpose 
 of our experimenter. He wished to know if the polyps thus turned 
 outside in could live in this state ; he had consequently to prevent it 
 from righting itself, for which purpose a needle was run through the 
 body near the mouth — in other words, he impaled the creature by the 
 neck. 
 
 " It is nothing for a polyp only to be spitted," says Trembley. It 
 is in fact a very small thing, as we shall see, for thus reversed and 
 spitted they live and multiply as if nothing had happened. 
 
 " I have seen a polyp,'' says this ingenious experimenter, " turned 
 inside out, which has eaten a small worm two days after the operation. 
 I have fed one in that state for more than two years, and it has multi- 
 plied in that condition. 
 
 " Having experimented successfully myself, I was desirous of 
 having the testimony of others capable of forming opinions on the 
 subject. M. Allamand was persuaded to put his hand to the 
 work, which he did with the same success I had met with. He 
 has done more, having succeeded in permanently turning speci- 
 mens which had been previously turned, and which continued to 
 live in their re-inverted state; he has seen them eat soon after 
 both operations ; finally, he has turned one for the third time, 
 which lived some days, but perished without having eaten any- 
 thing, although it did not appear that its death was the result of the 
 operation," 
 
 We have said that the Hydra viridis has neither brain, nervous 
 
Il8 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 system, heart, muscular rings, lungs, nor liver; the organs of the 
 senses — namely, those of sight, hearing, and of smell — have also 
 been denied them. Nevertheless, they act as if they possessed all 
 these senses. O Nature ! how hidden are thy secrets, and how the 
 pride of man is humbled by the mysteries which surround thee — by 
 the spectacles which strike his eye, and which he attempts in vain 
 to explain ! 
 
 Trembley states that the fresh-water polyps, having no muscular 
 system, can neither extend nor contract themselves, nor can they 
 progress. If touched, or if the water in which they are immersed is 
 suddenly agitated, they are certainly observed to contract more or 
 less forcibly, and even to inflect themselves in all directions ; and by 
 this power of extension, of contraction, and inflection, they contrive 
 to move from place to place; but these movements are singularly 
 slow, the utmost space they have been observed to traverse being 
 about eight inches in the twenty-four hours. 
 
 Painfully conscious of his powers of progression, however, he 
 has found means of remedying it, and the freshwater snail is 
 his steed ; he creeps upon the shell of a Planorbis, or a Limneus, 
 and by means of this improvised mount he will make more 
 way in a few minutes than he would in a whole day by his own 
 unassisted efforts. 
 
 Hydra viridis^ although destitute of organs of sight, is neverthe- 
 less sensible of light ; if the vase containing them is placed partly in 
 shade and partly in the sun, they direct themselves immediately 
 towards the light ; they appreciate sounds ; they attach themselves to 
 aquatic plants and other floating bodies. Without eyes, without 
 brain, and without nerves, these animals lie in wait for thfir prey, 
 recognise, seize, and devour it. They make no blunder, and only 
 attack where they are pretty sure of success. They know how 
 to flee from danger ; they evade obstacles, and fight with or fly 
 before their enemies. There are, then, some powers of reflec- 
 tion, deliberation, and premeditated action in these insignificant 
 creatures ; their history, in short, is calculated to fill the mind with 
 astonishment. 
 
 Trembley insists much upon the address which the Hydra employs 
 to secure its prey : by the aid of its long arms, small animals, which 
 serve to nourish it, are seized, for it is carnivorous, and even passably 
 voracious. Worms, small insects, and larva of dipterous insects are 
 its habitual prey. When a worm or water flea in passing its tentacles 
 happens to touch them, the polyp, taking the hint, seizes upon the 
 wanderer, twining its flexible arms round it, and, directing it rapidly 
 
HYBRID M, 1 19 
 
 towards its mouth, swallows it. Trembley amused himself by feeding 
 the Hydra, while he observed the manner in which it devoured its 
 prey. 
 
 " When its arms were extended, I have put into the water a 
 woodlouse or a small worm. As soon as the woodlouse feels itself 
 a prisoner it struggles violently, swimming about, and drawing the 
 arm which holds it from side to side ; but, however delicate it may 
 appear, the arm of the polyp is capable of considerable resistance \ it 
 is now gradually drawn in, and other arms come to its assistance, 
 while the polyp itself approaches its prey ; presently the woodlouse 
 finds itself engaged with all the arms, which, by curving and con- 
 tracting, gradually but inevitably approach the mouth, in which it is 
 soon engulfed." 
 
 Frédol also notices a singular fact. " The small worms, even 
 when swallowed by the polyp," he says, " frequently try to escape ; 
 but the ravisher retains them by plunging one of its arms into 
 the digestive cavity! What an admirable contrivance, by which the 
 worms are digested while the arm is respected ! " 
 
 The food of the fresh-water Hydra influences the colour of their 
 bodies in consequence of the thinness and transparency of their 
 tissues ; so that the reddish matter of the woodlouse renders them 
 red, while other food renders them black or green, according to its 
 prevailing cololur. 
 
 The multiplication of these creatures takes place in three different 
 ways : — 
 
 1. By eggs. 
 
 2. By buds, after the manner of vegetables. 
 
 3. By separation, in which an individual may be cut into two 
 
 or many segments, each reproducing an individual. 
 
 We shall only say a few words on the first mode of reproduction. 
 At certain seasons of the year ova are found to develop themselves 
 in the substance of the lower part of the Hydra's body. These subse- 
 quently separate from the body, and appear to be capable of inde- 
 pendent movements ; but whether these be caused by ciHa or not 
 is not quite determined. After a time the sac of the ovum becomes 
 ruptured, and the young Hydra bursts its way out. 
 
 Trembley has studied with great care the mode of reproduction 
 by budding — a process which seems to prevail in the summer months. 
 The buds which are to form the young polyp appear on the surface 
 of the body as little spherical excrescences terminating in a point. 
 A few steps further towards maturity, and they assume a conical, and 
 finally a cylindrical form. The arms now begin to push out at the 
 
I20 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 anterior extremity of the young animal ; the posterior extremity by 
 which it is attaclied to the mother contracting by degrees, until it 
 appears only to touch her at one point. Finally, the separation is 
 effected, the parent and the young acting in concert to produce the 
 entrance of this interesting young polyp into the world. Each of 
 them take with their head and arms a strong point of support upon 
 some neighbouring body ; and a small eiïort suffices to procure the 
 separation; sometimes the parent charges herself with the effort, 
 sometimes the young, and often both. 
 
 When the young polyp is separated from the parent, it swims 
 about, and executes all the movements peculiar to adult animals. 
 The entrance into life and maturity takes place with these beings at 
 one and the same moment. Infancy and youth are suppressed in 
 this little world. 
 
 In the course of his experiments Trembley found the following 
 remarkable fact. 
 
 Upon a young polyp still attached to its parent he observed 
 a new polyp or polypule, and upon this unborn creature was 
 another individual. Thus, three generations were appended to the 
 parent, who carried at once her child, her grandchild, and great- 
 grandchild. 
 
 " In observing the young polyps still attached to their parent," 
 says Trembley, " I have seen one which had itself a little one which 
 was just issuing from its body; that is to say, it was a mother while 
 yet attached to its own parent. I had in a short time many young 
 polyps attached to their parents which had already had three or four 
 little ones, of which some were even perfectly formed. They fished 
 for woodlice like others, and they ate them. Nor is this all. I have 
 seen a mother-polyp which had carried its third generation. From 
 the little one which he had produced issued another little one, and 
 from this a third.'' 
 
 Charles Bennet, a naturalist of Geneva, says, wittily, that a polyp 
 thus charged with all its descendants constitutes a living genealogical 
 tree. 
 
 We have just spoken of turning polyps inside out ! If one oi 
 these creatures is thus operated upon while it bears its young on the 
 surface of its body, such of them as are sufficiently advanced continue 
 to increase ; although they find themselves in this sudden manner 
 imprisoned in an internal cavity, and they re-issue subsequently by 
 the mouth. Those less advanced at the moment of reversal issue 
 by little and little from the maternal sac, and complete their career 
 of development on the newly-made exterior. 
 
HYDRIDE. 121 
 
 The third and most extraordinary mode of reproduction in the 
 polyps has been discovered by Trembley in the case of the green 
 Hydra. So surprised was this naturalist at the strange anomaUes 
 which surround these creatures, that he began to have doubts, and 
 gravely to ask the question, is this polyp an animal? or, is it a 
 plant ? 
 
 In order to escape from this state of indecision, it occurred to 
 him to cut a Hydra into pieces. Concluding that plants alone could 
 reproduce themselves by slips, he waited the result of the experiment 
 for the conclusion he sought. On the 25 th of November, 1740, he 
 cut a polyp into sections. " I put," he tells us, " the two parts into 
 a flat glass, which contained water four or five lines in depth, and 
 in such a manner that each portion of the polyp could be easily 
 observed through a strong magnifying glass. It will suffice to say 
 that I had cut the polyp transversely, and a little nearer to the 
 anterior. On the morning of the day after having cut the polyp, it 
 seemed to me that on the edges of the second part, which had 
 neither head nor arms, three small points were issuing from these 
 edges. This surprised me extremely, and I waited with impatience 
 for the moment when 1 could clearly ascertain what they were. 
 Next day they were sufficiently developed to leave no doubt on my 
 mind that they were true arms. The following day two new arms 
 made their appearance, and, some days after, a third appeared, and 
 I could now trace no difference between the first and second half of 
 the polyp which I had cut." 
 
 This is assuredly one of the most startling facts belonging to 
 natural history. Divide a fresh-water polyp into five or six parts, 
 and at the end of a few days all the separate parts will be organised, 
 developed, and form so many new beings, resembling the primitive 
 individual. Let us add, that the polyp which should thus have lost 
 five-sixths of its body, the mutilated father of all this generation, 
 remains complete in itself; in the interval, it has recuperated itself 
 and recovered all its primitive substance. 
 
 After this, if a Hydra vulgaris wishes to procure for itself the 
 blessings of a family, it has only one thing to do : cut off an arm ; 
 if it desire two descendants, let it cut the arm in two parts ; if three, 
 let it divide it into three ; and so on ad i7ifimtum. " Divide one of 
 the animals," says Trembley, " and each section will soon form a new 
 individual in all respects like the creature divided." *' A whole host of 
 polyps hewn into pieces," says Fre'dol, "will be far from being 
 annihilated." " On the contrary," we may say, in our turn, " its 
 youth will be renewed, and multiplied in proportion to the number of 
 
122 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 pieces into which it has been divided." "The same polyp," says 
 Trembley, " may be successively inverted, cut in sections, and turned 
 back again, without beings seriously injured." 
 
 If a green Hydra is cut into two pieces, and the stomach is 
 cut off in the operation, the voracious creature will, nevertheless, 
 continue to eat the prey which presents itself. It gorges itself with 
 the food, without troubling itself with the loss which it has sustained ; 
 but the food no longer nourishes it, for it merely enters by one 
 opening, passes through the intestinal canal, and escapes by the 
 other. It realises Harleville's pleasantry of M. de Crac's horse, in 
 the piece of that name, which eats unceasingly, but never gets any 
 fatter. 
 
 All these instances of mutilation, resulting in an increase of life, are 
 very strange. The naturalists to whom they were first revealed could 
 scarcely believe their own eyes. Reaumur, who repeated many of 
 Trembley's experiments, writes as follows : " I confess that when I saw 
 for the first time two polyps forming by little and little from that 
 which I had cut in two, I could scarcely believe my eyes ; and it is a 
 fact that, after hundreds of experiments, I never could quite reconcile 
 myself to the sight." 
 
 In short, we know nothing analogous to it in the animal kingdom. 
 About the same period Charles Bennet writes : " We can only judge 
 of things by comparison, and have taken our ideas of animal life from 
 the larger animals ; and an animal which we cut and turn inside out, 
 which we cut again, and it still bears itself well, gives one a singular 
 shock. How many facts are ignored, which will come one day to 
 derange oar ideas of subjects which we think we understand ! At 
 present we just know enough to be aware that we should be surprised 
 at nothing." 
 
 Notwithstanding the philosophic serenity which Bennet recom- 
 mends, the fact of new individuals resulting from dividing these 
 fresh- water polyps was always a subject of profound astonishment, 
 and of never-ending meditation. 
 
 CORYNIDiE. 
 
 We have already said that recent researches have led to a separa- 
 tion of this class of animals from the Sertularidse, and to their being 
 formed into an order by themselves. Of these creatures we formerly 
 only knew one of the forms, namely, the polyp form ; or, rather, the 
 first stage of it. During their earliest days they possess a polyp, fur- 
 nished with tentacles, and a bell-shaped body. During their medusoid 
 
CORYNID^. 123 
 
 age, they present a central stomach, with four canals in the form of a 
 cross, and four to eight tentacles with cirri. The Corynidœ. compre- 
 hends many genera ; among others the genera Coryne, Hydractinia^ 
 Tuhdaria, and Cordylophora, in studying which Van Beneden of 
 Louvain discovered most interesting facts connected with the subject 
 of alternate generation. 
 
 The Hydrozoa forming the Corynidae have the power of secreting 
 a hollow tube of a horny nature, in which the fleshy body can move 
 up and down, expanding its tentacles over the top. Others of them 
 give forth buds, each of which takes the form of a polyp, and these, 
 being permanent, give it a shrub-like or branched appearance ; it is 
 now a compound polyp. The tube is branched, but the orifices from 
 which the polyps expand never dilate into cups or cells. The Tubu- 
 laria are plant-like and horny, rooted by fibres, tubular, and filled 
 with a semi-fluid organic pulp ; polyps naked and fleshy, protruding 
 from the extremity of every branchlet of the tube, and armed with 
 one or two circles of smooth filiform tentacles ; the reproductive 
 bodies germinating from the base of the tentacles ; embryo medusi- 
 form. "Some modern authors," says Frédol, "assure us that the 
 tree-like form of these polyps is a degraded and transitory form of 
 the Medusae. The Medusa originates the polyp, the polyp becomes a 
 Medusa." Eudendrium rameiun so perfectly resembles an old tree in 
 miniature, deprived of its leaves, that it is difficult to believe it is 
 not of a vegetable origin ; it is like a vigorous tree in miniature, in 
 full flower, rising from the summit of a brown-spotted stem, with 
 many branches and tufted shoots, terminating in so many hydra-like 
 polyps of a beautiful yellow or brilliant red. E. ramosum, of a 
 brownish colour and horny substance, rising six inches, is rooted by 
 tortuous, wrinkled fibres, with flexible, smooth, and thread-like shoots, 
 branching into a doubly pinnate form. In Tubiilaria indivisa the 
 tubes are clustering ; its numerous stems are horny, yellow, and from 
 six to twelve inches in height, about a line in diameter, and marked 
 with unequal knots from space to space, like the stalk of the oat-straw 
 with the joints cut off. Their lower extremity is tortuous, attaching 
 themselves readily to shells and stones in deep water, flourishing in 
 deep muddy bottoms, and upright as a flower, fixed by the tapering 
 root-like terminations of their horny tube : a flowering animal, having, 
 however, neither flower nor branch. At the summit of each stem a 
 double scarlet corolla is developed of from five to thirty-five petals, 
 in rows, the external one spreading, those in the interior rising in 
 a tuft ; a little below, the ovarium appears, drooping, when ripe, 
 like a bunch of orange-coloured grapes. After a time the petals 
 
124 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 of the corolla fade, fall, and die, and a bud replaces them, which 
 produces a new polyp ; and so on. This succession determines 
 the length of the stem. Each apparent flower throws out a small 
 tube, which terminates it, and each addition adds one joint more 
 to the axis, which it increases in length. 
 
 Sertulariad^e. 
 
 All the Hydrozoa, with the exception of Hydra and a few other 
 genera, are marine productions, varying in size from a few lines to 
 upwards of a foot in height. The members of this order are found 
 attaching themselves to rocks, shells, seaweeds, and corallines, and to 
 various species of Crustacea. Many of them attach themselves indis- 
 criminately to the nearest object, but others show a preference for some 
 special substance. Thuiaria thuia attaches itself to old bivalves ; 
 Thoa halecinia prefers the larger univalves \ Antennularia aiitennina 
 attaches itself to coarse sand or rocks ; Laomedea geniculata delights 
 in the broad frond of the tangle ; Pliimularia catJwina attaches itself 
 in deep water to old shells, corallines, and ascidians, growing in a 
 manner calculated to puzzle the naturalist, as it did Crabbe, the poet, 
 who writes of it : — 
 
 *' Involved in sea- wrack, here you find a race 
 Which science, doubting, knows not where to place j 
 On shell or stone is dropp'd the embryo seed, 
 And quickly vegetates a vital breed." 
 
 Sertularia ptimtia, on the other hand, loves the commoner and coarser 
 wrack. " The choice," says Dr. Johnston, " may in part be depen- 
 dent on their habits, for such as are destined to live in shallow water, 
 or on a shore exposed by the reflux of every tide, are, in general, 
 vegetable parasites ; while the species which spring up in deep seas 
 must select between rocks, corallines, or shells." There seems to be 
 a selection even as to the position on the rocks. According to 
 Lamouroux, some polyps always occupy the southern slopes, and 
 never that towards the east, west, or north ; others, on the contrary, 
 grow only on these exposures, and never on the south, altering their 
 position, however, according to the latitude, and its relation to the 
 Equator. 
 
 The Sertiilaridœ have a horny stem, sometimes simple, sometimes 
 so branching that they might readily enough be mistaken for small 
 plants, their branches being flexible, semi-transparent, and yellow. 
 Their name is derived from Sertum^ a bouquet. Each Sertularia has 
 
SERTULARIAD.'E. 12$ 
 
 seven, eight, twelve, or twenty small panicles, each containing as many 
 as 500 polyps; thus forming, sometimes, an association of 10,000 
 polyps. " Each plume," says Mr. Lister, in reference to a specimen 
 of Phcmiilaria cristata, "might comprise from 400 to 500 polyps;" 
 "and a specimen of no unusual size now before me,'' says Dr. 
 Johnston, "with certainly not fewer cells on each than the larger 
 number mentioned, thus gives 6,000 as the tenantry of a single 
 polypidom, and this on a small species." On Sertularia argentea 
 it is asserted, polyps are found on which there exist not less than 
 80,000 to 100,000. 
 
 Each colony is composed of a right axis, on the whole length of 
 which the curved branches are implanted, these being longest in the 
 middle. Along each of these branches the cells, each containing a 
 polyp, are grouped alternately. The head of the animal is conical, 
 the mouth being at the top, surrounded by twenty to twenty-four 
 tentacles. 
 
 Certain polyps belonging to the same colony, which seem 
 destined to perpetuate the race, have not the same regular form. 
 Destitute of mouth and tentacles, they occupy special cells, which are 
 larger than the others. The entire colony is composed exclusively ot 
 individuals, male or female. " We have traced Sertulm'la cup7'essina 
 through every stage of its development," say Messrs. Paul Gervais 
 and Van Beneden. " At the end of several days the embryos are 
 covered with very short vijratile cilia ; their movement is excessively 
 slow ; then, from the spheroid form which they take at first, they get 
 elongated, and take a cylindrical form, all the body inclining slightly 
 sometimes to the right, sometimes to the left. The vibratile cilia 
 fading afterwards, the embryo attaches itself to some solid body, a 
 tubercle is formed, and the base extends itself as a disc. At the 
 same time that the first rudiments of the polyp appear, the disc-like 
 tubercle throws out on its flanks a sort of bud, and a second polyp 
 soon shows itself; its surface is hardened; the polyp appears in its 
 turn, and the same process of generation is repeated ; a colony of 
 Sertulariadœ is thus established at the summit of a discoid projection. 
 At the end of fifteen days the colony, which has been forming under 
 our eyes, consists of two polyps and a bud, which already indicates a 
 third polyp. The sea-cypress, as this species is called, is robust, 
 with longish branches decidedly fan-shaped, the pinnae being closer 
 and nearly parallel to each other. The cells form two rows, nearly 
 opposite, smooth and pellucid. The branches in some specimens 
 are gracefully arched, bending as it were under the load of pregnant 
 ovaries which they carry, arranged in close-set rows along the upper 
 
126 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 side of the pinnae. They are found in deep water all around 
 our coasts. The cells, which are the abode of the polyps are not 
 always alike in their distribution. Sometimes they are ranged on 
 two sides, sometimes on one only. Sometimes they are grouped 
 like the small tubes of an organ, at other times they assume a spiral 
 form round the stem, or they form here and there horizontal rings 
 round it." 
 
 The Campanularinae differ considerably from the above, and 
 form a second family of this order, the ends of their branches, whence 
 the polyps issue, being enlarged into a bell-like shape, whence their 
 name. Laotnedea dichotoma is at once the most delicate and most 
 elegant of the species. It presents a brownish stem, thin as a thread 
 of silk, but strong and elastic. The polyps are numerous : upon a 
 tree eight or nine inches high there may be as many hundreds. 
 Campanularia voliLbilis is a minute microscopical species, living 
 parasitically on corallines, seaweed, and shelled animals. The stem 
 is a fine corneous tube, which creeps and twists itself upon its support, 
 throwing out at alternate intervals a long slender stalk, twisted through- 
 out or only partially, which supports a bell-shaped cup of perfect trans- 
 parency, and prettily serrated round the brim. Dr. Johnston found 
 the antennae of a crab so profusely infested with them as to resemble 
 hairy brushes. It is furnished, according to Hassall, with a deHcate 
 joint or hinge at the base of each little cup — a contrivance designed, 
 it is imagined, to enable the frail zoophyte the better to elude the 
 rude contact of the element in which it lives, by allowing it to bend to 
 a force which it cannot resist. 
 
 The Campanularinae increase by budding, the buds being found in 
 much the same manner as in the Hydra. They form at first but a 
 simple excrescence, which, in due time, takes the form of the branch 
 from which it proceeds. These buds have their origin at certain 
 distances, and form a new series of polyps. 
 
 CALYCOPHORIDiE. 
 
 This order consists of free oceanic forms, provided with swimming 
 bells or nectocalyces. 
 
 In the family of Diphydee but two natatory vesicles are connected 
 with the stem, as in Pray a diphyes^ Fig. 42. This species is widely 
 diffused in the sea which bathes the Nicean coast, but it is very 
 difficult to procure perfect specimens of it. M. Vogt found fragments 
 more than three feet long which swam en the surface, and was in its 
 state of contraction not more than a finger's length. This species 
 
CA L YCOPHORIDM. 
 
 127 
 
 has been met with at Porta della Praya and at San Yago, one of the 
 Cape de Verde islands. 
 
 The colony oi Pi-ay a diphyes presents two great locomotive bell- 
 shaped masses, between which the common stem is suspended. 
 This cylindrical stem, which is thin and transparent, carries on it at 
 
 Fig. 42.— Praya diphyes (Blainville;. 
 
 intervals certain groups very exactly circumscribed and individuaUsed. 
 Each of these groups consists of a nursing polyp, having its fishing- 
 line with a special floating air bladder, a reproductive bud male or 
 female, and a protecting bract enveloping the whole. 
 
128 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 Another species having a great resemblance to the Fraya is 
 Galeolaria aurantiaca, or orange Galeolaria, which is represented 
 on the opposite plate (Plate II.), borrowed from the fine 
 " Memoir of the Inferior Animals of the Mediterranean/' by Carl 
 Vogt. Here we find only two great floating bladders placed at each 
 extremity of a common stem, and serving the purpose of a locomo- 
 tive apparatus to the whole colony. This stem carries in like 
 manner polyps placed at regular intervals forming isolated groups, 
 provided each with its protecting bracts. But there is no special 
 swimming apparatus for each of these groups. Moreover, each 
 colony is either male or female. 
 
 PHYSOPHORIDiE. 
 
 These inhabitants of the deep are graceful in form, and are 
 distinguished by their delicate tissues and brilliant colours. Essentially 
 swimmers, supported by one or many vessels filled with air — having 
 also, as in the previous Order, mostly true-swimming-bladders, more 
 or less numerous, and of variable form — they float upon the waves, 
 remaining on the surface whatever may be the state of the sea. 
 They are natural skiff's, and almost incapable of immersion. The 
 Physophoridae form several famihes, the principal of which are the 
 Apokmianœ {P\g. 43), the Stephanominœ (Plate III,, p. 134), Physo- 
 phorinœ{Y\g. 46), Physalinœ (Fig. 49), and Velellinœ (Figs. 50, 51). 
 
 The Apolemince. contains but a single genus, Apolemia. The pretty 
 A. co7itorta of Milne-Edwards (Fig. 43), inhabits the Mediterranean, 
 and particularly the coast of Nice. This elegant species is often met 
 with in the Gulf of Villafranca, near Nice, and has been figured and 
 described by Milne-Edwards, Charles Vogt, and also by M. de Quatre- 
 fages, who asks the reader " to figure to himself an axis of flexible 
 crystals, sometimes more than a mètre (forty inches) in length, all 
 round which are attached, by means of long peduncles or footstalks 
 equally transparent, some hundreds of bodies, sometimes elongated, 
 sometimes flat, and formed like the bud of a flower. If we add to 
 this garland of pearls of a vivid red colour an infinity of fine filaments, 
 varying in thickness, and giving life and motion to all these parts, we 
 have even now only a very slight and imperfect idea of this marvellous 
 organism." The swimming-bells in Apolemia contorta consist of a 
 mass having the form of an elongated egg cut in the middle. They 
 are arranged in a vertical series of twelves, and the axis which 
 supports them is terminated by the aerial vesicle or float. This 
 axis is always arranged in a spiral form, even in its greatest expansion, 
 
II, — Galeolana aurantiaca (Vorrt). 
 
PHYSOPHORID.^. 
 
 it is of a fine rose tint, and flattened into the form of a ribbon ; it is 
 marked in all its length with asperities or hollow dimples, in which 
 the filamental appendages originate. 
 
 Fig. 43 — Apolemia contorta, one-third natural size (Milne-Edwards) 
 
 The nursing polyps have been called proboscidiferous organs by 
 M. Milne-Edwards, who has studied them carefully. They are 
 rendered conspicuous at a glance by the bright-red colour of their 
 digestive cavity and their extreme dilatability. At the base of their 
 stems the very delicate filaments called fishing-lines are attached 
 
132 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 which are furnished with a multitude of stinging tendrils of a reddish 
 colour. These tendrils slightly resemble those met with in Agalraa, 
 and the sabre-like weapons are not wanting. 
 
 Between the nursing polyps are placed in pairs the reproductive 
 
 Fig. 44. — Apolemia contorta, 
 magnified 12 times. 
 
 Fig. 45. — Apolemia contorta, 
 reproductive pair, magnified 12 times. 
 
 individuals, having the form of an elongated tube very dilatable, and 
 closed at the free end. They have then, no mouth ! Milne-Edwards 
 calls these "vesicular appendages," and M. Kolliker calls them 
 tentacles. The buds arranged at the base of each prolific individual 
 vary; but, according to M. Vogt, they are always there in pairs — a 
 male and female at the base of each stem. Figs. 44 and 45 
 

 J 
 
 -^. 
 
 
 ■J. ■■■) 
 ,:,..A. 
 
 III. Agalma rubra, threc-fiftlis natural size. 
 
PH YSOPHORIDM. I 3 5 
 
 represent the colony we have endeavoured to describe, 44 being 
 the nursing individual of Apolemia conforta magnified twelve times, 
 45 representing the reproductive pair under the same magnifying 
 power. 
 
 The Stephanommœ contain several genera, among these the 
 genus Agalma; and there is no animal form more graceful than Agalma 
 rubra, which is reproduced in Plate III., from Vogt's Memoir. This 
 beautiful creature is comnu)n in the Mediterranean, on the coast near 
 Nice, from November till the month of May. Towards the middle 
 of December Vogt found nearly fifty individuals, in the space of an 
 hour, opposite to the port of Nice, all following the same current — • 
 a prodigious quantity of Salpae, Medusae, and small pteropodean 
 molluscs accompanying them. 
 
 " I know nothing more graceful," says Vogt, '' than this Agalma, as 
 it floats along near the surface of the waters, its long, transparent, 
 garland-like lines extended, and their limits distinctly indicated by 
 bundles of a brilliant vermiHon red, while the rest of the body is 
 concealed by its very transparency ; the entire organism always swims 
 in a slightly oblique position near the surface, but is capable of steer- 
 ing itself in any direction with great rapidity. I have had in my 
 possession some of these garlands more than three feet in length, in 
 which the series of swimming bladders measured more than four 
 inches, so that in the great vase in which I kept them the column 
 of swimming bladders touched the bottom, while the aerial vesicle 
 floated on the surface. Immediately after its capture the columns 
 contracted themselves to such a point that they were scarcely per- 
 ceptible, but when left to repose in a spacious vase, all its shrunken 
 appendages deployed themselves round the vase in the most graceful 
 manner imaginable, the column of swimming-bladders remaining im- 
 movable in their vertical position, the float at the surface, while the 
 different appendages soon began to play. The polyps, planted at 
 intervals along the common trunk, of rose-colour, began to agitate 
 themselves in all directions, taking a thousand odd forms ; the repro- 
 ductive individuals, like the tentacles, were contracting and twisting 
 about like so many worms ; the tentacles were stirred, the ovarian 
 clusters began to dilate and contract, the spasmodic swimming- 
 bladders agitated the waters with their umbrellas, like the Medusae ; 
 but what most excited my curiosity, was the continuous action of the 
 fishing-lines, which continued to unroll and contract in a most surpris- 
 ing manner, retiring altogether sometimes with the utmost precipitation. 
 All who ha^^e witnessed these living colonies, withdraw themselves 
 reluctantly from the strange spectacle, where each polyp seems to 
 
136 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 play the part of the fisherman who throws his line, furnished ^vith 
 baited hooks, withdrawing it when he feels a nibble, and throwing 
 again when he discovers his disappointment. These efforts con- 
 tinued in full vigour for two or three days, and I have succeeded 
 sometimes in feeding them with the small crustaceans which swarm 
 on our coasts." 
 
 Of the personnel of these colonies a iç.yN words will not be mis- 
 i:)laced. The common axis of the Agalma is a hollow muscular tube, 
 the length of which may be three feet, and its breadth an eighth or 
 tenth of an inch ; it is traversed by a double current of a granular 
 fluid ; at its summit is the aerial vesicle ; beneath are the swimming- 
 bladders. These are disposed along the trunk in a double series, 
 attaining sometimes the number of sixty ; their structure is analogous 
 to the same organs in Physophora. 
 
 In examining the posterior portion of the trunk, traversing polyps 
 are observed at intervals, whose base is surrounded by a cluster of 
 reddish grains, each of which is armed with a line^ and, with its 
 surrounding filament, terminating in a tendril of a red vermilion 
 colour, which is a perfect arsenal of offensive and defensive arms. 
 There we find '■^sabres'' of divers sizes, and poniards of various forms, 
 the whole constituting a truly formidable stinging apparatus. 
 
 Those warlike engines, those arms of attack and defence with 
 which man surrounds himself, Nature has freely bestowed on these 
 little creatures with which the ocean swarms in some places. It 
 might be said that, after having created these graceful creatures to 
 ornament and decorate the depths of the ocean, the Creator was so 
 pleased with his work that he furnished them with arms for their 
 protection and defence against all attacks from without. 
 
 The family PJiysopJwrinœ includes several genera. Fig. 46 is a 
 representation of Physophora hydrosfatica, after M. Vogt's Memoir. 
 We see that the animal is composed of a slender vertical axis, 
 terminating in an aerial vesicle or float, carrying laterally certain 
 vesicles, known as swimming-bladders, which terminate in a bundle 
 of whitish slender threads. 
 
 The aerial vesicle is brilliant and silvery, punctured with red 
 spots. The swimming-bladders are encased in transparent and 
 somewhat cartilaginous capsules, which are continued into the 
 common median trunk, the latter being rose-coloured, hollow, and 
 very contractile ; in short, it presents very delicate muscular fibres, 
 which expand themselves on the external surface of each capsule, 
 and is closed on all sides. 
 
 The swimming-bladders are of a glass-like transparency, and of a 
 
THYSOPHOMDM, 
 
 137 
 
 f •••"• ■' ■• ^-_ —_ 
 
 
 ■" 'M[ 
 
 l. — — 
 
 
 • • ^^^1 
 
 
 
 t - — 
 
 ^^^^^^^ 
 
 1 " >. 
 
 1 ' ^——-1 
 
 ï-^ 
 
 i^BW— ^j 
 
 
 ^^^^^ ^^^^^^ ■fil 
 
 
 ■| 
 
 1 ^ J 
 
 
 ^^^ 
 
 
 
 t ~~ ^— =^ 
 
 
 
 t#- ,^ M 
 
 "1 
 
 
 1 jj*^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1..^^=^ ^^ -^z.- 
 
 
 m 
 
 Fig. 46. — Phyaophora hydrostatica (Forskal). 
 
138 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 firm, compact tissue. They are attached obHquely and alternately 
 upon a common axis, presenting an exterior curvature, a round 
 opening, furnished with a fine, muscular, and very contractile limb, 
 and arranged hke the iris of the eye. Their power of resistance is 
 inci eased by certain horny hollow threads, which are in direct com- 
 munication with the cavity of the vertical axis, and have their origin 
 in a common circular canal. 
 
 " The animal," says Vogt, " is enabled to guide itself in any 
 direction by means of the swimming apparatus or air-bags. These, 
 on opening, are filled Vv^ith water, which is again ejected in the 
 contractile movement, for their movements may be compared to that 
 of the umbrella of the Medusae. It is the violent expulsion of this 
 liquid which enables the animal to advance diagonally through the 
 water, a kind of motion which is the consequence of its organisation ; 
 for where both rows of air-bags are w^orking in the direction of the 
 axis of the stem, the organism will incline to the side which works 
 most, but always in such a manner that the aerial vesicle will be 
 borne forward." 
 
 In its lower parts the stem expands, becomes flat, and winds itself 
 in a spiral. It is hollow, and encloses a transparent viscous Hquid, 
 in which very small granules are observed, which appear to be the 
 result of digestion. To this are attached three different sorts of 
 appendages. We shall first address ourselves to the tentacles. 
 
 These form a crown or bundle of vermiform appendages, of a 
 reddish colour, over an inch in length, and which are kept continually 
 in motion : these are formed of a glass-like cartilaginous substance j 
 they are conical tubes, closed on all parts except at the point where 
 the tentacle is attached to the disc. Their cavity is filled with the 
 granulous ^quid already mentioned. On the under surface of the 
 disc, and to the inside of these tentacles the polyps and fishing-lines 
 are attached. 
 
 The anterior part of the polyp is formed of a glass-like substance, 
 which changes its form in the most varied and surprising manner. It 
 bears a roundish mouth at its summit. In its posterior part the 
 polyp presents a straight hollow stem, of reddish colour ; but near to 
 this red stem we find a thick tuft of cylindrical appendages, from the 
 middle of which spring the extensible and contractile filament which 
 Vogt calls the fishing-lines (fil pêcheur), and of which he has given 
 the following very strange account : — 
 
 " Each of these appendages consists of an assemblage of cylindrical 
 tubes somewhat resembling and analogous to the filament of aConferva. 
 All these tubes are traversed by a continuous canal, which originates 
 
PHYSOPHORID^. 139 
 
 in the internal cavity of the stem of the polyp. Each fragment of 
 the hne is capable of a prodigious extent of elongation and contrac- 
 tion : but where completely drawn back the pieces fold themselves up 
 somewhat in the manner of a pocket foot-rule. It is to the combined 
 effect of contraction and the unfolding of the pieces that these lines 
 owe the marvellous changes of length which they present." In 
 
 Fig. 47. — P, hydrostatica, with a portion of the disc, three polj^ps, and reproductive clusters 
 
 attached. 
 
 Fig. 47 are represented the polyps and fishing-lines of P. hydrostatica, 
 with a portion of the disc and two pairs of reproductive clusters. 
 
 In this figure it will be observed that each fragment or joint has 
 implanted, near the articulation, a secondary line, which bears the 
 stinging organ. Each of these filaments consists of three parts — a 
 straight stem, muscular, contractile, and hollow, the cavity of which 
 communicates with that of the trunk which carries it ; a middle part, 
 a sort of tube containing, in a considerable internal cavity, a trans- 
 parent liquid ; finally, an inflated stinging organ, which terminates 
 the apparatus. This last is egg-shaped, and consists internally of a 
 hyaline substance of cartilaginous consistence, in the interior of which 
 
140 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 we find a great cavity, which opens from within, near the base of the 
 capsule ; to the inside of this cavity a second muscular sac is atttached 
 all round the opening of the capsule, in such a manner that the 
 opening leads directly into the cavity of the sac. This cavity conceals 
 in its interior a long filament usually rolled up in a spiral, as illus- 
 trated in Fig. 48, where the two urticating capsules of the stinging 
 apparatus of Physophoi^a hydrostatica are represented, one of them 
 being a section, magnified by twelve diameters. This spirally 
 rolled-up filament consists of a large quantity of very small, hard, 
 sabre-shaped, corpuscular bodies, supported the one against the other, 
 and having their points turned inwards. These objects Vogt terms 
 " urticant sabres /' the extremity of the filament consists of curved 
 corpuscles, larger, of a brownish yellow, very strong, and with a 
 double point. M. Vogt had also opportunities of observing the 
 action of these stinging capsules. He has seen them burst naturally, 
 and he has also obtained artificially the same result. In the former 
 case the filament issues from the opening left at the base of the 
 capsule with a sort of explosion. " The use," he says, '^ of the fishing- 
 fines becomes evident when we see a Physophora in repose in a vase 
 large enough for its full development ; then it takes a vertical position; 
 the lines elongate themselves more and more, by unfolding one by 
 one the secondary lines with stinging capsules, and the Physophora 
 now resembles a flower posed upon a tuft of roots, with extremely 
 long and delicate rootlets reaching to the bottom of the vase. But in 
 the case of the Physophora the living roots are in continual motion. 
 Each line is elongated, foreshortened, and contracted in a thousand 
 ways. The least movement of the water causes the stinging capsules 
 to be suddenly drawn up, the lines hauled in most rapidly being those 
 near the crown of tentacles. This continuous play of the lines has 
 no other object than to attract the prey destined to feed the polyp, 
 and we cannot find any better comparison for them than the fishing- 
 lines to which they have been compared. The moment that some 
 small microscopical medusa, larva, or crustacean, come within the 
 sphere of those redoubted fines, it is at once surrounded, seized, and 
 led with irresistible force towards the mouth of this polyp by a gentle 
 and gradual contraction of the line ; the stinging organs, complicated 
 as we have seen them to be in the Physophora, thus serve the same 
 purpose as the stinging organs disposed on the arms of the Hydra, 
 or on the external surface of the tentacles and prolific polyps of the 
 Velella. 
 
 Let us finally note among the Fhysalinœ — a family it will be 
 recollected of Physophoridce — a forai which has attracted great 
 
PH YSOPHORID^. - 141 
 
 attention, and has been described under many names. Sailors call 
 it the sea-bladder, from its resemblance to that organ ; it is also 
 known as the Portuguese man-of-war, from its fancied resemblance to 
 a small ship as it floats along under its tiny sail. Naturalists aftei 
 Eschscholtz call it Physaiia Jifriailus^ from the Greek word, ^utraAts, 
 
 P'ig. 48. — Offensive apparatus of Phj-sophora hydrostatica 
 
 a bubble, and iitrinilus from its stinging powers. It was long thought 
 that the Physaiia was an isolated individual. But, according to 
 recent researches, it forms, like the species already described, an 
 animal republic. 
 
 Let us imagine a great cylindrical bladder dilated in the middle, 
 attenuated aud rounded at its two extremities, of eleven or twelve 
 
142 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 inches in length, and from one to three broad. Its appearance is 
 glassy and transparent, its colour an imperfect purple, passing to a 
 violet, then to an azure above. It is surmounted by a crest, limpid 
 and pure as crystal, veined \/ith purple and violet in decreasing 
 tints. Under the vesicle float the fleshy filaments, waving and 
 contorted into a spiral form, which sometimes descend perpendi- 
 cularly like so many threads of celestial blue. Sailors believe that 
 the crest which surmounts the vesicle performs the office of a sail, 
 and that it tells the navigator "how the wind blows," as they say. 
 This bladder-like form, with its aerial crest, is only a hydrostatic 
 apparatus, whose ofiftce is to lighten the animal, and modify its 
 specific gravity. 
 
 "This bladder," says Gosse, in his " Year by the Sea-side," "is 
 filled with air, and therefore floats almost wholly on the surface. 
 Along the upper side, nearly from end to end, runs a thin edge 
 of membrane, which is capable of being erected at will to a 
 considerable height, fully equal at times to the entire width of the 
 bladder, when it represents an arched fore-and-aft sail, the bladder 
 being the hull. From the bottom of the bladder, near the thickest 
 extremity, where there is a denser portion of the membrane, depends 
 a crowded mass of organs, most of which take the form of very 
 slender, highly contractile, movable threads, which hang down 
 into the deep to a depth of many feet, or occasionally of several 
 yards. 
 
 " The colours of this curious creature are very vivid ; the bladder, 
 though in some parts transparent and colourless, and in some 
 specimens almost entirely so, is in general painted with richest blue 
 and purple, mingled with green and crimson to a smaller extent, 
 these all being, not as sometimes described, iridescent or changeable, 
 but positive colours independent of the incidence of light, and, for 
 the most part, possessing great depth and fulness. The sail-hke 
 erectile membrane is transparent, tinted towards the edge with a 
 lovely rose-pink hue, the colours arranged in a peculiar fringe-like 
 manner. When examined anatomically, the bladder is found to be 
 composed of two walls of membrane, which are lined with cilia, and 
 have between them the nutritive fluid which suppUes the place of 
 the blood. Besides this, the double membrane is turned in or 
 inverted like a stocking prepared for putting on ; and thus there is a 
 bladder within a bladder, both having double walls ; the inner 
 {pjieumatocyst) much smaller than the outer {^neumatophore)^ and con- 
 tracted at the point where it is turned into the ahiiost imperceptible 
 orifice. The inner sends up closed tubular folds into the crest, 
 
PH YSOPHORID^, 143 
 
 which, being arrested by the membranous walls of the outer sac, 
 give to the sail that appearance of vertical wrinkles which is so 
 conspicuous." 
 
 When it is filled with air the body of the bladder is almost pro- 
 jected out of the water. In order to descend it is necessary to 
 compress itself or dispel the air, in part, for the centre of gravity in 
 the animal is displaced according as the air is in the vesicle or in 
 the crest. When the last is distended it rises out of the water, and 
 becomes nearly vertical ; in short, it then becomes a sort of sail. 
 The floating appendages beneath the body are of divers kinds. 
 Some of these are reproductive individuals ; some are nurse forms ; 
 some are tentacles ; finally, there are organs designated under the 
 name of Sondes by French naturalists ; probes or suckers, we may 
 call them, forming offensive and defensive arms truly formidable ; 
 for these elegant creatures are terrible antagonists. Du Tertre, the 
 veracious historian of the Antilles, relates the following : — " This 
 * galley' (our Physalia), however agreeable to the sight, is most 
 dangerous to the body, for I can assert that it is freighted with the 
 worst merchandise which floats on the sea. I speak as a naturalist, 
 and as having made experiments at my own personal cost. One 
 day, when sailing at sea in a small boat, I perceived one of these 
 little ' galleys,' and was curious to see the form of the animal ; but I 
 had scarcely seized it, when all its fibres seemed to clasp my hand, 
 covering it as with birdlime, and scarcely had I felt it in all its 
 freshness (for it is very cold to the touch) when it seemed as if I had 
 plunged my arm up to the shoulder in a caldron of boiling water. 
 This was accompanied with a pain so strange that it was only with a 
 violent effort I could restrain myself from crying aloud." 
 
 Another voyager, Leblond, in his "Voyage aux Antilles," 
 relates as follows : — " One day I was bathing with some friends in a 
 bay in front of the house where I dwelt. While my friends fished 
 for sardines for breakfast, I amused myself by diving, in the mannei 
 of the native Carribeans, under the wave about to break; having 
 reached the other side of one great wave, I had gained the open 
 sea, and was returning on the top of the next wave towards the shore. 
 My rashness nearly cost me my life : a Physalia, many of which were 
 stranded upon the beach, fixed itself upon my left shoulder at the 
 moment the wave landed me on the beach. I promptly detached it, 
 but many of its filaments remained glued to my skin, and the pain I 
 immediately experienced was so intense that I nearly fainted. I 
 seized an oil flask which was at hand, and swallowed one half, while 
 I rubbed my arm with the other : this restored me to myself, and I 
 
144 T'^^ OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 returned to the house, where two hours of repose relieved the pain, 
 which disappeared altogether during the night." 
 
 Mr, Bennett, who accompanied the exploring expedition undei 
 Admiral Fitzroy, as naturalist, ventured to test the powers of the 
 Physalia. " On one occasion," he says, " I tried the experiment of 
 its stinging powers upon myself, intentionally. When I seized it by 
 the bladder portion, it raised the long cables by muscular contraction 
 of the bands situated at the base of the feelers, and, entwining the 
 slender appendages about my hand and finger, inflicting severe and 
 peculiarly pungent pain, it adhered most tenaciously at the same time, 
 so as to be extremely difficult of removal. The stinging continued 
 during the whole time that the minutest portion of the tentacula 
 remained adherent to the skin. I soon found that the effects were 
 not confined to the acute pungency inflicted, but produced a great 
 degree of constitutional irritation : the pain extended upwards along 
 the arm, increasing not only in extent but in severity, apparently 
 acting along the course of the absorbents, and could only be compared 
 to a severe rheumatic attack. The pulse was accelerated, and a feverish 
 state of the whole system produced : the muscles of the chest, even, 
 were affected ; the same distressing pain being felt on taking a full 
 respiration as obtains in a case of acute rheumatism. The secondary 
 effects were very severe, continuing for nearly three-quarters of an 
 hour ; the duration being probably longer in consequence of the time 
 and delay occasioned by removing the tentacula from the skin, to 
 which they adhered, by the aid of the stinging capsules, with an 
 annoying degree of tenacity. On the whole being removed, the pain 
 began to abate ; but during the day a peculiar numbness was felt, 
 accompanied by an increased temperature in the limb on which the 
 sting had been inflicted. For some hours afterwards the skin dis- 
 played white elevations, or weals, on the parts stung, similar to those 
 resulting from the poison of the stinging nettle. The intensity ot 
 the pain depends in some degree upon the size and consequent power 
 of the creature. After it has been removed from the water for some 
 time, the stinging property, although still continuing to act, is found 
 to have perceptibly diminished. I have observed, also, that this irri- 
 tative power is retained for some weeks after the death of the animal 
 in the vesicles of the cables, and even linen cloth which has been 
 used for wiping off the adhering tentacles, when touched, still retained 
 the pungency, although it had not the power of producing such violent 
 constitutional irritation." 
 
 *' The sea-bladder," says Father Feuillée, " occasions me, on 
 touching it, a sudden and severe pain, accompanied with convulsions,*' 
 
PHYSOPHORIDM, Î45 
 
 "■ During the first voyage of the Princess Louise round the world/' 
 to quote Frédol, " Meyen remarked a magnificent PhysaUa, which 
 passed near the ship. A young sailor leaped naked into the sea, to 
 seize the animal. Swimming towards it, he seized it ; the creature 
 surrounded the person of its assailant with its numerous thread-like 
 filaments, which were nearly a yard in length ; the young man, over- 
 whelmed by a feeling of burning pain, cried out for assistance. He 
 had scarcely strength to reach the vessel and get aboard again, before 
 the pain and inflammation were so violent that brain fever declared 
 itself, and great fears were entertained for his life." 
 
 The question has been much agitated, without being positively 
 resolved, whether the Physalia are poisonous or not : if they can kill 
 or make sick the man or animal which swallows them. Listen to the 
 opinions of M. Ricord-Madiana, a physician of Guadaloupe, who 
 made direct experiments with a view to settling the question. 
 " Many inhabitants of the Antilles," he says, " say that the ' galleys \ 
 are poisonous, and that the negroes make use of them, after being 
 dried and powdered, to poison both men and animals. The fis! ^r- 
 men of the islands also believe that fish which have swallowed them 
 become deleterious, and poison those that eat them, a prejudice 
 which has been adopted by many travellers, and has even found its 
 way into scientific books. We can state as the result of direct 
 experiment, that though the 'galley,' will burn the ignorant hand 
 which is touched by its tentacles, when dried in the sun and pul- 
 verised it becomes mere grains of dead matter, producing no effect 
 whatever upon the animal economy." 
 
 " Let us report our own experiments," continues M. Ricord- 
 Madiana. 
 
 "L I had placed a 'galley' in the sun, in order to dry and 
 pulverise it. A nest of ants were there, who devoured the whole ot 
 it. Now, many persons in the islands think that these insects will 
 not touch venomous fishes. 
 
 "II. Another 'galley,' which I had left on the table in my 
 laboratory, was attacked by a number of great flies, who deposited 
 their eggs there ; these were duly hatched, and the larva fed on the 
 decomposed zoophyte. 
 
 "III. On the i2th of July, 1823, I saw on the sands in the bay 
 between St. Mary and La Goyave, at Guadaloupe, many Physalia 
 recently cast ashore. Having a dog with me, with the assistance of 
 my servant, I made him swallow the freshest of them, with all its 
 ijiliform tentacles, pushing it down his throat, while my servant held 
 Si% mouth open ; five minutes after, the dog exhibited symptoms of 
 
I4& THE OCEAb: WORLD. 
 
 great pain on the edges of its lips; it foamed at the mouth and 
 rubbed it in the sand, or upon the grass, leaping about, passing its 
 paws over its jaws, and exhibiting every symptom of excessive pain. 
 I mounted my horse, and, in spite of its sufferings, the poor animal 
 followed me as it was wont. After twenty minutes, when its sufferings 
 were over, I had a piece of bread, which I gave it, and it ate it with 
 appetite, swallowing it without any difficulty ; it only seemed to feel 
 the pain on the edges of its mouth : it was well enough all day, and 
 had evacuations which gave no indication that the PhysaHa had any 
 influence over the digestive organs. Next day and the day following 
 it was as well as usual, exhibiting no signs of inflammation either in 
 the mouth or throat. 
 
 "IV. On the 20th of the same month I took two 'galleys' on 
 the sea-shore and cut them in pieces ; then, with a spoon, I had them 
 forced down the throat of a puppy which still sucked its mother; 
 this strong dose of Physalia had no eftect upon it, the tentacles 
 having probably been surrounded by the fleshy parts of the animal 
 in dividing it, so as not to touch the mouth; it seems probable, 
 therefore, that the internal mucus is capable of subduing the irri- 
 tation, which is so distressing when applied to membranes exposed 
 to the external air. We swallow some things with impunity, which 
 we could not support in the mouth if the burning substance remained 
 there. 
 
 "V. I have also procured many ' galleys ' since these experiments, 
 and, having placed them in a glass tube, left them to dry and had 
 them pulverised ; twenty-five grains of this powder administered to a 
 very young dog produced no deleterious effects. Twice this quantity 
 administered to a young cat produced no more, nor has this surprised 
 me ; for, if the fresh animal has no poisonous properties, how can it 
 be supposed that drying the zoophyte can have increased its poisonous 
 properties, if it really possesses them ? On the contrary, it is more 
 reasonable to suppose that, by desiccation, the deleterious principle 
 from any animal, whether a Physalia or an Holothurion, should lose 
 infinitely in its principle by evaporation, and by the changes that 
 heat and air produce in the process of drying. 
 
 " VJ. I have had a 'galley' cut into pieces, and got a fat young 
 chicken to swallow them. It caused no inconvenience. Three hours 
 after, I had the chicken killed and roasted ; then I ate it, and made 
 my servant eat it too. Neither of us experienced any inconvenience 
 from it, a certain proof that it is not from eating Physalia that the fish 
 becomes poisonous. 
 
 "VII. I put twenty-five grains of powdered Physalia in a little 
 
PHYSOPHORIDM. 147 
 
 * bouillon ; ' Î swallowed the dose without the least fear, and I felt no 
 inconvenience from it." 
 
 After these experiments, which are certainly quite conclusive, 
 what are we to think of the story related of a certain M. Tébé, the 
 managing partner of a house in Guadaioupe, who fell a victim to his 
 cook, who it is said, after having sought in vain to poison him 
 with the raspings of his nails, which he had spread carefully over the 
 roasted fish daily served up for dinner, determined, seeing that he 
 had signally fail ed by other means, to put into his soup a pulverised 
 Physalia. An hour after his repast, this gentleman appeared in the 
 burgh of Lamantin, at a little distance from his habitation, and, while 
 entering the city with some friends, he was seized with violent pains 
 in the stomach and intestines, racking him as if by the most corrosive 
 poison. His illness increased until the next day, when he died, under 
 the most excruciating pains. On examination, the stomach and in- 
 testines were found to be violently inflamed and corroded, as if he 
 had been poisoned with arsenic, and I have no doubt that it was with 
 this poison, or some other corrosive substance, and not with the 
 Physalia, that M. Tébé really was poisoned. The 'negroes never 
 make known the substance with which they commit a poisoning; 
 they confess all but the truth, which they are sworn never to reveal 
 — the means they employ, so far as the poisoning material is con- 
 cerned, are never communicated by confession. 
 
 On the other hand, we read in P. Labat's Voyage, vol. ii., p. 31, 
 " that the becune should not be eaten without some precaution, for 
 this fish being extremely voracious, greedily devours all that comes 
 within its reach in and out of the water, and it often happens that it 
 meets and swallows 'galleys,' which are very caustic, and a violent 
 poison. The fish does not die, but its flesh absorbs the venom, and 
 poisons those who eat it." "' There is every reason to believe," says 
 M. Leblond, in the work already quoted, " that the sardine, as well as 
 many other species of fish, after having ate the tentacles of the 
 'galley,' acquires a poisonous quality. Supping at an auberge on 
 one occasion, with other persons, a becune was served up, of which 
 gastronomers are very fond, and which is usually perfectly harmless : 
 five persons partook of it, and immediately afterwards exhibited every 
 symptom of being poisoned. This was manifested by a burning heat 
 in the region of the stomach. I bled two of them : one was cured 
 by vomiting ; one other would take nothing but tea and some cuHnary 
 oil. The colic continued during the night, and had disappeared in 
 the morning, but he entertained so great a horror of water, that 
 during the remainder of the voyage a glass of it presented to him 
 
Î4S 
 
 THF. OCF.AN WORLD. 
 
 Fig. 49.— Physalia utriculus (Eschschpltz)., 
 
PHYEOPHORID^. 1 49 
 
 made him turn pale." M. Leblond concludes, from this and other 
 facts, that the fishes which eat the Physalia become a poison for those 
 who eat them, although it does not appear that he had any evidence 
 of the fish having ate the " galley," or any other poison. 
 
 The habits of the Physalia are still imperfectly known, but among 
 the many strange forms of brilliant colour and elegant contour which 
 swarm in the warmer parts of the ocean, " none," says Gosse, " take a 
 stronger hold on the fancy of the beholder ; certainly none is more 
 familiar than the little thing he daily marks floating in the sun-lit 
 waves, as the ship glides swiftly by, which the sailors tell him is the 
 Portuguese man-of-war. Perhaps a dead calm has settled over the 
 sea, and he leans over the bulwarks of the ship scrutinising this ocean- 
 rover at leisure, as it hastily rises and falls on the long, sluggish 
 heavings of the glassy surface. Then he sees that the comparison of 
 the stranger to a ship is a felicitous one, for at a little distance it 
 might well be mistaken for a child's mimic boat, shining in all the 
 gaudy painting in which it left the toy-shop. (Fig. 49.) 
 
 " N ot unfrequently, one of these tiny vessels comes so close along- 
 side, that, by means of the ship's bucket, with the assistance of a 
 smart fellow who has jumped into the ' chains ' with a boat-hook, it 
 is captared, and brought on deck for examination. A dozen voices 
 are, however, lifted, warning you by no means to touch 't, for well the 
 experienced sailor knows its terrible powers of defence. It does not 
 now appear so like a ship as when it was at a distance. It is an 
 oblong bladder of tough membrane, varying considerably in shape, 
 for no two agree in this respect ; varying also in size, from less than 
 an inch to the size of a man's hat. Once, on a voyage to Mobile, 
 when rounding the Florida reef, I was nearly a whole day passing 
 through a fleet of these little Portuguese men-of-war, which studded 
 the smooth sea as far as the eye could reach, and must have extended 
 for many miles. They were of all sizes within the limits I have 
 mentioned." 
 
 Generally, there is a conspicuous difference between the two 
 extremities of the bladder, one end being rounded, the other more 
 pointed, or terminating in a small knob-like swelling or beak-shaped 
 excrescence, where there is a minute orifice ; sometimes, however, no 
 such excrescence is visible, and the orifice cannot be detected. 
 
 "That wonderful river," continues Mr. Gosse, in his nervous, 
 eloquent style, " with a well defined course through the midst of the 
 AtlaLtic — the Gulf Stream — brings on its warm waters many of the 
 denizens of tropical seas, and wafts them to the shores on which its 
 waves impinge. Hence it is that so many of the proper pelagic 
 
15© THE OCEAN WORLD 
 
 creatures are from time to time observed on the coasts of Cornwall 
 and Devon. The Portuguese man-of-war is among them, sometimes 
 paying its visit in fleets, more commonly in single stranded hulks. 
 Scarcely a season passes without one or more of these lovely strangers 
 occurring in the vicinity of Torquay. Usually," he adds in a note, 
 "in these stranded examples the tentacles and suckers are much 
 mutilated by washing on the shore. The fishermen who pick them 
 up always endeavour to make a harvest of their capture, not by selling, 
 but by making an exhibition of them." 
 
 The Physalia seem to be gregarious in their habits, herding together 
 in shoals. Floating on the sea between the tropics in both oceans, 
 they may be seen now carried along by currents, now driven by the 
 trade-winds, dragging behind them their long tentacular appendages, 
 and conspicuous by their rich and varied colouring, from pale crimson 
 to ultramarine blue. " Certainly," says Lesson, "we can readily con- 
 ceive that a poetical imagination might well compare the graceful form 
 of the Physalia to the most elegant of sailing-vessels, even if it careened 
 to the wind under a sail of satin, and dragged behind it deceitful 
 garlands which struck with death every creature which suffered itself 
 to be attracted by its seductive appearance." 
 
 If fishes have the misfortune to come in contact with one of these 
 creatures, each tentacle, by a movement as rapid as a flash of light, or 
 sudden as an electric shock, seizes and benumbs them, winding round 
 their bodies as a serpent winds itself round its victim. A Physalia 
 of the size of a walnut will kill a fish much stronger than a herring. 
 The flying-fish and the cuttle-fish are the habitual prey of the 
 Physalia. Mr. Bennet describes them as seizing and benumbing them 
 by means of the tentacles, which are alternately contracted to half an 
 inch, and then shot out with amazing velocity to the length of several 
 feet, dragging the helpless and entangled prey to the sucker-like mouths 
 and stomach-like cavities concealed among the tentacles, which he 
 saw fifled while he looked on. Dr. WaUich thinks Mr. Bennet must 
 have been mistaken in what he saw ; " because he has observed that 
 in a great number of instances the Physalia is accompanied by small 
 fishes which play around and among the depending tentacles without 
 molestation." He has in so many cases seen this, and even witnessed 
 the actual contact of the fishes with the tentacles, with no incon- 
 venience to the former, that he concludes, perhaps too hastily, that 
 the urticating organs are innocuous." " Surely," says Gosse, " the 
 premises by no means warrant such an inference. There is no an- 
 tagonism between the two series of facts witnessed by such excellent 
 observers ; the venomous virulence of these organs has been abun- 
 
PHYSOPHORIDM. 1 5 1 
 
 dantly proved by many naturalists, myself among the number, and 
 Mr. Bennet to his cost, as already narrated. We can only suppose 
 that the injection of the poison is under the control of the Physalia's 
 will, and the impunity of the bold little fishes is sufficiently accounted 
 for.'^ 
 
 Among the numerous specimens of the Physalia captured on our 
 coast, one was obtained at Tenby, by Mr. Hughes, who has given a 
 report of the capture, in which he mentions a circumstance as 
 " normal," which excited Mr. Gosse's curiosity ; it was said to be 
 accompanied by " its attendant satellites, two Velellay In reply to 
 his inquiries, Mr. Hughes says, " My authority for the association of 
 the Velella with Physalia is Jenkins, the collector of Tenby, who was 
 attending me when it was found. The Physalia was taken by me 
 first; and, while I was admiring it, I noticed that Jenkins continued 
 his search for something. Immediately afterwards he came up with 
 the Velella in his hand, at the same time stating they were generally 
 found with the Portuguese man-of-war. As I had found him very 
 honest and truthful in his dealings with me, I accepted his information 
 as correct. '' 
 
 The Velellinge assemble together in great shoals ; in tropical seas 
 and even in the Mediterranean, and on the western shores of 
 Ireland they may be seen in fine weather floating on the surface of 
 the waves. As described by De Blainville, the body of Velella 
 spiralis is oval or circular, and gelatinous, sustained in the interior of 
 the dorsal disc by a sofid sub-cartilaginous frame, provided on the 
 lower surface of the disk with extensible tentacular cirri. The 
 family includes but two genera ; namely, Porpita and Velella^ which 
 the reader will most readily comprehend from the brief description 
 which we shall give of the Mediterranean Velella {V. spi?^a7is, 
 Fig. 50), which has been very minutely examined by M. Charles 
 Vogt, of Geneva, from whose work on the " Inferior Animals of the 
 Mediterranean" our details are borrowed. V. spiraîis, sometimes 
 called V. liuibosa, was discovered in the Mediterranean, between 
 Monaco and Mentone, by Forskal, v/ho most erroneously took it for 
 an Holothurion. On the upper surface of the animal is a hydrostatic 
 apparatus, the object of which is to enable it to maintain its 
 equilibrium in the water. This apparatus consists of a shield and a 
 crest, organs of which M. Vogt gives a very detailed description ; but 
 it is on the under surface that the principal organs of the Velella are 
 exhibited. These arc not seen when the animal swims, because 
 under such circumstances the vertical oblique crest only is visible. 
 The lower surface is concave, with a sort of mesial nucleus, presenting 
 
IS: 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLV). 
 
 at the extremity of a trumpet-like prolongation, whitish and con- 
 tractile, a sort of central mouth, surrounded by tentacular cirri, the 
 external row being much longer than the internal ones. This was 
 formerly thought to be the stomach of the Velella. In the present 
 day, this appendage is known to be the central polyp around which 
 are grouped other whitish and much smaller appendages, the base 
 being surrounded by Httle yellow bunches. These are supposed to 
 be the reproductive organs. Between the crest and the shield 
 
 Fig. 50.— Velella spirans (Lamarck). 
 
 xiumerous free tentacles present themselves, vermiform in appearance, 
 cylindrical, and of a sky-blue colour, which are kept in continual 
 motion. 
 
 The Velella is therefore not an isolated individual, but a. group or 
 colony, in which the individuals intended to be reproductive are the 
 most numerous, and occupy the inferior parts. 
 
 The central polyp, by its size and structure, is distinguishable at 
 the first glance from all the other appendages of the lower surface of 
 the body. It is a cylindrical tube, very contractile and spear-shaped, 
 swollen into a round ball, or considerably elongated. Its mouth is 
 round and much dilated ; it opens in the cylindrical or trumpet-like 
 part, which is contained in a sac, clothed in the whitish integuments 
 
PH Y S OPHORID^. 153 
 
 which formed the body of the polyp when perfect. At the bottom 
 of the sac two rows of openings are observed, which lead to a 
 vascular network extending over the whole body ; the membranous 
 parts,, while affecting various conditions in their arrangement, are 
 nevertheless in direct communication with all the reproductive 
 individuals. 
 
 It is a general characteristic of all colonies of polyps that the 
 digestive cavities of the individuals composing them meet and in- 
 osculate in a common vascular system. Velella presents the same 
 conformation. Only in this case the vascular system is extended 
 horizontally, this being the essential character of the union of all the 
 individuals constituting the colony, with the canals common to all, 
 in which the nourishing fluids circulate, elaborated for all and by all. 
 It is a tme picture of social communism realised by Nature. 
 
 The central polyp is alone destined to absorb the food. M. Vogt 
 has always found in its internal cavity fragments of the shells of 
 crustaceans, the remains of small fishes ; and he has often seen the 
 hard parts which resist digestion discharged through the trumpet-like 
 opening. This central polyp nourishes itself and also all the others, 
 but is itself sterile. 
 
 The tentacles are hollow cylinders, completely closed at the 
 extremity. They are strong muscular tubes of considerable thick- 
 ness, the interior of which is filled with a transparent liquid. They 
 are enveloped in a strong membrane of a deep-blue colour. The 
 epidermis is furnished with small stinging capsules, formed of sacs 
 with comparatively thick walls. If one of these sacs is compressed 
 under the microscope it explodes, opening at a determinate part, and 
 throwing out an apparatus in the form of a long stiff filament, which 
 is slightly enlarged at its free end. " I know not," says M. Vogt, 
 " if all this machinery can re-enter the capsule after it has exploded ; 
 but I presume that the animal can extsnd it itself and witlidraw at 
 pleasure. A tentacle of Velella sufficiently compressed presents a 
 surface bristling with cirri, so as to resemble a brush. The tentacles 
 themselves are in continual motion, and I have no reason to doubt 
 that the observation of Lesson, who saw them cover small crusta- 
 ceans and fishes, may be perfectly true. These stinging organs 
 doubtless serve the same purpose as with other animals of the same 
 class; namely, to kill the prey which the tentacles have enabled 
 them to secure." Thus the Velella have their javelins, as the Greek 
 and Roman warriors had, and a lasso, as the cavaliers of Mexico and 
 Texas have. 
 
 The reproductive individuals form the great mass of the appen- 
 
r54 "^HE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 dages attached to the under surface of the Velella. The form of the 
 individuals is much more varied, ' inasmuch as they are extremely 
 contractile. Nevertheless, they have considerable resemblance to 
 the corolla of a hyacinth. 
 
 These reproductive individuals are at the same time nurses. 
 The Medusas originating by budding in the case of these reproduc- 
 tive individuals, constitute the sexual state of the Velellse. They 
 exist, in short, in two alternate states : the one sexual, producing 
 eggs ; in this state they are isolated individuals of the Medusidse, 
 which never group themselves or form colonies ; the other aggregate 
 state is non-sexual, and in it they form swimming colonies, under the 
 special designation of Velella. 
 
 The genus Velella, so called by Lamarck, is found widely diffused 
 in the seas of Europe, Asia, America, and Australia. One species, 
 V. spirans, is often taken on the southern coasts of England and 
 Irekind. The animals are also met with far out at sea, and often 
 collected together in considerable masses, old and young together. 
 
 Such is a brief account of the strange facts to which the careful 
 study of these lower animals initiates us. 
 
 In the genus Rataria the body is oval or circular, sustained by a 
 compressed sub-cartilaginous framework, much elevated, having a 
 muscular, movable, longitudinal crest below, and provided in the 
 middle with a free proboscidiform stomach and a single row of 
 marginal tentacular suckers. De Blainville was inclined to consider 
 the very small animals which Eschscholtz termed Ratariœ as young 
 and undeveloped Velella. M. Vogt sets the matter at rest that the 
 Rataria are the young of Velella, which have acquired, by little and 
 little, the elliptical form, but that the limb is only furnished at a later 
 period to the reproductive individuals. These Ratarise are engen- 
 dered, according to Vogt, by the naked-eyed Medusae born of the 
 Velellae, and owe their existence to the eggs produced by these 
 Medusae. 
 
 The second genus Porpita consists of colonies of floating animals 
 furnished with a cartilaginous, horizontal, and rounded skeleton, but 
 they are destitute of crest or veil. The body is circular and de- 
 pressed, slightly convex above, with an internal circular cartilaginous 
 support, having the surface marked by concentric strise crossing other 
 radiating stri«, the upper surface being covered by a delicate mem- 
 brane only. The body is concave below ; the under surface is 
 furnished with a s;reat number of tentacles, the exterior ones being 
 
PHYSOPHORID^. I 5 5 
 
 longest, and also with small cilia, each terminating in a globule, 
 which sometimes contains air; the interior tentacles are shorter, 
 simple, and fleshy. In the centre of these tentacula is the mouth, 
 in form of a small proboscis, leading to a simple stomach surrounded 
 by a somewhat glandular substance. The editors of the last edition 
 of the " Règne Animal " only mention one species, P. gigantea, a 
 native of the Mediterranean and other warm seas, of a beautiful 
 blue colour. Lamarck gives four species. De Blain ville and others 
 
 Fig. 51. — Porpita pacifica (Lesson). 
 
 consider, with Cuvier, that they are only varieties which Eschscholtz 
 reunites under one species. In Fig. 5 1 we have represented F. pacifica 
 (Lesson), the disc of which is twelve lines in diameter, without com- 
 prehending the tentacles. This disc is finely radiated on the under 
 surface with a biilliant argentine nacre. The membranous fold 
 which surrounds it is cut into, leaving light and perfectly straight 
 festoons. It is of a clear celestial blue colour, and very transparent. 
 The tentacles are much compressed, very thin and cylindrical, of a 
 light blue, and the glands are of an indigo blue colour. All the re- 
 productive individuals, which are placed in the lower part of the 
 body, are of a perfect hyaline white. 
 
156 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 This beautiful Porpita was discovered by Lesson on the Peruvian 
 coast, where it occurred in swarms closely packed on the surface of 
 the sea. " Its manner of life," says Lesson, " is perfectly analogous 
 to that of the Velella. Their locomotion on the sea is purely 
 passive, at least in appearance. Their disc laid flat on the surface 
 upon the water-line, leaves them to float freely and in a horizontal 
 direction, the irritable arms hanging all round them." 
 
 MEDUSIDiE. 
 
 We here include in this family also the family Lticernariadœ. 
 The true Medusidse were termed by E. Forbes, Gymnophthalmia, and 
 the term Steganophthalniia was applied to a large section of the Lucer- 
 iiariadœ. In the first division, according to Professor J. R. Greene, 
 the umbrella-shaped organ is to be regarded as a nectocalyx, the size 
 and shape of which, in relation to the polypite with which it is con- 
 nected may also vary very considerably. The veil which surrounds 
 the open margin of the nectosac appears never to be absent. Four 
 longitudinal canals are sometimes present. From the margin depend 
 tentacles, and around the margin are found the vesicles or pigment 
 spots, which are supposed to be eye-spots, and being covered by 
 a prolongation of the nectocalyx. In some genera the tentacles are 
 stiff, and not contractile, as is common in most of the genera. The 
 reproductive organs are of the simplest kind. At a time when the 
 free gonophores of the Hydrozoa had not been perfectly studied, it 
 was the custom to regard these bodies as quite independent organisms, 
 and they were arranged under genera and species. At last the 
 singular resemblance borne by such forms to the Medusidœ attracted 
 attention, and it was soon found that many of the Medusidœ were not 
 true individual organisms, but merely the reproductive buds of various 
 Hydrozoa^ and the conclusion was too hastily come to that the whole 
 group of Medusidse ought to be abolished. The researches of J. and 
 F. Millier, Gegenbaur, and the lamented Claparade, have indicated 
 the probable existence of a group of medusid forms, which appear to 
 be the immediate results of true generative acts, and not of gemma- 
 tion or fission. It appears safer, in the present state of our knowledge, 
 to conclude — i. That several of the organisms formerly described as 
 Medusidœ are the free gonophores of other orders of Hydrozoa. 2 
 That the homology of these free gonophores with these simple 
 expansions of the body-wall which in Hydra and some other genera 
 are known to be reproductive organs by their contents alone, is proved 
 alike by the existence of numerous transitional forms, and an appeal 
 
MEDUSIDM. 
 
 157 
 
 to the phenomena of their development. 3. That many otner so-called 
 Medusidœ may from analogy be regarded, as in like manner, medusi- 
 form gonophores. 4. But that there may exist, nevertheless, a group 
 of medusid forms, which may give rise, by true reproduction, to 
 organisms directly resembling their parents, and therefore worthy of 
 being placed in a separate order, under the name of Medusidœ. 
 According to Gegenbaur, the following families would belong to this 
 
 Fig. 
 
 -^quorea violacea, natural s'ze (Milne-Edwards). 
 
 order: — Ocean idœ, T/tatima?itidce, ^quorideœ (Fig, 52), Eucopidœ^ 
 T7'achy?ie?uidœ, Geryoïiidœ^ .■Egi7iidœ. 
 
 In the second division, these included under the family Lncer- 
 fiariadce, the body is more or less cup-shaped, and frequently 
 about an inch in height, terminating proximally in a stalk of variable 
 length, and furnished with a free umbrella, which differs from a necto- 
 calyx, with which it is often confounded, by the absence of a veil, in 
 its mode of development, and in the nature of its canal system, having 
 never less than eight radiating canals, and in the nature of its marginal 
 bodies. If we regard this second division as an order, we may 
 arrange it under two principal sections. In the first,' including the 
 genera Pelagia and Lucernaria, the primary result of the generative 
 
158 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 act is the immediate production of an organism which itself is fertile. 
 In the second, including Rhizosioma,, the result is a fixed and sexless 
 Lucernaroid, which by fission gives rise to zooid forms of dispropor- 
 tionate size, in which the reproductive organs are developed. In the 
 first division one family has the umbrella permanently free ; in the 
 other it is furnished with an organ of attachment. Three families of 
 this Lucernariadge have been defined : — i. Lucernm'idœ. 2. Pelagidœ. 
 3. Rhizosiomidœ. 
 
 If we walk along the sea shore, after the reflux of the tide, we 
 may often see, lying immovable upon the sands, gelatinous disc-like 
 masses of a greenish colour and repulsive appearance, from which 
 the eye and the steps instinctively turn aside. These beings, whose 
 blubber-like appearance inspires only feelings of disgust when seen 
 lying grey and dead on the shore, are, however, when seen floating 
 on the bosom of the ocean, one of its most graceful ornaments. 
 These are Medusae. When seen suspended in the middle of the 
 waves, like a piece of gauze or an azure bell, terminating in delicate 
 silvery garlands, we cannot but admire their iridescent colours, or 
 deny that these objects, so forbidding in some of their aspects, rank, 
 in their natural localities, among the most elegant productions of 
 Nature. We could not better commence our studies of these 
 children of the sea than by quoting a passage from the poet 
 Michelet : — "Among the rugged rocks and lagunes, where the 
 retiring sea has left many little animals which were too sluggish or 
 too weak to follow it, some shells wiU be left there to themselves 
 and suffered to become quite dry. In the midst of them, without 
 shell and without shelter, extended at our feet, lies the animal which 
 we call by the very inappropriate name of the Medusa. " Why was 
 this name, of terrible associations, given to a creature so charming ? 
 Often have I had my attention arrested by these castaways which we 
 see so often on the shore. They are small, about the size of my 
 hand, but singularly pretty, of soft light shades, of an opal white, 
 where it lost itself as in a cloud of tentacles ; a crown of tender lilies 
 — the wind had overturned it ; its crown of lilac hair floated about, 
 and the delicate umbel, that is, its proper body, was beneath ; it had 
 touched the rock — dashed against it ; it was wounded, torn in its 
 fine locks, which are also its organs of respiration, absorption, and 
 
 even of love The deHcious creature, with its visible 
 
 innocence, and the iridescence of its soft colours, was left like a 
 gliding, trembling jelly. I paused beside it, nevertheless : I glided 
 my hand under it, raised the motionless body cautiously, and 
 restored it to Its natural position for swimming. Putting it into the 
 
MEDUSID^. 159 
 
 neighbouring water, it sank to the bottom, giving no sign of Hfe. I 
 pursued my walk along the shore, but at the end of ten minutes I 
 returned to my Medusa. It was undulating under the wind ; it had 
 really moved itself, and was swimming about with singular grace, its 
 hair flying round it as it swam ; gently it retired from the rock, not 
 quickly, but still it went, and I soon saw it a long way off." 
 
 Of all the forms which live in the ocean there are none more 
 numerous in species or more singular in their structure, more odd 
 in their form, or more remarkable in their mode of reproduction, 
 than those to which Linnaeus gave the name of Medusa, from the 
 mythical chief of the Gorgon s. 
 
 The seas of every latitude of the globe furnish various tribes of 
 these singular beings. They live in the icy waters which bathe 
 Spitzbergen, Greenland, and Iceland ; they multiply under the fires 
 of the Equator, and the frozen regions of the South nourish 
 numerous species. They are, of all animals, those which present the 
 least solid substance. Their bodies are little else than water, which 
 is scarcely retained by an imperceptible organic network ; their 
 bodies are a transparent jelly, almost without consistence. " It is a 
 true sea-water jelly," says Reaumur^ writing in 1701 of a Medusa, 
 " having little colour or consistence. If we take a morsel in our 
 hands, the natural heat is sufficient to dissolve it into water." 
 
 Spallanzani could only obtain five or six grains from the pellicle 
 of a Medusa weighing fifty ounces. From certain specimens weighing 
 from ten to twelve pounds, only six to seven pennyweights could be 
 obtained of solid matter, according to Fredol. " Mr. Telfair saw an 
 enormous Medusa (?) which had been abandoned on the beach at 
 Bombay ; three days after, the animal began to putrefy. To satisfy 
 his curiosity, he got the neighbouring boatmen to keep an eye upon 
 it, in order to gather the bones and cartilages belonging to the great 
 creature, if by chance it had any ; but its decomposition was so rapid 
 and complete that it left no remains, although it required nine months 
 to dissipate it entirely." 
 
 "Floating on the bosom of the waters," says Fredol, "the 
 Medusa resembles a bell, an umbrella, or, better still, a floating 
 mushroom, the stalk of which has been here separated into lobes 
 more or less divergent, sinuous, twisted, shrivelled, fringed, the edges 
 of the cap being delicately cut, and provided with long thread-like 
 appendages, which descend vertically into the water like the drooping 
 branches of the weeping willow." 
 
 The gelatinous substance of v/hich the body of the Medusa is 
 formed is sometimes as colourless and limpid as crystal; sometimes 
 
l60 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 it is opaline, and occasionally it is of a bright blue or pale rose 
 colour. In certain species the central parts are of a lively red, blue, 
 or violet colour, while the rest of the body is of a diaphanous hue. 
 This diaphanous tissue, often decked in the finest tints, is so fragile, 
 that when abandoned by the wave on the beach, it melts and disap- 
 pears without leaving a trace of its having existed, so to speak. 
 
 Fig. 53. — Aurelia auiita (Lamarck). Cynea aurita (Cuvier). One-third natural size. 
 
 Nevertheless, these fragile creatures, these living soap-bubbles, 
 make long voyages on the surface of the sea. Whilst the sun's rays 
 suffice to dissipate and even annihilate their vaporous substance 
 when cast on some inhospitable beach, they abandon themselves 
 without fear during their entire life to the agitated waves. The 
 whales which haunt round the Hebrides are chiefly nourished by 
 Medusae which have been transported by the waves in innumerable 
 
MEDUSID^. l6î 
 
 r.'.varms from the coast of the Atlantic to the region of whales. " The 
 locomotion of the Medusae, which is very slow/^ says De Blainville, 
 "and denotes a very feeble muscular energy, appears, on the other 
 liand, to be unceasing. Since their specific gravity considerably 
 exceeds the water in which they are immersed, these creatures, which 
 are so soft that they probably could not repose on solid ground, 
 require to keep themselves constantly moving in order to sustain 
 themselves in the fluid which they inhabit. They require also to 
 maintain a continual state of expansion and contraction, of systole 
 and diastole. Spallanzani, who observed their movements with great 
 care, says that those of locomotion are executed by the edges of the 
 disc approaching so near to each other that the diameter is 
 diminished in a very sensible degree ; by this movement a certam 
 quantity of water contained in the body is ejected with more or less 
 force, by which the body is projected in -the inverse direction. 
 Renovated by the cessation of force in its first state of expansion, it 
 contracts itself again, and makes another movement in advance. If 
 the body is perpendicular to the horizon, these successive movements 
 of contraction and dilatation cause it to ascend ; if it is more or less 
 oblique, it advances more or less horizontally. In order to descend, 
 it is only necessary for the animal to cease its movements ; its 
 specific gravity secures its descent." 
 
 It is, then, by a series of contractions and dilatations of their bodies 
 that the Medusae make their long voyages on the surface of the 
 vaters. This double movement of their light skeleton had already 
 been remarked by the ancients, who compared it to the action of 
 resphation in the human chest. From this notion the ancients 
 called them Sea Lungs. 
 
 The Medusae usually inhabit the deep seas. They are rarely 
 solitary, but seem to wander about in considerable battalions in the 
 latitudes to which they belong. During their journey they proceed 
 Ibrward, with a course slightly oblique to the convex part of their 
 body. IS an obstacle arrests them, if an enemy touches them, the 
 umbrella contracts, and is diminished in volume, the tentacles are 
 folded up, and the timid animal descends into the depths of the 
 ocean. 
 
 We have said that the Medusae constitute in the Arctic seas one 
 of the principal supports of the whale. Their innumerable masses 
 sometimes cover many square leagues in extent. They show them- 
 selves and disappear by turns in the same region, at determinate 
 epochs — alternations which depend, no doubt, on the ruling of the 
 winds and currents which carry or lead them. " The barks which 
 
 G 
 
iê2 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 navigate Lake Thau meet," says Fredol, "at certain periods of the 
 year with numerous colonies of a species about the size of a small 
 melon, nearly transparent, whitish like water when it is mixed with 
 
 Fig. 54. — Chrysaora Gaudichaudi 
 
 an extract of aniseed. One would be tempted to take these animals 
 at first for a collection of floating musHn bonnets." 
 
 The Medusae are furnished with a mouth placed habitually in the 
 middle of a nectocalyx or of an umbrella. This mouth is rarely 
 unoccupied. Small molluscs, young crustaceans, and annelids, form 
 their ordinary food. In spite of their soft substance, they are most 
 
MEDUSIDyE. 163 
 
 voracious, and snap up their prey all at one mouthful, without 
 dividing it. If their prey resists and disputes with it, the Medusa 
 which has seized it holds it fast, and remains motionless, and, without 
 a single movement, waits till fatigue has exhausted and killed its 
 victim, when it can swallow it in all security. 
 
 In respect to size, the Medusae vary immensely. Some are very 
 small, while others attain more than a yard in diameter. Many 
 species are phosphorescent during the night. 
 
 Most Medusidse produce an acute pain when they touch the 
 human body. The painful sensation produced by this contact is so 
 general in this group of animals, that it has determined their desig- 
 nation. Until very recently all the animals of the group have been, 
 after Cuvier, designated under the name of Acalephas, or sea nettles, 
 in order to remind us that the sensation produced is analogous to 
 that occasioned by contact with the stinging leaves of the nettle. 
 
 According to Dicquemare, who made experiments on himself in 
 this matter, the sensation produced is very like that occasioned by a 
 nettle, but it is more violent, and endures for half an hour. " In the 
 last moments," says the abbé, "the sensation is such as would be 
 produced by reiterated but very weak prickings. A considerable 
 pain pervaded all the parts which had been touched, accompanied 
 by pustules of a reddish colour with a whitish point." 
 
 Their organisation is much more complicated than early observers 
 were disposed to think it. During many ages naturalists were 
 inclined to imagine, with Reaumur, that the Medusae were mere 
 masses of organised jelly, or, as it were, of gelatinised water. But 
 when Courtant Dumeril tried the experiment of injecting milk into 
 their cavities, and saw the liquid penetrating into true vessels, he 
 began to comprehend that these very enigmatical beings were worthy 
 of further study ; and the study of subsequent naturalists, such as 
 Cuvier, De Blainville, Ehrenberg, Brandt, Eschscholtz, Sars, Milne- 
 Edwards, Forbes, Gosse, and other recent naturalists, have demon- 
 strated what richness of structure is concealed under the gelatiniform 
 and simple structure to be met with in the MeduscC ; at the same 
 time they have revealed to us most mysterious and incredible facts 
 in connection with their metamorphoses. Among the Medusae 
 proper, that is the Gymnophthalmata, we find the genus yEquorea. ^lE. 
 violacea is figured on page 157 (Fig. 52). Of the genera belonging 
 to the Steganophthahnata among the most common are Pelagia and 
 Chrysaora. In the former genus we find P. nodihica. In the latter, 
 C. Gaudichaiidi (Fig. 54), the disc is hemispherical, festooned with 
 numerous tentacles, attached to a sac-like stomach, opening by a 
 
104 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 single orifice in the centre of the peduncle, with four long, fuï- 
 belowed, unfringed arms. Gaudichauds Chrysaora is found round 
 the Falkland Islands. The disc forms a regular half-sphere, very 
 
 Fig- 55.— Rhizostoma Cuvierii. 
 
 smooth, and perfectly concave, forming a sort of canopy in the 
 shape of a vault. The circle which surrounds it is divided into 
 sections by means of vertical lines, regularly divided, of a reddish- 
 brown colour, which form an edging to the umbrella-like disc. 
 Twelve broad regular festoons form this edging, P>om the summit 
 of these lobes issue twelve bundles of very long, simple, thread- 
 
MEDUSIDM. 
 
 165 
 
 like tentacles, of a bright red. The peduncle is broad and flat, 
 perforated in the middle, to which are attached four broad foliaceous 
 arms. Cyanea aurita is figured on page 160. 
 
 Fig. 56. — Rhizostbma Aldrovandi. 
 
 In the genus Rhizostoma the disc is hemispherically festooned, 
 depressed, without marginal tentacles, peduncle divided into four 
 pairs of arms, forked, and divided almost indefinitely, each having at 
 their base two toothed auricles. Such is Rhizosto77ia Cuvierii of Pérou 
 (Fig. 55), the disc of which is of a bluish-white, hke the arms, and of 
 a rich violet over its circumference. This beautiful form is found 
 
•I Ob THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 plentifully in the Atlantic, living in flocks, and attains a great size. It 
 is common in the month of June on the shores near Saint Malo ; 
 in August on the English coast ; and along the strand of every port 
 in the Channel they are to be seen in the month of October in 
 thousands, where they lie high and dry upon the shore, on which 
 they have been thrown by the force of the winds. 
 
 Fig. 57.— Cassiopea andromeda (Tilesius). 
 
 R. Aldrovandi (Fig. 56) is also common, and is to be met with 
 all the year round in calm weather. It is an animal much dreaded 
 by bathers. It possesses a stinging apparatus, which produces an 
 effect similar to the stinging-nettle when applied to the skin. If the 
 animal touches the fisherman at the moment of being drawn from the 
 water, it is apt to inflame the part that it touches and raise it into 
 pustules. 
 
M E DUS ID. ^.. 
 
 \6y 
 
 Fig. 58. — Cephea cyclophora. 
 
1 68 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 Cassiopea and Cephea are two other genera belonging to the 
 same group. In Cassiopea androjneda (Fig. 57), the disc is hemi- 
 spherical, but much depressed, without marginal tentacles or peduncle, 
 but with a central disc, with four to eight half-moon-shaped orifices 
 at the side, and throwing off eight to ten branching arms, fringed 
 with retractile sucking discs. Cephea cyclophora^ Peron (Fig. 58), is 
 another very remarkable form of these strangely-constituted organisms. 
 
 Having presented to the reader these few characteristic types 
 of Medusidae, we proceed to offer some general remarks upon the 
 organisation and functions of these strange creatures. We have, in 
 short, selected these types because they have been special objects of 
 anatomical and physiological study to some of our best naturalists. 
 
 The Medusse have no other means of breathing but through the 
 skin. We remark all over the body of these creatures certain 
 prolongations of the tegumentary system, disposed perhaps so as to 
 favour the exercise of the breathing function. Certain marginal 
 fringes of extended surface, as well as the tentacles, may be the 
 special seats of this function. The organs of digestion also present 
 arrangements peculiar to themselves ; the mouth is placed on the 
 lower part of the body, and is pierced at the extremity of a trumpet- 
 like tube, hanging sometimes like the tongue of a bell. The walls 
 of the stomach, again, are furnished with a multitude of appendages, 
 which have their origin in the cavity of the organ, and which are 
 very elastic. The stomach, furnished with vibratile cilia, appears to 
 secrete a juice whose function is to decompose the food and render 
 indigestible. 
 
 A very distinct circulation exists in the Medusae. The peripheric 
 part of the stomach suffers the nourishing liquid which has been elabo- 
 rated in the digestive cavity to pass ; this fluid then circulates through 
 numerous canals, the existence of which have been clearly traced. 
 
 It is also a singular fact, that organs of sense seem to have been 
 discovered in these Medusae, which early observers believed to be 
 altogether destitute of organisation. " During my sojourn on the 
 banks of the Red Sea," says Ehrenberg, in his Memoir on the Medusa 
 anrita, " although I had many times examined the brownish bodies 
 upon the edge of the disc of the Medusae, it is only in the past 
 month that I have recognised their true nature and function. Each 
 of these bodies consists of a little yellow tubercle, oval or cylindrical, 
 fixed upon a thin peduncle. The peduncle is attached to a vesicle, 
 in which the microscope reveals a glandular body, yellow when the 
 light traverses it, but white when the light is only reflected on it. 
 From this body issue two branches, which proceed towards the 
 
MED us ID ^. 169 
 
 peduncle or base of the brown body up to the head. I have found 
 that each of these small brown bodies presents a very distinct red 
 point placed on the dorsal face of the yellow head ; and when I 
 compare this with my other observations of similar red points in 
 other animals, I find that they greatly resemble the eyes of the Rotifera 
 and Entomostraca. The bifurcating body placed at the base of the 
 brown spot appears to be a nervous ganglion, and its branches may 
 be regarded as optic nerves. Each pedunculated eye presents upon 
 its lower face a small yellow sac, in which are found, in greater or 
 smaller numbers, small crystalline bodies clear as water." The 
 presence of a red pigment in very fine grains is an argument in favour 
 of the existence of visual organs in these creatures, for the small 
 crystals disseminated in the interior of the organ would no doubt 
 perform the part of refracting light which is produced by the 
 crystaUine lens in the eyes of vertebrated animals. Moreover, it is 
 found that there are marginal corpuscles analogous to these brown 
 spots in other species o\ Medusae. They are of a palish yellow, or 
 quite colourless, and enclose sometimes a single, sometimes many 
 calcareous corpuscles. When they are colourless, some naturalists 
 have rather taken them for organs of hearing reduced to their most 
 simple expression. 
 
 The Medusa are not, according to Agassiz, absolutely destitute 
 of nervous system. We have seen that they may have ganglions, 
 and probably optic nerves. Ehrenberg also states that these have 
 ganglions at their base, which furnish them with nervous filaments. 
 
 Without entering further into the details of their dehcate and 
 complicated structure, we shall pause briefly on their mode of repro- 
 duction. We shall find here physiological phenomena so remarkable 
 as to appear incredible, had not the researches of modern naturahsts 
 placed the facts beyond all doubt. "Which of us," says M. de 
 Quatrefages, "would not proclaim the prodigy, if he saw a reptile 
 issue from an egg laid in his court-yard, which afterw^ards gave birth 
 to an indefinite number of fishes and birds ? Well, the generation 
 of the Medusae is at least as marvellous as the fact which we have 
 imagined." Let us note, for example, what takes place with the 
 Rose Aureha, a beautiful Medusa, of a pale rose colour, with nearly 
 hemispherical disc, from four to five inches in diameter, whose edge 
 is furnished with short russet-brown tentacles ; taking for our guide 
 the eloquent and learned author of " Metamorphoses in Man and the 
 Lower Animals," M. de Quatrefages. 
 
 The Medusa designated under the name of Rose Aurelia lays 
 eggs which are characterised by the existence of three concentric 
 
 G ''' 
 
I/o THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 spheres. These eggs are transformed into oval larvae, covered with 
 vibratile cilia, having a slight depression in front. They swim about 
 for a short time with great activity, much like some of the Infusoria, 
 which they strikingly resemble in other respects. 
 
 At the end of forty-eight hours their movements decrease. Aided 
 by the depression already noted, the larval form attaches itself to 
 some solid body, fixing itself to it at this stage by the presence of a 
 thick mucous matter. A change of form soon takes place : it becomes 
 elongated; its pedicle is contracted, and its free extremity swells into 
 a club-like shape. An opening soon presents itself in the centre of 
 this extremity, through which an internal cavity appears. Four httle 
 protuberances have now appeared on the edge, which are in time 
 elongated in the manner of arms. Others soon follow: these are the 
 tentacles of a polyp : the young infusorian has become a polyp ! 
 
 The polyp increases by buds and shoots, just like a strawberry 
 plant, which throws out its slender stems in all directions, covering 
 all the neighbouring ground. 
 
 The young Medusa lives some time under this form. Then one 
 of the polyps becomes enlarged and its form cylindrical. This 
 cylinder is divided into from ten to fourteen superimposed rings. 
 These rings, at first smooth, form themselves into festoons, and 
 separate into bifurcated thongs ; the intermediate lines become 
 channeled. The animal now resembles a pile of plates, cut round 
 the edges. In a short time each ring is slightly raised at the free 
 edge of its fringe : this then becomes contractile. The rings are 
 individualised. Finally, these disc-shaped creatures isolate them- 
 selves. When detached, they begin to swim : from that time they 
 have only to perfect and modify their form. From being flat, they 
 become concave on the one side and convex on the other. The 
 digestive cavity- -the gastro-vascular canals — become more decided ; 
 the mouth opens on the concave surface; the tentacles are elongated; 
 the floating marginal cirri become more and more numerous ; and 
 now, after all these metamorphoses, the Medusa appears ; it perfectly 
 resembles, not the parent form, but that from which its parent 
 form originally sprung. 
 
I/I 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ZOANTHARIA. 
 
 " I saw the living pile ascend 
 The mausoleum of its architects, 
 Still dying upwards as their labour closed : 
 Slime the material, but the slime was turned 
 To adamant by their pétrifie touch." 
 
 Montgomery's Pelican Island. 
 
 Thk creatures which constitute the class Zoaiitharia are quite great 
 personages. Some of them are eighteen or twenty inches long ; at 
 the same time, others scarcely exceed the eighth part of an mch in 
 length. They live in all seas, and seem to have existed through many 
 ages of the earth's history ; they appear at an early geological period, 
 and they have performed an important part in its formation. 
 
 The name of Zoant/iaria was first given to the class by Dr. J. E. 
 Gray ; but here we give it a somewhat wider signification, embracing 
 under it the madrepores and starred stones of Lesueur, who was 
 reminded of a field enamelled with small flowers when he saw the 
 little polyps of Porifes astroides in full blow. " But it is only," says 
 Johnston, " when they lie with their upper disc expanded, and their 
 tentacula displayed, that they solicit comparison with the hosts of 
 Flora ; for, when contracted, the polyps of the madrepores conceal 
 themselves in their calcareous cups, and the actinia hide their beauty, 
 assuming the shape of an obtuse cone or hemisphere of a fleshy con- 
 sistence, or elongating themselves into a sort of flabby cylinder that 
 indicates a state of relaxation and indolent repose." 
 
 These zoantharia are flesh-eaters, and consume quantities truly 
 prodigious of animals such as crustaceans, worms, and small fishes. 
 They are all marine, nearly all attached to the same spot for life, and 
 they live in colonies. Some few are isolated and live by themselves, 
 either free or attached to the soil. They differ altogether from the 
 animals belonging to the Alcyonaria by the number and peculiar form 
 of their tentacula. These appendages in the Zoantharia never present 
 the bipmiiate arrangement which is observable in the Alcyonaria. 
 
1/2 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 They are habitually smiple, and, if they present ramifications, these 
 are only exceptional. In nearly every instance, the tentacles exist to 
 the number of twelve, eighteen, twenty-four, and even larger numbers, 
 and they form a sort of concentric crown to the animal. 
 
 Zoa7ithus thalassanthos (Lesson), which has given its name to the 
 group, consists of large turf-Hke tufts of coral attached to a rock. 
 Its polyps are packed close together, and their expanded flower-like 
 heads have a curious resemblance to a mass of flowers in full bloom. 
 They are borne on bending root-like stems of pure white, interlacing 
 one with the other, surmounted by a fusiform or spindle-shaped body, 
 pediculate and swelling towards the middle, but truncate at the 
 summit, of a reddish-brown colour, marked with longitudinal stripes 
 more highly coloured ; its consistence is firm and parchment-like. 
 From the body issues a tube, narrow, muscular, contractile, and red 
 in colour, terminating at the summit in eight elongated arms or 
 tentacula, of a pure yellow, traversed by a nervure of the same colour. 
 The edges of these arms are fringed with fine pinnae, parallel to each 
 other, of a bright maroon colour, and resembling the barbs of a 
 feather. According to Lesson, the arms of this Zoanthus are kept 
 unceasingly in motion, thus producing in the water small oscillating 
 currents, in the course of which the animalcules on which the polyps 
 feed are precipitated into the stream leading to their mouths. 
 
 The tendency to produce a calcareous or horny polypidom is a 
 property almost universal with animals of this class. Zoologists are 
 agreed in dividing them into three very distinct orders — namely, the 
 Antipathid^e, consisting of the genera Antipathes, Cirripat/ies, and 
 Leipat/ies, in which the po'ypidom is of a horny consistence ; the 
 Madreporid^, in which the polypidom is calcareous and stony ; 
 finally, the Actinid^, which produce no true polypidom. 
 
 Antipathid^. 
 
 We need not dwell upon this group, which is comparatively unin- 
 teresting. They somewhat correspond with the family of Gorgonidœ 
 among the Alcyofiaria, which they resemble in having the central axes 
 branching after the manner of a shrub; but the polyps have the 
 mouth surrounded with a crown of six simple tentacula. The axis 
 is of a harder and denser tissue than that of the Gorgonidae, and 
 presents on its surface small spiniform projections. The polypiferous 
 crust, with which they are covered, is in general very arenaceous, 
 and is so easily detached, that it is rare to see in collections anything 
 but the denuded skeleton of the colony. In Antipathes arborea^ the 
 
MADREPORES. 1/3 
 
 polypidom is fragile and brittle ; when dry, the branches, always 
 slender and delicate, resemble the barbs of a feather. The colour is 
 of a deep black, or rather bistre and terra de sienna tint. Under a 
 powerful lens, the extremities of the branches appear to be covered 
 with small spines, and the stem is formed of oval and irregular con- 
 centric layers, which are so many zones of growth. Its consistence 
 is solid, so that it can be worked up and converted into chaplets for 
 pearls and other bijouterie : it is known in commerce as black coral. 
 
 Madreporid^. 
 
 The Madrepores are better known than their congeners. They 
 are sometimes designated corals, but it must be recollected that the 
 precious coral forms no part of this group. 
 
 The Madrepores are remarkable for the calcareous secretion which 
 always surrounds their tissue, and determines the formation of their 
 polypidom. They are in other respects easily recognised by the star- 
 like structure of their polypidom, in which may always be distinguished 
 a visceral chamber, the circumference of which is furnished with 
 perpendicular laminae or partitions, which are always directed towards 
 the axis of the body. When sufficiently developed they constitute, 
 by their assemblage, a star-like body formed of a great number ot 
 rays. The polypidom is always calcareous. The consolidation of 
 the envelope of each polyp produces at first a kind of sheath, to 
 which Milne-Edwards has given the name of" the wall." The partitions 
 which proceed from the interior towards the axis of the visceral 
 chamber occupy the subtentacular cells ; the terminal and open 
 portion designated the calyx is in organic continuity with the polyp, 
 which has retired thither more or less completely, as into a cell. 
 
 Milne-Edwards remarks that the polypidom of the Madreporidœ 
 present in their structure five principal modifications, due in part to 
 the fundamental number of which the chambered cells are the mul- 
 tiple, and in part to the mode of division of the visceral chamber, and 
 finally to the manner in which its tissue is constituted M. Edwards 
 avails him s elf of this peculiarity of structure in order to divide the Madre- 
 pores into five sections — namely, Mad?'épores apores, Madrépores per- 
 forés, Madrépores tabîdés, Madrépores tubulés, and Madrépores rugueux. 
 
 In the group of Aporous Madrepores, the polypidom is per- 
 haps the most highly organised. We find there a well-developed 
 and very perfect wall, and a well-developed visceral apparatus. The 
 calyx is symmetrically rayed ; the number of rays in the earlier stages 
 being six, which soon afterwards reaches from twelve to twenty- 
 
174 '^HE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 four. The cells between the chambers are sometimes open in all 
 their depth, sometimes more or less shut up by transverse plates ; 
 these, being independent of each other, are never reunited in the 
 breadth of the visceral cavity, so that they constitute discoid plates 
 such as we find in the tabular and rugose Madrepores. The animals 
 belonging to this group, which may be characterised as stelliform or 
 star-like, are very abundant in every sea, and in several geological 
 formations. They constitute many genera, among which may be 
 noted the Milleporina of Ehrenberg, the polypidom of which Dr. 
 Johnston describes as " calcareous, fixed, plant-like, branching or 
 lobed, with cells scattered over the whole surface, distinct, sunk in 
 little fosses, obscurely stellate, the lamellae narrow and almost 
 obsolete."* In Turbinolia^ the animal is simple, conical, striped, 
 furrowed externally with larger and smaller ribs, the mouth sur- 
 rounded by numerous tentacula, and solidified by a calcareous 
 polypidom, which is free, conical, and also furrowed externally ; 
 attenuated at the base, but enlarged at the summit, and termina- 
 ting in a shallow radiated lamellar cup or cell. Several specimens of 
 T. milletiana have been dredged off the coast of Cornwall, and the 
 west coasts of Scotland and Ireland. 
 
 T. milletiana is described as being coral-white, wedge-shaped, some- 
 what compressed, with interspaces or ribs equidistant, smooth, and 
 glossy. Above, the ribs turn over the edge, and are continued into the 
 centre of the enlarged cup, forming its lamellae. " That the zoophyte 
 must have lived for some time after having become a movable thing, is 
 proved," says Dr. Johnston, "by the ribs being continued beyond or 
 round the point of attachment.'' The specimen here described was 
 dredged alive ; and Prof Forbes says of it that " it is a most interest- 
 ing and beautiful species, the more so as it is certainly identical with 
 Defrance's Turbinolia milletiana^ found in both the crag formations." 
 
 In the sub-family of the Zoanthidae, the polypes occur in clusters, 
 and are multipled by buds, rising from a common creeping, root-like, 
 fleshy base ; they thus present a sort of coriaceous polypidom, as in 
 Zoanthus (Fig. 59). In the British Channel the species which Dr. 
 Johnston has named Z. Couchii^ after Mr. Couch, jun., is found along 
 the Cornish coast, on flat slates and rocks, in deep water, and from 
 one to ten leagues from the shore. It is very small, resembling 
 both in shape and size a split pea. When living, its surface is plain 
 but glandular, becoming corrugated when preserved. When semi- 
 expanded, which is its favourite state, it elevates itself to twice its 
 
 Johnston's "Zoophytes," vol. i., p. 194 
 
MADREPORES. 
 
 175 
 
 ordinary height, becoming contracted about the middle, Hke an hour- 
 glass. When the creature is fully expanded, the tentacula become 
 distended and elongated to about the length of the transverse 
 diameter of the body ; and they are generally darker at their ex- 
 tremities than towards the base. The present species possesses a 
 power of considerably altering its shape \ sometimes the mouth is 
 depressed, and at others it is elevated into an obtuse cone. " This is 
 one of the most inactive of its order," says Mr. A. Couch ; " for, 
 whether in a state of contraction or expansion, it will remain so for 
 
 Fig- 59- — Zoanthus socialis .Cuvier), magnified. 
 
 many days without apparent change. In its expanded state a touch 
 will make it contract, and it will commonly remain so for many 
 days." The trailing connecting-band is flat, thin, narrow, glandular, 
 and of the same texture as the polyp, sometimes enlarging into 
 small papillary eminences, which, as they become enlarged, become 
 developed into polyps. 
 
 The genus CaryopJiillia (Lamarck), from Kapiov^ a nut, and <^\)KKov, a 
 leaf, has the polypidom permanently fixed, simple, striated longitudi- 
 nally, and the summit hollowed into a lamellated star-like cup ; the 
 animal, actinia-like, is provided with a simple or double crown of ten- 
 tacula, projecting from the surface of star-Hke, cylindrical, cone-shaped 
 
1/6 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 cells. In C. cyathus^ Lamarck (Fig. 60), which inhabits the Mediter- 
 ranean, and is common on some parts of the English and Irish coast, 
 the polyps are of a whitish colour, the tentacula streaked with grey. 
 The polypidom is erect and upright, sometimes cylindrical, and 
 generally so firmly attached to the rock as to seem a part of it. The 
 lamellae are of three kinds : one row large and prominent, between 
 every pair of which there are three, sometimes five, smaller ones, the 
 centre one being divided into two portions forming" an inner series. 
 The lamellae are slightly arched entire and striated on the sides, 
 
 Fig. 60. — Caryophillia cyathus (Lamarck). 
 
 whence the margin appears somewhat crenulated. " It is found," 
 says Mr. Couch, " of all sizes, from a mere speck to an inch in height. 
 In a very young state, it is sometimes found parasitical on Alcyoniuiii 
 digifattun, on shells, and on stalks of sea-weeds ; but as these 
 substances are very perishable, and offer no solid foundation, large 
 specimens are never found on them. In its young state the animal 
 has but little of a calcareous skeleton, and measures about the 
 fifteenth of an inch in diameter and about the thirtieth of an inch in 
 height. In the earliest state in which I have seen the calcareous 
 polypidom, there were four small rays, which were free or uncon- 
 nected down to the base ; in others I have noticed six primary rays^ 
 
MADREPORES. 
 
 177 
 
 but in every case they were unconnected with each other. Other 
 rays soon make their appearance between those first formed ; they 
 are mere calcareous specks at first, but afterwards increase in size. 
 The first union of rays is observed as a small calcareous rim at the 
 base of the polyp, which afterwards increases in height and diameter 
 with the age of the animal." 
 
 The animals of this interesting polypidom are vividly described 
 by Dr. Coldstream, in a communication to Dr. Johnston, as he 
 observed them at Torquay : — 
 
 " When the soft parts are fully expanded," he says, " the appear- 
 
 Fig. 61. — Flabellum pavonium (Lesson). 
 
 Seen from the side. 2. Upper surface, with its plates and median furrow. 
 3. Animal, with tentacles expanded. 
 
 ance of the whole animal closely resembles an actinia. When shrunk, 
 ihey are almost entirely hid amongst the radiating plates. They are 
 found pendent," he adds, " from large boulders of sandstone, just at 
 low-water mark. Sometimes they are dredged from the middle of 
 the bay. Their colour varies considerably. I have seen the soft 
 parts white, yellowish, orange-brown, reddish, and of a fine apple- 
 green. The tentacula are usually j^aler." 
 
 Species of this genus are sometimes dredged from great depths ; 
 Professor Travers dredged one in eighty fathoms, and Dr. Johnston 
 remarks that the existence of an animal so vividly coloured at so 
 great a depth is worthy of remark. " When taken," says the pro- 
 fessor, " the animal was scarcely visible, being contracted ; when 
 expanded, the disk was conspicuously marked by two dentated 
 
178 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 circles of bright apple-green, the one marginal and outside the 
 tentacula, the other at some distance from the transverse and linear 
 mouth. In the dark, the animal gave out a few dull flashes of 
 phosphorescent light." 
 
 As belonging to this family, we present illustrations of Flabelhim 
 pavoniuiiiy Lesson (Fig. 6i). 
 
 Fig. 62. — Oculina virgi 
 
 Lamarck). 
 
 Of the genus Oculina, the animal is unknown, but it is contained 
 in regular round radiated cells, more or less prominent, and scattered 
 on the surface of a solid, compact, fixed tree-like coral. The indi- 
 viduals dispose themselves in ascending spiral hues, and appear to 
 be regularly dispersed on the surface of the several branches. The 
 
 typical species, O. 
 
 (Fig. 62), formerly known as the White 
 
MADREPORES. 
 
 179 
 
 Fig. 63.— Stylaster flabelliformis (Lamarck). 
 
i8o 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 Coral, although it differs widely in structure from the precious Coral, 
 is found in the Mediterranean and also in the tropical seas. In 
 2, Fig. 62, we see a portion of a branch magnified, so that the reader 
 may be able to appreciate the form of the polyp cells. 
 
 The species formerly referred to in this genus as Oculina flahelli- 
 formis, now bearing the name of Stylasttr flabelliformis^ which is 
 represented in Fig. (i:^^, will give an excellent idea of these arborescent 
 madrepores. The polypidom is in the form of a fan, with many very 
 unequal branches ; the larger branches are smooth, the middle-sized 
 are covered with small points. This fine madrepore is found in the 
 
 Fig. 64. — Astreopora punctifera (Lamarck). 
 
 seas which surround the Isle of Bourbon and the Mauritius, fine 
 examples of which are to be seen in almost all large public museums. 
 
 How diversified are the forms of aquatic life ! '^ Nature revels in 
 these diversities," to paraphrase the saying of one of the ancient 
 kings of France. Here are animals, the skeletons of which might 
 ha.ve been designed by a geometrician. They are called Star Corals 
 (Astrea). Their resemblance to a perfectly regular star was too 
 striking to escape the observation of the naturalist ; but the organisa- 
 tion of these creatures of the ocean is far from being rigorously 
 regular, for Nature rarely employs perfecUy straight lines, giving an 
 evident preference to circles and waving lines. 
 
 The Astreidœ form an immense section of the aporous Madre- 
 
MADREPORES, 
 
 i8i 
 
 pores ; they are inhabitants of the tropical and semj-tropical portions 
 of the great oceans, where they are found in a grea t variety of forms, 
 which has led to its subdivision into two great divisions consisting of 
 very many genera by Messrs. Milne-Edwards and J. Haime. The 
 animals are short, more or less cylindrical, with a rounded mouth 
 
 Fig 65.— Meandrina cerebriformis (Lamarck,. 
 
 placed m the centre of a disc, covered with a few rather short ten- 
 tacula; they form by their union a variously-shaped coral, which 
 often encrusts other bodies. 
 
 The genus Meandrina differs from that of Asfrea in having the 
 surface hollowed out into shallow sinuous elongated cells, furnished 
 on each side of the mesial line with crenulated lamellae, the columella 
 IS but little developed ; the polypidom, which, like all the group, is 
 
1 82 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 calcareous, being fixed, simple, conical when young, and globular 
 when old. The animals have lateral series of short tentacula around 
 a distinct mouth ; they are contained in shallow cells, meeting at the 
 base, and forming by their union long and tortuous sulci. Meandrina 
 iyDiploria) cerehriformis (Fig. 65), so called from its resemblance to 
 the convolutions of the brain, is a native of the American Seas. 
 
 Fig. 66.— Fungîa echinata (Milne-Edwards). 
 
 The genus Fiingia^ so called by Lamarck from the resemblance 
 of the species to the vegetable Fungi, presents forms too remarkable 
 in their appearance to be passed over in silence. All the species of 
 this genus occur in a living state. Nevertheless some species of 
 closely-allied genera are very numerous in the Cretaceous period. 
 
 The genus, as we have already said, takes its name from its 
 supposed resemblance to a Mushroom. " But," says Peyssonnel, 
 " there is this difference between terrestrial and marine mushrooms — 
 
MADREPORES. 
 
 I«3 
 
 that the former have leaflets below, and those of the ocean have them 
 above (Fig. 66). These leaflets are only expansions of the Madre- 
 pores. Now, although I have not actually examined these stony 
 Mushrooms of the sea, I have no reason to doubt but that they are 
 true genera or species of Madrepores, containing, like others, the 
 animals which form them. In my travels in Eg}^pt, in 17 14 and 
 
 Fig. 67. — Fungia patella (Lamarck). 
 
 17 15, I never heard it said that the Nile could produce them." In 
 this last remark, Peyssonnel makes allusion to the opinion enter- 
 tained by many ancient authors, that the Fungia were productions of 
 the Nile. 
 
 The animal is depressed and oval, with mouth superior and 
 transverse, in a large disc, which is covered by many thick cirrhiform 
 tentacula \ the polypidom is rendered solid internally by a calcareous 
 
1 34 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 deposit which has the appearance of a star of radiating acutely- 
 pointed lamellae above, and simple rays, full of wrinkles, beneath. 
 There are several species, mostly natives of the Pacific and Indian 
 Oceans and Red Sea, which De Blainville arranges in three groups, 
 according as they are simple and circular, simple and compressed, 
 or complex and oblong. In Fungia echinata^ represented in Fig. 66, 
 we have a species which inhabits the Indian and Chinese Seas. It 
 belongs to the last group, being oblong in form, convex above, and 
 concave below. The hollow, from which the lamellae or chamber- 
 walls proceed, are of considerable length ; the toothed partitions are 
 very irregular, thin and prickly, resting upon their lower edge, leaving 
 the concave portion of the field free to a crop of excrescences, 
 resembling the roof of a grotto studded with small stalactites. 
 
 The appearances presented by the soft parts of the polyps have 
 been described by many travellers. The upper portion of the body 
 of the animal, corresponding to the lamelliform part of the polypidom, 
 is furnished with scattered tentacula, very long in some species, and 
 remarkably short in others, these tentacula appear to terminate in a 
 small sucker. In order to complete our description of these curious 
 madrepores, we may refer to Fungia patella, represented in Fig 67. 
 This remarkable species inhabits the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, 
 and is here represented with its polyps. 
 
 De Blainville gave the name of Madrepor^ea to the second 
 
 group of the stony Zoantharia, and they correspond to the Madrepores 
 pei-fores of Milne-Edwards. The skeletons of this section are generally 
 arborescent, with small, partially lamelliform cells, which are con- 
 stantly porous in the interstices of the walls of the cells, this being 
 their most important characteristic. Thus, the polyps present no side 
 plates, the visceral chamber being open from the base to the summit, 
 and is neither filled with dissepiments nor with plates. 
 
 The history of these inhabitants of the deep is extremely obscure, 
 the most beautiful of the species are intertropical, and consequently 
 were for a long time beyond the reach of discriminating observers 
 during the life of the animal. Solander proposed to divide the group 
 according to certain characteristics in the growth of the coral, and 
 De Blainville has re-arranged the groups formed by Lamarck, 
 Lamouroux, and Goldfuss, with special reference to the structure of 
 the soft parts of the animals figured by Lesueur, Quoy, Gaimard, and 
 others, who have observed them in a recent state. 
 
 The perforated Zoantharia form two very natural families : the 
 Madreporinœ and the Poritinœ. The first have the solid parts of the 
 
MADREPORES. 
 
 185 
 
 polyps simple or complex, with well-developed lamellar portions, the 
 central column spongious, walls granular, semi-ribbed, and perforated ; 
 the second have a reticulated sclerenchyma, septa more or less dis- 
 tinct, the visceral chambers containing sometimes small rudimentary 
 plates. 
 
 Fiç. 
 
 •Dendrophyllia ramea, half natural size De Blainville). 
 
 We shall describe three genera, the two first of which belong to 
 the Madî-eporinœ^ and the last to the family of the PorUidœ. 
 
 Dendf-ophyllia r^-;;/^^, represented in Figs. (i%^ 69, and 70, is an elegant 
 madrepore of the Mediterranean, Its polypidom presents a very 
 large stem with short ascending branches ; it often attains to about 
 
1 86 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 two feet in height. The polyps are provided with a great number of 
 tentacula, in the centre of which the mouth is placed; they are 
 deeply buried in the cells. Peyssonnel, who had seen the polyps 
 forming one of such a colony, says : " I may observe that the ex- 
 tremities or summits of the branching madrepore, the species in 
 question, which in the Provençal we call ' sea-fennel,' is soft and 
 tender, filled with a glutinous and transparent mucous substance, 
 similar to that which the snail leaves on its path. These extremities 
 
 Fig 69. — Dendrophyllia ramea (De Blainvill:). 
 Natural size, with polypi. 
 
 Fig. 70. — A part ma.,nified. 
 
 are of a fine yellow colour, five or six lines in diameter ; soft, and 
 more than a finger's breadth in length. I have seen the animal 
 nestling in them ; it seemed to be a species of cuttle-fish or sea-nettle. 
 The body of this sea-nettle must have filled the centre ; the head 
 being in the middle, surrounded by many feet or claws, like those of 
 the cuttle-fish. The flesh of this animal is very delicate, and is easily 
 reduced to the form of a paste, melting almost under the touch." 
 
 The madrepores abound in all intertropical seas, taking a con- 
 siderable part in the formation of the reefs which form the coral and 
 madreporic islands so conspicuous in the three oceans. The tree- 
 like Bendrophyllia {D. ra?nea^ Figs. 68, 69, and 70) have cells of cQn- 
 
MADREPORES, 
 
 187 
 
 siderable depth, radiating into numerous lamellae, forming a widely- 
 branching arborescent coral, externally striated, internally furrowed, 
 and truncate at the extremities. The animals are actiniform, furnished 
 with numerous pinnate tentacula, in the centre of which is the polygonal 
 
 
 Fig. 71. — Madrepora plantaginea (Lamarck). 
 
 mouth. In Lobophy/lia, the tentacula are cylindrical, the cells 
 conical, sometimes elongated and sinuous, with a sub-circular opening 
 terminating the few branches of the polyp, which is fixed, turbinate, 
 and striated. The Plantain Madrepore, Mad?-ep07'a plantaginea 
 (Lamarck), is an interesting species, the polyps presenting them- 
 selves, as in Fig. 71, in tufts, with slender and prolific branches. 
 
i8S 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 In Madi-epora palmata, vulgarly named Neptune's Car, we have 
 a large and beautiful species, whose expanding branches are flat, 
 round at the base, and formed into lobes, whose length is often as 
 much as three feet high, with a breadth of twenty inches, and a 
 
 Fig. 72. — Pontes fiircata (Lamarck), natural size. 
 
 thicknes.3 of two to two and a half : this fine madrepore is found in 
 the Caribbean Sea and among the Antilles. 
 
 Here also comes Astreopora pimctifera, Fig. 64, p. 180. 
 
 The genus Porites belong to the second family Poritinae of the 
 perforated madrepores, the polypidom is entirely formed by a reticu- 
 lated sclerenchyma, the animal is somewhat pitcher-shaped, with 
 twelve short tentacula ; the cells are unequally polygonal^ imperfectly 
 
MADREPORES. 
 
 189 
 
 defined, slightly radiating by thread-like pointed rays, with papilla 
 placed at intervals. The polypidom is polymorphous or many-formed 
 composed of a reticulated and porous tissue, the individuals forming 
 it being always completely united together. Externally it presents 
 
 Fig. 73- — Millepora alcicornis (Linn.), one-fourth natural size 
 
 the figure of an irregular trellis-work, more or less loosely connected 
 in its meshes. As a type of this organisation, we give a figure of the 
 Forked Porites (F. furcata, Fig. 72), of the natural size. The branches 
 are generally dichotomous, that is, rising in pairs obtusely lobed. In 
 some of the species the rays are more fully marked, and resemble a 
 bed of miniature anemones thickly crowded together, as in Goniopora 
 colunina, from the Fiji Islands, in which the polyps have a central 
 mouth, round which the twelve short tentacula radiate ; the coral is 
 
ÏQO THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 stony, fixed, branched, or lobed, having a free surface covered with a 
 great number of regular stars. 
 
 In the Tabulate Madrepores, the polypidom is essentially 
 composed of a highly-developed mural system. The visceral cham- 
 bers are divided into a series of stages or stories, by perfect diaphragms 
 or plates placed transversely, the plates depending from the walls and 
 forming perfect horizontal divisions, extending from one wall of the 
 general cavity to the other. In order that the reader may form some 
 idea of the Tabulate Madrepores, one of the commonest forms is 
 here (Fig. 73) represented. The millepores were first separated from 
 the madrepores by Linnaeus, along with a great number of species 
 distinguished by the minuteness of their pores or polypiferous cells. 
 
 Millepora moniliformis is a species which attaches itself to the 
 branches of some of the Gorgonidse, forming there a series of little 
 rounded or lateral lobes. The animal is unknown, the cells are very 
 small, unequal, completely immersed, obsoletely radiate and scattered ; 
 the polypidom is fixed, cellular within, finely porous and reticulated 
 externally, extending into a palmated form. 
 
 Of the TuBULOUS Madrepores, which consist almost entirely of 
 fossil species chiefly belonging to the Silurian formation, we shall only 
 note Aulopora repens as one of the best known species. 
 
 The Rugose Madrepores. — Among these a highly developed 
 sclerodermic skeleton occurs, each corallite being very distinct, and 
 presenting, in many cases, both septa and tabulae. Most Rugosa 
 belong to the large family Cyathophyllidae ; and all of them are wholly 
 extinct, extending from the Silurian to the Cretaceous period. 
 
 Coral Islands. 
 
 There is no spectacle in Nature more extraordinary or more 
 worthy of our admiration than that now under consideration. These 
 corals, whose history we have investigated — beings gifted with a half- 
 latent life only — these animals so small and so fragile — labour silently 
 md incessantly in the bosom of the ocean, and, as they exist in 
 innumerable aggregated masses, their cells and solid axes produce in 
 the end enormous stony masses. These calcareous deposits increase 
 and multiply with such incalculable rapidity, that they not only cover 
 the submarine rocks as with a carpet, but they finish by forming reefs, 
 and even entire islands, which rise above the surface of the ocean 
 in a manner remarkable at once for their form and the regularity with 
 which they repeat themselves. 
 
 In noting the Indian and Pacific Oceans, navigators had long been 
 
CORAL ISLANDS. I9I 
 
 Struck with the appearance of certain islands, which presented a con- 
 formation altogether singular. In 1601, Pyrard de Laval, speaking 
 of the Malouine (now the Falkland) Islands, said : — " They are 
 divided into thirteen provinces, named atollons, which is so far a natural 
 division in that place, that each atoUon is separated from the other, and 
 contains a great number of smaller islands. It is a marvel to see 
 each of these atollons surrounded on all sides bya great bank of stone — 
 walls such as no human hands could build on the space of earth 
 allotted to them. These atollons are almost round, or rather oval, being 
 each about thirty leagues in circumference, some a little less, others 
 a little more, and all ranging from north to south, without any one 
 touching the other. There is between them sea channels, one broad, 
 the other narrow. Being in the middle of an atollon, you see all around 
 you this great stone bank, which surrounds and protects the island 
 from the waves ; but it is a formidable attempt, even for the boldest, 
 to approach the bank and watch the waves as they roll in and break 
 with fury upon the shore." 
 
 Since the publication of Laval's description, many circular isles, or 
 groups of islands, analogous to these atollons, since called atolls, have 
 been discovered in the Pacific Ocean and other seas. The naturahst 
 Forster, who accompanied Cook in his voyage round the world, first 
 made known the more remarkable characteristics of these wonderful 
 formations. He perfectly comprehended their origin, which he was 
 the first to attribute to the development of calcareous zoantharian 
 polyps. 
 
 After Forster, many other naturalists — Lamouroux, Chamisso, 
 Quoy, Gaimard, Ehrenberg, Ellis, Darwin, and Dana — have furnished 
 science with many precious memoirs on the natural history of coral 
 islands and coral reefs. We can only glance at a few of the more 
 remarkable facts connected with these interesting formations. 
 
 The atolls present three unfailing and constant peculiarities. 
 Sometimes they constitue a great circular chain, the centre of which 
 is occupied by a deep basin, in direct communication with the ex- 
 terior sea, through one or many breaches of great depth. These are 
 the atolls, described more than two centuries ago by Pyrard de Laval ; 
 sometimes they surround, but at some distance, a small island, in 
 such a manner as to constitute a sort of skeleton or girdle of reefs ; 
 finally they may form the immediate edging or border of an island or 
 continent. In this last case they are called fringing reefs. At the 
 distance of a few hundred yards only from the edge of some of these 
 reefs, the sea is 01 such a depth that the sounding-lead has failed to 
 reach the bottom. 
 
192 THE OCEAN WORLD.. 
 
 In order to give an idea of the general form of these atolls, 
 although they are rarely so regular, the reader is referred to Plate IV., 
 which represents one of these islands of the Pomotouan Archipelago, 
 ill the Indian Ocean. It represents the island of Clermont-Tonnerre, 
 figured by Captain Wilkes in the American Exploring Expedition. 
 The exterior girdle of rocks here surrounds a basin nearly circular. 
 Such is the general form — the typical form, so to speak — of the coral 
 islands, of which this is a fair representation. 
 
 The animals which form these immense accumulations belong to 
 diverse groups, and nowhere have the results of observations made 
 upon these atolls been more minutely described than in Mr. Darwin's 
 remarks on the grand Cocos Island situated to the south of Sumatra, 
 in the Indian Ocean. 
 
 No writer, it seems to us, has reasoned on these atolls more com- 
 prehensively than the author of the "Origin of Species," "The 
 earlier voyagers," he says, "fancied that the coral-building animals 
 instinctively built up their great corals to afford themselves protection 
 in the inner parts ; but so far is this from the truth, that those massive 
 kinds, to whose growth on the exposed outer shores the very exist- 
 ence of the reef depends, cannot live within the lagoon, where other 
 delicately-branching kinds flourish. Moreover, in this view, many 
 species of distinct genera and families are supposed to combine for 
 one end j and of such a combination not a single instance can be 
 found in the whole of Nature. The theory that has been most 
 generally received is, that atolls are based on submarine craters, but 
 when the form and size of some of them are considered, this idea 
 loses its plausible character. Thus, the Suadiva atoll is forty-four 
 geographical miles in diameter in one line by thirty- four in another ; 
 Rimsky is fifty-four by twenty miles across ; Bow atoll is thirty miles 
 long, and, on an average, six miles broad. This theory, moreover, 
 is totally inapplicable to the Northern Maldivian atolls in the Indian 
 Ocean, one of which is eighty-eight miles in length, and between ten 
 and twenty in breadth." 
 
 The various theories, which had been propounded failing to 
 explain the existence of the coral islands, Mr. Darwin was led to 
 re-consider the whole subject. Numerous soundings taken all round 
 the Cocos atoll showed that at ten fathoms the prepared tallow in the 
 hollow of the sounding rod came up perfectly clean, and marked 
 with the impression of hving polyps. As the depth increased, these 
 impressions became less numerous, but adhering particles of sand 
 succeeded, until it was evident that the bottom consisted of smooth 
 sand. From these observations, it was obvious to him that the 
 
CORAL ISLANDS. 1 95 
 
 Utmost depth at which the coral polyps can construct reefs is between 
 twenty and thirty fathoms. Now, there are enormous areas in the 
 Indian Ocean in which every island is a coral formation raised to the 
 height to which the waves can throw up fragments and the winds pile 
 up sand ; and the only theory which seems to account for all the cir- 
 cumstances embraced, is that of the subsidence of vast regions in this 
 ocean. " As mountain after mountain and island after island slowly 
 sunk beneath the water," he says, " fresh bases would be successively 
 afforded for the growth of the corals. I venture to defy any one to 
 explain in any other manner how it is possible that numerous islands 
 should be distributed throughout vast areas, all the islands being low, 
 all built of coral absolutely requiring a foundation within a limited 
 depth below the surface." 
 
 The Fortfes, according to Mr. Darwin, form the most elevated 
 deposits of those which are situated nearer the level of the water : 
 Millepoi-a complanata also enters into the formation of the upper 
 banks. Various other branched corals present themselves in great 
 numbers in the cavities left by the Poriies and Millep07'a crossing 
 each other. It is difficult to identify living species when they live in 
 the deeper parts, but, according to Darwin, the lower parts of the reefs 
 are occupied by polyps of the same species as in the upper parts ; at 
 the depth of eighteen fathoms and upwards, the bottom consists 
 alternately of sand and corals. The total breadth of the circular reef 
 or ring which constitutes the atoll of the Keeling or Cocos Island 
 varies from 200 to 500 yards in breadth. Some Uttle parasitic isles 
 form themselves upon the reefs, at 200 or 300 yards from their 
 exterior edge, by the accumulation of the fragments thrown up here 
 during great storms. They rise from two to three yards above the 
 sea -level, and consist of dead shells, corals, and sea urchins, the 
 whole consolidated into hard and solid rock. 
 
 The description of the Island of Cocos or Keeling is as follows : — 
 " The ring-formed reef of the lagoon island is surmounted, in the 
 greater part of its length, by linear islets. On the northern, or lee- 
 ward side, there is an opening through which vessels can pass to the 
 anchorage within. On entering, the scene was very curious, and 
 rather pretty; its beauty, however, entirely depended on the brilliancy 
 of the surrounding colours. The shallow, clear, and still water of the 
 lagoon resting in its greater part on white sand, is, when illumined 
 by a vertical sun, of the most vivid green. This brilliant expanse, 
 several miles in width, is on all sides divided, either by a line of 
 snow-white breakers from the dark heaving waters of the ocean, or 
 from the blue vault of heaven by the strips of land crowned by the 
 
196 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 level tops of the cocoa-nut tree. As a white cloud here and there 
 affords a pleasing contrast to the azure sky, so in the lagoon, bands 
 of living coral darken the emerald-green water. 
 
 " The next morning I went ashore on Direction Island. The 
 strip of dry land is only a few hundred yards in width ; on the lagoon 
 side there was a white calcareous beach, the radiation from which, 
 under this sultry cHmate, was very oppressive. On the outer coast, a 
 sohd broad flat of coral rock served to break the violence of the open 
 sea. Excepting near the lagoon, where there is some sand, the land 
 is entirely composed of rounded fragments of coral. In such a loose, 
 dry, stony soil, the climate of the intertropical regions alone could 
 produce so vigorous a vegetation. On some of the smaller islets 
 nothing could be more elegant than the manner in which the young and 
 full-grown cocoa-nut trees, without destroying each other's symmetry, 
 were mingled into one wood. A beach of glittering white sand formed 
 a border to those fairy spots. 
 
 " The natural history of these islands, from its very paucity, 
 possesses peculiar interest. The cocoa-nut tree, at the first glance, 
 seems to compose the whole wood ; there are, however, five or six 
 other trees. One of these grows to a very large size, but, from the 
 extreme softness of its wood, it is useless ; another sort affords ex- 
 cellent timber for ship-building. Besides the trees, the number of 
 plants is exceedingly limited, and consist of insignificant weeds. In 
 my collection, which includes, I believe, nearly the perfect Flora, 
 there are twenty species, without reckoning a moss, lichen, and 
 fungus. To this number two trees must be added, one of which was 
 not in flower, and the other I only heard of. The latter is a solitary 
 tree of its kind, and grows near the beach, where, without doubt, the 
 one seed was thrown up by the waves. 
 
 " The next day I employed myself in examining the very interesting 
 yet simple structure and origin of these islands. The water being 
 unusually smooth, I waded over the flat of dead rock as far as the 
 living mounds of coral, on which the swell of the open sea breaks. 
 In some of the guUeys and hollows there were beautiful green and 
 other coloured fishes, and the forms and tints of many of the zoophytes 
 were admirable. It is excusable to grow enthusiastic over the infinite 
 number of organic beings with which the sea of the Tropics, so prodigal 
 of life, teems ; yet I must confess, I think those naturaUsts who have 
 described in well-known words the submarine grottoes decked with a 
 thousand beauties, have indulged in rather exuberant language. 
 
 " I accompanied Captain Fitzroy to an island at the head of the 
 lagoon \ the channel was exceedingly intricate, winding through fields 
 
CORAL ISLANDS. 1 97 
 
 of delicately-branched corals. At the head of the lagoon we crossed a 
 narrow islet, and found a great surf breaking on the windward coast. 
 I can hardly explain the reason, but there is, to my mind, much 
 grandeur in the view of the outer shores of these lagoon islands. 
 There is a simplicity in the barrier-like beach, the margin of green 
 bushes and tall cocoa-nuts, the solid flat of dead coral-rock, strewed 
 here and there with great loose fragments, and the line of furious 
 breakers, all rounding away towards either hand. The ocean, throw- 
 ing its waters over the broad reef, appears an invincible, all-powerful 
 enemy ; yet we see it resisted and even conquered by means which at 
 first seem most weak and insufficient. It is not that the ocean spares 
 the rock of coral ; the great fragments scattered over the reef, and 
 heaped on the beach whence the tall cocoa-nut trees spring, plainly 
 bespeak the unrelenting power of the waves. Nor are any periods of 
 repose granted ; the long swell caused by the gentle but steady action 
 of the trade-winds, always blowing in one direction over a wide area, 
 causes breakers almost equalling in force those during a gale of wind 
 in the temperate regions, and which never cease to rage. It is im- 
 possible to behold these waves without feeling a conviction that an 
 island, though built of the hardest rocks — let it be porphyry, granite, 
 or quartz — would ultimately yield and be demolished by such an 
 irresistible power. Yet these low, insignificant coral islets stand, and 
 are victorious ; for here another power, as an antagonist, takes part 
 in the contest. The organic forces separate the atoms of carbonate 
 of lime, one by one, from the foaming breakers, and unite them into 
 a symmetrical structure. Let the hurricane tear up its thousand huge 
 fragments, yet what will that tell against the accumulated labour of 
 myriads of architects at work night and day, month after month ? 
 Thus do we see the soft and gelatinous body of a polyp, through the 
 agency of the vital laws, conquering the great mechanical power of 
 Ihe waves of an ocean which neither the art of man nor the inanimate 
 \ orks of Nature could successfully resist." 
 
 We have said that these coral formations are of three forms, to 
 which the names of atolls, barrier reefs, and fringi?ig reefs, have been 
 applied. We have spoken of atolls ; we shall now say a few words 
 on barrier and fringing reefs. 
 
 The har7'ier reefs are formations which surround the ordinary 
 islands, or stretch along their banks. They have the form and 
 general structure of atolls. Like atolls, the barrier reefs appear 
 placed on the edge of a marine precipice. They rise on the edge of 
 a plateau which looks down on a bottomless sea. On the coast of 
 
1 98 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 New Caledonia, only two lengths of his ship from the reef, Captain 
 Kent found no bottom in 150 fathoms. This was verified at Gambier 
 Island in the Pacific Ocean, in Qualem Island, and at many others. 
 
 According to Mr. Darwin, the barrier reef situated on the western 
 coast of New Caledonia is 400 miles long \ that along the eastern 
 coast of Australia extends almost without interruption for 1,000 
 miles, ranging from twenty or thirty to fifty or sixty miles from 
 the coast. As to the elevation of the islands thus surrounded 
 with reefs, it varies considerably. The Isle of Tahiti rises 6,800 
 feet above the level of the sea ; the Isle of Maurua to 600 ; Aituaki 
 to 300 j and Manonai to about fifty feet only. 
 
 Around the Isle of Gambier the reef has a thickness of 1,060 feet, 
 at Tahiti of 230. Round the Fiji Islands it is from 2,000 to 3,000. 
 
 The fringing reefs immediately surrounding the island, or a 
 portion of it, might be confounded with the barrier reefs we have 
 been describing, if they only difiered in their smaller breadth ; but the 
 circumstance that they abut immediately on the coast m place of 
 being separated by a channel or lagoon more or less deep and con- 
 tinuous, proves that they are in direct communication with the slope 
 of the submarine soil, and permits of their being distinguished from the 
 barrier reefs. The dangerous breakers which surround the Mauritius 
 are a striking example of .the fringing reef. This island is almost 
 entirely surrounded by a barrier of these rocks, the breadth of which 
 varies from 150 to 330 feet 3 their rugged and abrupt surface is worn 
 almost smooth, and is rarely uncovered at low water. Analogous 
 reefs surround the Isle of Bourbon ; all round this island the 
 polyps construct on the volcanic bottom of the sea detached masses, 
 which rise from a fathom to a fathom and a half above the water. 
 
 Coral coasting reefs present themselves also on the eastern coast 
 of Africa and of Brazil. In the Red Sea, reefs of corals exist which may 
 be ranked among the coasting reefs, in consequence of the limited 
 breadth of the gulf Ehrenberg and Hemprich examined 150 
 stations in the Red Sea, all of which had outlying fringing reefs of 
 this description. 
 
 It may be asked. With what rapidity are these coral banks 
 formed, so as to become atolls and fringing reefs 2 To answer this 
 question even approximately is very difticult. On the coast of the 
 Mauritius, according to M. d'Archiac,* one of the learned professors 
 
 * " Cours de Paléontologie Stratigraphique. " 
 
CORAL ISLANDS. 1 99 
 
 of the Jardin des Plantes, the edge of the reef is produced by 
 Madrep07^a corymbosa, M. podiiifera, and two species of Astj-ea, 
 which pursue their operations at the depth of from eight to fifteen 
 fathoms. At the base is a bank of Seriatopora, from fifteen to twenty 
 fathoms in height. At the bottom, the sand is covered with Seriatopora. 
 At twenty fathoms we also meet with fragments of Madrepora. Be- 
 tween twenty and forty fathoms the bottom is sandy, and the sounding- 
 rod brings up great fragments ot Caryophyllia. According to MM. 
 Quoy and Gaimard, the species of Asfrea, which, as these naturalists 
 consider, constitute the greater part of the reefs, cannot live beyond 
 four or five fathoms deep. Millepora alcicornis extends from the 
 surface to the depth of twelve fathoms ; the Madrepores and Seriato- 
 pores down to twenty fathoms. Considerable masses of Meandrina 
 have been observed at sixteen fathoms ; and a Caryophyllia has been 
 brought up from eighty fathoms in thirty-three degrees south latitude. 
 Among the polyps which do not form solid reefs, Mr. Darwin 
 mentions Gorgonia at 160, Corallines at 100, Millepora at from thirty 
 to forty-five, Sertularians at forty, and Tulndipora at ninety-five 
 fathoms. 
 
 According to Dana, none of the species of the genera which form 
 reefs — namely, Madrepora^ Millepora, For if es, Astrea, and Meaiidrir.a — 
 can live at a greater depth than eighteen fathoms. It is only near 
 the surface of the water that the zoantharia which produce polypidoms 
 and form coral banks put forth their powers \ the points most exposed 
 to the beating of the waves is that which is most favourable to their 
 growth ; it is there that the finest specimens of the genera Astrea, 
 Forites, and Millepora most abound. 
 
 The proportionate increase of the structures, according to Mr. 
 Darwin, depends at once upon the species which construct the reef£ 
 and upon various accessory circumstances. The ordinary rate of in- 
 crease of the madrepores, according to Dana, is about an inch and a 
 half annually ; and, as their branches are much scattered, this will not 
 exceed half an inch in thickness of the whole surface covered by the 
 madrepore. Again, in consequence of their porosity, this quantity 
 will be reduced to three-eighths of an inch of compact matter. The 
 sands, too, filling up the destroyed part of the polyp are washed out 
 by the currents in the great depths where there are no living corals, 
 and the surface occupied by them is reduced to a sixth of the whole 
 coralline region, which reduces the preceding three-eighths to one 
 sixth. The shells and other organic débris will probably represent a 
 fourth of the total produce in relation to corals. In this manner, 
 taking everything into account, the mean increase of a reef cannot 
 
200 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 exceed the eighth of an inch annually. According to this calculation, 
 some reefs which are not less than 2,000 feet thick would require 
 for their formation 192,000 years. 
 
 It is necessary, however, to add that in favourable circumstances 
 the increase of the masses of coral may be much more rapid. Mr. 
 Darwin speaks of a ship which, having been wrecked in the Persian 
 Gulf, was found, after being submerged only twenty months, to be 
 covered witli a bed of coral two feet in thickness ; he also mentions 
 experiments made by Mr. Allen on the coast of Madagascar, which 
 tend to prove that in the space of six months certain corals increased 
 nearly three feet. 
 
 We proceed to the theoretic explanation of these curious organic 
 formations. 
 
 Naturalists and navigators have been much divided in opinion as to 
 the true origin of these coral islands. Most of them have admitted that 
 these enormous banks are composed of the calcareous remains and 
 earthy detritus of the madrepores and corals, which, developing them- 
 selves in their midst, or upon the bed of the ocean, multiplying and 
 superposing themselves, age after age, and generation after generation, 
 have finally concluded by forming deposits of this immense extent. 
 The growth of the vast madreporic mass would be finally arrested by 
 the want of water when its summit approached the level of the sea. 
 It is thus that Forster, Pérou, Flinders, and Chamisso, have explained 
 the formation of the atolls and fringing reefs. This opinion has also 
 found a supporter in our times in the French Admiral Du Petit 
 Thouars. But he objects, with reason, that the corals cannot five at 
 the prodigious depth of sea at which the base of these islets lie. It 
 has therefore been found necessary to seek for another cause to satisfy 
 the diverse conditions of the phenomena, and explain, at the same 
 time, the strange circular arrangement of these islands, which is almost 
 constant, and which it is essential to keep in view. 
 
 Sir Charles Lyell was of opinion that the base of an atoll was 
 always the crater of an ancient submarine volcano, which, when 
 crowned with corals and riiadrepores, would naturally reproduce this 
 circular wall-like shape formed of heaped-up corals. 
 
 This theory supposes the existence of volcanic craters in the 
 neighbourhood of all the coral islands. It is quite certain that these 
 islands are often found not far from extinct volcanoes; and Sir Charles 
 Lyell has pubfished a very curious map in connection with the sub- 
 ject ; nevertheless, the coincidence does not always exist. We have 
 already remarked on the theory by which Mr. Darwin seeks to explain 
 
CORAL ISLANDS. 201 
 
 the complicated conditions of the phenomena. The explanation 
 proposed accomits for the known facts, as well as the present appear- 
 ance of the madreporic islands. The circular atolls and fringing reefs 
 which are disposed as a sort of girdle, are principally formed of species 
 of the genera Forites, Milkpora, Astrea, zoantharia which cannot 
 exist at any great depth in the ocean, but which swarm on the rocks 
 at some few fathoms only below the limits of the tide. These animals, 
 by means of their accumulated débris, soon form a sort of coating 
 round the island, which constitutes the littoral reefs ; this marginal 
 shoulder, according to Mr. Darwin, is the first stage in the existence 
 of a coral island. At this point the author introduces a geological 
 cause, namely, a great subsiding movement of the soil, in which the 
 madreporic colony is sunk under the water. It is evident that after 
 submersion the coral will only continue to develop itself on the upper 
 surface, and within the limits which its nature prescribes. The madre- 
 pores exhibiting their greatest vitality at the points most exposed to 
 the fury of the waves, it will be near the outer edge of the reef that 
 their development will be most rapid. If the subsidence of the island 
 thus surrounded should still continue, as mountain after mountain 
 and island after island slowly sink beneath the water, fresh bases would 
 be successively afforded for the growth of the corals, and the outer 
 edge elevated by their continual labour, thus transforming the space 
 into a sort of circular lagune. The coral deposits would thus form an 
 isolated girdle, and the lagune, which occupies the centre, would 
 become deeper and deeper in proportion to the lowering of the soil. 
 This is the second stage of the coral isle. 
 
 The existence of the atolls are thus subordinated to two principal 
 conditions — the progressive subsidence of the shore washed by the 
 sea, and the existence of coral formed of a hard stony substance, the 
 growth and multiplication of which was extremely rapid. 
 
 It follows from this that coral isles cannot exist in all seas ; that 
 they can only have their birth in the torrid zone, or at least near the 
 tropics, for it is only in these regions where the warmth exists, so 
 necessary to their development, that the madrepores' show themselve? 
 in greatest abundance. 
 
 The great field of coral formations, in short, is found in the warm 
 parts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is from these oceans, 
 as from common centres, round which are ranged the series of coral 
 isles and islets, that it will be useful, in concluding this chapter, to 
 trace their geographical distribution. We borrow the materials for 
 this from Milne-Edwards's table of their distribution in the principal 
 seas of the world. 
 
202 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 It is, as we have said, only in the warm parts of the Indian and 
 Pacific Oceans that the great mass of these islands are found. They 
 give birth towards the south to the group of atolls known as the archi- 
 pelago of the Bashee Islands, the extreme limit of the region being 
 the Isle of Ducie. A multitude of other islands of the same nature are 
 sparsely scattered over the sea, up to the east coast of Australia. There 
 are enormous areas here, in which every single island is of coral forma- 
 tion, and is raised to the height at which the waves can throw up 
 fragments. The Radack group is a quadrilateral, 400 miles long by 
 240 broad. Between this group and the Low Archipelago itself, 840 
 miles by 420, there are groups and single islands covering a linear 
 space of more than 4,000 miles. To the north of the Equator, the 
 archipelago of the Caroline Islands constitutes a very considerable 
 group of coral islands, comprehending upwards of 1,000. extending in 
 a broad belt over nearly 40^ of longitude. On the other hand, all 
 along the coast of the American continent, round the Galapagos and 
 the Isle of Pâques, we find no trace of them. The reason assigned 
 is, that in these regions a great current of cold water, flowing from 
 the Antarctic Pole, so much lowers the temperature of the sea, that 
 the corals can no longer exist. 
 
 We still meet with atolls in the Chinese Seas, and coral barrier 
 reefs are abundant round the Marianne and Philippine Islands. These 
 marginal reefs form also an immense tract, from the Isle of Timor, 
 along the south coast of Sumatra, up to the Island of Nicobar, in the 
 Bay of Bengal. 
 
 To the west of the Indian Peninsula, the Maldive and Laccadive 
 Islands form the extremity of another group of atolls, and important 
 madreporic reefs, which extend towards the south, by the Maldives 
 and the Chagos Islands ; they consist of low coral formations, densely 
 clothed with cocoa-nut trees. The Maldives, the most southerly 
 cluster, include upwards of r,ooo islands and reefs ; the Laccadives, 
 seventeen in number, are of similar origin. The Saya de Malha 
 Bank, towards the south-east, constitutes a further group of madreporic 
 islets. Finally, the coast of the Mauritius, of Madagascar, of the 
 Seychelles, and even the African continent, from the northern extremity 
 of the Mozambique Channel to the bottom of the Red Sea, are 
 studded with numerous reefs of the same nature. They fail, however, 
 almost completely, along the coast of the Asiatic continent, where, 
 among others, the waters of the Euphrates, the Indus, and the Ganges, 
 enter the sea. The western coast of Africa, and the east coast of the 
 American continent, are almost entirely destitute of great madreporic 
 reefs, but they abound in the Caribbean Seas. In the Gulf of Mexico, 
 
SEA ANEMONES. 20 3 
 
 where the vast freshwater current of the Mississippi debouches into 
 the sea, they are unknown. It is principally on the north coast and 
 upon the eastern flanks of the chain of West Indian Islands that the 
 coral reefs show themselves in these regions. 
 
 The Actinid^.. 
 
 Here we leave the group of polyps which form united families. 
 The Sea Anemones, of which the genus Actinia is the type, consist of 
 Zoantharia, which produce no true polypidom, that is to say, of 
 polyps whose integument remains always soft, and in whose interior 
 no calcareous plates are produced. This order is usually divided 
 into two groups — that in which the base is adherent at pleasure, as in 
 Actinia, and that in which the base is not adherent, as in llyanthus. 
 
 The modern aquarium enables the spectator to witness many 
 wonderful sights. Adherent against the transparent crystal walls 
 of the basin, he observes living creatures of the most brilliant shades 
 of colour, and more resembling flowers than animals. Supported 
 by a base and cylindrical stem, he sees them terminate like the 
 corolla of a flower, as in the petals of the anemone : these are the 
 animals we call Sea Anemones — curious creatures, which, as all per- 
 sons familiar with the sea-shore may have observed, are at one time 
 seen suspended from the rocks, and again buried at the bottom of 
 the sea. These charming and timid creatures are also called Actinia^ 
 as indicating their disposition to form rays or stars, from the Greek 
 àKTiî, a ray. 
 
 The body of these animals is cylindrical in form, terminating 
 Deneath in a muscular disc, which is generally large and distinct, 
 enabling them to cling vigorously to foreign bodies. It terminates 
 above in an upper disc, bearing many rows of tentacles, which differ 
 from each other only in their size. These tentacles are sometimes 
 decorated with brilliant colours, forming a species of collar, consisting 
 of contractile and often retractile tubes, pierced at their points with 
 an orifice, whence issue jets of water, which are ejected at the will of 
 the animal. Arranged in circles, they are distributed with perfect 
 regularity round a central mouth. These are their arms. 
 
 The mouth of the Sea Anemone opens among the tentacles. 
 Oval in form, it communicates by means of a short tube with a 
 stomach, broad and short, which descends vertically, and abuts by a 
 large opening on the visceral cavity, the interior of which is divided 
 into little chambers. These chambers are not all of the same dimen- 
 sions ; ill parting from the cylindrical walls of the body, they advance, 
 
204 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 the one increasing, the others getting smaller, in the direction of the 
 centre. Moreover, they have many kinds of cells, which dispose 
 themselves in their different relations with great regularity — their 
 tentacula, which correspond with them, being arranged in circles 
 radiating more or less from the centre. 
 
 The stomach of the sea anemones fulfils a multitude of functions. 
 At first, it is the digestive organ, and is unceasingly moistened by 
 the water which it passes through it, takes what nourishment is in it, 
 and ejects. The general cavity of the body corresponds with the 
 visceral cavity, but is separated from it by a thin partition, and in the 
 general cavity, which is. divided into compartments by perpendicular 
 partitions of membrane, the reproductive organs,- the eggs, and the 
 young, are lodged, and are all connected with the tentacles or arms. 
 In the month of September the eggs are fecundated, and the larva 
 or embryos developed. As Fredol says in "La Monde de la Mer," 
 " These animals bear their young, not upon their arms, but /;/ their 
 arms. The larva generally pass from the tentacula (/.d, from the 
 general cavity) into the stomach, and are afterwards ejected from the 
 mouth along with the rejecta of their food, a most singular fact — the 
 mouth serving the purposes of accouchement — a fact which it would 
 be difficult to believe on other than the most positive evidence." 
 
 " The Daisy-like Anemone {Sagarfia bellis, Gosse), in the Zoo- 
 logical Gardens of Paris," says Fredol, " frequently throws up young 
 ones, which are dispersed, and attach themselves to various parts of 
 the aquarium, and finally become miniature anemones exactly like the 
 parent. An actinia which had taken a very copious repast ejected a 
 portion of it about twenty-four hours later, and in the middle of the 
 ejected food were found thirty-eight young individuals." According 
 to Daly ell, an accouchement is here a fit of indigestion. 
 
 The lower class of animals have, in fact, as the general basis of 
 their organisation, a sac with a single opening, which is applied, as 
 we have seen, to a great variety of uses. It receives and rejects; it 
 swallows and it vomits. The vomiting becomes necessary and habi- 
 tual — the normal condition, in short, of the animal — and is perhaps 
 a source of pleasure to it, for it is not a malady, but a function. 
 
 The sea anemones are also developed in another manner. On 
 the edge of their base certain bud-like excrescences may often be 
 observed. These buds are by-and-by transformed into embryos, 
 which detach themselves from the parent form, and soon become 
 ndividuals in all respects resembling it. This mode of reproduction 
 greatly resembles some of the vegetative processes. Another and very 
 lingular mode of reproduction has been noted by Mr. Hogg in the 
 
SEA ANEMONES. 20$ 
 
 case of Actinia œillet. Wishing to detach this anemone from the 
 aquarium, this gentleman used every effort to effect his purpose j but 
 only succeeded, after violent exertions, in tearing the lower part of 
 the animal. Six portions remained attached to the glass walls of the 
 aquarium. At the end of eight days, attempts were again made to 
 detach these fragments ; but it was observed, with much surprise, 
 that they shrank from the touch, and contracted themselves. Each 
 of them soon became crowned with a little row of tentacula, and 
 finally each fragment became a new anemone. Every part of these 
 strange creatures thus becomes a separate being when detached, 
 while the mutilated parent continues to live as if nothing had 
 happened. It has long been known that the sea anemones may be 
 cut limb from limb, mutilated, divided, and subdivided. One part 
 of the body cut off is quickly replaced. Cut off the tentacles of an 
 actinia, and they are replaced in a short time, and the experiment 
 may be repeated indefinitely. The experiments made by M. 
 Trembley of Geneva upon the fresh-water hydra were repeated by 
 the Abbé Dicquemare on the sea anemones. He mutilated and 
 tormented them in a hundred ways. The parts cut oft' continued to 
 live, and the mutilated creature had the power of reproducing the 
 parts of which it had been deprived. To those who accused the 
 abbé of cruelty in thus torturing the poor creatures, he replied that, 
 so far from being a cause of suffering to them, " he had increased 
 their term of life, and renewed their youth." 
 
 The Actiniadœ vary in their habitat from pools near low-water 
 mark to eighteen or twenty fathoms water, whence they have been 
 dredged up. " They adhere," says Dr. Johnston, " to rocks, shells, 
 and other extraneous bodies by means of a glutinous secretion from 
 their enlarged base, but they can leave their hold and remove to 
 another station whensoever it pleases them, either by gliding along 
 with a slow and almost imperceptible movement (half an inch in five 
 minutes), as is their usual method, or by reversing the body and 
 using the tentacula for the purpose of feet, as Reaumur asserts, and 
 as I have once witnessed ; or, lastly, inflating the body with water, 
 so as to render it more buoyant, they detach themselves, and are 
 driven to a distance by the random motion of the waves. They feed 
 on shrimps, small crabs, whelks, and on very many species of shelled 
 mollusca, and probably on all animals brought within their reach 
 whose strength or agility is insufficient to extricate them from the 
 grasp of their numerous tentacula ; for as these organs can be turned 
 about in any direction, and greatly lengthened, they are capable of 
 being applied to every point, and adhere by suction with considerable 
 
206 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 tenacity, throwing out (according to Gaertner) of their whole surface 
 a number of extremely minute suckers, which, sticking fast to the 
 small protuberances of the skin, produce the sensation of roughness, 
 which is so far from being painful that it even cannot be called 
 disagreeable. 
 
 The size of the prey is frequently in unseemly disproportion to 
 the preyer, being often equal in bulk to itself. I had once brought 
 me a specimen of Actinia crassicoimis^ that might have been originally 
 two inches in diameter, which had somehow contrived to swallow a 
 valve of Pecten maximus of the size of an ordinary saucer. The shell, 
 fixed within the stomach, was so placed as to divide it completely 
 into two halves, so that the body, stretched tensely over, had become 
 thin and flattened Hke a pancake. All communication between the 
 inferior portion of the stomach and the mouth was of course pre- 
 vented ; yet, instead of emaciating and dying of atrophy, the animal 
 had availed itself of what undoubtedly had been a very untoward 
 accident to increase its enjoyment arid its chance of double fare. A 
 new mouth, furnished with two rows of numerous tentacula, was 
 opened up on what had been the base, and led to the under stomach ; 
 the individual had indeed become a sort of Siamese Twin, but with 
 greater intimacy and extent in its unions !" 
 
 The sea anemones pass nearly all their life fixed to some rock, to 
 which they seem to take root. There they live a sort of unconscious 
 and obtuse existence, gifted with an instinct so obscure that they are 
 not even conscious of the prey in their vicinity until it is actually in 
 contact, when it seizes it in its mouth and swallows it. Nevertheless, 
 though habitually adherent, they can move, gliding and creeping 
 slowly by successive contractile and relaxing movements of the body, 
 extending one edge of their base and relaxing the opposite one. 
 
 At the approach of cold weather the Actittia are said to descend 
 into the deepest water, where they find a more agreeable tem- 
 perature. 
 
 We have said that the sea anemones are scarcely possessed of 
 vital ihstinct ; but they are capable of certain voluntary movements. 
 Under the influence of light, they expand their tentacles as the daisy 
 displays its florets. If the animal is touched, or the water is agitated 
 in its neighbourhood, the tentacles close immediately. These 
 tentacles appear occasionally to serve the purpose of ofl"ensive arms. 
 The hand of the man who has touched them becomes red and 
 inflamed. M. Hollard has seen small mackerel, two to three inches 
 long, perish when touched by the tentacles of the Green Actinia 
 {Corynadis viridis^ Allman). This is a charming little animal. 
 
SËA ANEMONES. 20/ 
 
 " The brilliancy of its colours and the great elegance of its tentacular 
 crown when fully expanded," says Professor Allman, "render it 
 eminently attractive ; hundreds may often be seen in a single pool, and 
 few sights will be remembered with greater pleasure by the naturalist 
 than that presented by these little zoophytes, as they expand their 
 green and rosy crowns amid the algae, millepores, and plumy corals, 
 co-tenants of their rock-covered vase !" 
 
 The toxicological properties of the Actinia have been attributed to 
 certain special cells full of liquid ; but M. Hollard believes that these 
 effects are neither constant enough nor sufficiently general to con- 
 stitute the chief function of these organs, which are found in all the 
 species and over their whole surface, external and internal. Though 
 quite incapable of discerning their prey at a distance, the sea ane- 
 mone seizes it with avidity when it comes to offer itself up a victim. 
 If some adventurous little worm, or some young and sluggish crus- 
 tacean, happens to ruffle the expanded involucrum of an actinia in 
 its lazy progress through the water, the animal strikes it at once with 
 its tentacles, and instinctively sweeps it into its open mouth. This 
 habit may be observed in any aquarium, and is a favourite spectacle 
 at the " Jardin d'Acclimatation " of Paris, at noon on Sundays and 
 Wednesdays, when the aquatic animals are fed. Small morsels of 
 food are thrown into the water. Prawns, shrimps, and other crus- 
 taceans and zoophytes inhabiting this medium, chase the morsels as 
 they sink to the bottom of the basin ; but it is otherwise with the 
 Actinia ; the morsels glide downward within the twentieth part of an 
 inch of their crown without their presence being suspected. It requires 
 the aid of a directing wand, directed by the hand of the keeper, to 
 guide the food right down on the animal. Then its arms or tentacles 
 seize upon the prey, and its repast commences forthwith. 
 
 The Actinia are at once gluttonous and voracious. They seize 
 their food with the help of their tentacula, and engulf in their 
 stomach, as we have seen, substances of a volume and consistence 
 which contrast strangely with their dimensions and softness. In less 
 than an hour, M. Hollard observed that one of these creatures voided 
 the shell of a mussel, and disposed of a crab all to its hardest parts ; 
 nor was it slow to reject these hard parts, by turning its stomach 
 inside out, as one might turn out one's pocket, in order to empty it 
 of its contents. We have seen in Dr. Johnston's account of A. cras- 
 sicornis, that when threatened with death by hunger, from havmg 
 swallowed a shell which separated it into two halves, at the end of 
 eleven days it had opened a new mouth, provided with separate rows 
 of tentacula. The accident which, in ordinary animals, would have 
 
208 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 Jeft it to perish of hunger, became, in the sea anemone, the source of 
 redoubled gastronomical enjoyment. 
 
 "The anemones," Fre'dol tells us, "are voracious, and full of 
 energy ; nothing escapes their gluttony ; every creature which 
 approaches them is seized, engulfed, and devoured. Nevertheless, 
 with all the power of their mouth, their insatiable stomachs cannot 
 retain the prey they have swallowed. In certain circumstances it 
 contrives to escape, in others it is adroitly snatched away by some 
 neighbouring marauder more cunning and more active than the 
 anemone. 
 
 "It is sometimes observed in aquariums that a shrimp, which has 
 seen the prey devoured from a distance, will throw itself upon the 
 ravisher, and audaciously wrest the prey from him and devour it 
 before his eyes, to his great disappointment. Even when the savoury 
 morsel has been swallowed, the shrimp, by great exertions, succeeds 
 in extracting it from the anemone's stomach. Seating itself upon the 
 extended disc of the anemone, with its small feet it prevents the 
 approach of the tentacles, at the same time that it inserts its claws 
 into the digestive cavity and seizes the food. In vain the anemone 
 tries to contract its gills and close its mouth. Sometimes the conflict 
 between the sedentary zoophyte and the vagrant crustacean becomes 
 serious. When the former is strong and robust, the aggression is 
 repelled, and the shrimp runs the risk of supplementing the repast 
 of the anemone.^' 
 
 If the actinias are voracious, they can also support a prolonged 
 period of fasting. They have been known to live two and even 
 three years without having received any nourishment."'^ 
 
 Although the sea anemone is said to be delicate eating, man 
 derives very Httle benefit from them in that respect. In Provence, 
 Italy, and Greece, the Green Actinia is in great repute ; and Dicque- 
 mare speaks of A. crassicornis as delicate food. " Of all the kinds of 
 sea anemones, I would prefer this for the table ; being boiled some 
 time in sea water, they acquire a firm and palatable consistence, and 
 may then be eaten with any kind of sauce. They are of an inviting 
 appearance, of a light shivering texture, and of a soft white and 
 reddish hue. Their smell is not unlike that of a warm crab or 
 lobster." Dr. Johnston admits the tempting description, and does 
 not doubt their being not less a luxury than the sea urchins of the 
 Greeks, or the snails of the Roman epicures, but he was not induced 
 
 * "On en a vu vivre deux et même trois ans, sans recevoir de nourriture."— 
 Vie des Animaux, p. II 7. 
 
SEA ANEMONES. 211 
 
 to test its truth. Rondeletius tells us, naving, as Dr. Johnston thinks, 
 A. crassicornts in view, that it brings a good price at Bordeaux. 
 Actinia dia7ithus also is good to eat, quoth Dicquemare, and Plaucus 
 directs the cook to dress it after the manner of dressing oysters, with 
 which it is frequently eaten. Actinia coriacea is found in the market 
 at Rochefort during the months of January, February, and March. 
 Its flesh is said to be both delicate and savoury. 
 
 With these general considerations, we proceed to note some of 
 the more remarkable genera and species of these interesting creatures. 
 Among these, the species represented in Plate V. are the ones 
 usually seen collected in such aquariums as those of the Zoological 
 Gardens of London and Dublin and the Garden of Acclimatisation 
 of Paris. 
 
 The first section of the group of Actiniadœ, in which the base is 
 adherent at pleasure, includes, according to Mr. Gosse, those anemones 
 in which the tentacles are compound. To this section belongs, 
 among others, the genus Metridiwn. A second section contains 
 those where the tentacles are simple. Here we find the pretty 
 Corynactis viridis. 
 
 C. viridis has very numerous tentacula, sometimes as many as 
 loo, exceeding in length the breadth of the body, of a fine 
 brownish or olive green, and rose-coloured at the extremity. The 
 trunk is of a greyish green or brown ; the disc is brown with 
 greenish rays. This species is plentiful in the Mediterranean and on 
 the south-east coasts of Great Britain and Ireland. When attached 
 to the vertical sides of a rock, a Httle below the surface of the water, 
 in which position it is often seen, the tentacles hang suspended, as if 
 the animal had no power to display them in their radiate form ; but 
 when fixed horizontally in a calm sea, they are spread out in all 
 directions, and are kept in a state of continual agitation ; its long, 
 handsome tentacula, fully expanded, float and balance themselves in 
 the water in spite of the action of the waves, presenting a most 
 interesting spectacle as it displays its beauties a few feet below the 
 surface of the water. 
 
 Actinoloba diafithus (EUis) is represented in Plate VI., Fig. i ; its 
 body is smooth and cylindrical ; the disc marked in the centre with 
 clavate radiating bands ; tentacula numerous, irregular, the outer 
 small, and forming round the margin a thick filamentous fringe. 
 This species attaches itself to rocks and shells in deep water, or 
 within low-water mark, to which it permanendy attaches itself, and 
 can scarcely be removed without organic injury to the base. When 
 contracted, the body presents a thick, short, sub-cylindrical form, 
 
212 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 about three inches long, and one and a half in diameter, and about 
 five inches when fully expanded ; the skin is smooth, of a uniform 
 olive, whitish, cream, or flesh colour. The centre of the disc is 
 ornamented with a circle of white bands, radiating from the mouth, 
 the lamellae running across the circumference being perceptible 
 through the transparent skin. From the narrow colourless inter- 
 spaces between the lamellae the ten taenia originate. " They are 
 placed," says Dr. Johnston, " between the mouth and the margin, 
 which is encircled by a dense fringe of incontestable beauty, com- 
 posed of innumerable short tentacula or filaments, forming a thick, 
 furry border." In Plate V., Figs. 9, 10, we have probably 
 Anthea cereus (Ellis), the body of which is a light chestnut colour, 
 smooth, sulcated lengthwise, with tentacula rising from the disc 
 to the number, in aged animals, of 200. Sagartia vidtiata, Gosse 
 (Plate VI., Fig. 4), has the body adherent, cyHndrical, destitute of 
 warts, emitting capsuliferous filaments from pores; nettling-threads 
 short, densely armed with a brush of hairs ; tentacles above 200 
 arranged in five rows. A. picta, which Professor Edward Forbes 
 changed to Adamsia palliata^ is described by Mr. Adams, who 
 first discovered it, " as longitudinally sulcated, having the edges 
 of the base crenated ; the lower part an obscure red, and the 
 upper part transparent white, marked with fine purple spots ; the 
 outer circumference of the aperture has a narrow stripe of pink. 
 When expanded, the superior division of the body seems formed of 
 membrane. From perforated warts placed without order on the 
 outer coat, issued white filamentous substances variously twisted 
 together. I have observed," he adds, "similar bodies ejected from 
 the mouths of all the species of this genus which have fallen within 
 my notice." This species is generally found adherent to the mouth 
 of turbinate shells of Gasteropods, which it sometimes invests with a 
 horny membrane. 
 
 Actmia inesembrya7itheimmi (Johnston). This species is extremely 
 common on rocks between the tide marks all round the coasts of 
 Great Britain and Ireland, as well as those of France. It attaches 
 itself chiefly to rocks beaten by the waves and exposed to view at 
 the time of low water. The body is from two to three inches in 
 height, and from an inch to an inch and a half in diameter ; hemi 
 spherical when contracted, it resembles a bell perforated at the 
 summit, dilated into a cylinder. When fully extended the tentacula 
 are nearly equal to the height of the body, of a uniform liver colour, 
 or olive green, and sometimes streaked with blue, having a greenish 
 line either continuous or in spots, the base generally of a greenish 
 
■•I, 
 
 .1 
 
 •2^ 
 
 
SEA ANEMONES. 
 
 215 
 
 colour encircled with an azure blue line, often streaked with red. 
 The tentacula are terminated by a small pore. Its colour is varia.ble, 
 but generally it is of a violet-red. Sometimes it presents round 
 spots of a fine green ; at other times it is only of a greenish hue ; 
 the edge of the feet have a narrow border of red, with green and 
 blue beneath. 
 
 The verrucous or warty section of the Actuiiadce have the lateral 
 walls of the column covered with warts. To this section belong the 
 Dahlia Wartlet, Tealia crassicornis (Johnston), with its many varieties. 
 Hollard describes them as frequently buried in the sands on the 
 shore ; while Mr. Cocks describes them " as attaching themselves to 
 
 Fig. 74. — Edwardsia calimorpha (Gosse). 
 
 shells and stones in deep water, or attached on the littoral to the 
 sides of rocks, in crevices, or on the face of clean stones in sheltered 
 places." The body is variegated, green, and red ; the tentacles thick, 
 short, and greyish, with broad roseate bands. 
 
 Coming now to the section where the base is not adherent, we 
 find anemones with the base small, and terminating in a rounded 
 point, and the body much elongated, as in Edwardsia calimoj^pha 
 (Fig. 74), in which the body is non-adherent, somewhat worm-like, 
 having the mouth and tentacula seated on a retractile column, the 
 lower extremity inflated, membranous, and retractile. 
 
 Milne-Edwards also forms a special group of the genus Phylladis. 
 In this group the polyps are simple, fleshy, and present at once 
 simple and composite tentacula. Such is Phyllactis prœtexta (Fig. 75), 
 which is found in the neighbourhood of Rio Janeiro. The anemone 
 
2l6 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 fixes itself upon the rocks on the sea- shore, and covers itself with 
 sand. Its trunk, of cylindrical form, is of a flesh-colour, with vertical 
 lines, having red points. The interior tentacles form two simple 
 elongated rows ; the exterior tentacles are spatulate and lobed, not 
 very unlike the leaves of the oak. 
 
 Fig. 75- — Phyllactis prsetexta Dana}, natural size. 
 
 The sub-family Thalassianthinas is distinguished from the pre- 
 ceding by having all its tentacula short, pinnate, and branching, or 
 papuliferous. One species only is known, ThalassiantJms aster, of a 
 slate colour, which inhabits the Red Sea. 
 
 The sub-family Minyadinge seem to represent among the 
 Zoantharia the Pennatula among the Alcyonaria. In the case of 
 these animals, the base of the body, in place of extending itself in a 
 
SEA ANEMONES. 
 
 217 
 
 disc-like form, in order to grapple with the rock and other projections 
 at the bottom of the sea, turns itself inwards, forming a sort of purse, 
 which seems to imprison the air. From this results a sort of hydro- 
 static apparatus, aided by which the animals can float in the water 
 and transport themselves from one place to another. The Blue 
 Minyad {Minyas cyajiea, Fig. 76) will serve as a type of this family; 
 
 
 Fig. 76. — Blue Minyad, Minyas cyanea (Cuvier), natural size. 
 
 its globose^ melon-like form is of azure blue, studded with white 
 wart-like excrescences ; it is flattened at its two extremities in its state 
 of contraction, and it has three rows of tentacula, which are short, 
 cylindrical, and white. The internal organs are of a delicate rose 
 colour. Cuvier placed this species among the Echinodermata, but 
 the observations of Lesueur and Quoy, who were acquainted with the 
 living animal, at once showed that its true place was among the free- 
 swimming Actiniad^. Many of the species, which are usually fixed, 
 are still capable of swimming and of inflating their suctorial discs ; 
 therefore it is by no means as yet quite certain that the free habit of 
 Miîiyas cymiea is constant. 
 
2l8 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 ALCYONARIA. 
 
 *• As for your pretty little seed-cups, or vases, ttiey are a sweet confirmation of 
 the pleasure Nature seems to take in superadding elegance of form to most of her 
 works. How poor and bungling are all the imitations of art ! When I have the 
 pleasure of seeing you next, we shall sit down — nay, kneel down — and admire 
 these things." — Hogarth to Ellis. 
 
 The Alcyonaria are so designated from their principal type, that of 
 Alcyonium. The species are all marine. The Alcyonaria may be 
 defined as Actinozoa in which each polype is furnished with eight 
 pinnately fringed tentacles. The chambers into which the body is 
 divided are some multiple of four. The corallum is often dense, 
 sometimes consisting, however, of calcareous spicules, and unlike 
 that in the Zoantharia, never showing traces of septa. We shall see, 
 farther on, that among the Gorgonidse the coral ceases to be spongy 
 and cellular ; that its axis assumes a horny consistence, which be- 
 comes often even stony; but the external barky layer, which is 
 the special lodging of the polyps, always remains soft on the surface. 
 We shall have a general idea of the organisation, habit, and mode of 
 multiplication among the Alcyonaria when we come to treat of the 
 precious coral and its strange history. The class Alcyonaria may be 
 divided into many orders. We shall consider — I. The 2\ihlporidœ. 
 II. The Gorgoiiidœ. III. The Pennatulidœ. IV. The Alcyonidœ. 
 
 I. THE TUBIPORID^> 
 
 form a group consisting of several species, which live in the bosom 
 of tropical seas, in which the Coral Islands form so prominent a 
 a feature. The group is exclusively formed of the curious genus 
 Tubipora. 
 
 The Tubipora is a calcareous coral, formed by a combination of 
 distinct, regularly-arranged tubes, connected together at regular dis 
 tances by lamellar expansions of the same material. The aggregate 
 formation resulting from this combination of tubes constitutes a 
 variously- shaped mass, which often attains a very considerable size. 
 
TUBIPORIDM. 
 
 219 
 
 In Fig. 7 7 we have a representation of the animal of Tuhipora nmsica 
 and its red corallum, which is sometimes designated by the common 
 name of Organ Pipe Coral. In the engraving, i is the calcareous 
 corallum, reduced to half its size ; 2, is a portion about the natural 
 size ; 3, magnified, and containing the polyp which occupies the 
 summit of the tube, and which forms this curious coral ; 4, is the 
 
 
 w 
 
 Fig. 77. — Tubipora musica (Linn.), half the natural size. 
 
 polyp magnified ; 5, the crown of delicately-fringed tentacula of an 
 individual polyp. 
 
 Zoologists of the last century confounded all the species of this 
 genas inhabiting the tropical seas, making only one species, that to 
 which Linnaeus gave the name of Tubipora musica. But it is now 
 known that there are several species of Tubipora^ readily distinguishable 
 in a fresh condition, among other things by a difference in the colour 
 
220 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 of the polyps. The tissue of these singular beings is of an intensely 
 red colour. The disposition of their tubes in the style of organ pipes 
 has always attracted the attention of the curious inquirer into the 
 secrets of Nature. 
 
 Fig. 78.— The Sea Fa.!!, Gorgonia tlabellum (Linn). 
 
 TL GORGONID.E. 
 
 Milne-Edwards divides this order into three natural groups ;— 
 I. The Gorgonime. IL The Isidiiiœ. III. The Coralii?tcB. 
 
 The Goj'gonmœ are composed of two substances : the one external, 
 sometimes gelatinous ; sometimes, on the contrary, cretaceous, fleshy, 
 and more or less tenacious. Animated with hfe, this membrane is 
 irritable, and encloses the polyp ; it becomes friable, and often peels 
 off like bark in drying. The second substance, internal and central, 
 
GORGON m^. 
 
 221 
 
 sustains the first, and is called the axis. This axis presents a horny 
 appearance, and was formerly believed to possess chemical characters 
 analogous to the horns and hoofs of some of the vertebrated animals. 
 It has recently been asserted that the tissues of these corals consist 
 
 79. — Fan Gorgon, magnified. 
 
 essentially of a particular substance which resembles horn, but which 
 is called Corneine. A httle carbonate of hme is sometimes found 
 united with this substance, but never in a sufficient quantity to give 
 it a stony consistence. The outer covering develops itself in con- 
 centric layers, between the portion of the axis previously formed and 
 the internal surface of the basic covering. 
 
222 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 Fig. 80. — Gorgonia verticellnta (Pallas). 
 
 The mode of growth in this axis presents great variations. Some- 
 times it remains simple and rises Hke a slender rod, sometimes it has 
 
GORGONIN^. 
 
 223 
 
 numerous branches. It is arborescent when the branches and their 
 accompaniments take different directions so as to constitute tufts. 
 It is paiiided when they arrange themselves on both sides of the stem 
 or principal branches, after the manner of the barbs of a feather. It 
 is flabelUforjn when the branches rise irregularly under the same 
 plane ; reticulated^ when branches are so 
 disposed as to be attached to each other 
 by net-work in place of remaining free. 
 
 The Gorgoninœ are found in every sea, 
 and always at considerable depths. They 
 are larger and more numerous between 
 the tropics than in cold or even tem- 
 perate climates. Some of them scarcely 
 attain the twelfth of an inch in height, 
 while others rise to the height of several 
 feet. 
 
 Formed in the bosom of the ocean, it 
 is only necessary to behold these singular 
 creations in order to admire the brilliant 
 colours which decorate their semi-mem- 
 branaceous branches. The brilliancy of 
 their colours is singularly diminisned, has 
 almost entirely disappeared indeed, when 
 they make their appearance in the cases 
 of our natural history collections. 
 
 The Fan Goi'gon {Gorgoniajlabelhwi), 
 from the Antilles (Fig. 78), is a species 
 which often attains the height of eighteen 
 or twenty inches, and nearly as much in 
 breadth. The network of its interstices, 
 with its unequal and serried meshes, resembling fine lace, have led to 
 its designation of Sea Fan. Its colour is yellow or reddish. In 
 Fig. 79 we have a small portion of the Sea Fan magnified to twice its 
 natural size, showing the curious details of its organisation. 
 
 The Whorled Gorgon {G. verticeilata), which is found in the 
 Mediterranean, is yellowish in colour, and also of elegant form. This 
 species is represented in Fig. 80; while Fig. 81 represents a small 
 branch magnified four times, in order to give an exact idea of its 
 form. 
 
 The Gorgons are not known to be useful either in the arts or in 
 medicine ; but they are deeply interesting as objects of study to the 
 zoologist. 
 
 Fig. 81. 
 
 Gorgonia verticellata (Pallas), 
 
 magnified four times. 
 
224 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 ISIDIN/E. 
 
 The Isidince constitute an intermediate group between the Gor- 
 gonince and Corallince. Their polypidom is arborescent, but its axis is 
 
 / It 1^ 
 
 W\ 
 
 lii,iiil,i 
 
 iî 
 
 ;m 
 
 Fig. 82.— Isis hippuris 
 
 formed of articulations alternately calcareous and horny. The prin- 
 cipal genus is that called Isis, which is met with in the Indian Ocean, 
 on some parts of the American coast, and in the Pacific Ocean. 
 
iswm^, 225 
 
 The inhabitants of the Mokicca Islands use it medicinally as a remedy 
 in certain diseases ; but as they use it for the most opposite maladies, 
 it may be doubted if it be really efficacious in any medicinal point of 
 view. 
 
 The Isis hippii7'is of Lamarck has a coral with numerous slender 
 branches, furnished with cylindrical knots at intervals, contracted 
 towards the middle, finely striated, and rose-coloured \ it is represented 
 in Fig. 82, and has a singular resemblance to the Common Mare's 
 Tail {Hippw'is vulgaris). 
 
 Several other species belonging to this family are known. The 
 same family includes the genera of Melithea and Mopsea; which, how- 
 ever, our limits forbid us to describe. 
 
 CORALLTNiE. 
 
 The group of Corallinse consists' of but a single genus, Corallium 
 having a common axis, inarticulate, solid, and calcareous, the typical 
 species of which furnishes a substance so hard, brilliant, and richly 
 coloured, that it is much sought after as an object of adornment. 
 This interesting Alcyonarian and its corallum require to be described 
 in some detail. 
 
 From very early times this coral has been adopted as an object 
 of ornament. From the highest antiquity, also, efforts were made to 
 ascertain its true origin, and to assign to it its place in the scale of 
 Nature. Theophrastus, Dioscorides, and Pliny considered that the 
 coral was a plant. Tournefort, in 1700, reproduced the same idea. 
 Reaumur slightly modified this opinion of the ancients, and declared 
 his opinion that the coral was the stony product of certain marine 
 plants. Science was in this state, when a naturalist, who has acquired 
 a great name, the Count de Marsigli, made a discovery which threw 
 quite "a new light on the true origin of this product. He announced 
 that he had discovered the flowers of the coral. He represented these 
 flowers in his fine work, " La Physique de la Mer," which includes 
 many interesting details respecting this curious product of the ocean. 
 How could it be longer doubted that the coral was a plant, since he 
 had seen its expanded flowers ? 
 
 No one doubted it; and Reaumur proclaimed everywhere the dis- 
 covery of the happy Academician. 
 
 Unhappily, a discordant note soon mingled in this concert; it 
 even emanated from a pupil of Marsigli. 
 
 Jean André de Peyssonnel was born at Marseilles in 1694. He 
 was a student of medicine and natural history at Paris when the 
 I 
 
2'26 The Ocean World. 
 
 A-cademie des Sciences charged him with the task of studying the 
 coral in a Hving state. Peyssonnel began his observations in the 
 neighbourhood of Marseilles in 1723, and continued to pursue it on the 
 North African coast, where he had been sent on a mission by the 
 Government. Aided by a long series of observations, as exact as 
 they were delicate, Peyssonnel demonstrated that the supposed 
 flowers which the Count de Marsigli thought he had discovered in 
 the coral, were nothing else but true animals, and showed that the 
 coral was neither plant nor the product of a plant, but a being with 
 life, which he placed in the first " rung " of the zoological ladder. 
 " I put the flower of the coral," says Peyssonnel, "in vases full of 
 sea-water, and I saw that what had been taken for a flower of this 
 pretended plant was, in truth, only an animal, like a Httle sea-nettle, or 
 polyp. I had the pleasure of seeing the feet of the creature move about, 
 and having put the vase full of water, which contained the coral, in a 
 gentle heat over the fire, all the small animals seemed to expand. 
 The polyp extended his feet, and showed what M, de Marsigli and I 
 had taken for the petals of a flower. The calyx of this pretended 
 flower, in short, was the animal, which advanced and issued out of 
 its ceil." 
 
 The observations of Peyssonnel were calculated to put altogether 
 aside the theories which had till then attracted universal admiration ; 
 but they were coldly received by the naturalists who were his con- 
 temporaries. Reaumur distinguished himself greatly in his opposition 
 to the young innovator. He wrote to Peyssonnel in an ironical tone. 
 " I think," he says, " as you do, that no one has hitherto been dis- 
 posed to regard the coral as the work of an animal. We cannot deny 
 that this idea is both new and singular ; but the coral, as it appears 
 to me, never could have been constructed by sea-nettles or polyps, if 
 we may judge from the manner in which you make them labour. '' 
 
 What appeared impossible to Reaumur was, however, a fact, 
 which Peyssonnel now demonstrated to hundreds by his experiments 
 at Marseilles. Nevertheless, even Bernard de Jussieu did not find 
 the reasons he urged strong enough to induce him to abandon the 
 opinions he had formed as to their vegetable origin. Afflicted and 
 disgusted at the indifferent success with which his labours were 
 received, Peyssonnel abandoned his investigations. He even aban- 
 doned science and society, and sought an obscure retirement in the 
 Antilles as a naval surgeon ; and his manuscripts, which he left in 
 France, have never been printed. These manuscripts, written in 
 1744, are preserved in the library of the Museum of Natural History 
 at Paris. It should be added, in order to complete this recital, that 
 
CORALLINM. 227 
 
 Reaumur and Bernard de Jussieu finally recognised the value of the 
 discoveries and the validity of the reasoning of the naturaUst of 
 Marseilles. When these illustrious savants became acquainted with 
 the experiments of Trembley upon the fresh-water Hydra; when 
 they had themselves repeated them ; when they had made similar 
 observations on the sea anemone and alcyonium \ when they finally 
 discovered that on other so-called marine plants animals were found 
 similar to the hydra, so admirably described by Trembley ; they no 
 longer hesitated to render full justice to the views of their former 
 adversary. 
 
 While Peyssonnel still lived forgotten at the Antilles, his scientific 
 labours were crowned with triumph at Paris ; but it was a sterile 
 triumph for him. Reaumur first gave to the animals which construct 
 the coral the name of Polyps, and Coral to the product itself, which 
 he at once recognised as the architectural product of the polyps. In 
 other words, Reaumur introduced to the world of Science the very 
 views which he had keenly contested with their author, and gave them 
 a nomenclature that still endures. But from that time the anima] 
 nature of the precious coral has never been doubted. 
 
 Without pausing to note the various authors who have given their 
 attention to the structure of this fine natural production, we shall at 
 once direct ours to the organisation of the animals and the construction 
 of the coral, as described by M. Duthiers. 
 
 M. Lacaze-Duthiers, one of the Professors at the Jardin des 
 Plantes, of Paris, pubfished in 1864 a remarkable monograph, entitled 
 '^ L'Histoire Naturelle du Corail." This learned naturahst was charged 
 by the French Government, in i860, with a mission having for its 
 object the study of the coral from its natural history point of view. 
 His observations upon it are numerous and precise, and worthy of 
 the successor of Peyssonnel. 
 
 A branch of living coral, if we may use the term, is an aggrega- 
 tion of animals derived from a first being by budding. They are 
 united among themselves by a common tissue, each seeming to enjoy 
 a life of its own, though participating in a common object. The 
 branch owes its origin to an egg, which produces a young animal, 
 which attaches itself soon after its birth, and from this is derived the 
 new beings which, by their united labours, produce the branch of 
 coral or polypidom. 
 
 This branch is composed of two distinct parts : the one central, 
 of a hard, brittle, and stony nature, the well-known coral of com- 
 merce ; the other external, like the bark of a tree, soft and fleshy, 
 and easily impressed with the nail. This is essentially the layer of 
 
228 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 the living colony. The first is called the polypidom, the second is 
 the colony of polyps. Into this (Fig. ^2>) the polyps contract them- 
 selves when the water is withdrawn from the colony. It is covered 
 with salient protuberances, much wrinkled and furrowed j these are 
 the retracted polyps. 
 
 Each protuberance represents a polyp, and exhibits on its summit 
 eight creases, radiating round a central pore, which presents a star- 
 like appearance. This pore as it opens gives to the polyps the 
 
 Red Coral Polyps, retracted 
 (Lacaze-Duthiers). 
 
 Fig. 84. 
 
 Three Polyps of Red Coral 
 
 (Lacaze-Duthiers). 
 
 opportunity of coming out. Its edge presents a reddish calyx, like 
 the rest of the bark, the festooned throat of which presents eight 
 dentations. 
 
 The polyp itself (Fig. 84) is formed of a whitish membranous 
 tube, nearly cylindrical, having an upper disc, surrounded by its 
 eight tentacula, bearing many delicate pinnse spreading out laterally. 
 This assemblage of tentacula almost resembles the corolla of some 
 flowers ; its form is constantly changing, but it always presents a very 
 pretty appearance. Fig. 85 (which is borrowed from M. Lacaze- 
 Duthiers) represents another partially expanded polyp. 
 
CORALLINM, 
 
 229 
 
 The arms of the polyps are at times subject to violent agitation : 
 the tentacula become much excited. If this excitement continues, 
 the tentacula can be seen to fold and roll themselves up, as shown 
 in Fig. 86. If we look at the expanded disc, we see that the eight 
 tentacula are attached to the body, around a space nearly circular, 
 in the middle of which rises a small protuberance, the summit of 
 which is occupied by a small slit forming two rounded lips. This is 
 
 i-'t. 
 
 
 I 
 
 fl>n 
 
 Fig. 85. 
 Coral Polyp (Lacaze-Duthiers). 
 
 
 Fîg. 86. 
 Another form of Coral Polyp (Lacaze-Duthiers). 
 
 the mouth of the polyp, the form each assumes is very variable, but 
 it is well represented in Fig. 86, where the mouth is well seen. 
 
 A cylindrical tube connected with the mouth represents the 
 oesophagus or gullet ; but all other portions of the digestive canal 
 are very rudinientary. The oesophagus connects the general cavity 
 of the body with the exterior world, and looks as if it were suspended 
 in the middle of the body by certain folds, which issue with perfect 
 symmetry from eight points of its circumference. The folds which 
 thus fix the œsophagus form a series of cells, above each of which it 
 attaches itself, and supports an arm or tentaculum. 
 
230 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 Let US pause an instant over the soft and fleshy bark in which 
 the polyps are immersed. Let us see also what are the mutual 
 relations which exist between the several inhabitants of one of these 
 colonies, how they are attached to one another, and what is their 
 connection with the polypidom. 
 
 The thick fleshy body, soft and easily impressed with the finger, 
 is the living part which produces the coral ; it extends itself so as 
 exactly to cover the whole polypidom. If it perishes at any one 
 point, that part of the axis which corresponds with the point no 
 longer shows any increase. An intimate relation, therefore, exists 
 between the bark and the polypidom. If the bark is examined more 
 closely, three principal elements are recognised — a common general 
 tissue, some spicula, and certain vessels. The general tissue is 
 transparent, glossy, cellular, and contractile. 
 
 The spicules are very small calcareous bodies, more or less 
 elongated, covered with knotted protuberances 
 bristling with spines, and of a more or less 
 regular determinate form (Fig. 87). They refract 
 the light very vividly, and their colour is that of 
 the coral, but much less vivid, in consequence 
 of their want of thickness. They are uniformly 
 Fig. 87.-Corai Spicules (distributed throughout the bark, and give to the 
 (Lacaze-Duthiers). coral the fine colour which generally characterises 
 
 it when in a living state. 
 The vessels constitute a network, which extends and repeats 
 itself in the thickest of the bark. These vessels are of two kinds 
 (Fig. 88) ; the one, comparatively very large, is imbedded in the 
 axis, and disposed in parallel layers; the others are regular and much 
 smaller. They form a network of unequal meshes, which occupies 
 the whole thickness of the external crust. This network has direct 
 and important connection with the polyps on the one hand, and with 
 the central substance which forms the axis on the other. It com- 
 municates directly with the general cavity of the body of the animal, 
 by every channel which approaches it, while the two ranges of net- 
 work approach each other by a greater number of anastomosing 
 processes. Such is the vascular arrangement of the coral. 
 
 The circulation of alimentary fluids in the coral is accomplished 
 by means of vessels near to the axis, without, however, directly 
 anastomosing with the cavities containing the polyps which live in 
 the polypidom ; they only communicate with these cavities by very 
 delicate intermediary canals. The alimentary fluids they receive 
 from the secondary system of network, which brings them into direct 
 
CORALLINE. 
 
 231 
 
 communication with the polyps. The alimentary fluids elaborated 
 by the polyps pass into the branches of the secondary and irregular 
 network system, in order to reach the great parallel tubes which 
 extend from one extremity of the organism to the other, serving the 
 same purpose to the whole community. 
 
 Fig. 88 —Circulating Apparatus for the nutritive fluids in the Coral (Lacaze-Duthiers). 
 
 When the extremity of a branch of living coral is torn or broken, 
 a white liquid immediately flows from the wound, which mingles 
 with water, and presents all the appearance of milk. This is the 
 fluid aliment which has escaped from the vessel containing it, charged 
 with the débris of the organism. 
 
 What occurs when the bud produces new polyps? It is only 
 
232 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 well-developed polyps, and particularly those with branching extre- 
 mities, in which this phenomenon is produced. The new beings 
 resemble little white points pierced with a central orifice. Aided by 
 the microscope, we discover that this white point is starred with 
 radiating white lines, the edge of the orifice bearing eight distinct4y- 
 to-be-traced indentations. All these organs are enlarged step by 
 step until the young animal has attained the shrub-like or branched 
 aspect which belongs to the compound polypidom. The tube is 
 branching, and the orifices firom which the polyps expand become 
 dilated into cup-like cells. 
 
 The coral of commerce, so beautiful and so appreciated by lovers 
 
 of bijouterie, is the polypidom. 
 It is cylindrical, much channeled 
 on the surface, the lines usually 
 parallel to the axis of the cylinder, 
 the depressions sometimes corres- 
 ponding to the body of the animal. 
 If the transverse section of a poly- 
 pidom be examined, it is found to 
 be regularly festooned on its cir- 
 cumference. Towards its centre 
 certain sinuosities appear, some- 
 times crossing, sometimes trigonal, 
 sometimes in irregular hues, and 
 in the remaining mass are reddish 
 folds alternating with brighter 
 spaces which radiate from the 
 centre towards the circumference 
 (Fig. 89). In the section of a very 
 red coral, it will be observed that the colour is not equally distributed, 
 but is separated into zones more or less deep in colour, containing 
 very thin preparations which crack, not irregularly, but parallel to 
 the edge of the plate, and in such a manner as to reproduce the 
 festoons on the circumference. From this it may be deduced that 
 the stem increases by concentric layers being deposited, which 
 mould themselves one upon the other. In the mass of coral 
 certain small bodies (spicules) occur, with irregular asperities, much 
 redder than the tissue into which they are plunged. These are much 
 more numerous in the red than in the light band, and they necessarily 
 give more colour to the general tint. 
 
 To the mode of reproduction in the coral polyps, so well described 
 by Lacaze-Duthiers, we can only devote a few lines. Sometimes, 
 
 Fig. 89. — Section of a Branch of Coral. 
 (Lacaze-Duthier.s.) 
 
CORALLINM. 
 
 m 
 
 according to this able observer, the polyps of the same colony are all 
 either male or female, and the branch is unisexual; in others there 
 are both male and female, when the branch is bisexual. Finally, but 
 very rarely, polyps are found uniting both sexes. 
 
 The coral is viviparous ; that is to say, its eggs become embryos 
 inside the polyp. The larva remain a certain time in the general 
 
 Fig. qo.— Birth of the Coral Larva. (Lacaze-Duthiers. 
 
 cavity of the polyp, where they can be seen through its transparent 
 body, as exhibited in Fig. 90. Aided by the magnifying powers of 
 the microscope, coral larvae may even be examined through the trans- 
 parent membranous envelope. From this position they escape from 
 the mouth of the mother in the manner represented in the upper 
 branch. The larva then resembles a little white grub or worm, more 
 or less elongated. The larva is, however, still egg-shaped ^ or ovoid ; 
 moreover, it is sunk in a hollow cavity, and covered with cilia, by the 
 
234 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 aid of which it can swim. Sometimes one of its extremities becomes 
 enlarged, the other remaining slender and pointed. Upon this an 
 opening is formed communicating with the interior cavity : this is 
 the mouth. The larva swim backwards; that is to say, with the 
 mouth behind. 
 
 It is only at a certain period after birth that the coral polyp fixes 
 itself and commences its metamorphoses, which consist essentially 
 in a change of form and proportions. The buccal extremity is 
 diminished, and tapers off, whilst the base swells, and is enlarged — it 
 becomes discoid \ the posterior surface of this disc is a plane, the 
 
 
 Fig. 91. — Very young Polpys, attached to a Fig. 92. — A young Coral Polyp fixed upon a Rock. 
 Bryozoon. (Lacaze-Duthiers.) 
 
 front representing the mouth, at the bottom of a depression edged 
 with a great cushion. Eight protuberances or swellings now appear, 
 corresponding to the chambers which divide the interior of the disc ; 
 the larva has taken its radiate form. Finally, the protuberances 
 become elongated and transformed into tentacula. In Fig. 91 a 
 young coral polyp is represented fixed upon a bryozoon. It forms a 
 small disc, the fortieth part of an incli in diameter, and having its 
 spicula already coloured red. Fig. 92 shows the successive forms of 
 the young polyps in the progressive phases of their development — 
 being a young coral polyp fixed upon a rock stiU contracted. Fig. 93 
 is a similar coral polyp attached to a rock and expanding its tentacula. 
 Fig. 94 represents a small pointed rock covered with polyps and 
 polypidoms of the natural size and of different shapes, but all young, 
 and indicating the definite form of development which the collective 
 beings are to assume. 
 
CORALUNM. 
 
 235 
 
 The simple isolated state of the animal, whose phases of develop- 
 ment we have indicated, does not last long. It possesses the property 
 of producing new beings, as we have already said, by budding. But 
 
 Fig. 93. — Young Coral Polyp attached to a Rock, 
 and expanded. (Lacaze-Duthiers. ) 
 
 Fig. 94.— A Rock covered witli young Polyp 
 and Polypidom. (Lacaze-Duthiers.) 
 
 Fig' 95- •" Corpuscles from which originate 
 the Polypidom. 
 
 Fig. 96.— First form of the Polypidom. 
 (Lacaze-Duthiers.) 
 
 how is the polypidom formed ? If we take a very young branch, we 
 find in the centre of the thickness of the crust a nucleus or stony 
 substance resembling an agglomeration of spicula. When they are 
 sufficient in number and size, these nuclei form a kind of stony plate. 
 
236 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 which is imbedded in the thickness of the tissues of the animal. 
 These la7?imœ, at first quite flat, assume in the course of their develop- 
 ment a horse-shoe shape. Figs. 95 and 96 will give the reader some 
 idea of the form in which the young present themselves. Fig. 95 
 represents the corpuscles in which the polypidom has its origin ; 
 Fig. 96, the rudimentary form of the coral polypidom. 
 
 Our present information does not enable us to say what time is 
 necessary for the coral to acquire the various proportions in which it 
 presents itself to the coral fisher. 
 
 Passing to the coral fishing, it may be said to be quite special, 
 presenting no analogy with any other fishing in the European seas, if 
 we except the sponge fisheries. The fishing stations which occur are 
 found on the Italian coast and the coast of Barbary; in short, in most 
 parts of the Mediterranean basin. In all these regions, on abrupt 
 rocky beds, certain aquatic forests occur, composed entirely of the 
 red coral, the most brilliant and the most celebrated of all the corals, 
 Coralium deciis liqiiidi ! During many ages, as we have seen, the 
 coral was supposed to be a plant. The ancient Greeks called it the 
 daughter of the sea (Kopdwiov Kop-n axes), which the Latins translated 
 into CGralium or coralliuin. It is now agreed among naturalists that 
 the coral is constructed by a family of polyps living together, and 
 composing a polypidom. It abounds in the Mediterranean and the 
 Red Sea, where it is found at various depths, but rarely less than five 
 fathoms, or more than 100. Each polypidom resembles, as we have 
 seen, a pretty red leafless under-shrub, bearing delicate little star-like 
 radiating white flowers. The axes of this little tree are the parts 
 common to the association, the flowrets are the polyps. These axes 
 present a soft reticulated crust, or bark, full of Httle cavities, which 
 are the cells of the polyps, and they are permeated by a milky juice. 
 Beneath the crust is the coral, properly so called, which equals marble 
 in hardness, and is remarkable for its striped surface, its bright red 
 colour, and the fine polish of which it is susceptible. The ancients 
 believed that it was soft in the water, and only took its consistence 
 when exposed to the air :— 
 
 " Sic et coralium, quo primum contigit auras 
 Tempore, durescit." — OviD. 
 
 The fishing is chiefly conducted by sailors from Genoa, Leghorn, 
 and Naples, and it is so fatiguing that it is a common saying in Italy 
 that a sailor obliged to go to the coral fishery should be a thief or an 
 
VII.— Coral Fishing off the Coast of Sicily 
 
CORALLINM. 239 
 
 assassin. The saying is a gratuitous insult to the sailor, but conveys 
 a good idea enough of the occupation. 
 
 The barks sent to the fishing range from six to fifteen tons ; they 
 are strong, and well adapted for the labour; their rig is a great 
 lateen sail, and a jib or staysail. The stern is reserved for the 
 capstan, the fishers, and the crew. The fore part of the vessel is 
 reserved for the requirements of the padrone or master. 
 
 The lines, wood, and irons employed in the coral fisheries are 
 called the engine: it consists of a cross of wood formed of two bars, 
 strongly lashed or bolted together at their centre ; below this a great 
 stone is attached, which bears the lines, arranged in the form of a 
 sac. These lines have great meshes, loosely knotted together, re- 
 sembling the well-known swab. 
 
 The apparatus carries thirty of these sacs, which are intended to 
 grapple all they come in contact with at the bottom of the sea. They 
 are spread out in all directions by the movement of the boat. The 
 coral is known to attach itself to the summit of a rock and to develop 
 itself, forming banks there, and it is to these rocks that the swab 
 attaches itself so as to tear up the precious harvest. Experience, 
 which in time becomes almost intuitive, guides the Italian fisher in 
 discovering the coral banks. The craft employed in the great fishery 
 have a " padrone," or captain, the bark having a crew of eight or ten 
 sailors, and in the season it is continued night and day. The whole 
 apparatus, and mode of using it, is shown in Plate VII. 
 
 When the padrone thinks that he has reached a coral bank, he 
 throws his engine overboard. As soon as the apparatus is fairly at 
 the bottom the speed of the vessel is slacked, the capstan is manned 
 by six or eight men, while the others guide the helm and trim the 
 sails. Two forces are thus brought to act upon the Hnes, the hori- 
 zontal action of the vessel and the vertical action of the capstan. In 
 consequence of the many inequalities of the rocky bottom, the engine 
 advances by jerks, the vessel yielding more or less, accordmg to the 
 concussion caused by the action of the capstan or sail. The engine 
 seizes upon the rugged rocks at the bottom, and raises them to let 
 them fall again. In this manner the swab, floating about, penetrates 
 beneath the rocks where the coral is found, and is hooked on to it. 
 To fix the lines upon the coral and bring them home, is a work of 
 very great labour. The engine long resists the most energetic and 
 repeated efforts of the crew, who, exposed half naked to the burning 
 sun of the Mediterranean, work the capstan to which the cable and 
 engine are attached, while the padrone urges and excites them to 
 increased exertion; the sailors meanwhile trim the sails and sing 
 
240 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 \Aith a slow and monotonous tone a song, the words of which impro- 
 vise in a sort of psahnody the names of the saints most revered 
 among the seafaring ItaUan population. 
 
 The lines are finally brought home, tearing or breaking blocks of 
 rock, sometimes of enormous size, which are brought on board. The 
 cross is now placed on the side of the vessel, the lines are arranged 
 on the deck, and the crew occupy themselves in gathering the results 
 of their labour. The coral is gathered together, the branches of the 
 precious alcyonarian are cleansed, and divested of the shells and 
 other parasitic products which accompany them ; finally, the produce 
 is carried to and sold in the ports of Messina, Naples, Genoa, or 
 Leghorn, where the workers in jewellery purchase them. Behold, 
 fair reader, with what hard labour, fatigue, and peril, the elegant 
 bijouterie with which you are decked is torn from the deepest bed of 
 the ocean ! 
 
 III. THE PENNATULID^, OR SEA-PENS. 
 
 This curious family received from Cuvier the name of Swimming 
 Polyps, and from Lamarck that of Floating Polyps. The name of 
 Pennatida, by which they are now generally known, is taken from 
 their resemblance to a quill, penîta. In the words of Lamarck, " It 
 seems as if Nature, in forming this composite animal, had wished to 
 copy the external form of a bird's feather." Our fishermen call it 
 the cock^s comb, which is not inapt, but less expressive of its peculiari- 
 ties. One of these Sea-pens is described as being " from two to four 
 inches in length, of a uniform purplish-red colour, except at the tip 
 or base of the stalk, where it is pale orange-yellow; the skin is 
 thickish, very tough, and of a curious structure, being composed of 
 minute crystalline cylinders, densely arranged in straight lines, and 
 held together by a tenacious glutinous matter, the cylinders being 
 about six inches in diameter, in length straight and even, or sometimes 
 slightly curved, and of a red colour, which communicates itself to the 
 zoophyte.'' (Johnston.) The animals by which it is formed consti- 
 tute colonies, which, however, are only attached to the rocks by the 
 enlarged basis of their stem ; they appear to live generally at the 
 bottom of the sea, their root, if we can use the term, buried in the 
 sands or mud, their polypiferous portion sallying into the water. 
 The agitation of the waves and the fishermen's nets often displace 
 these curious creatures, and then they float away at various depths 
 up to the bosom of the ocean. 
 
 The stalk of their polypidom is hollow in the centre, having a 
 long slender bone-like substance, which is white, smooth, and squaro. 
 
PENNA TULID^. 24 1 
 
 but tapering at each extremity to a fine point. The polyps, which 
 are fleshy and white, are provided with eight long retractile tentacula, 
 beautifully ciliated on their inner edge with two series of short 
 processes strengthened with crystalline spicula. The mouth in the 
 centre of the tentacula is somewhat angular, bounded by a white 
 band, a process from which seems to encircle the base of each 
 tentaculum, which thus seems to issue from an aperture. The ova 
 lie between the membranes of the pinnae ; they are globular, of a 
 yellowish colour, and by a little pressure can be made to pass through 
 the mouth. The polyps are distributed with more or less regularity 
 in such a manner that one of the extremities of the common axis is 
 always naked : this part has been compared to the tubulous part of a 
 feather. The stem, common to the colony, is a solid central axis, 
 more or less developed, which is covered with a fleshy fibrous 
 substance, susceptible of dilatation and contraction. 
 
 The Pennatulidœ comprehend, according to Dr. Johnston, three 
 genera ; namely, those with the polyps or bipinnate wings, having 
 
 Polypidoms plumose, in .... Pennatula. 
 
 Polypidoms virgate, or wand-shaped . . Virgularia. 
 
 Polypi, unilateral and sessile ..,,") p 
 
 Polypidom, linear-elongate . . . ) i'avonana. 
 
 In the genus Pennatula^ the polyps are disposed in transverse 
 rows upon the outer and inner edge, in a series of prolongations in 
 the form of a feather. These winged species of polypidom are 
 somewhat scythe-shaped, well-developed, and furnished with a great 
 quantity of pointed spicule, which are constituted of bundles at the 
 base of the calyx of each polyp. The space between the two rows of 
 appendages is sometimes scaly, sometimes granulous Of the Penna- 
 tula, at least five species are known, and all of them appear to be 
 endowed with phosphorescent properties. We may note among these 
 species Pennatula sphiosa (Fig. 97), which inhabits the Mediterranean, 
 and takes its name from its colour j Pennatula phosphoj-ea, which 
 abound in most European seas, being found in great plenty, clinging 
 to the fishermen's lines round our own northern shores, more 
 especially when they are baited with mussels. 
 
 P. phosphorea is of a reddish purple, the base of the smooth stalk 
 pale; the raches roughened with close-set papillae, and furrowed 
 down the middle ; pinnae close ; polyp cilia uniserial, tubular, with 
 spinous apertures. . (Sibbald). 
 
 Bohadsch says the Pennatulce. swim by means of their pinnae, 
 which they use as fishes do their fins. Ellis says, " It is an animal 
 
242 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 that swims about in the sea, many of them having a muscular motion 
 as they swim along f these motions being effected, as he tells us in 
 another place, by means of the pinnules or feather-like fins, " evi- 
 dently designed by Nature to move the animal backward or forward 
 
 in the sea." Cuvier tells us they have 
 the power of moving by the contraction 
 of the fleshy part of the polypidom, 
 and also by the combined action of 
 its polpys. Dr. Grant says, " A more 
 singular and beautiful spectacle could 
 scarcely be conceived than that of a 
 deep purple P. phosphoi^ea with all its 
 delicate transparent polypi expanded, 
 and emitting their usual brilliant phos- 
 phorescent light, sailing through the 
 still and dark abyss, by the regular and 
 synchronous pulsations of the minute 
 fringed arms of the whole polypi;" 
 while Linnaeus tells us that " the phos- 
 phorescent sea-pens which cover the 
 bottom of the ocean cast so strong a 
 light, that it is easy to count the fishes 
 and worms of various kinds which sport 
 among them." 
 
 Lamarck, Schweigger, and other 
 naturalists, however, reasoning from 
 what is known of other such animals, 
 deny them the existence of this loco- 
 motive power \ " and there is little 
 doubt," says Dr. Johnston, " that these 
 authors are right, for, when placed in 
 a basin of sea-water, the Pe7matulœ are 
 never observed to change their position ; 
 they remain in the same spot, and lie 
 with the same side up or down, just as 
 they have been placed. They inflate 
 the body until it becomes to a considerable degree transparent, and 
 only streaked with intercepted lines of red, which distend at one 
 place and contract at another ; they spread out the pinnae, and the 
 polyps expand their tentacula, but they never attempt to swim, or 
 perform any process of locomotion." 
 
 Mr. Darwin's description of a kind of Sea-pen, Virgularia Pata- 
 
 Fig. 97. — Sea-pen, Pennatida spinosa. 
 (Edes.) 
 
PENNA TULID.-E. 243 
 
 gonia, throws some curious light on the habits of these creatures. 
 " This zoophyte consists of a thin, straight, fleshy stem, with alternate 
 rows of polypi on each side, and surrounding an elastic stony axis, 
 varying in length from eight inches to two feet. The stem at one 
 extremity is truncate, but at the other is terminated by a vermiform 
 fleshy appendage. The stony axis, which gives strength to the stem, 
 may be traced at the extremity into a mere vessel filled with granular 
 matter. At low water, hundreds of these zoophytes might be seen 
 projecting like stubble, with the truncate end upwards, a few inches 
 above the surface of the muddy sand. When touched or pulled, 
 they suddenly drew themseves in with force, so as nearly, or quite, to 
 disappear. By this action, the highly elastic axis must be bent at the 
 lower extremity, where it is naturally slightly curved ; and I imagine 
 it is by this elasticity alone that the zoophyte is enabled to rise again 
 through the mud. Each polyp, though closely united to its brethren, 
 has a distinct mouth, body, and tentacula. Of these polyps, in a 
 large specimen there must be many thousands, yet we see that they 
 act by one movement. They have also one central axis connected 
 with a system of obscure circulation, and the ova are produced in an 
 organ distinct from the separate individuals. For," adds Mr. Darwin, 
 in a note, " the cavities leading from the fleshy compartments of the 
 extremity were filled with a yellow pulpy matter which, under a 
 microscope, consisted of rounded semi-transparent grains aggregated 
 together into particles of various sizes. All such particles, as well as 
 separate grains, possessed the power of rapid motion, generally 
 revolving round different axes, but sometimes progressive." 
 
 Virgularia mirabilis is common in the east and north coasts of 
 Scotland j it is found in the North Sea, and as far north as Norway. 
 In Zetland it is known as the sea-rush. It is abundant in Belfast 
 Lough, but, from its brittle nature, perfect specimens are difficult to 
 obtain. 
 
 The genus Virgularia differs from that of Pemtatula chiefly in the 
 development of the axis of the colony and the shortness of the 
 pinnae, which carry the polyps ; and also in this, that no spicula enter 
 into the composition of its softer parts. 
 
 " V. mirabilis seems," says Sowerby, " to represent a quill stripped 
 of its feathers. The base looks like a pen in this as in other species, 
 swelling a little way from the end, and then tapering. The upper 
 part is thicker, with alternate semicircular pectinated swellings, 
 larger towards the middle, tapering upwards, and terminating in a 
 thin bony substance, which passes through the whole extent, and is 
 from six to ten inches in length." 
 
244 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 In a communication to Dr. Johnston, from Mr. R. Patterson of 
 Belfast, commenting on Miiller's figure of Virgtdaria, he tells us that 
 in the longest specimen he had, no two plumes were precisely alike ; 
 so unlike, indeed, that the artist copying one, could not for a moment 
 hesitate — after raising her eyes from her paper to look at the animal — 
 as to which she was copying. 
 
 Its short waving and deeply dentated lobes are of a brilliant 
 yellow. The polyps, which appear upon the lobes, are whitish, 
 transparent, and form a fringe of small diaphanous white stars 
 (Figs. 98 and 99). 
 
 V. mirabilis is undoubtedly one of the finest polypidoms found in 
 the ocean. Two series of half-moon shaped wings, obliquely hori- 
 zontal, are placed symmetrically round an upright axis. They 
 embrace the stem somewhat in the manner termed petiolate by 
 botanists, clasping it alternately; or, shall we say, like two broad 
 ribbons rolled round a stem in an inverse direction, in such a manner 
 as to produce the effect of two opposing flights of stairs. These 
 wings are waving, vandyked, and fringed on their outer edge, and of 
 a brilliant yellow ; the toothing of the fringe being the lodging-place 
 of the pretty little polyps, which display occasionally their gaping 
 mouths and expanded tentacles. The polyps are white and semi- 
 transparent. When they display their rays, the margin of each wing 
 presents an edging of silvery stars. We may figure to ourselves a 
 slender wand-like and much-elongated polypidom, carrying only a 
 non-contractile polyp on one side, which would give us an idea of 
 the genus Pavonaria, of which we know only one species, which is 
 from the Mediterranean. 
 
 The Umhelhilaria grenlandica has a very long stem (Fig. 100) 
 which is terminated at the summit only by a cluster of polyps. It 
 has been found in the Greenland and other northern seas. 
 
 The Veretillinn cynomorium which inhabits the Mediierranean 
 (Fig. 1 01), has a simple cylindrical body, without branchise, and a 
 rudimentary polypidom, furnished with very large polyps of a 
 whitish colour. 
 
 IV.— THE ALCYONIDvE. 
 
 The animals which compose this group have the fleshy polypidom 
 always adherent, without axis or solid interior stem. Tney are 
 divided into four families or tribes. One of these, the Cormdaj-idcB 
 are polyps either living in isolation, or gathered together in small 
 numbers on the surface of a common membraniform expansion. The 
 Cornularia cornucopia is found on the coast of Naples, C, crassa on 
 
Fîg. 99. — Branch of 
 Virgularia (enlarged). 
 
 Fig. 98. — Loose-winged 
 Virgularia, Virgularia 
 tnirabilis (Lamarck). 
 
 Fig. loi. — Veretillum 
 cynomorium 
 (Lamarck). 
 
 Fig. 100. — Umbellularia 
 grenlandica 
 (Lamarck). 
 
246 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 the Algerian coast. Other genera make their appearance on thfe 
 coast of Scotland, of Norway, in the Red Sea \ and in the Indian 
 Ocean they appear in great numbers. 
 
 In the Akyonidœ, properly so called, the polypidom is very thick, 
 of a semi-cartilaginous consistence, granular, and rough to the touch. 
 
 The genus Aicyoniimt is numerous in species which are widely 
 dispersed. A. digitaium is very common on our shores ; and on 
 many parts of the coast scarcely a stone or shell is dredged up from 
 deep water which does not serve aà a support to some one or more 
 species of Alcyoniu7n. It is known by various popular names by our 
 sea-side population, such as cows' paps, from its resemblance to the 
 teats of the cow ; dead mafi' s fingers, from the occasional resemblance 
 of its finger-like lobes to a man's fingers. 
 
 The outer skin of the polypidom is tough and coriaceous, studded 
 all over with star-like figures, which on examination are found to be 
 divided into eight rays, indicating the number of the polyps enclosed 
 in its semi-transparent membrane. Each polyp is dotted over with 
 minute calcareous bodies, and marked with eight longitudinal lines 
 or septa, stretching between the membrane and the central stomach, 
 which divide the intermediate space into an equal number of com- 
 partments. These lines not only extend to the base of the tentacula, 
 but run across the oral disc, and terminate in a central mouth. The 
 tentacula are short, obtuse, ciliated on the margins, and strengthened 
 at their roots by numerous calcareous spicula. The polyp cells are 
 oval, placed just under the investing membrane, and are the termi- 
 nating points of certain long canals which traverse the whole polypi- 
 dom. The polyps, which are distributed over the whole surface, can 
 withdraw into the cavities ; they are, besides, of extreme sensibiUty, 
 the least shock impresses itself on the tentacula, the impulse of a 
 wave even producing contraction, in response the animal imme- 
 diately retires to hide itself in the cell. 
 
 We find, as we have said, on the coast, in the Channel, and in 
 the North Sea, Alcyonmm digitaiiun, the mass of which is of a reddish 
 white, ferruginous, or orange colour. A. stellatiim, found on the 
 shores of the Mediterranean, is expanded in its upper part, narrow 
 lowards its base, very rough on the surface, and rose-coloured ; 
 A. palmatum is cylindrical, branching at the summit, of a deep red, 
 except at the base, where it is yellow — this is met with in the 
 Mediterranean. 
 
 We may note as a type altogether different from any yet touched 
 upon the genus Nephthya, in which the polypidom is a coriaceous 
 tissue bristling with spicula over its whole surface. In N. Chabroliiy 
 
ALCYONIDAl. 24/ 
 
 the poiypidom is squat, with thick spreading arms covered with 
 lobiHform branches, the tubercular polypidoms of which are columnar 
 and obtuse, the spicula green, and the tentacula of the polyps 
 yellow. 
 
 " On a cursory view," says Dr. Johnston, " the poiypidom of the 
 three families embraced appear very dissimilar, and accordingly, by 
 many recent authors, they have been scattered over the class, and 
 placed widely asunder. The affinity between them, however, is 
 generally acknowledged, and had been distinctly perceived by some 
 of the earliest zoophytologists. Thus Bohadsch found so much in 
 common in the typical Pennatula and a species of A/cyonmm, that 
 he has not hesitated to describe them as members of the same genus; 
 and, although the more systematic character of Pallas prevented 
 him from falling into this error, if error it can be called, he did not 
 the less recognise the relationship between the genera or families. 
 Pallas also tells us that his Ve7'retillum cynomorium differs from the 
 Alcyoiiium only in this, that the former is a movable and the latter a 
 fixed poiypidom ; and he saw with equal clearness the connection 
 which exists between these genera and the shrub-like Gorgonia. Of 
 the Virgularia mirabilis, he had doubts whether it was not rather a 
 species of Gorgonia, until he perceived that the stem was attenuated 
 at each end, and free ; and of the Sea-pens generally, Ellis remarks 
 that they are ' a genus of zoophytes not far removed from the 
 Gorgonia, on account of their polyp mouths, as well as having a bone 
 in the inside and flesh without.' ' On the other hand, the Gorgonia 
 seem,' says Pallas, ' with the exception of their horny skeleton, to be 
 nearly similar in structure to the genus Alcyonium; but as there are 
 species of Gorgonia which are suberose internally, and almost of a 
 uniform medullary consistence, even this mark of distinction fails to 
 separate the tribes, and we have little left to guide us in arranging 
 these osculent species excepting their external habits.'" 
 
 "With most corallines," says Frédol, "the elementary individual, 
 in spite of the adhesion established among them, possesses a vital 
 energy all its own ; it is in some respects quite independent. They 
 have each its own particular will, which it is difficult to mistake for 
 a common will; but it is not thus with the Pennatula. Their 
 association consists of a non-adherent polyp, which moves — 
 obscurely, it is true — ^but still it moves. To what does this lead ? 
 To this : that the parts which they possess in common, in place of 
 being horny or calcareous — that is, completely inert — are fleshy, 
 with contractile powers ; that is to say, animated. Consequently, 
 the polyp of the Pennatula are less independent of each other than 
 
248 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 the coral polyp, which have a central, perhaps a sensible organ, 
 common to all, which binds them to each other, giving a certain 
 unity to their acts. The Gorgonian polyps have no will ; the Pen- 
 natula have." 
 
 Ctenophora. 
 
 We have now reached the class of polyps which Cuvier designates 
 Hydrostatic Acalephœ^d.XiA which De Blainville calls the Ciliobranchiata. 
 The body of these polyps presents marginal fringes furnished with 
 vibratile cilia, which are swimming organs. Moreover, as these 
 vibratile fringes are inserted directly over the principal canal, in 
 which the nourishing fluid circulates, they ought necessarily to help 
 in the act of respiration, by determining the renewal of the water in 
 contact with the corresponding portion of the tegumentary mem- 
 brane. 
 
 The class may be divided into five families, namely, Callyminidœ, 
 Cestidce, Callia7iiridœ, Pleur obrachiadœ^ and Beroidœ. 
 
 The creatures belonging to these families swarm in the deep 
 sea; they often appear quite suddenly, and in vast numbers, in 
 certain localities. 
 
 Bcroe Porskalii (Fig. 102), has been studied with great care by 
 M. Milne-Edwards. The species inhabits the Gulf of Naples, and 
 the sea almost everywhere ; the sailors of Provence call them Sea- 
 cucumbers. The body (Fig. 102), cylindrical in form, is of a pale 
 rose colour, thickly studded with small reddish spots, so numerous 
 as to appear entirely punctured with them. It presents eight blue 
 sides, with very fine vibratile cilia, which by their reflection produce 
 all the colours of the rainbow. The substance of the body is 
 gelatinous, its appearance glass-Hke; its form varies according as 
 the animal is in motion or repose. Sometimes it swells up like a 
 ball ; sometimes it reverses itself, so as to resemble a bell ; at others 
 it is elongated and cylindrical ; at its lower extremity it presents a 
 large mouth ; at its upper extremity is found a small nipple, having 
 at its base a spherical point of a reddish colour, enclosing many 
 crystalloid corpuscles, which rest upon a sort of nervous ganglion, 
 whose physiological function is not very well determined, A vast 
 stomach, considering its size, occupies the whole interior of the body 
 of the Beroe : the circulation is also much developed in this creature. 
 The circulating apparatus contains a moving fluid charged with a 
 multitude of circular, colourless globules, which flows from a vascular 
 ring round the mouth towards the summit of the body ; in the 
 interior are eight superficial canals, which flow under the ciliated 
 
CTENOPHORA. 249 
 
 sides, and re-descend by two much deeper canals ; the Beroes have 
 no heart. Beroe ovata is a beautiful species, seldom exceeding two 
 inches and a half in length and one and a half in its larger trans- 
 verse diameter ; it is described by Browne, in his " Jamaica/' as " of 
 
 Fig. 102.— Beroe Forskalii (Edwards). 
 
 an oval form, obtusely octangular, hollow, open at the larger 
 extremity, transparent, and of a firm gelatinous consistence; it 
 contracts and widens with great facility, but is always open and 
 expanded _ when it swims or moves. The longitudinal radii are 
 strongest in the crowa or smallest extremity, where they rise from a 
 
250 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 very beautiful oblong star, and diminish gradually from thence to 
 the margin, each being furnished with a single series of short, slender, 
 dehcate appendages, or limbs (cilia), that move with great celerity in 
 all directions, as the creature pleases to direct its flexions, and in a 
 regular accelerated succession from the top to the margin. It is 
 impossible to express the liveliness of the motions of those delicate 
 organs, or the beautiful variety of colour which rise from them as 
 they play to and fro in the rays of the sun ; nor is it easy to express 
 the speed and regularity with which the motions succeed each other 
 from one end of the rays to the other. '^ "The grace and beauty 
 which the entire apparatus presents in the living animal,'^ says 
 Gosse, " or the marvellous ease and rapidity with which it can be 
 alternately contracted, extended, and bent at an infinite variety of 
 angles, no verbal description can sufficiently treat. Fortunately the 
 creature is so common in summer and autumn on all our coasts. 
 that few who use the surface-net can possibly miss its capture. It i^ 
 worthy of a poet's description, which it has received : — 
 
 * When first extracted from her native brine, 
 Behold a round, small mass of gelatine, 
 Or frozen dewdrop, void of life and limb ; 
 But round the crystal goblet let her swim 
 'Midst her çmn elements ; and lo ! a sphere 
 Banded from pole to pole ; as diamond clear, 
 Shaped as bard's fancy shapes the small balloon, 
 To bear some sylph or fay beyond the moon. 
 From all her bands see lurid fringes play, 
 That glance and sparkle in the solar ray 
 With iridescent hues. Now round and round 
 She whirls and twirls ; now mounts, then sinks profound,"* 
 
 Drummond. 
 
 The species oi Pleiirohrachia (Flem.) are globulous or egg-shaped, 
 furnished with eight rows of cilia, corresponding with as many 
 sections more or less distinct, and terminated by two long filiform 
 tentacles, issuing from the base of the zoophyte and fringed on the 
 sides. "It is," says Gosse, "a globe of pure colourless jelly, about 
 as big as a small marble, often with a wart-like swelling at one of its 
 poles, where the mouth is placed. At the other end there are 
 minute orifices, and between the two passes the stomach, which is 
 flat or wider in one diameter than the other." Pleurobrachia pileus. 
 found abundantly in the spring on all our coasts, is so transparent 
 that it is scarcely visible in the water, where it seems like living, 
 moving crystal. PL de/isa, which abounds in the Mediterranean, is 
 of a crystalUne white,, with rows of reddish cirrhi^ terminating in two 
 
CTENOPHORA, 25 \ 
 
 tentacles, much longer and coloured red ; it is about the size of a 
 hazel-nut, and phosphorescent. Within the clear substance of the 
 Pleurohrachia, on each side of the stomach, there is a capacious 
 cavity, which communicates with the surface, and within each cavity 
 is fixed the tentacle, of great length, and very slender, which the 
 
 Fig. 103.— Cestum veneris (Lesueur). 
 
 animal can at pleasure shoot out of the orifice and suffer to trail 
 through the water, shortening, lengthening, twisting, twining, or con- 
 tracting it into a tiny ball at will, or withdrawing it into its cavity, 
 short filaments being given off at intervals over the whole length of 
 this attenuated thread-like apparatus, each of which can also be 
 lengthened or shortened, and coiled individually. These proceed 
 only from one side of the thread-like tentacle^ although, at a casual 
 
252 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 glance, they seem to proceed now from one side, now from the 
 
 other. 
 
 The family Callianiridœ forms a sort of connecting link between 
 the Pleur obrachiadœ and the Cestidœ. Their bodies are smooth and 
 regular, vertically-elongated, compressed on one side and as if 
 lobated on the other ; in substance they are gelatinous, hyaline, and 
 tubular, obtuse at both extremities, with buccal openings between 
 the prolongations of the sides, and two pairs of conical appendages 
 resembling wings, capable of expansion, on the edges of which two 
 rows of vibratory cilia are ranged. A great transversal opening 
 presents itself at one of the extremities, a small one at the other. 
 The animal is furnished with two branching tentacles, but without 
 cilia. 
 
 In the family Cestidœ we have the genus Cestum. C. veneris^ or 
 Venus's Girdle, as it is vulgarly called, has a long, gelatinous, ribbon- 
 hke body, fine, regular, and very short, but much extended on each 
 side, while the edges are furnished with a double row of cilia ; the 
 lower surface is also furnished with cilia, but much smaller in size 
 and number. On the middle of the lower edge is the mouth, 
 opening into a large stomach. This alimentary canal runs across the 
 middle of its length, and from it extends, as in the Medusae, a series 
 of gastric canals, which carry the nutriment into all parts of the body. 
 There are many species of Cestum -, among them the best known is 
 C. veneris (Fig. 103), which is found in the Mediterranean, parti- 
 cularly in the sea which bathes the coast of Naples and Nice, where 
 the fishermen call it the sabre de mer — sea-sabre. This curious 
 creature unwinds itself on the bosom of the waters, like a scarf of 
 iridescent shades. It is the scarf of Venus traversing the waves, 
 under the fiery rays of the sun, which has coloured it with a thousand 
 reflections of silver and azure blue. 
 
 In the last family, Callymmidœ, the body is furnished with a pair 
 of antero-posterior oral lobes and other smaller lateral appendages. 
 The tentacles are various, and turned towards the mouth. 
 
253 
 
 CHAPTER IXe 
 
 ECHINODERMATA. 
 
 ** Ultra magis.pisces et Echinos sequora cèlent." — HoR. Ep* 
 
 In their " Natural History of the Echinodermata," Messrs. Hupé 
 and Dujardin divide this vast natural group into five orders or families, 
 namely: i, Crinoïdeœ, stone lilies, calcareous, stem composed of 
 movable pieces ; 2, Asieroïdeœ^ which includes the true star-fishes ; 
 3, Ophmrideœ, having the disc much depressed, the rays simple, 
 sometimes much divided ; 4, Echmidœ, comprehending the animals 
 known as sea-eggs, or sea-urchins, distinguished by their rounded 
 form and absence of arms ; 5, Bolothtiroïdeœ, with soft lengthened 
 cylindrical body, covered with scattered suckers. 
 
 The Echinodermata (from the Greek words e'xîvos, rough, and 
 hépixa, skin, indicating an animal bristling with, spines like the 
 hedge-hog) are animals sometimes free, sometimes attached by a 
 stem, flexible or otherwise, and radiating, that is presenting an 
 appearance more or less regular in all its parts, after the manner of a 
 circle or star, its form being globular, egg-shaped, cylindrical, or like 
 a pentagonal plate ; or lastly, like a star, with more or less elongated 
 arms, which secrete either in all their tissues or only in the in- 
 tegument, very numerous symmetrical calcareous plates of solid matter, 
 sometimes forming an internal skeleton or regular shell covered with 
 a more or less consistent skin, often pierced with holes, from which 
 the feet issue ; they are frequently furnished with appendages of 
 various kinds, such as spines, scales, &c. 
 
 The organisation of the Echinoderaiata is among the most perfect 
 of all the annulose animals, serving as a transition between them and 
 animals of more complicated frame. They have a digestive and 
 vascular system, and a muscular system is almost always present; they 
 have also either internal or external respiratory organs, and a rudi- 
 mentary nervous system has been detected in many of the species. 
 The nutritive system is very simple, presenting in some families a 
 
254 "THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 single orifice in the centre of the lower surface of the body, destitute 
 of teeth, performing the functions both of mouth and anus. De 
 Blainville says that "the liver is well marked and rather considerable 
 in the star-fishes, forming bunches occupying the whole circumference 
 of the stomach, and extending to the cavities of the appendages where 
 these exist." The mouth and gullet is admirably adapted for securing 
 the testaceous molluscs and other substances on which they feed. 
 
 Reproduction in the Echinodermata appears to be monoecious. 
 Ovaries are, as far as is known, present in all the female forms. They 
 vary in number in different species. The sexes are usually separate : 
 the young are produced by eggs, the embryo of which undergo im- 
 portant metamorphoses. Immediately after birth, the young star-fishes 
 have a depressed and rounded body, with four club-shaped appendages 
 or arms at their anterior extremity. When they are a little more 
 developed, papillae may be observed on the upper surface, in fine 
 radiating rows : after twelve days the fine rays begin to increase, and 
 after eight days more two rows of feet, or ambulacra, are developed 
 under each ray, which assist in the locomotion of the animal by 
 alternate elongation and contraction, performing also the office of 
 suckers. Like most other of the lower animals, they have the power 
 of reproducing parts of their bodies which may have been accidentally 
 destroyed. 
 
 Most star fishes have five perfectly equal arms. They resemble a 
 cross of honour, which has five branches. The star of the brave, the 
 star of honour — these somewhat trivial words recall, nevertheless, the 
 resemblance which exists between the two objects ; doubtless, man 
 has here taken Nature for his copy. It must, however, be remarked 
 that, though five is the general number of arms in the star-fish, this 
 number is not constant ; it varies with different genera, species, and 
 even with individuals. The connection of the arms with the disc 
 presents equally remarkable differences. In the genus Culcita, the 
 disc is so much developed that it constitutes, so to speak, the entire 
 animal, whilst the arms form only very slight protuberances upon its 
 circumference. In the genus Luidia, on the contrary, the disc is 
 reduced to a minimum, whilst the arms are of great length, and very 
 slender. 
 
 The colours of the many species of starfish vary greatly ; they 
 vary from a yellowish-grey, a yellow-orange, a garnet-red, to a dark 
 violet. 
 
 Starfishes are exclusively and essentially inhabitants of the sea j 
 they are never met with in fresh water ; many of them dwell amongst 
 the submarine plants, others are iouxsa. on sandy coasts ; they generally 
 
ntOHmODERMA TA. 
 
 255 
 
 aïe found at moderate depths, but there are some species which are 
 found at the great depth of 1,250 fathoms. 
 
 Star-fishes are met with in almost every sea and under all latitudes, 
 but they are most numerous and their forms are more richly varied in 
 the seas of tropical regions. 
 
 Fig. io4.^Asterias rubens (Lamarck) 
 
 The body of the Asterias is supported by a calcareous envelope 
 composed of juxta-imposed pieces at once various and numerous. 
 The number of these pieces is estimated at more than 11,000 
 in the Red Sea Star-fish {Asterias rubens^ Fig. 104), a species 
 very common in Europe. The body of the Asterias riibens is 
 likewise furnished with spines, granules, and tubercles, the shape, 
 number, and disposition of which serve in many cases to characterise 
 the genera and the species. 
 
256 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 Another species, Asierias aurajitiaca, will give a good idea of the 
 general type of the animals in this order. This Echinoderm, which 
 is represented in Fig. 105, is common in the northern seas ; it has 
 five rather long arms, furnished with spines, which are of an orange 
 
 105 — ^steiiis -^uriiiLiaca I imiick) 
 
 colour — hence its name. When we see one of these animals stranded 
 upon the shore, it appears to be entirely destitute of all power of 
 progression. But it is by no means immovable ; it is provided with 
 a special apparatus for locomotion, consisting of membranous tubes 
 usually termed feet, or ambulacra, which issue from the ambulacral aper- 
 tures ; but besides these, the rays themselves are movable, and, in 
 animals which are free to move from place to place, these are perhaps 
 used for the purpose. Thus, in the common star-fish the rays may be 
 bent towards the upper or lower surface of the disc, so as to facilitate its 
 
ECFiIl4bDÉRMATA. 2$y 
 
 advance either in water, over small spaces, or up the vertical face of 
 rocks. The ambulacral feet are very numerous, disposed in rows 
 along the under surface of the rays ; thus, in A. aurantiaca there are 
 two simple rows of ambulacral feet attached to each ray, and the 
 vesicular part is deeply cleft into two lobes ; while in A. rtibens (Fig. 
 105) there are two double rows of ambulacral feet on each ray, and 
 each ambulacral foot has at its base a closed ambulacral vesicle. 
 
 Each of these ambulacral feet consists of two parts, an internal 
 and generally bladder-like portion placed within the body, and a tubular 
 portion outside, projecting from the surface through an aperture in 
 the skin or shell, the tube being closed at the extremity, and 
 terminating in a sucker, usually in the form of a disc slightly 
 depressed in the centre; around the margin of this sucker-like 
 extremity will be often found pretty rosette-like shaped calcareous 
 plates, better seen in the Echinidae. The feet are thus muscular 
 fleshy cylinders, hollow in the centre, and very extensible ; by means 
 of them the animal draws itself forward. The foot is extended by the 
 contraction of its internal ambulacral vesicle, which forces the 
 ambulacral fluid into the hollow tube, or, where the ambulacral 
 vesicle is wanting, by projecting the fluid into the tube by a com- 
 municating vessel. The tubular part is thus distended and elongated, 
 and again retracts itself by means of its muscular fibres, by which 
 action the fluid is forced back into the interior. In progression the 
 animal extends a few of its feet, attaches its suckers to the rocks or 
 stones; then, by shortening its feet, it draws its body forward. The 
 progression of the Asterias is thus very slow, and so regular that only 
 the closest observation enables the spectator to discover the movement 
 which produces it. Like the movements of the hands of a watch, the 
 eye cannot quite follow it. When an obstacle presents itself — if, for 
 example, a stone comes in its way — it raises one of the rays in order 
 to obtain a point of support, then a second ray, and if necessary a 
 third, and thus the animal creeps over the stone with as much ease 
 as if it walked over the smooth sands. In the same way the animal 
 creeps up perpendicular rocks, which is accomplished by means of 
 these ambulacral feet and their suckers. Fredol says : " If an Asterias 
 is turned upon its back it will at first remain immovable, with its feet 
 shut up. Soon, however, out come the feet like so many Httle 
 feelers; it moves them backward and forward, as if feeling for 
 the ground ; it soon inclines them towards the bottom of the vase 
 and fixes them one after the other. When it has a suflicient number 
 attached the animal turns itself round. It is not impossible, whilst 
 walking on the sea-shore, to have the pleasure of seeing one of these 
 J 
 
25S THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 Star-fishes walking upon the sand. A day rarely passes without 
 one of them being thrown upon the strand by the tide, and then 
 abandoned by the retreating waters. Generally they are left dead : 
 this is not always the case, however; they are sometimes only 
 benumbed. Place them in a vase full of sea-water, or simply in a 
 pool on the shore, and you will sometimes see them recover from 
 this death-like condition, and execute the curious movements of 
 progression which we have described. The motions of an Asterias 
 thus saved form a very curious spectacle. 
 
 The mouth of this animal is situated on the lower surface of the 
 disc. At this point the constitutive pieces of the body skeleton leave 
 a circular space, covered by a fibrous resistant membrane, pierced at 
 the centre by a rounded opening. This opening is sometimes armed 
 with hard papillae, which play the part of teeth. The mouth almost 
 directly abuts on the stomach, which is merely a globular sac, filling 
 nearly all the central portion of the visceral cavity. 
 
 " Thus," says M. Milne-Edwards, " in Asteracanthion glacialis the 
 stomach is globular, but imperfectly divided into two parts by a fold 
 of its internal membrane ; the first chamber, thus limited, appears to 
 be more especially devoted to the transformation of the elementary 
 matter into a liquid paste, which passes, in small portions, into the 
 upper chamber. This is passed onward through a small intestine, 
 and communicates laterally with five cylindrical prolongations, which 
 each divide themselves again into two much elongated tubes, furnished 
 with a double series of hollow branches each terminating in a cul-de- 
 sac''' These organs are protruded into the interior of the rays or 
 arms of the Asterias. 
 
 Imagine, then, an animal bearing digestive tubes in its arms — the 
 same portion serving to lodge both the organs of digestion and pro- 
 gression. What lessons in economy does not the study of Nature 
 teach us ! The products of digestion find an absorbent surface of 
 great extent in the rays of the Asterias. They ought necessarily to 
 pass rapidly from it into the circumjacent nourishing fluid. 
 
 The star-fishes are very voracious ; they even attack molluscs 
 which are covered with shells. M. Pouch et mentions having taken 
 eighteen specimens of a species of Venus intact, each being six lines 
 in length, from the stomach of one large Asterias which he dissected 
 upon the shores of the Mediterranean. 
 
 It is now even said that the star-fishes eat many oysters. Ancient 
 naturalists were not ignorant of this fact ; but they believed that the 
 star-fish waited for the moment when the bivalve would open its valves 
 to introduce one of its rays into the opening. They imagined that 
 
ECHINODERMATA. 259 
 
 having thus put one foot into the other's domicile, they soon put the 
 other four, and finished by reaching and devouring the savoury inhabi- 
 tant of the shell. Modern observations have modified the ideas of 
 former naturalists upon this point. In order to obtain possession 
 of and swallow an oyster, it appears that the star-fish begins its 
 approaches by bringing its mouth to the closed edges of the oyster- 
 shell ; this done, with the assistance of a particular liquid which its 
 mouth secretes, it injects a few drops of an acrid or venomous liquid 
 into the interior of the oyster-shell, which forces it to open its valves. 
 An entrance once obtained, it is not long before it is invaded and 
 ravaged. Professor Rymer Jones gives another explanation of the 
 transaction. According to this naturalist the oyster is seized between 
 the rays of his ravisher, and held under his mouth by the aid of his 
 suckers ; the Asterias then everts its stomach, according to the pro- 
 fessor, and envelopes the entire oyster in its inmost recesses, while, 
 doubtless, distilling a poisonous liquid. The victim is thus forced to 
 open its shell, and becomes the prey of the enemy which envelopes it. 
 
 Whatever may be the modes of procedure employed by the star- 
 fish, it is now clearly ascertained, however incredible the fact may at 
 first appear, that it swallows oysters in the same manner as is prac- 
 tised by human beings at the oyster shop. 
 
 This little being, formed of five arms and without any other 
 apparent member, accomplishes a work which man, unaided, is quite 
 unable to execute — it opens an oyster without an oyster-knife. If 
 reasoning man had no other means of nourishment than oysters, and 
 was without a knife to open them, it is very certain that with all 
 his genius he would be puzzled how to get at the inaccessible and 
 savoury bivalve so obstinately closed against him. 
 
 The star-fish devours dead flesh of all kinds ; their sole occupation 
 is to feed themselves, and they keep up an incessant and active chase 
 after all sorts of decaying animal matter. The Asterias thus perform 
 in the bosom of the sea the same part that certain birds and insects 
 play on shore ; they are its scavengers, and feed their bodies upon 
 the carcases of animals which, if abandoned to the action of the 
 elements, would become a cause of infection. 
 
 In the same manner that certain animals render the air healthy, 
 the Asterias helps, on a considerable scale, to keep the sea which 
 shelters it in a pure and healthy state. Zoologists are not agreed 
 upon the manner in which respiration is effected in the star-fishes. 
 Nevertheless they think that the principal part in this phenomenon 
 devolves upon the subcutaneous branchiae which in each ray constitute 
 two double series of bladders. The function of circulation is not yet 
 
200 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 thoroughly investigated. The vascular apparatus is sufficiently deve- 
 loped in these Echinoderms, and appears to have for its centre an 
 elongated canal with muscular walls, which may with some justice be 
 honoured with the name of heart. A little ring surrounding the 
 oesophagus, and from which issue certain delicate white cords, which 
 are prolonged into the furrows of the arms, presents us with all that 
 can be designated a nervous system in the star-fishes. Among organs 
 of sense we may, perhaps, mention, as being sensible of touch, the 
 tentaadar ambiilacral feet. The eyes are considered to be certain 
 bright red points which are situated at the extremity of the arms 
 almost on their under surface — a most singular position for the organs 
 of sight. The eyes must, however, be very imperfect, for they possess 
 no crystalHne lens. Ehrenberg insists upon the existence of eyes 
 in some species, attributing the function to those red spots, however ; 
 while Rymer Jones attributes the indications of sight=seeing sometimes 
 observed to an extremely delicate sense of touch in the star-fishes. 
 Professor Edward Forbes, while he admits the existence of ganglions 
 in the nervous system to be extremely doubtful, seems, by the frequent 
 use of the terms eyes and eyelids, to admit that the specks in question 
 are visual organs ; the weight of authority inclines therefore to Ehren- 
 berg's view, that if not eyes in the strict sense of the term, they serve the 
 purposes of vision, modified and adapted to the wants of the animal. 
 The star-fishes have distinct sexes, with individual differences ; 
 their eggs, which are round and reddish, undergo curious phases of 
 development. They produce little worm-like creatures, covered 
 with vibratile cilia, like the Infusoria, which swim about with great 
 vivacity \ these Uttle creatures are subject to considerable changes. 
 In the year 1835 M. Sars described, under the name of Bipinnaria 
 asterigera^ an enigmatical animal resembling a polyp from the arms 
 at one extremity of the body, while the other terminated in a tail, 
 furnished with two fins ; but it was chiefly remarkable as having an 
 Asterias attached to the extremity which carried the arm. He 
 expressed an opinion, which was soon placed beyond any doubt, that 
 this bipiniiaria was an Asterias in its course of development. The egg 
 becomes a sort of infusorium, the infusorium becomes a hipiniiariay 
 and this produces the Asterias. In short, the Bipinnaria does not 
 become an Asterias by any metamorphosis analogous to that so well 
 known amongst insects — the butterfly, for example — but becomes, so 
 to speak, the foster-mother or nurse to the Bipinnaria. The larval 
 form is large, and it is at the cost of a very small internal rudiment 
 of this larval form that the Asterias is developed : the Asterias robs 
 the larval form of its stomach and intestines, and turns it into a 
 
ECHINODERMA TA, 2 6 1 
 
 visceral apparatus for its own use. But the Asterias makes itself a 
 mouth of any of the pieces most remote from the primitive mouth of 
 the larval form. Thus the Bipinnaria divides itself; it gives its 
 stomach and intestines, and keeps its oesophagus and mouth, and 
 it can live several days after the Asterias is detached from it. 
 
 Can any one imagine the existence of a being with only a mouth 
 and œsophagus, which has neither stomach nor intestines, because 
 another animal has possessed itself of them for its own use ? The 
 study of the lower animals abounds in surprises of this kind. It is a 
 chain of unforeseen facts, of natural impossibilities, of realised 
 points necessarily reversing all our notions obtained in the study of 
 beings which have a higher place in the animal scale. The history 
 of the star-fishes would be incomplete were we to omit mentioning 
 one of the most remarkable traits of their organisation with which 
 naturalists are acquainted. The animals exhibit in the highest 
 degree the vital phenomena of dismemberment and restoration, that 
 is to say, of the faculty of reconstructing organs which they have lost. 
 Their arms, the structure of which is so complicated, and which 
 protect such important organs, may be destroyed by accident. The 
 animal troubles itself little at this mutilation ; if it loses an arm it 
 disquiets it but little, another is, after a time, found to take its place. 
 We often see in our collections of Asterias specimens wanting in 
 symmetry because they have been taken before the new members 
 which are in process of development have attained their definite 
 length. Professor Rymer Jones mentions an instance of reintegra- 
 tion very complete and most curious. This naturalist had an isolated 
 ray of Asterias, which he had picked up ; at the end of five days he 
 observed that four little rays and a mouth had been produced ; at 
 the end of a month the old ray was completely destroyed, and this 
 apparently useless fragment had been replaced by a new being, quite 
 perfect, with four little symmetrical arms. This faculty of repro- 
 ducing organs, which we have noted in describing the fresh-water 
 polyps, the sea anemones, &c., exists also in many other forms, but 
 in none more striking than in the Asterias. But a still more startling 
 fact remains to be mentioned — one more strange and more mysterious, 
 for it does not belong to things physical or organic, but appears to 
 belong to the moral world — the star-fishes commit suicide ! Certain 
 of these animals appear to escape from dangers which menace them 
 by self-destruction. This power of putting an end to existence we 
 find only on the highest and lowest steps of the animal scale. Man 
 and the star-fishes have a common, moral platform, and it is that of 
 self-deatructioii !• 
 
202 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 Mysteries of Nature, who can sound your depths ? Secrets of the 
 moral world, what being but God has the privilege of comprehending 
 you ? A large species of star-fish {Luidia fragillïssima), which in- 
 habits the English seas, has this instinct of suicide to a great extent. 
 The following account, by Professor Edward Forbes, of an attempt to 
 capture a Luidia, gives a good illustration of its powers. " The first 
 time that I took one of these creatures," the Professor says, " I suc- 
 ceeded in placing it entire in my boat. Not having seen one before, 
 and being ignorant of its suicidal powers, I spread it out on a rowing 
 bench, the better to admire its form and colours. On attempting to 
 remove it for preservation, to my horror and disappointment I found 
 only an assemblage of detached members. My conservative endea- 
 vours were all neutralised by its destructive exertions ; and the animal 
 is now badly represented in my cabinet by a discless arm and an arm- 
 less disc. Next time I went to dredge at the same spot I determined 
 not to be cheated out of my specimen a second time. I carried with 
 me a bucket of fresh water, for which the star-fishes evince a great 
 antipathy. As I hoped, a Luidia soon came up in the dredge — a 
 most gorgeous specimen. As the animal does not generally break up 
 until it is raised to the surface of the sea, I carefully and anxiously 
 plunged my bucket to a level with the dredge's mouth, and softly 
 introduced the Luidia into the fresh water. Whether the cold was 
 too much for it, or the sight of the bucket was too terrific, I do 
 not know j but in a moment it began to dissolve its corporation, 
 and I saw its limbs escaping through every mesh of the dredge. 
 In my despair I seized the largest piece, and brought up the 
 extremity of an arm with its terminal eye, the spinous eyelid of 
 which opened and closed with something exceedingly like a wink 
 of derision." 
 
 The mind remains confounded before such spectacles ; and we 
 can only say, with Mallebranche, "It is well to comprehend clearly 
 that there are some things which are absolutely incomprehensible." 
 
 This is doubtless the reason that in collections of natural history 
 we rarely find star-fishes, and especially species of Luidia, entire ; 
 the moment the animal is seized by fisherman or amateur, in its terror 
 or despair it breaks itself up into small fragments. To preserve them 
 whole they must be killed suddenly, before they have time to be 
 aware of their danger. For this purpose, the moment they are drawn 
 from the sea they must be plunged into a bucket of cold fresh water ; 
 this saltless liquid is instant death to these creatures, which in this 
 condition perish suddenly before they have time to mutilate them- 
 selves. The star-fish is a curious ornament in our natural history 
 
CRINOIDEM. 26'' 
 
 collections, but in their dried state they represent very imperfectly 
 the elegance and particular grace of this curious type of beings. To 
 understand the star-fishes, they must be seen in an aquarium, where 
 we can admire the form, figure, movements, and manners of these 
 marvellous beings. 
 
 The Asterias are the planets of the sea. It may be said that 
 heaven, reflected during the night on the silvery surface of the ocean, 
 let fall some of those stars into its depths which decorate the re- 
 splendent vault. 
 
 CRINOlDEiE. 
 
 We quoted the maxim of Linnaeus in the earlier pages of this 
 volume, that Nature makes no leaps. Nature proceeds by means of 
 insensible transitions, rising by degrees from one organic form to 
 another. Most of the animals hitherto described are immovably fixed 
 to some solid object ; at least, such is their condition in the adult 
 state. We are about to describe Echinoderms free of all fetters ; 
 animals " which walk in their strength and liberty " at one time of 
 their existence, while at others they are fixed and stationary. 
 
 The Crinoideae, the first family of Echinoderms, are mostly 
 attached to marine rocks by a sort of root, having a long flexible 
 stem, which enables them to execute movements in the circle 
 limited only by the length of this stem, just as the ox or goat in our 
 paddocks is confined by its tether to the space circumscribed by the 
 length of its rope. 
 
 Let the reader picture to himself a star-fish borne upon the 
 summit of a flexible stem firmly rooted in the soil, and he has a 
 general idea of the form of some of the Echinoderms which compose 
 the family of the Crinoïdese. Naturalists of the seventeenth century 
 bestowed the name of sione lilies on these curious products. This 
 rather poetical name proves that the conformation of these creatures 
 had at an early period attracted observation, presenting the naturafist 
 with the most curious of his lessons. The encrinites raise up, as from 
 the dead, a whole world buried in the abyss of the past. At the 
 present time only a few genera of these Echinoderms exist, whilst in 
 the early ages of the world the ocean must have swarmed with them. 
 Crinoids abounded in the seas during the transition and secondary 
 epoch. It was one of the most numerous of the families which 
 inhabited the salt waters of the ancient world. In traversing some 
 parts of France, we tread under our feet myriads of these beings, 
 whose calcareous remains form vast beds of rock. The Encrinites 
 gradually disappeared from the ancient seasi their species wer^ 
 
204 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 diminished as the globe became older or modified in its conditions, 
 so that at the present time only a few types remain in our seas — • 
 such as the genera Comatida^ Fentacrtnus, the Medusa's-head of the 
 Antilles, Holopus^ and Rhizocrinus of the deep sea — all of them 
 probably destined soon to disappear, carrying with them the last 
 reminiscence of the zoological races of the Echinoderms of the 
 ancient world ; and here lies the real interest which the Crinoïdeae 
 presents to the thinking man. The Encrinites most common in the 
 fossil state are Pentacrinus fascicidosus^ belonging to the lias ; 
 Apiocrinus rotiindus, which is, found in the oolite or Jurassic rocks ; 
 and Enc7'inus liltfoiyms, which appertains to the triassic period. 
 These three fixed Crinoids seem to have existed in great numbers 
 during an early age of the world — namely, the Silurian period. They 
 attained their maximum of development during the Devonian age, 
 after which they begin to decrease. According to M. d'Orbigny, 
 there are thirty-nine genera found in the palaeozoic rocks, two in 
 the triassic, seven in the Jurassic, five in the cretaceous, and only 
 one in the tertiary strata. Of all these genera but two or three are 
 found in the modern epoch to represent the varied forms of these 
 the first inhabitants of the seas. 
 
 The free Crinoïdese, that is those not rooted to the soil by a 
 stem, of which the Comatula may be considered the type, only 
 appeared at a later period. They are absent in the palaeozoic and 
 triassic rocks, but appear to have attained their maximum of develop- 
 ment in the Jurassic period. 
 
 The numerous fossilised remains of these curious creatures which 
 abound in different rocks, attracted the attention of learned men at 
 an early period. The Encrinites were among the earliest objects of 
 scientific description. As early as the sixteenth century the cele- 
 brated mineralogist, George Agricola, mentions them under the names 
 of Entrochites, Irochites, and Astrdites. At the same time, and since 
 that epoch, the Crinoideas, which we know by the name of stone lilies, 
 and which characterise the Muschelkalk rocks, have been known 
 under the name of Encrinus, from ^v, stone, and Kpivov^ a lily. 
 
 During the eighteenth century the works upon the Crinoïdeae were 
 very numerous, though not very correct. They sometimes reported 
 these organic remains to be vegetable ; sometimes they were beings 
 allied to the star-fishes ; at others they were the vertebral column of 
 fishes. Towards the year 1761, however, Guettard, one of the most 
 learned naturalists of his time, understood the real nature of these 
 productions. He had occasion to examine a recent Encrinus sent 
 from Martinique under the name of Sea-Palm^ which was in reality 
 
CRINOIDE^. 
 
 265 
 
 Fentacrmus caput Medusœ. The comparison of the Hving individual 
 with the fossil fragments 
 described by his predeces- 
 sors, and of which he had 
 specimens in his collections, 
 enabled him to ascertain the 
 real origin of the fossil En- 
 crinoidese. The beautiful 
 fragment of this recent form 
 which still exists in the Mu- 
 seum of Natural History at 
 Paris was long considered 
 unique, but it is now known 
 that many others exist in 
 the different museums of 
 Europe and America. Since 
 that date the Crinoidese 
 have beenexaminedand de- 
 scribed by observers such as 
 Miller, Forbes, d'Orbigny, 
 Agassiz, Sars, Pictet, Major 
 Austin, and by Carpenter 
 and Wyville Thomson. 
 
 Among the species of 
 fixed Crinoïdeae actually 
 living are Pejitac7-i7ms 
 caput Medusœ (Fig. 106) 
 and Rhizocrinus lofotensis. 
 These curious Echino- 
 derras resemble a flower 
 borne upon a stem, which 
 terminates in an organ 
 called the calyx, which is, 
 properly speaking, the body 
 of the animal. Arms, more 
 or less branching, spring 
 from this calyx, their ramifi- 
 cations, so formed, con- 
 sisting of many pieces arti- 
 culated to each other. The 
 
 calyx is supported by a stem, varying in height, formed of pieces 
 secreted by the living tissues which surround them. The articulations 
 
 J* 
 
 Fig. 106. — Pentacrinus caput Medusae (Miiller). 
 
266 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 of this Stem are usually very numerous, cylindrical, and present a series 
 of rays striated upon their articulated faces. In Pentacriims they are 
 
 Fig. 107. — Pentacrinus europaeus (Thompson). 
 
 prismatic and pentagonal; that is, they present five projecting angles, 
 and on their articidated face ^ '^tar with five branches, or, better still, 
 
CRINOÏDEM. 267 
 
 a rose with five petals. At the base of the stem of this animal-plant, 
 in many of the Crinoïdese, we find a sort of spreading root, which is 
 implanted in the rocks, and is capable of growing by itself, and 
 of nourishing the stem. 
 
 The root and stem of the fixed Encrinites seem to indicate that 
 the animal can only live with the head erect. Their normal condition 
 is thus quite different from that of any other of the Echinoderms, 
 almost all of which keep their mouths invariably directed downwards. 
 
 Pentacrinus and Rhizocrinus are chiefly found on rocky beds, or 
 in the midst of banks of corals, at great depths. There, firmly fixed 
 by their roots, their long stems raise themselves vertically; then, 
 with expanded calyx and long-spreading arms, they wait for the prey 
 which passes within their reach in order to seize it. 
 
 The Fentacrinus caput Medusœ has, as we have said, been fished 
 up from great depths in the Antilles. It is borne upon a stem of 
 from eighteen to twenty inches in height, terminating in long movable 
 arms, the internal surface of which bf i,rs the ambulacral feet. In 
 the middle of the arms is a mouth, and it the side the orifice for the 
 expulsion of the digested residuum. 
 
 The Crinoïdese are not, however, all like the two species which 
 have been referred to. There is an entire section of the animals belong- 
 ing to this class, namely, the Comatididœ^ which are fixed in their earl}- 
 days, but separate themselves from the rooted stem in their adult 
 age, and, throwing off the bonds imposed in their youth, live freely, 
 swimming through the water, or clinging to mussel or oyster banks. 
 Species of the genus Comatula are found in the seas of both hemi- 
 spheres. Their bodies are flat — large calcareous plates form a cuirass 
 upon their backs — presenting, besides, cirri composed of numerous 
 curling joints, the last of which terminates in a hook. The ventral 
 surface presents two orifices : the one in the centre corresponding to 
 a mouth, the other evidently intended for the discharge of the pro- 
 ducts of digestion. This animal is provided with five arms, which 
 diverge directly from the centre plate or cuirass. The branches of 
 these arms have a double row of ambulacral feet, in the centre of 
 which is the ambulacral groove, properly so-called. The feet are 
 clothed with vibratile cilia over their whole surface. These cilia 
 guide the current which drives the substances on which the animal 
 feeds — such as the organic spores of sea-weeds and microscopical 
 animalcules floating in the sea — towards its mouth. 
 
 The movements of these curious creatures are very slow, their 
 only object being to catch the bodies of animals and marine plants, 
 or, by extending or contracting their arms, to feel their way through 
 
268 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 the water to some new locality. Sometimes, also, in order to change 
 their feeding-ground, the Coniatula abandon the submarine forests, 
 herbage, and sea-wracks, and float through the water, moving their 
 arms with considerable rapidity in search of a new station. 
 
 The Mediterranean Comatula (Fig. io8) is largely diffused around 
 
 Fig. io8.— Comatula mediterranea (Lamarck), natural size. 
 
 the shores of the Mediterranean, and on our own coasts. Its spread- 
 ing arms extend to three or four inches ; its colour is purple, shaded 
 and spotted with white upon the ventral surface. 
 
 Were a traveller to tell us that he had seen animals drop their 
 eggs upon masses of stone ; that these eggs, after executing certain 
 progressive evolutions, finally became individuals in all respects un- 
 like their parents, and attached themselves to the stones by a root 
 
CRINÔ^DEM. 269 
 
 like any flower of the fields, or to the mother stem like the branch of 
 a tree, until in due course they attained the almost adult state, when 
 the flexible stem which holds them fixed either to the soil or parent 
 stem breaks, and the animal, now firee, launches itself into the liquid 
 medium, now resembling its parent form, and goes to live a proper 
 and independent existence ; in listening to a recital so opposed in 
 appearance to the ordinary laws of Nature, we should be inclined to 
 tax the narrator of such incredible facts with error or folly. Never- 
 theless, all these facts are now perfectly estabHshed. The being 
 which presents these marvels has nothing of the fabulous about it ; 
 it is the Comatula mediterranea. 
 
 In the Pentacrinoid stage of Comatula (Fig. 107), the presence of 
 a digestive apparatus has been distinctly traced. It is a sort of 
 irregular sac, with a central mouth on the upper surface, and another 
 orifice situated at a little distance from the mouth, and evidently 
 intended as an outlet for the products of digestion. The arms of 
 these creatures, which are spreading or folded up, according to their 
 wants, are provided with ambulacral feet, which, serving at once as 
 organs of absorption and having vibratile cilia, are at the same time 
 organs of respiration. Such are these curious beings : they occupy a 
 sort of middle or transition state between animals permanently fixed 
 to some spot and those capable of motion, representing in our own 
 times the last remains of extinct generations. Every specimen of 
 the Crinoideae furnished with arms presents evidence of their repro- 
 duction or re-integration. 
 
 ASTERIAD^ OR StAR-FISHES. 
 
 In walking on the sea-shore at low tide, your eyes have often seen 
 the animal which commonly and sometimes scientifically bears the 
 name of star-fish half-buried in the sand. It is so regular and geo- 
 metrical in its form that it has more the appearance of being the 
 production of man's hand than of being a creature which breathes and 
 moves. The divine Geometrician who created it never realised a 
 creature more regularly finished in shape or more perfectly harmo- 
 nious in symmetry. 
 
 OPHIURIDiE. 
 
 The Ophiuridse are thus named from two Greek words (è(/)ts, a 
 serpent, and oh^a, a tail), from their fancied resemblance to the tail 
 of a serpent. These Echinoderms are met with in almost every 
 sea, both in those of the tropical and temperate regions ; they are 
 
2/0 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 very common on every shore, and have been remarked by fishermen 
 from the earliest times on account of their singular form, the dis- 
 position of their arms, which resemble the tail of a lizard, and by 
 the singularity of their movements. The general characteristics of 
 this remarkable group of Echinodermata, as described by Dujardin 
 and Hupe, are as follows : — They are radiate marine animals creeping 
 at the bottom of the sea or upon marine plants. In form they 
 present a sort of coriaceous disc, which is either bare or covered with 
 scales, which contains all the viscera, and has articulated to it five 
 very flexible simple or branching arms, each supported by a series of 
 calcareous internal pieces ; they are naked or covered with granules, 
 scales, or spines. The mouth is situated in the middle of the lower 
 surface of the disc, and opens directly into a stomach which is in the 
 shape of a sac ; it is circumscribed by five re-entering angles corres- 
 ponding with the intervals between the arms, having a series of 
 calcareous pieces, which perform the function of foot jaws. The 
 mouth is prolonged by five longitudinal clefts, which correspond to 
 the arms, and are garnished with papillae or calcareous pieces. A 
 series of calcareous pieces, somewhat rib-shaped, spring from the 
 extremity of each of these clefts, which occupy all the interior of 
 the arms, having a furrow in the middle of the ventral surface for 
 the reception of a nutritive vessel ; and laterally between their ex- 
 pansions are certain openings, from whence issue the ambulacral 
 feet ; the visceral cavity opens by one or two clefts on the ventral 
 surface of each side of the base of the arms. 
 
 The Ophiuridse move themselves by briskly contracting their 
 arms so as to produce a succession of undulations analogous to those 
 by which a serpent creeps along. Some of these Echinoderms are 
 rather active \ but others attach themselves by their arms to the 
 branches of certain Gorgonidae, and remain immovable for a consider- 
 able time, waiting their prey somewhat like a spider in the midst of 
 his web. 
 
 The family of Ophiuridse is divided into two great sections : that of 
 the Ophiurinae, which comprehends several genera, amongst others 
 that which gives its name to the family; and that of the Euryalinae. 
 
 The family of Ophiurinae forms a group distinguished by their five 
 simple, articulated, very mobile, and non-ramified arms, each of 
 which is attached to a small disc or shield plate, with flexible thread- 
 like cirri between the rays. The genus Ophiura is very common, and 
 has been known from very early times in European seas. The species 
 are often of a greenish colour, with transverse bands, which become 
 more obscure upon the arms as the distance from the disc increases. 
 
OPHIURID^, 
 
 271 
 
 This disc is from six-eighths to seven-eighths of an inch in size, the 
 upper part covered with unequal plates, in shape Hke tiles \ the arms 
 are four times the length of the diameter of the' disc, very lender and 
 tapering. The Ophiuroid to which Lamarck gave the name of 
 
 Fig. 109.— Ophiocoma Riisei (Lutken), natural size. 
 
 Ophiurafragilîs has now its place in the genus Ophiothrix, the specific 
 name indicating a peculiarity of structure in all these small creatures 
 derived from their fragile formation. In short, these beings have so' 
 Kttle consistency, that many of them crumble as it were under the' 
 touch, and become reduced to pulp under the slightest pressure. 
 In Fig. 109 we give the representation of an Ophiuroid of the natural 
 
'Z'J2 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 size,^ which Lutken has since called OpMocoma Riiseî. This 
 Echinoderm, which lives in the seas of the Antilles, is furnished 
 with five very flexible rays, which are armed with from three to four 
 rows of spines, those on the upper part of the body being very hard 
 
 Fig. no. — Asterophyton verrucosum (Lamarck). 
 
 ones ; the body and arms of this creature are of reddish brown, 
 streaked with a great number of little white lines. 
 
 The principal type of the Euryalinae is the curious and complex 
 Asterophyio7i veri'ucosuin of Lamarck. This section includes the 
 Ophiuroids, remarkable for the extremely comphcated development 
 of their arms ; the very multiplied ramifications of these, towards the 
 extremities, being again divided into many thousand very slender 
 appendages, the principal use of which is doubtless locomotion, but 
 
OPHIURID^. 
 
 275 
 
 at the same time they constitute a series of living thread-like weapons 
 which seem intended to seize and close upon the animals which 
 serve as prey to these little flesh-eaters. The Asterophyton veri'ti- 
 COSÎWI, which is represented in Fig. no, is yellowish ; its disc about ^ 
 four inches, its arms sixteen to eighteen; it inhabits the Indian 
 Ocean. Another species, A. arborescens^ is met with on the coasts 
 of Sicily and other parts of the Mediterranean. Nothing can be 
 
 Fig. Ill,— Acrocladia mamillata (Lamarck), natural size. 
 
 more elegant than these animated discs, which resemble nothing so 
 much as a delicate piece of lace — a piece of living lace moving in 
 delicate festoons in the bosom of the ocean. 
 
 ECHINID^. 
 
 The singular shape of the Echinidse, or Sea-urchins (Plate VIII. ), 
 and the spiny armature with which their bodies are covered, has in all 
 ages attracted the attention of naturalists. Aristotle applied to them 
 the name kyjivos, which signifies urchin. When, however, one sees the 
 body of one of these animals thrown on the sea-shore, it is difficult; 
 
276 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 at first, to find a reason for this designation. The corona or body of 
 the sea-urchin is furnished with different kinds of spines. It forms a 
 shell, nearly spherical, empty in the interior, its surface presenting 
 reliefs remarkable for their regularity. In order to see the urchin 
 with its spines it is necessary to seize it as it lives, in the water at the 
 bottom of the sea, where it rolls and moves its little prickly mass ; it is 
 then only that the real urchin — the prickly sea-urchin — is to be seen, 
 bristling with prickles, and strongly resembling, to compare the physical 
 with the mental, those amiable mortals whose character is so well 
 depicted in the saying, " Whom they rub they prick." 
 
 In his book on " The Sea," Michelet puts the following conver- 
 sation into the mouth of a sea-urchin : — 
 
 *' I am born without ambition," says the modest Echinoderm; "I 
 ask for none of the brilliant gifts possessed by those gentlemen the 
 molluscs. I would neither make mother-of-pearl nor pearls j I have 
 no wish for brilliant colours, a luxury which would point me out; still 
 less do I desire the grace of your giddy Medusas, the waving charm of 
 whose flaming locks attracts observation and exposes one to shipwreck. 
 Oh, mother ! I wish for one thing only : to be — to be without these 
 exterior and compromising appendages ; to be thickset, strong, and 
 round, for that is the shape in which I should be the least exposed ; 
 in short, to be a centralised being. I have very little instinct for 
 travel. To roll sometimes from the surface to the bottom of the sea is 
 enough of travel for me. Glued firmly to my rock, I could there 
 solve the problem, the solution of which your future favourite, man, 
 seeks for in vain — that of safety. To strictly exclude enemies and 
 admit all friends, especially water, air, and light, would, I know, cost 
 me some labour and constant effort. Covered with movable spines, 
 enemies will avoid me. Now, bristling like a bear, they call me an 
 urchin." 
 
 Let us now look a little more closely at the general structure of the 
 sea-urchin — in zoological language. Echinus. 
 
 The body of the sea-urchin is globular in form, slightly egg-shaped, 
 or of a disc slightly swollen. It consists essentially of an exterior 
 shell, or solid corona covered with spines, and invested in a delicate 
 membrane furnished with vibratile cilia. This corona is formed of an 
 assemblage of contiguous polygonal plates, adhering together by their 
 edges. Their arrangement is such that the test or shell may be 
 divided into vertical zones, each springing from a central point on 
 the summit, and terminating at a point of the spheroid diametrically 
 opposite — namely, the circumference of the buccal orifice. These 
 vertical zones are of two kinds, some larger and others straighter, 
 
ECHINIDM, 277 
 
 each zone consisting of a double row of plates, the first charged with 
 movable spines, the second pierced with holes disposed in regular 
 longitudinal series, from which emerge the ambulacral feet, which, as 
 we shall see presently, serve as organs of locomotion to the animal. 
 When armed with these bristling spines, the sea-urchins resemble the 
 hedge-hogs; but when the spines are rubbed off, they look very much 
 hke a melon or an ^gg, to which their shape and calcareous nature 
 have sometimes led to their being compared by the vulgar as well as 
 by the learned. We shall give a tolerably exact idea of the two 
 different aspects which the corona of the urchin presents when the 
 spines are still on and when they have been removed, by reference to 
 
 ^/ »T 'i i^ >..,( , '"s 
 
 ' 'j»^^ ^ 
 
 Fig. 112. — Acrocladia mamillata. Sea Urchin, without spines, natural 
 
 Fig. Ill {Acrocladia inamillata), which represents the animal bristling 
 with spines, and Fig. 112, in which the same species is represented 
 after death, when these weapons of defence have been rubbed off — 
 and how complicated these organs of defence must be ! It has been 
 calculated that more than ten thousand pieces, each admirably arranged 
 and united, enter into the composition of the shell of the sea-urchin. 
 To abbreviate slightly Gosse's description of that wonderful piece of 
 mechanism, the sea-urchin : "A globular hollow box has to be made, 
 of some three inches in diameter, the walls of which shall be scarcely 
 thicker than a wafer, formed of unyielding limestone, yet fitted to hold 
 the soft tender parts of an animal which quite fills the cavity at all ages. 
 But in infancy the animal is not so big as a pea, and it has to attain 
 its adult dimensions. The box is never to be cast off or renewed ; the 
 same box must hold the infant and the veteran urchin. The limestone 
 can only increase in size by being deposited. Now the vascular tissues 
 
.278 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 are within, and the particles they deposit must be on the interior walls. 
 To thicken the walls from within leaves less room in the cavity ; but 
 what is wanted is more room, ever more and more. The growing 
 animal feels its tissues swelling day by day, by the assimilation of 
 "food. Its cry is, ' Give me space ! a larger house, or I die !' How 
 is this problem solved? Ah ! there is no difficulty. The inexhaustible 
 wisdom of the Creator has a beautiful contrivance for the emergency. 
 The box is not made in one piece, nor in ten, nor a hundred. Six 
 hundred distinct pieces go to make up the hollow case, all accurately 
 fitted together, so that the perfect symmetry of the outline remains 
 unbroken; and yet, thin as their substance is, they retain their relative 
 positions with unchanging exactness, and the slight brittle box retains 
 all requisite strength and firmness, for each of these pieces is enveloped 
 by a layer of living flesh ; a vascular tissue passes up between the 
 joints, where one meets another, and spreads itself over the whole 
 exterior surface." This being so, the glands of the investing tissue 
 secrete Hme from the sea water, and deposit it after a determinate 
 and orderly pattern on every part of the surface. Thus the inner 
 face, the outer face, and each side and angle of the polyhedron, grow 
 together, and the form characteristic of the individual is maintained 
 with immutable mathematical precision. 
 
 The dimensions and shape of the spines are very variable. In 
 certain Echinidse they are three or four times the diameter of the 
 body. In the common sea-urchin, properly so called, they are only 
 three-fourths or four-fifths that diameter. They sometimes resemble 
 short bristles. These defensive weapons have tubercles for supports, 
 which are arranged on the surface of the animal with perfect regularity. 
 At the base they present a small head separated by compression. 
 This head is hollow on its lower face, presenting a cavity adapted to 
 a tubercle of the shell. Each of the spines, notwithstanding its 
 extreme minuteness, is put in action by a muscular apparatus. 
 
 In the spines and ambulacral feet we see the external organs of 
 the Echinidae. The former are instruments of defence ; the latter, 
 strange as it may appear, serve them to walk with. When it is 
 considered that each of th^se spines is put in motion by several 
 muscles, it is impossible to repress our wonder and surprise at the 
 prodigious number of organs brought into action in the sea-urchin. 
 More than 1,200 spines have been counted upon the '^tVioi Echinus 
 escidentus, a representation of which is given in Fig. T13. If we add 
 to this first supply of spines other smaller and in some sort accessary 
 spines, we shall arrive at a total of 3,000 prickles. Each sea-urchin 
 thus bears as many weapons as ten squadrons of lancers. When it 
 
ECHINI DM. 229 
 
 is considered, further, that in each series of ambulacral feet there 
 exist not less than loo, you will have a total of 4,000 visible 
 appendages upon the body of an animal of very small dimensions. 
 If it is considered, finally, that no shell exists more admirably sym- 
 ; metrical, elegant, or more highly ornamental than the corona of the 
 
 Fig. 113. — Echinus esculentus (Lamarck), natural size. 
 
 sea-urchin, it will readily be admitted that Nature has been most 
 prodigal in her gifts to one of the humblest beings in creation— a 
 .creature which passes its existence in crawling in obscurity at the 
 bottom of the sea. What elegance of form, eternally hidden from 
 the eyes of man, sleeps under the heavy mass of water ; and yet 
 .man imagines that everything in Nature has been created for his use 
 and for his glory ! , ; 
 
280 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 M. Hupé records a somewhat curious observation in connection 
 with the spines which serve as a means of defence to the Echinidae. 
 He found a small mollusc, of the genus Stilt/era^ which had sought 
 shelter in Loxocidaris impei'ialis^ a sea-urchin, native of Australia ; in 
 a word, the interior of one of these prickles had been hollowed and 
 enlarged so as to serve as a retreat for this improvised guest. 
 
 What unexpected facts does the study of animals present ! Nature 
 has bestowed a protecting armour upon one little being ; another 
 still smaller animal discovers this, and places itself for shelter under 
 the protection of one of these levelled bayonets ! 
 
 Now let us see by what organic mechanism the sea-urchin con- 
 trives to transport itself and walk. The ambulacral feet are hollow 
 internally, and, as we have said, are provided with small muscles. 
 By the influx of liquid which they enclose they become inflated 
 throughout all their length, in such a manner that they can attach 
 themselves to any solid body, at the will of the animal, by means of 
 their terminal suckers. Fredol, in " Le Monde de la Mer," thus 
 explains the sea-urchin's mode of progression. " Let us imagine," 
 he says, '* one of these creatures to be at rest ; all its spines are 
 immovable, and all its feet repose within the shell ; some of these 
 involuntarily are protruded ; they extend themselves and feel the 
 ground all round them : others follow, but the animal is firmly fixed. 
 If it wishes for change of place, the anterior feet contract themselves, 
 whilst the hinder ones loosen their hold, and the shell is carried 
 forward. The sea-urchin can thus advance with ease, and even 
 rapidity. During his progression the suckers are only slightly aided 
 by the spines. It can travel either on its back oi stomach. What- 
 ever their posture, they have always a certain number of feet, which 
 carry them, and suckers, with which they attach themselves. In 
 certain circumstances the animal walks by turning upon itself, like a 
 wheel in motion." 
 
 Nothing is more curious than to see a sea-urchin walk upon 
 smooth sand. But for its colour, it might be mistaken for a chest- 
 nut with its bristling envelope, the spines serving as feet to put 
 the Httle round prickly mass in motion. They have even been 
 observed to make very considerable progress under these circum- 
 stances. 
 
 One of the most singular organs of the sea-urchin is its mouth. 
 It is most curious. Placed underneath the body it occupies the 
 centre of a soft space invested with a thick resisting membrane : it 
 opens and shuts incessantly, showing five sharp teeth (Fig. 114; 
 projecting from the surface, the edges meeting at a point, as repre- 
 
ECHINID^. 
 
 sented here, supported and protected by a very complicated frame- 
 work, which has received the name of Aristotle's Lantern (Fig. 115). 
 Fig. 114 represents ^r///////>f //z'/iZ/'/j-, 
 with all its spines removed ; the 
 other shows the masticatory organs, 
 that is to say, Aristotle's Lantern. 
 To give the reader another idea of 
 the buccal organ in the sea-urchins 
 let him glance at a flattened form 
 from the southern seas, Clypeaster 
 rosaceiis, represented in Figs. 116 and 
 117, an outline of the entire animal. 
 
 The shape of Clypeaster rosaceus 
 is oval, straighter in front, and thick 
 and rounded at the edges. It is 
 more common and more largely dis- 
 tributed than^ perhaps any other allied species, and it is supplied 
 with four or six rows of ambulacral feet. 
 
 It is not easy to understand why the dental framework of the 
 
 Fig. 114.— Buccal armature of Echinus 
 lividus. 
 
 Fig. 115. — Masticating apparatus of Echinus lividus. 
 
 sea-urchin has been called Aristotle's Lantern, for this formidable 
 apparatus resembles the front view of a battery of cannon more than 
 a lantern. It consists of a series of pieces designated by the names 
 of compass, scythe, pyramid, and plumula, which it would serve no 
 useful purpose to describe in detail here. 
 
 We have said that the mouth of the sea-urchin is quite out of 
 
2.82 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 proportion to its size, and the teeth are of proportionate dimensions. 
 As these project from a very formidable mouth, one can easily be 
 assured of the sharpness of their extremities by intruding his fingers 
 into them. In fact, it is necessary that these organs should be 
 singularly powerful, because, as we shall see farther on, the sea-urchin 
 possibly makes incisions in the solid rock with them, and hollows out 
 shelter for himself. The strong and sharp teeth grow at the base in 
 
 Fig. ii6.— Clypeaster rosaceus (Lamarck). 
 
 proportion as they are used at the points, as is the case with some of 
 the rodent mammals. By this means they are always sharp and in 
 good condition: Five groups of powerful muscles are used to work 
 these terrible grinders. 
 
 To this formidable mouth is attached an oesophagus or gullet, and 
 an intestine which extends along the interior walls of the corona, 
 describing the circumference of its principal contour. 
 
 The food of the Echinidae is still imperfectly known \ nevertheless^ 
 
ECHINID^. 
 
 283 
 
 from the presence of shells, fragments of corals, crustaceans, and 
 even other Echinodermata in their intestinal tube, it is to be inferred 
 that a certain number of them at least are carnivores, or flesh-eaters, 
 while others are supposed on the same evidence to be vegetarians. 
 The organs of respiration of the Echinidae appear to be certain 
 flattened vesicles in the form of very delicate laminae, which adhere 
 to the internal surface of the walls of the body, and float freely in the 
 
 Fig. 117.— Skeleton and Masticating Apparatus of Clypeaster rosaceus. 
 
 liquid with which the visceral cavity is filled. These organs, known 
 as the internal brajichiœ, are in communication with the central canal 
 and ambulacral tubes. The heart is spindle-shaped, tapering above, 
 swelling out below. There are two distinct vascular systems, one 
 intestinal, the other cutaneous. 
 
 The nervous system consists of a ring, which surrounds the gullet, 
 and is placed at a short distance from the mouth. In this ring the 
 nervous trunks have their origin. In reference to the senses, we may 
 observe that that of touch is. highly developed. Certain forms called 
 
284 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 Pedicellaria, which surround the mouth, and are fashioned like 
 nippers, are also to be met with. They appear to be altogether 
 destitute of organs of sight. It has sometimes been argued that 
 five red points at the summit of the dorsal surface are eyes ; but 
 this opinion has not been maintained, nor has any crystalline lens 
 been found in these spots to justify it. Captain de Condé states 
 that he examined a sea-urchin with long spines in a pool of water, 
 which he tried to catch, when he saw it direct itself towards his 
 hand, all its spines being erect. Surprised at this manoeuvre, he 
 tried to seize it from another quarter ; its spines were instantly 
 directed to the other side. " I have thought from that time that the 
 urchin saw me, and prepared to resist my attack. In order, however, 
 to satisfy myself whether or not the movement in the water caused by 
 my approach might have produced the effect described, I repeated 
 the experiment with greater caution. But the creature always directed 
 its spines in the direction of the object which threatened it, whether 
 it was in the water or out of it." He satisfied himself that these 
 animals certainly could see, and that their spines served them as a 
 means of defence. 
 
 These wonderful spines, this calcareous envelope, this armour so 
 marvellously studded, with which Nature has so bountifully provided 
 the Echinidse, appear to have been insufficient, inasmuch as these 
 very spines, in order to secure the safety of the animal, are gifted with 
 the power of hollowing a dwelling for themselves out of solid rocks of 
 the hardest material, such as granite and sandstone. They fix them- 
 selves to its surface by means of their tentacles ; they make an incision 
 by means of their strong teeth, removing the débris with their spines 
 as fast as it is produced. When the hole is large enough, they 
 entrench themselves in it, with their spines like threatening pikes 
 levelled to protect them from all external assaults. To M. Caillaud, 
 the conservator of the Museum of Nantes, we are indebted for an 
 excellent account of the manner in which this buccal apparatus is 
 made to operate. ''The Lantern of Aristotle," says this author, 
 "forms the mandibulary apparatus; the teeth are five in number, 
 and they may as well receive the denomination of a series of saws and 
 picks as of teeth, for they are surprisingly adapted to the excavation 
 of holes in the hardest rock. These five picks are about the eighth 
 of an inch long, and they serve the sea-urchin at once as masticators 
 and excavating implements. In opening the jaws, these five teeth 
 strike the stone forcibly rather than scrape it." This property of 
 hollowing their dwelling out of the solid rock appears, however, to 
 belong to only a small number of the Echinidae j most of them are 
 
ECHINI DM. 285 
 
 content to hide themselves under the stones, while the species 
 having the spines slender and the shell very thin bury themselves in 
 the sand, with which they cover themselves entirely, leaving only a 
 small hole to breathe through. The species of the genus Spatafigus, 
 which is furnished with short thick-set spines on the under side of 
 its body, which spread out at their extremities like the channel of 
 a spoon, proceeds with its mining operations as follows, according 
 to Mr. Jonathan Franklin : — " Figure to yourself, reader, the animal 
 on the sea-shore. He commences his operations by turning the 
 lower spines in such a manner as to form a hollow in the sand- 
 bank, in which he sinks by his own weight; but as he sinks, a 
 great number of the spines are brought into action, throwing up the 
 sand with increased activity, while the sand thrown up, returning 
 again, soon covers the body of the worker, and it has soon buried 
 itself beneath the surface. In this situation the long hair-like spines 
 situated upon the back begin to play their part ; they prevent the 
 sand from entirely covering the animal, by forming a little round hole, 
 through which water is introduced to the mouth and respiratory 
 organs." The hiding-place of the sea-urchin is, however, easily 
 detected in the sand by the hole thus arranged for the respiration 
 of the animal, and the fishermen think they can predict storms 
 according to the depth of the hole. 
 
 The Echinidae are reproduced by eggs, which are red and of 
 almost microscopical dimensions. As it issues from the egg the larval 
 form has the appearance of a very minute Infusorium. It is not at 
 once converted into the perfect animal, but undergoes a certain 
 metamorphosis, analogous to that of the caterpillar into the butterfly. 
 But, as we have already stated in treating of the Asterid^e, it produces, 
 at a certain stage, by some sort of internal process of germination, a 
 sea-urchin, which, being at first only an organ of the larval form, begins 
 to live an independent hfe when the nursing larval form has destroyed 
 itself The manner in which the sea-urchin unfolds itself at the 
 expense of the larval form is quite analogous to that which is pre- 
 sented in the case of the Asterias, it is another case of alternate 
 generation, of which our space does not permit us to give even a 
 general outline. 
 
 Sea-urchins are found in every sea j they dwell in sandy bottoms, 
 and sometimes upon rocky ground. They are caught with wooden 
 pincers when in shallow water ; when found at the water's edge they 
 may be taken by a gloved hand. 
 
 The sea-urchin, like the crab, which it also resembles in taste, 
 becomes red when boiled j only certain species are comestible, 
 
286 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 however. In Corsica and Algeria the melon-shaped urchin {Echinus 
 meld) is much esteemed. In Naples and in the French ports of the 
 Channel the Echinus lividus is eaten. In Provence the common sea- 
 urchin {Echinus esculentus and Echinus granulosus) are the favourites. 
 
 Sea-urchins are also eaten raw, like oysters. They are cut in four 
 parts, and the flesh taken out with a spoon ; they are sometimes, but 
 more rarely, dressed by boiling, and eaten from the shell like an egg, 
 using long sippets of bread, hence the name of sea-eggs, which they 
 bear in many countries. 
 
 Sea-eggs were a choice dish upon the tables of the Greeks and 
 Romans ; they were then served up with vinegar or hydromel, with 
 the addition of mint or parsley. When Lentulus feasted the priest of 
 Mars — the Flamen Martialis — this formed the first dish at supper. 
 Sea- eggs also appeared at the marriage feast of the goddess Hebe. 
 " Afterwards," says the poet, " came crabs and sea-urchins, which do 
 not swim in the sea, but content themselves by travelling on the 
 sandy shore. ^' For my own part, I have only once partaken of sea- 
 urchin, and it appeared to me to be food fit for the gods ; but perhaps 
 the circumstances sufficiently explain this dash of culinary enthusiasm. 
 The Reserve Restaurant at Marseilles has not always been the vast 
 stone edifice we now behold, backed majestically by the mountain, 
 and fronting the sea on the promenade of the Corniche du Prado ; in 
 1845 it rose quite at the entrance of the port, a small glass cage, 
 suspended as it were by a magic thread between the heavens and the 
 sea. From this aerial dwelling, overhanging with unheard-of audacity 
 the waters which surrounded it on all sides, we gazed on the most 
 wonderful prospect in the world, and reposed ourselves, while enjoying 
 this intoxicating scene, during which the ships were continually enter- 
 ing the port, passing under our very feet. It was in this enchanted 
 palace that sea-urchins were served up, supported by the traditional 
 bouillabaise. 
 
 As I have said, it appeared to me delicious. Was it the Provençal 
 dish, the savoury bouillabaise, which contributed to my appreciation 
 of the humble sea-urchin of the Mediterranean? Was not the 
 marvellous view which I enjoyed from the heights of my empyreum 
 of glass the indirect cause of it ? This is a tender and charming 
 problem which I love to leave floating in the clouds, half evanescent, 
 of my youthful recollections. 
 
 HOLOTHUROIDEiE. 
 
 The ignorant, like you and I, call the Holothurias Sea-cucumbers, 
 and perhaps, for two reasons, they are not far wrong* The term 
 
HOLOTHVROIDEJË.. 28/ 
 
 " sea-cucumber" expresses with wonderful exactness the shape of the 
 animal, and its habitation, the sea ; and, again, it would puzzle the 
 most learned to explain the word Holothuria. The body of this 
 strange creature presents the form of an elongated and worm-like 
 cylinder ; its dimensions are so variable that, while some species are 
 only an inch or two in length, others attain thirty and even forty 
 inches. In general, the skin of the Holothuria is thick and leathery ; 
 it is provided with muscles, and is armed occasionally with small 
 projecting hooks or anchors, which enable the creature to hang for a 
 few seconds on to foreign bodies. From this coriaceous envelope 
 issue ambulacral feet analogous to those described in the sea-urchins 
 and sea-stars. 
 
 When we open a Holothuria we find nearly the whole internal 
 cavity occupied with little white tubes. We knoAv that the fabulous 
 cucumber spoken of in the " Arabian Nights " was stuffed with pearls 
 by the talking-bird. With our poor animal this, alas ! is not so. 
 These are no pearls, but simple prosaic csecal tubes. The mouth 
 opens at the extremity of the body \ it forms a sort of funnel, and is 
 surrounded like a crown, with an elegant circle of tentacula. In the 
 living animal, when it feels itself in security, these tentacles expand 
 themselves like the corolla of a flower. When the fisherman seizes a 
 Holothuria in the water this crown of tentacles ceases to appear, for 
 the animal has the power of withdrawing it quite suddenly, and now 
 it resembles nothing so much as a common leech. If, however, it is 
 preserved in fresh sea-water, and left in peace — if we treat it, in short, 
 with the regard due to its elegant crown of tentacles — this elegant 
 ornament will be expanded in all its glory. Immediately below the 
 mouth is a muscular pharynx, which is contained in a long intestine, 
 with many convolutions, which terminate in the posterior part of the 
 body in an orifice whence is thrown from time to time a little jet of 
 water. The terminal portion of the intestinal canal in these animals 
 is enlarged, introducing us to a system of numerous tubes which 
 branch oft* into the visceral cavity, receiving the water from without 
 while breathing by its posterior extremity \ the animal can at will 
 fill this reservoir or eject the water, and it is by these alternate 
 movements of inspiration and its reverse that it renews the oxygen 
 necessary for respiration. The circulation appears to form a com- 
 plete circle, there being no heart or central organ ; but a ring round 
 the gullet, from which issue five principal nervous chords, represents 
 the nervous system. 
 
 The Holothuria are of separate sexes, and they dift"er from the sea- 
 urchins and star-fishes in this : that the ova are developed in many 
 
288 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 cases directly into forms like those from which they sprung. The 
 bodies of certain species are lubricated by an acrid and corrosive 
 fluid : thus H, Oceania^ described by Lesson, which is about forty 
 
 Fig. ii8.— Holothuria lutea (Quoy and Galmard). 
 
 inches in length, secretes at the surface of its body an irritating fluid, 
 which produces an intolei'able itching in the finger which touches it. 
 Nor can the inhabitants of the South Sea Islands look at it without 
 loathing. Fig. ii8 represents H. lutea ^ or the Stichopns luteiis of 
 Brandt, who describes as its distinctive character three rows of am- 
 bulacral feet on the ventral surface. 
 
HOLOTHUROIDE^. 289 
 
 We have spoken of the strange suicidal tendency of the sea-stars : 
 the Holothuria exhibit the same phenomena, but, having no brittle 
 envelope like the sea-stars, it cannot break itself into bits in the 
 presence of its disconcerted enemy ; but kills itself in this manner : 
 having some cause of grief and trouble — such, for instance, as the 
 attack of an enemy or the pursuit of some fisherman — by a sudden 
 and unexpected movement it ejects its teeth, its stomach, its digestive 
 apparatus, and reduces itself to a simple empty membranous sac, 
 with an unfurnished mouth \ and, as a singular fact, this empty sac 
 still shrinks and contracts in the hand which grasps it. It must be 
 admitted that this is a strange mode of evading its enemies : the 
 soldier rarely throws his arms away in the moment of danger ! But 
 the Holothuria possesses a wonderful recuperative power also ; and it 
 is probably quite conscious, when it thus empties itself to disappoint 
 its pursuer, that it can promptly replace the organs which it has 
 voluntarily parted with. 
 
 Dr. Johnston relates that he had forgotten for some days to supply 
 a Holothuria with a change of water. The creature, in consequence, 
 ejected its tentacles, its buccal apparatus, digestive tubes, and a 
 portion of its ovaries. Still it was not dead, but was sensible to the 
 least movement, and lived to reproduce all its organs anew. 
 
 The habits of these animals are but little known. They inhabit 
 the seas, and are spread over every latitude. Their very limited 
 movements consist in a kind of reptation or crawling motion, 
 produced by the undulations of their bodies or by the contractions of 
 their feet. Some few species, however, can glide along very swiftly 
 and gracefully. Holothuria are generally found in the act of creeping 
 upon stones or on portions of submarine rock, but always in sheltered 
 places, for they appear to dread the full blaze of light. They some- 
 times find themseves caught by fishermen in their nets. If held in 
 the hand they contract, their bodies become hard and rigid, and the 
 sea- water with which they are filled is ejected with force. We need 
 not add that fishermen reject with disdain the Holothuria taken in 
 their nets; the sea-cucumber has never been thought worthy of a place 
 on our tables. " Truth is on this side, error on that," is a maxim as 
 true in morals as in cookery. The sea-cucumber, which Europeans 
 disdain, is a favourite dish among the Chinese. The fishery, pre- 
 paration of, and transport of these animals to market, plays an 
 important part in the commerce and industry of the East. One 
 rather large species, the Holothuria tubitlosa, in which, by-the-bye, a 
 singular parasite fish [Fierasfer FoJitanesii) lives, is common in the 
 Mediterranean. This species is eatable, and much relished at 
 
290 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 Naples. In the Ladrone Islands HolothiLria guamensis is preferred. 
 But nowhere is the Holothuria esteemed of such importance as in 
 the Malayan and Chinese seas. In tliose countries, and on most of 
 the shores of the Indian Ocean, the Holothuria edulis, vulgarly called 
 trepang, is eaten with delight. Thousands of junks are annually 
 equipped for the trepang fisheries. The Malay fishermen carry to 
 this fishery a degree of patience and dexterity truly remarkable. 
 Lying down in the fore part of their vessels, and holding in their 
 hands a long bamboo terminating in a sharp hook, their eyes, 
 accustomed to this fishing, frequently discover the animal at a 
 distance of not less than thirty yards, as it creeps along the surface 
 of the submarine rocks or corals. The fisher darts his harpoon at 
 this distance, and seldom misses his prey. When the water is shallow, 
 that is to say, not more than four or five fathoms deep, divers are 
 sent down to obtain these culinary monsters, who seize them in their 
 hands, and in this manner can take five or six at a time. To prepare 
 the fish and preserve them for transport to the markets, the Malay 
 and Chinese fishermen boil them in water, and flatten them with 
 stones. They are then spread out on bamboo mats to dry ; first in 
 the sun, and then by smoking them. Thus prepared, they are 
 enclosed in sacks, and shipped to the Chinese ports, where they are 
 particularly esteemed. This fishery takes place in the months of 
 April and May. (Plate IX. ) 
 
 In his voyage to the South Pole, Captain Dumont d'Urville, in 
 traversing the Chinese seas, had an opportunity of assisting at this 
 fishery, which he has described very graphically. We quote the 
 passage in which the French navigator relates what he witnessed at 
 this curious scene. " While the ships were lying quietly at anchor, 
 we saw," he says, " entering the bay, four Malay proas, bearing 
 Dutch colours, which dropped their anchors about a cable's length 
 from Observatory Islet. The padrones or captains of these vessels 
 soon presented their salutations, and informed me that they had started 
 from Macassar at the end of October, with the western monsoon, 
 and that they came to fish for Holothuria (trepang) along the coasts 
 of New Holland, from Melville Island to the Gulf of Carpentaria, 
 where the east wind met them, and assisted their return, when they 
 revisited all the points of the coast, anchoring in every bay where 
 they hoped to find fish. We were in the first days of April ; the east 
 monsoon was definitely established ; the Malay fishermen were 
 returning in their circuit, and in passing, they came to exercise their 
 industry in Raffles Bay. An hour after their arrival they were all at 
 work, and the shed for the preparation of their fish was established 
 
HOLOTHUROIDEM. 293 
 
 within our view. The roadstead had no longer the aspect of a vast 
 solitude : wreaths of smoke crowned the summit of Observatory 
 Island, where, as if by enchantment, several large sheds had sprung 
 up, while numerous vessels, supplied with divers, were proceeding to 
 fish for Holothuria, which were passed immediately to the furnaces 
 erected for curing them. In the course of my voyage I had often 
 remarked little walls constructed of dry stones, consisting of several 
 half-circles joined one to the other. I had often, but vainly, tried to 
 discover the use of these little structures : I was now enlightened. 
 The Malays arrived. Their boats were scarcely anchored when 
 several large boilers, in the shape of a half-sphere, the diameter of 
 which might be about forty inches, were placed upon the stone walls 
 of which I have spoken, and now served as improvised furnaces. 
 Near to them are sheds composed of four strong posts driven into 
 the ground, supporting roofing covered with hurdles, on which it is 
 probably intended to dry the Holothuria. During their sojourn in 
 this bay, the fishermen, having fine weather, made no use of these 
 sheds, having probably only prepared them as a precaution. 
 
 " A crowd of men actively employed in building their sheds gave 
 an unaccustomed appearance to the bay, which could not fail to 
 attract the savage inhabitants of the mainland. Very soon, indeed, 
 we could see them hastening from all sides, and nearly all reached the 
 little island, either by swimming or wading through the sheet of 
 shallow water which separates it from the mainland. I only saw one 
 pirogue, made of the bark of a tree badly put together, which gave a 
 passage to three of these visitors. When night arrived, the Malays 
 had finished all their preparations ; some of them remained to 
 guard what they had left on shore, all the others returned to their 
 boats. 
 
 " In the interval, a boat from the Astrolabe being wanted to carry 
 some visitors from the island, I profited by the occasion to visit one 
 of the proas, accompanied by M. Roquemauel. We were received 
 with much politeness, and even cordiality, by the captain or padrone 
 of the boats. He showed us over his little ship. The keel appeared 
 to us sufficiently sofid ; even the lines did not want elegance ; but 
 great disorder seemed to reign in the stowage department. From a 
 kind of bridge, formed by hurdles of bamboos and junk, we saw the 
 cabin, which looked like a poultry-house ; bags of rice, packets, and 
 boxes were huddled together. Below was the store of water, of cured 
 trepang, and the sailors' berths. Each boat was furnished with two 
 rudders, one at each end, which lifted itself when the boat touched 
 the bottom. The craft was furnished with two masts, without shrouds, 
 
294 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 which could be lowered on to the bridge at will by means of a hinge ; 
 they carry the ordinary sail ; the anchors are of wood, for iron is 
 rarely used by the Malays ; their cables are made of ratan fibre ; the 
 crew of each bark consists of about thirty-seven, each shore-boat 
 having a crew of six men. At the moment of our visit they were 
 all occupied in fishing operations, some of them being anchored very 
 near to us. Seven or eight of their number, nearly naked, were 
 diving for trepang ; the padrone alone was unoccupied. An ardent 
 sun darted its rays upon their heads without appearing to incommode 
 them, an exposure which no European could hold up under. It was 
 near mid-day, and the moment, as our Malay captain assured us, most 
 favourable for the fishing. In fact, we saw that each diver returned 
 to the surface with at least one animal, and sometimes two, in his 
 hands. It appears that the higher the sun is above the horizon, the 
 more easily is the creature distinguished at the bottom. The divers 
 were so rapid in their movements, that they scarcely touched the 
 boat, into which they threw the animals, before they dived again. 
 When the boat was filled with them, it proceeded to the shore, and 
 its place was supplied by an empty one. I followed one of these, to 
 witness the process of curing which they adopted. 
 
 " The Holothuria of Raffles Bay is from five to six inches long, 
 and about tv/o in diameter ; it is a gross fleshy mass, somewhat 
 cylindrical in form, but no external organ is visible. The mollusc 
 glues itself to the rocks at the bottom of the sea, and, as it can only 
 move very slowly, the Malay divers seize it readily. The greatest 
 merit of a fisherman is to have a practised eye, to distinguish the 
 animal at the bottom, and to dive directly to the spot where it Hes. 
 To preserve them, the fishermen throw them, while still living, into a 
 cauldron of boiling sea water, where they are stirred about by means 
 of a long pole, which is supported upon another pole fixed in the 
 earth, but having a forked end, which acts as a lever. In this process 
 the trepang gives up all the water it contains, and is withdrawn at the 
 end of two minutes. A man armed with a large knife now extracts 
 the entrails, and it is thrown into a second cauldron, having only a 
 small quantity of water, seasoned with mimosa bark. The object of 
 this second operation is to smoke the animal, in order to preserve it 
 the better, for the bark is consumed in the process. The trepang is 
 now placed upon hurdles and dried in the sun. When suftlciently 
 dried, it is stowed away in the hold of the proa. 
 
 " It was about two o'clock in the afternoon when the divers ceased 
 their labours and came ashore. My tent was soon surrounded. I 
 recognised the captain of the proa among those who had previously 
 
HOLOTHUROWE.^: 295 
 
 visited me. He approached and examined all the instruments used 
 in the observatory with great attention, seeking to discover their use. 
 I showed him a gun with percussion cap, which astonished him 
 greatly, especially when I pointed out to him its great superiority 
 over the flint-lock. He assured me that these arms were still un- 
 known in the Celebes, his country ; but he failed to convince me of 
 that. He questioned me as to the places we had visited, and where 
 we were -going. I endeavoured to sketch a map of New Holland, 
 New Zealand, and New Guinea upon a leaf He then took my 
 pencil, and added to it the Indian Archipelago, the coasts of China 
 and Japan, and the Philippine Islands. Surprised in my turn, I 
 asked him if he had visited all these places. He replied in the 
 negative, but added that he knew their position perfectly, and could 
 easily take his vessel to any of them. Finally, the interview termi- 
 nated by his asking for a glass of arrack. I do not know if this 
 inteUigent Malay professed the Mahometan religion, but I do know 
 that he drank half a bottle of wine and a quarter of a pint of arrack 
 without being at all the worse for it. He then offered me some pre- 
 pared trepang, inviting me to taste it, which I did ; to me it appeared 
 to resemble the lobster in taste. My men liked it, and thankfully 
 accepted the captain's offer ; for my part, I felt an utter repugnance 
 even to taste it. 
 
 "According to the account I had from the Malay captain, the 
 price of trepang in the Chinese markets was fifteen rupees (about thirty 
 shillings) the pekoul, or a hundred and twenty-five pounds. He esti- 
 mated his cargo to be worth about a hundred and twenty pounds. 
 The fishing had occupied him and his crew three months. From the 
 earliest times this commerce has belonged exclusively to the Malay 
 fishermen, and it will always be difficult for Europeans to compete 
 with them. The Malay vessels are equipped on the most economical 
 principle, and the men are wanting neither in sobriety, intelligence, 
 or activity. 
 
 It was nearly four o'clock when the Malays finished their operations. 
 In less than half an hour they had embarked their cargo ; the tents 
 were struck, and, together with the boilers, carried back to the boats, 
 which were already preparing to set sail. At eight o'clock in the 
 evening they hoisted sail and left the bay." 
 
 Some idea may be formed of the extent and importance of the 
 Holothuria fishing by the number of ships which it attracts in this part 
 of the East. Captain King assures us that 200 vessels annually 
 leave Madagascar to fish for the sea slug, as it is sometimes called. 
 Captain Flinders, being on the coast of Australia, learnt that a fleet 
 
296 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 of sixty vessels, having a hundred men on board, had left Madagascar 
 two months previously in the same pursuit. 
 
 Among the Holothuria, one particular genus, Synapta, is distin- 
 guished from others of the family by the absence of the ambulacral 
 feet, and by the fact of its uniting both sexes in one individual. 
 Synapta Duvernœa is represented in Plate X. M. Quatrefages, who 
 discovered it in the Channel, gives the following description of it in 
 his work, " Les Souvenirs d'un Naturahste." " Imagine," he says, "a 
 cylinder of rose-coloured crystal, as miich as eighteen inches long and 
 more than an inch in diameter, traversed in all its length by five 
 narrow ribbons of white silk, and its head surmounted by a living 
 flower, whose twelve tentacles of purest white fall behind in a graceful 
 curve. In the centre of these tissues, which rival in their delicacy 
 the most refined products of the loom, imagine an intestine of the 
 thinnest gauze gorged from one end to the other with coarse grains of 
 granite, the rugged points and sharp edges of which are perfectly 
 perceptible to the naked eye. 
 
 " But what most struck me at first in this animal was, that it seemed 
 literally to have no other nourishment than the coarse sand by which 
 it was surrounded. And then, when, armed with scalpel and micro- 
 scope, I ascertained something of its organisation, what unheard-of 
 marvels were revealed ! In this body, the walls of which scarcely 
 reach the sixteenth part of an inch in thickness, I could distinguish 
 seven distinct layers of tissue, with a skin, muscles, and membranes. 
 Upon the petaloid tentacles I could trace terminal suckers, which 
 enabled the Synapta to crawl up the side of a most highly polished 
 vase. In short, this creature, denuded to all appearance of every 
 means of attack or defence, showed itself to be protected by a species 
 of mosaic, formed of small calcareous shield-Hke defences, bristling 
 with double hooks, the points of which, dentated like the arrows of 
 the Caribbeans, had taken hold of my hands." 
 
 If one of these Synapta is preseived alive in sea-water for a short 
 time, and subjected to a forced fast, a very strange phenomenon will 
 be observed. The animal, being unable to feed itself, successively 
 detaches various parts of its own body, which it amputates spon- 
 taneously. A great compression or ring is first formed, and then the 
 separation of the condemned part takes place quite suddenly. " It 
 would appear," says M. Quatrefages, " that the animal, feeling that it 
 had not sufficient food to support its whole body, was able successively 
 to abridge its dimensions, by suppressing the parts which it would be 
 most difficult to support, jus^ as we should dismiss the most useless 
 mouths from a besieged city." 
 
HOL O THUR 01 DEM. 299 
 
 This singular mode of meeting a famine is employed by the 
 Synapta up to the last moment. After a few days, in fact, all that 
 remains of the animal is a round ball, surmounted by its tentacles. 
 In order to preserve life in the head, the animal has sacrificed all 
 the other parts of its body. 
 
 In order to find natural novelties, to find unforeseen subjects 
 of study and reflection, it is not necessary to run over the world or 
 travel great distances. It is only necessary to visit the banks of the 
 nearest river, or descend to the sea-shore, and let the sea reveal a 
 fragment of the marvels which it conceals in its bosom. 
 
300 
 
 MOLLUSCA. 
 
 The class Mollusca — pulpy animals — forms a grand division which 
 naturalists have been pleased to make in the animal kingdom,, it 
 comes immediately below the Vertebrata and above the Annulosa, 
 which again stand above the Coelenterata, which includes the polyps, 
 sea-anemones, hydras, and corals, which last, as we have seen, are 
 more highly organised than the Protozoa. 
 
 The Mollusca may be divided into two groups, the Mollusca 
 proper and the Molluscoida. The Mollusca proper, as represented 
 
 Fig. iig.— P. C. Mollusca. 
 
 in Fig. 119, present the following parts, and are supposed to be 
 bilaterally symmetrical : h, is the haemal parts, in which the heart is 
 situated, commonly cahed the dorsal part, although the word is used 
 in a different sense in different divisions of the animal kingdom. In 
 the same manner the opposite region (n) is not termed the ventral, 
 but the neural region, in philosophical anatomy. It is the region in 
 which the great centres of the nervous system are placed. One 
 termination (a) is the anterior or oral region ; the other end (d), the 
 posterior or anal region ; between these extremities the intestines take 
 a straight course. The neural surface is that upon which the majority 
 of molluscs move, and by which they are supported, and it is com- 
 monly modified to subserve these purposes by the formation of a 
 
AfOLLUSCA. 301 
 
 muscular expansion or disc, called the foot. Three regions, in many 
 genera very distinctly divided from one another, may be distinguished 
 in this foot : an anterior, the Propodium (p p)', a middle, the Meso- 
 podium {m s) ; and a posterior, the Meiapodiiim {in t). In addition 
 to these, the upper part of the foot, or middle portion of the body, 
 may be prolonged into a muscular enlargement on each side, just 
 below the junction of the haemal with the neural region, this forms 
 the Epipodiicm {ep). The mass of the body between the foot proper 
 and the part of the abdomen which bears the epipodium may be 
 termed the mid-body, or Mesosoma. On the upper part of the sides 
 of the head are two pairs of organs, namely, the eyes and the tentacles. 
 In the hasmal region the integument may be modified and raised up 
 into a fold at the edges, either in front or behind the anus. When so 
 modified, it is called a mantle. Pallium. In front of the anus, again, 
 the branchicB (/) project as processes of the hasmal region. Among 
 the internal organs, the heart {u v) lies in front of the branchise in the 
 haemal regions, the nervous ganglia {x y z), of which there are three 
 principal pairs, being arranged around the alimentary canal, which 
 they encircle. 
 
 Such is the general type of the class Mollusca, of which, however, 
 the variations are innumerable. They are all soft-skinned animals, 
 tvithout either articulated exterior or annulose external skeleton. Their 
 îiervous system, being without cerebro-spinal axis, is entirely composed 
 of ganglions, which are all reunited in the oesophagus, without consti- 
 tuting in any case a lengthened median chain. Their digestive system 
 is complete — that is, it is provided with two apertures; their principal 
 organs are symmtrtrical and according to a plan, usually curving, by 
 which their bodies are divided into two parts. 
 
 The first series or subdivision, to which Milne-Edwards has given 
 the name of Molliiscoida^ includes under that term the Polyzoa and 
 the Tunicata. 
 
302 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 MOLLUSCOÏDA. — POLYZOA. 
 
 The Bryozoa, or Polyzoa — as British naturalists for good reasons 
 prefer to call them — form the boundary-line which divides the humble 
 mollusc from the humbler zoophytes. In consequence of this inter- 
 mediate organisation, these creatures were long considered as polyps; 
 but De Blainville, Milne-Edwards, Ehrenberg, and Vaughan Thomp- 
 son, almost simultaneously began to separate them from the molluscs, 
 and form them into a separate group. Subsequent naturalists, while 
 considering the Molluscoïda as truly and wholly molluscous, admit 
 that the distinction proposed by Milne-Edwards, is most important, 
 and should be retained as a primary subdivision, confining it to those 
 molluscs which have the neural region comparatively little developed, 
 and the nervous system reduced to a single or at most a pair of 
 ganglia, and the mouth surrounded by a more or less perfect circle of 
 tentacles, an arrangement which would also place the Brachiopoda in 
 the group Molluscoïda. 
 
 Marine plants are sometimes observed to be quite covered with 
 velvety parasites, which might at a first glance be mistaken for a sea 
 moss. This, however, is simply an aggregation of Polyzoa, each of 
 which has its separate cell, which is placed quite contiguous to its 
 neighbour. 
 
 These little creatures are thus entirely distinct. Each cell is 
 formed by the integument, which has been encrusted by calcareous 
 salts, or other organic matter, hardened after the manner of a horn. 
 This kind of covering protects the animal from the attacks of its 
 enemies. This mode of retreat at the bottom of a protecting shell is 
 very frequently adopted in the whole series of molluscs. The oyster 
 shuts itself up by closing its valves, and the snail retires into its shell. 
 This assemblage of small cells presented by the Polyzoa has long 
 been mistaken in some forms at least for Zoantharian corals. 
 
 Each animal has its own opening, and is furnished with a dentate, 
 spinous enclosure, or protected by an operculum or lid ; they present 
 themselves under every variety of form, sometimes as an assemblage 
 
POLYZOA. 303 
 
 of branching tubes, occasionally a rounded mass of spongy appear- 
 ance, and now as a flat lamelliform inarticulated expansion of cells. 
 With some of the marine species the shell of the mussel is covered as 
 with a fine lace. 
 
 It is a remarkable fact that these cells are not always inert. They 
 seem to enjoy some little power of motion. It is well known that 
 the leaves and branches of the sensitive plant {Mimosa) contract 
 and expand under the touch of the finger ; the same phenomenon, 
 according to Mr. Rymer Jones, takes place on touching the cells of 
 certain species of Polyzoa. The moment they are touched they 
 quickly incline themselves ; and the movement is immediately com- 
 municated from one to the other, until all the cells of the community 
 are in motion. 
 
 Returning to the organisation of the little creature which occupies 
 the cell, it is found that the upper and retractile portion, which is of 
 extreme delicacy, terminates anteriorly in a circle of long tentacles, 
 in the centre of which is the mouth. These tentacles are fringed 
 laterally by a series of vibratile cilia. " When the animal displays 
 itself," says Frédol, "this circle of microscopic threads of extreme 
 tenuity first show themselves rising from the summit of the cell ; this 
 is followed by the upper part of its body, which is more or less 
 flexible \ the tentacles follow between the threads, pushing them on 
 one side." 
 
 These tentacles are furnished on the back with appendages like 
 very fine hairs, attached to them nearly at right angles, in addition 
 to the delicate cilia already spoken of, which play a very important 
 part in the arrangements of most microscopic animals. At the 
 moment when the tentacles appear outside the cell, the body of the 
 animalcule, which has the power of expanding or contracting itself, is 
 gradually unrolled. It soon spreads out its pretty little arms, the 
 appendages and cilia beginning their rapid vibrations, until the eye, 
 deceived by the rapidity and regularity of their movements, is 
 dazzled, and the beholder begins to think that he sees rosy drops of 
 dew wavmg to and fro, twisting and untwisting themselves. The 
 corpuscles which float round the animal are violently agitated, as if 
 they were under the influence of some strong breeze. Unhappy, 
 indeed, is the fate of the unfortunate Infusorium which chance leads 
 at this moment into the fatal circle. 
 
 Darwin, who examined some of these creatures very minutely, 
 tells us that " several genera (Flustra, Eschara, Cellaria, Cresia, and 
 others) agree in having singular movable organs attached to their cefls. 
 The organs in the greater number of cases very closely resemble 
 
304 2^^^ OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 the head of a vulture; but the lower n^iandible can be opened 
 much wider than a real bird's beak. The head itself possesses con- 
 siderable powers of movement, by means of a short neck. In one 
 polyzoon the head itself was fixed, but the lower jaw free ; in another 
 it was replaced by a triangular hood, with a beautifully-fitted trap-door, 
 which evidently answered to the lower mandible. In the greater 
 number of species each cell was provided with one head, but in others 
 each cell had two. 
 
 "The young cells at the end of the branches of these polyzoa 
 contain quite immature forms, yet the vulture heads attached to 
 them, though small, are in every respect perfect. When the animal 
 was removed by a needle from any of the cells, these organs did not 
 appear to be in the least affected. When one of the vulture-like 
 heads was cut off from a cell, the lower mandible retained its power 
 of opening and closing. Perhaps the most singular part of their 
 structure is, that when there are more than two rows of cells on a 
 branch, the central cells were furnished with these appendages of 
 only one-fourth the size of the outside ones. Their movements 
 varied according to the species ; but in some I never saw the least 
 motion, while others, with the lower mandible generally wide open, 
 oscillated backwards and forwards at the rate of about five seconds 
 each turn ; others moved rapidly and by starts. When touched with 
 a needle, the beak generally seized the point so firmly that the whole 
 branch might be shaken." 
 
 Moreover, in Cresia^ Darwin observed that each cell was furnished 
 with a long-toothed bristle, which had the power of moving very 
 quickly ; each bristle and each vulture-like head moving quite inde- 
 pendently of ea'ch other ; sometimes all on one side, sometimes those 
 on one branch only moving simultaneously, sometimes one after the 
 other. In these actions we apparently behold as perfect a trans- 
 mission of will in the polyzoon, though composed of thousands of 
 distinct animals, as in any individual animal. " What can be more 
 remarkable," he adds, "than to see a plant-like body producing an 
 ^gg^ capable of swimming about and choosing a proper place to 
 adhere to, where it sprouts out into branches, each crowded with 
 innumerable distinct animals, often of complicated organisation — 
 the branches, moreover, sometimes possessing organs capable of 
 movement independent of the animals !" 
 
 The prey which is drawn into the vortex by the tentacles and their 
 cilia enters into the mouth, to which is attached a pharynx, oesophagus, 
 stomach, and intestines. In the hsemal region, not far from the mouth, 
 there is a special opening for the intestine. 
 
POLYZOA, 305 
 
 Respiration is provided for in the Polyzoa by the ciliated append- 
 ages which surround the mouth ; they are at once tentacula and 
 branchiae. The animal presents no other trace of organs of the 
 special senses. A small ganglion and a few threads constitute all of 
 the nervous system which can be traced ; neither heart nor blood- 
 vessels have been found. 
 
 The egg, in the case of the Polyzoa, gives birth to a young animal 
 covered with cilia on its surface ; it swims about freely until it has 
 chosen a convenient place in which it can establish the new colony 
 which it is to originate. At first, the number of the colony is only 
 increased by budding, but in a short time the individual polyps 
 produce eggs. 
 
 From these remarks it will be seen that the animals of the Polyzoa 
 are more complex in their form and functions than those of the 
 Coelenterata, and the further study of their anatomy confirms this 
 conclusion. In their case the digestive organs are no longer a 
 simple sac with a single orifice ; there is a mouth, a pharynx, a gullet^ 
 a gizzard, a membranous stomach and intestines, with a special 
 opening for these latter. We have descriptions of some species in 
 which the gizzard seems to be provided with a certain number of 
 interior teeth, forming a wonderful pavement — a living mill for the 
 purpose of grinding the food before it enters into the second stomach. 
 The organisation of this small creature reveals to our eyes a wonderful 
 amount of combination — of admirable art immeasurably surpassing 
 all that the most perfect human industry and human genius could 
 accomplish. 
 
 After this general view of the organisation of the group, we shall 
 proceed to introduce the reader to some of the more characteristic 
 species. 
 
 Under the leaves of water-lilies {Nymphéa), pond-weed {Fofamo- 
 gelon), or upon floating fragments of submerged wood, are generally to 
 be found certain Polyzoa, animals described by Trembley under the 
 name oï phtnied polyps. These will probably belong to the genus 
 Plumatella (Fig. 120). These little diaphanous creatures constitute 
 colonies which under the microscope resemble small branching 
 shrubs; they consist of small slender tubes fastened one to the other, 
 and having from forty to sixty retractile tentacula, which expand like 
 the petals of a flower ; they are furnished with vibratile cilia, the move- 
 ments of which serve the purpose of leading food into the mouth. 
 
 Another genus, which is found in ponds in France, and which is 
 also found in fresh water in Britain, is the Cristatella of Cuvier. 
 " Perfect specimens of C. inucedo occur from six lines to twenty-four 
 
3o6 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 in length by two or three in breadth," says Sir J. G. Dalyel, "of a 
 flattened figure, fine translucent green colour, and fleshy consistence. 
 Some of the shorter tend to an elliptical form, but those of larger 
 dimensions are linear, with parallel sides and curved extremities. 
 The middle of the upper and the whole of the under surface are 
 smooth, the former somewhat convex, occasioned by a border of 
 seventy or eighty, even up to 350 individual polypi, dispersed 
 
 Fig. 120. — Plumatella cristallina, 
 magnified (after Allman). 
 
 Fig. 121. — Cristatella mucedo (Cuvier) 
 (after Allman). 
 
 in a triple row, their number depending entirely on the size 
 of the specimen. Each of these numerous polypi, though an 
 integral portion of the common mass, is a distinct animal, endowed 
 with separate action and sensation. The body rising about a line 
 above a tubular fleshy stem, is crowned by a head, which may be 
 circumscribed by a structure of a horse-shoe shape, and bordered by 
 a hundred tentacula. Towards one side, the mouth, of singular 
 mechanism, seems to have projecting lips, and to open as a valve, 
 which folds up within, conveying the particles which are absorbed to 
 the wide orifice of the intestinal organ, which descends,, forming a. 
 
POLYZOA, 
 
 307 
 
 convolution below; and returns again, terminating in an excretory 
 orifice under the base of the tentacula." 
 
 The inhabitants of the colony are thus united in great numbers 
 under one common envelope ; a peculiar downy appearance is pro- 
 duced by the collection of tentacula belonging to this curious colony. 
 The filamentous looking mass is the translucent row of cells in which 
 
 Fig. 122.— Flustra foliacea (Linnaeus). 
 
 the polyps are lodged, and to which they retreat when disturbed. 
 These cells are sometimes free in part, sometimes completely rooted 
 to the stems of aquatic plants. The tentacles are of a fine transparent 
 glass colour, the body being of a brown colour. Fig. 121 represents 
 C7'istatella nmcedo, which is not uncommon both in this country and 
 in France. 
 
 Most naturalists have now agreed to place among the Polyzoa 
 
308 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 all the species of Fhistra, of Eschara, and other now welLknown 
 genera. 
 
 All the species of the genus Flustra are marine, whose integument 
 in hardening forms a thin shell of a horny appearance ; their little 
 cells, more or less horny, are often grouped symmetrically, somewhat 
 like the cells in a bee-hive. Sometimes they form a crust which 
 covers algas and other marine bodies ; sometimes they form ribbon- 
 like stems. In some species the cells are only found on one side ; in 
 others they occupy both. Their orifices are extremely small, and are 
 often defended by spines quite microscopic {F. foliacea, Fig. 122). 
 
 Their tentacles, like other Polyzoa, are covered with cilia, always 
 vibratile, disposed in a straight line, which in their movements pro- 
 duce the effect which a row of animate^ pearls might be supposed to 
 produce if rolled upwards from the base to the summit of the organ. 
 
 Some species of the genus Eschara form quite shrub-like masses, 
 calcareous in structure, the polyp cell being imbedded in the mass. 
 Some of them may be very easily, by superficial observers, mistaken 
 for species of the Zoantharian genus Miilepora, but the structure of 
 the animal is quite enough to distinguish them. E. cervicornis is 
 common around the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland. As it is 
 with the corals, so it is here ; each eats for the benefit of itself and 
 for the community — labour and nutrition for the community, labour 
 and food for itself. 
 
 MOLLUSCOÏDA — TUNICATA. 
 
 On seeing one of the Tunicata for the first time, a stranger to 
 zoology would scarcely take them for animals at all. Almost always 
 attached to submarine rocks, these beings have the form of a simple 
 sac. Their skin, gelatinous, or horny, is at times covered over with 
 marine plants and polyps. They have neither arms, nor feet, nor 
 head; but then they have a mouth, placed at the entrance of a 
 digestive tube, and, in connection with the latter, a special opening 
 intended for the excreta. The mouth is at the bottom of a great cavity, 
 the walls of which are covered with blood-vessels ; for this cavity is 
 the seat of respiration, and is covered with vibratile cilia. Thus the 
 same canal serves first for respiration, and then, as an entrance to the 
 cavity for digestion, anotr/er instance of the economy of Nature. 
 Another remarkable fact in connection with their circulation is found : 
 their heart is the centre of a well- developed vascular system, but 
 unlike what is usually found in animals, the blood which traverses* it 
 takes such a course that, in the space of a few minutes, the auricle 
 and ventricle of the heart become changed into ventricle and auricle 
 
TUNICA TA. 
 
 309 
 
 respectively, at the same time the arteries are changed into veins and 
 the veins into arteries, and this in consequence of the current which 
 traverses these canals changing its direction after certain contractions 
 of the heart. 
 
 Simple as is their organisation, the Tunicata have a nervous system. 
 It is a single ganglion, connected with divers small threads. The 
 organs of sensation present themselves in a very rudimentary fashion, 
 
 ^^^-i. 
 
 Fig. 123. — Ascidia microcosmus (Cuvier). 
 
 for after very minute search, eyes have been found. The Tunicates 
 are propagated by budding, and also from eggs. The young are 
 subject to some very curious metamorphoses, some particulars of 
 which win be given farther on. 
 
 Some species of the Tunicates are free, some are united to others 
 in a manner more or less intimate. Hence their division into the 
 three groups of simple^ social, and compound Tunicates. 
 
 The genus Ascidia is one of the best known among the simple 
 Tunicates. The term is derived from the Greek word àaKiSlov, 
 leather bottle, and it has, as indicated by the name, the shape of a 
 bottle or purse. The analogy becomes more evident when it is con- 
 sidered that these creatures are habitually filled with water, which 
 can be expelled by very slight pressure. 
 
 Simple Tunicates attach themselves, each individual singly, to 
 
3IO 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 rocks and other marine bodies, and generally at a fixed depth. Ascidia 
 microcosmus^ a Mediterranean species, represented in Fig. 123, may 
 be given as an example of this division of Timicates. The name of 
 microcosmus, or the little world, is probably given to the species from 
 
 its being inhabited by quite 
 an animated colony of algae 
 and corals, which dwell 
 upon its surface, and give 
 it a very peculiar, but not 
 very attractive, appearance. 
 The flavour of these moUus- 
 coids is very strong, which 
 does not, however, hinder 
 the poorer dwellers on the 
 sea-shore from eating them. 
 Phallusia is another genus 
 of the group. Phalhisia 
 grossularia is of a reddish 
 colour, and about the size 
 of a currant-berry : it usually 
 lodges itself in the oysters 
 of certain localities. At 
 Ostend another species, 
 Phallusia ampulloïdes, is 
 found in prodigious quan- 
 tities in the oyster parks, 
 and is parasitic on living 
 lobsters. 
 
 Social Tunicates em- 
 brace such forms as are 
 connected together by a 
 common stoloniferous pro- 
 X longation, but remain free 
 and unconnected in all 
 other respects. Ascidia 
 pedwiculata (Fig. 124) may 
 be given as an example. 
 The Composite Tunicates are still more intimately associated 
 together ; a great number of these little beings living together in a 
 single mass. Such are the many species of such genera as Botryllus 
 and Pyrosoma. 
 
 Botryllus is a genus perhaps the most interesting ofall those under 
 
 Fig. 124.— Ascidia pedunculata (Milne-Edwards). 
 
TUNICATA. 31 r 
 
 consideration. Only imagine from ten to twenty individuals, oval in 
 form, more or less flattened, adhering by their dorsal surface to some 
 submarine body, and connected together by their sides, so as to be 
 shaped into the form of a star. " When we excite one of the rays," 
 says Frédol, "a single mollusc contracts itself; when we touch the 
 centre, they all seem to contract themselves (Cuvier). The buccal 
 orifices are at the circumference of the star, but the intestinal ter- 
 minations abut upon a common cavity, which occupies the centre of 
 the star. Here we behold certain animals which eat separately, but 
 which fulfil together as a community very singular functions — a kind 
 of union and communism of which the moral world presents no 
 prototype. With our molluscs we have a score of individuals united. 
 We may consider the entire star as one single animal with many 
 mouths. But, then, we have with it a luxury of organs for the 
 function of intelligence which seeks and chooses, and parsimony of 
 the organ of stupidity, which neither seeks nor chooses." 
 
 While the species of the genus Botryllus are fixed and adherent, 
 those of the genus Pyrosoma, on the contrary, are oceanic. The animal 
 colony which constitutes it floats and balances itself upon the waters, 
 being capable of fully contracting and dilating itself 
 
 The name Pyrosoma has been given to these animals in con- 
 sequence of their brilliant phosphorescent properties. According to 
 the observations of Peron and Lesueur, nothing can exceed the 
 brilliant and dazzling light emitted in the bosom of the ocean by these 
 animals. From the manner in which the colonists dispose themselves, 
 they form occasionally long trains of fire ; but it is a singular fact that 
 this phosphorescence presents the same curious characteristics that 
 are seen in the play of colours caused by the rapid movements of the 
 cilia of the Beroë \ namely, that the colours vary instantaneously, 
 passing with wonderful rapidity from the most intense red to yellow, 
 from golden colour to orange, to green, or to azure blue. Von 
 Humboldt saw a flock of these brilliant living colonies floating by the 
 side of his ship, and projecting circles of light having a radius of not 
 less than twenty inches in diameter. He could see by this light the 
 fishes which followed the ship's track, during many nights, at the 
 depth of from two to three fathoms. 
 
 Bibra, a Brazilian navigator, having caught six Pyrosoma, employed 
 them to light up his cabin. The light produced by these little 
 creatures was so bright, that he could read to one of his friends the 
 description he had written of these his living torches. 
 
 Several species of Pyrosoma are known ; F. ekgans, about two 
 or three inches in length, inhabits the Mediterranean ; F. giganteiim 
 
312 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 is also found in the same sea. It is a long bluish cylinder shape 
 bristling with bracts, at the base of each of which is the abode of a 
 polyp, a citizen of this moving republic, which is attached to its 
 colleagues by means of its gelatinous envelope, an alliance imposed 
 by inexorable Nature. 
 
 Another species, P. aflanticum, was discovered by Peron and 
 Lesueur in the equatorial seas. 
 
 These curious Tunicates grow in such a manner as to constitute a 
 long fine cylindrical tube, closed at one end and open at the other. By 
 the contraction and dilatation of the mass of beings, this great cylinder 
 swims slowly through the open sea, lighting up the ocean with its 
 phosphorescent light, shining through the water like a glowing fire. 
 Mr. Bennett thus describes the phenomenon presented by these 
 creatures. " On the 8th of June, being then in lat. 30"^ S. and 27^ 
 5' W. long., having fine weather and a fresh south-easterly trade-wind, 
 and the thermometer ranging from 78° to 84^, late at night the mate 
 of the watch called me to witness a very unusual appearance in the 
 water. This was a broad and extensive sheet of phosphorescence 
 extending from east to west as far as the eye could reach. I 
 immediately cast the towing net over the stern of the ship, which 
 soon cleaved through the brilliant mass, the disturbance causing 
 strong flashes of light to be emitted, and the shoal, judging from the 
 time the vessel took in passing through the mass, may have been a 
 m.ile in breadth. On taking in the towing-net, it was found half filled 
 with Pyrosoina atlantiawi, which shone with a beautiful pale greenish 
 light. After the mass had been passed through by the ship, the 
 light was still seen astern, until it had became invisible in the 
 distance, and the ocean became hidden in the darkness as before 
 this took place. 
 
 " The second occasion of my meeting these creatures was in a 
 high latitude, and during the winter season. It was on the 19th of 
 August, the weather dark and gloomy, with light breezes from north- 
 north-east, in lat. 40° 30' S., and 138^ 3' E. long., at the western en- 
 trance to Bass's Straits, and about eight o'clock p.m., when the ship's 
 wake was perceived to be luminous, while scintillations of the same 
 hght were abundant all round. To ascertain the cause, I threw the 
 towing-net overboard, and in twenty minutes succeeded in capturing 
 several Pyrosoma, which gave out their usual pale green light ; and 
 it was, no doubt, detached groups of these animals which were the 
 occasion of the light in question. The beautiful light given out by 
 these molluscans soon ceased to be seen ; but by moving them about 
 it could be reproduced for some length of time after. The luminosity 
 
TUNIC AT A. 313 
 
 of the water gi-adually decreased*dùrin^the night, and towards morn- 
 ing was no longer seen/' 
 
 Salpa (Fig. 125) forms another most interesting genus of 
 Tunicata ; it contains forms presenting the appearance of long 
 transparent masses of the most delicate tissue, composed of rows of 
 individuals placed side by side, and grafted, as it were, transversely — 
 ribbons, in which each animal is grafted end on end to its sister — 
 double parallel chains of social creatures, sometimes alternate, some- 
 times opposite ; living chaplets, of which each pearl is an individual. 
 Each individual presents an oblong diaphanous or prismatic body, 
 more or less symmetrical, and often furnished in front, rarely behind, 
 with tentaculiform appendages. So great is their transparency, that 
 
 Fig. 125. — Salpa maxima, magnified (Forsk.). 
 
 the various organs may be observed through the skin as they perform 
 their several functions. 
 
 Momus, an ancient philosopher, thought it a subject of regret that 
 Nature had not thought of piercing the body with an opening suffix 
 ciently large for each one to see what was passing in the interior. 
 The creature which now occupies our attention would surely have 
 satisfied the demands of the philosopher — its body is, metaphorically 
 speaking, a house of glass. 
 
 In order to move itself about the Salpa introduces water into its 
 body through a posterior opening, furnished with a valve, which it 
 expels by an anterior outlet situated near the mouth. It is thus 
 pushed backwards, and swims, as it were, by recoil. Moreover, it 
 swims with its ventral surface upwards. All the zooid forms of a 
 chain of Salpa act in concert ; they contract and dilate simultaneously ; 
 they advance as a single individual. They often float on the surface 
 
314 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 of the sea with the undulations of a serpent, so that among sailors 
 they have gained the appellation of sea-serpents. These long living 
 trains abound in the Mediterranean, principally towards the African 
 coast and in the equatorial seas, and they are often met with on the 
 south-western shores of Ireland. They are inhabitants of the open 
 sea, and live immersed at considerable depths ; but when the nights 
 are calm they show themselves on the surface. As they spread 
 
 126. -Phosphorescent chain ofSalpas on the surface of the sea. 
 
 themselves abroad, and set aglow their strong phosphorescent light 
 they resemble long ribbons of fire, unrolling their long waving lines 
 in spite of the waves, as in Fig. 126. What wonders they see who 
 go down into the great deep ! What sights are reserved for the 
 navigator who traverses the semi-tropical seas during the silence of 
 night ! 
 
 When a chain of Salpa is drawn from the water, the zooid forms 
 separate, and they can no longer be made to adhere. The social 
 bond has been dissolved. 
 
 Salpse are sometimes met with, isolated and solitary, whose 
 exterior conformation differs much from that which is proper to the 
 
TUNIC ATA. 315 
 
 connected Salpa ; so different, indeed, that it might well appear to 
 belong to another type. Chamisso, Krohn, and Milne-Edwards have 
 ascertained that the Salpa undergoes what is called an alternation of 
 generation, the young creature being unlike its immediate parent. 
 One of these generations is represented by the soHtary individuals, 
 the other by the aggregation of individuals. Each solitary Salpa 
 engenders a new form, which is the chained form; whereas each 
 constituted member of the chain engenders a solitary Salpa. 
 
 Thus a Salpa is not organised like its mother or daughter, but 
 rather like its sister, its grandmother, or granddaughter — another 
 example of alternate generation, which has already been discussed in 
 treating of some of the Hydrozoa. 
 
 These marine creatures, which pass their lives in a forced com- 
 munity — animals which eat, sleep, or rest always in company — who 
 abandon themselves together to the soft caresses of the waves — these 
 colonies, or rather republics of animals, leading constantly the same 
 monotonous existence — reveal to us very strange things : an identical 
 community of sentiments in a crowd of beings riveted by the same 
 chain, a chain at once physical a,nd intellectual. 
 
3i6 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 ACEPHALOUS MOLLUSCA. 
 
 "Sigillatim mortales, cunctum perpetui." — Apuleius. 
 
 The Mollusca proper were divided by Cuvier into five great sub- 
 classes : — I. Lamellibranchiata, or Acephalous Mollusca, often called 
 Conchifera. 2. Brachiopoda. 3. Gasteropoda. 4. Pteropoda 
 5. Cephalopoda. 
 
 The name Mollusca indicates the characters of this class which 
 most struck the ancients : they are soft — in Latin, mollis : their flesh 
 is cold, humid, and viscous. In consequence of their very softness, 
 they are generally furnished with an apparatus of defence, or protec- 
 tion, in the shape of a calcareous covering, called a shell. According 
 to the species this test may represent a coat of mail, a buckler, or a 
 tower. The mollusc is thus armed and defended against all attacks 
 from without, nearly after the manner of a knight of the middle ages ; 
 only the knight was not quite shut up in his armour, while the mollusc 
 is attached to it by indissoluble organic bonds. " Such a life and 
 such a habitation !" says Michelet. "In no other creature is there 
 the same identity between the inhabitant and the nest. Drawn from 
 its own substance, the edifice is the continuation of its fleshy mantle. 
 It follows its form and tints. The architect has communicated its 
 own substance to the edifice." 
 
 The shell of the Mollusca has been variously accounted 'or by 
 naturalists. " We might regard the shell as the bone of the r nimal 
 which occupies it," says a celebrated French naturalist ; and then he 
 gives expression to a very different view. " We may say as a general 
 thesis that testaceous molluscs are animals with whom ossification is 
 thrown out on the external surface in place of the interior, as in the 
 mammals, birds, reptiles, and fishes. In the case of the superior 
 animals the bones lie in the depths of the body ; in the shelled 
 Mollusca the bones are placed on the superficies. It is the same 
 system reversed." 
 
 Other zoologists reject as altogether untenable both these com- 
 
BIVALVE MOLLUSCA. 2)1 J 
 
 parisons. "The shell which serves as a dwelling and a shelter 
 cannot," say these authors, '' be considered as a skeleton, because 
 it does not assume the external form of the animal ; because it does 
 not attach itself to the organs of locomotion ; and, finally, because 
 it is the product of secretion, which increases in proportion to the 
 development of the body itself." The last two reasons appear to us 
 to be the most acceptable. 
 
 However that may be, from the immense variety of form and 
 size, from the beauty and brilliancy of their colours, the shells of the 
 molluscs are among the most attractive objects of natural history. 
 Nor is it from their beauty alone that a fine collection of shells 
 becomes interesting : a living creature has inhabited the shell, a 
 creature which in its organisation and its life, above all, by its habits, 
 excites in a high degree our interest, curiosity, and admiration. It 
 has been said that the shell '' is like a medal struck by the hand of 
 Nature to commemorate climates." In short, the waters of diff'erent 
 regions of the globe, whether fresh or salt, are characterised by the 
 presence of particular shells ; moreover, the comparison of living 
 shells with those which lie in a fossilised state buried in the depths 
 of the soil is a most important element of our knowledge touching the 
 origin of the different beds out of which our globe is constituted. 
 
 Thus, we must not shut our eyes to these beings, in appearance 
 so miserable and obscure, if we would possess a general knowledge 
 of the animal kingdom. The Creator has endowed them with many 
 wonderful gifts to embelHsh their lives, and who would dare to 
 disregard them ? Who could examine and compare their structure 
 without being charmed with the study ? Man, who descends into 
 the depths of the earth in search of the precious metals— who dives 
 into the deep in pursuit of the treasures it conceals — who stoops his 
 head over works of art — would surely not refuse to bend himself for 
 a moment to the sand of the sea, to gather in his hand, to bring 
 nearer to his eyes these marvellous works of the Divine Creator to 
 be found thereon ! 
 
 ACEPHALA. 
 
 We have seen that the Mollusca proper have been divided by 
 Cuvier into five sub-classes — the first of these is called Acephala. 
 
 The Acephalous or Headless Molluscs are so called from the 
 Greek à, privative, and Kec^aAr?, head. They have no head ; the body 
 is surrounded by the folds of the mantle ; the shell consists of two 
 valves. Such is a summary description of all the Acephalous 
 Molluscs. They are sometimes partially naked, but are for the most 
 
3l8 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 part enclosed in a shell, whence they are known as Testaceous 
 Molluscs. They are called bivalves^ because their shell consists of 
 two halves, or valves united by a hinge. They are sheltered in this 
 double shell as a book is in its cover. 
 
 Although they have no head, they can feed themselves, and they 
 reproduce their kind. They have friendships and enmities, perhaps 
 even passions — probably these are not very lively, for most of them 
 scarcely ever change their place, or even make the least movement ; 
 many of them remain fixed to the rock on which they were hatched, 
 and tumultuous sensations are not quite compatible with immobiHty. 
 
 The bivalves * are found in every sea. The shells of the bivalve 
 are ovoid, globulous, trigonal, heart-shaped, elongated like a pea-pod, 
 or flat like the leaves of a tree. In some one valve is flat, the other 
 round and swelling in the centre. The shell is thus an outer 
 envelope, consisting of two pieces, more or less corresponding to 
 each other in size and shape (of which the oyster is an example), 
 formed of carbonate of lime deposited in membranous cells in its 
 outer layers, the inner layers being composed of thin coatings of 
 lime deposited in the outer surface of the mantle. The valves are 
 united to the animal by the insertion into them of certain muscles, 
 and the mantle-lobes stretch over to the edges of the valves. The 
 ligament which unites the two valves consists of a dense elastic 
 substance, somewhat resembling india-rubber ; the hinge is formed 
 of teeth in one valve and cavities in the other into which these 
 teeth fit. The ligament acts in opposition to certain contractile 
 muscles within, which draw the valves together, and is placed either 
 within or without the hinge, or partly both. On separating the 
 valves, the two folds of the mantle present themselves as thin 
 delicate lamellae or leaves furnished at the margin with sensitive 
 tentacles and other organs of sense, and with glands sometimes 
 highly coloured. The use of these organs is thus described by 
 Mr. Rymer Jones : — 
 
 " When the animal is engaged in increasing the dimensions of its 
 abode, the margin of the mantle is protruded and firmly adherent 
 all round to the circumference of the valve with which it corresponds. 
 Thus circumstanced, it secretes calcareous matter and deposits it 
 upon the extreme edge of the shell, when the secretion hardens and 
 becomes converted into a layer of solid testaceous substance. At 
 intervals this process is repeated, and every newly-formed layer 
 
 * The term bivalve, as constituting a class, must be taken in a limited sense, 
 for several genera, as Pholas for example, have also accessory valves. 
 
. BIVALVE MOLLUSC A, 319 
 
 enlarges the diameter of the valve. The concentric strata thus 
 deposited remain distinguishable externally, and thus the lines of 
 growth marking the progressive increase of size may easily be traced." 
 
 " While the margin of the m.antle is thus the sole agent in 
 enlarging the circumference of the shell," the author continues 
 farther on, " its growth in thickness is accomplished by a secretion 
 of a kind of calcareous varnish derived from the external surface of 
 the mantle generally, which, being deposited layer by layer over the 
 whole interior of the previously existing shell, progressively adds to 
 its weight and solidity. There is, however, a remarkable difference 
 in character between the material secreted by the marginal fringe 
 and that furnished by the general surface of the mantle membrane. 
 The former we have found more or less covered by glands appointed 
 for the purpose, situated in the circumference of the mantle ; but as 
 these glands do not exist elsewhere, no colouring matter is ever 
 mixed with the layers that increase the thickness of the shell, so that 
 the latter always remain of a delicate whitish hue, and form the well- 
 known iridescent material usually distinguished by the name of 
 nacre or mother-of-pearl."* 
 
 The process by which shells attain their beautiful markings is 
 thus described by Mr. Rymer Jones : — " The external surface is 
 exclusively deposited by the margin of the mantle, which contains 
 in its substance certain coloured spots, which are found to be of a 
 glandular character, and to owe their peculiar character to a pigment 
 they secrete, which is mixed with the calcareous matter ; coloured 
 lines are therefore found on the exterior of the shell wherever these 
 glandular organs exist. Where the deposition of colour is kept up 
 throughout the process of enlargement, the lines are unbroken and 
 perfect ; but where the coloured matter is furnished only at intervals, 
 spots and patches of irregular form and increasing in size with the 
 enlargement of the mantle are the consequence." 
 
 Many bivalves move about and change from place to place by 
 means of an extensible fleshy organ called, from some of its functions, 
 a foot ; but in fact, it has less resemblance to a foot than to a large 
 tongue. It is a muscular mass, capable of being pushed out from 
 between the mantle lobes and the valves, and varies much in form ; 
 it resembles in turn a hatchet, a ventilator, a pole, an awl, a finger, 
 and a sort of whip. This foot is simple, forked, or fringed. In 
 some species the tissues of the foot are spongy, and capable of 
 receiving considerable quantities of water. When the organ swells, 
 
 * "Cieneral Outline of the Animal Kingdon^,'' p. 385. 
 
320 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 it is elongated and stiff; on the other hand, by suddenly expelling 
 all the water, it gets small and pliable, and can now return to its 
 shell. This organ is represented in Fig. 127 {Donax t7'ii7iculus^ 
 Linn,), in which it is singularly well developed. This bivalve is 
 found on the sea-shore in shallow water ; it buries itself almost per- 
 pendicularly in the sands. They are so abundant on the French 
 side of the Channel and on the shores of the Mediterranean, that 
 they form a considerable portion of the people's food. These bivalves 
 have the singular power of leaping to a considerable height and 
 then throwing themselves to a distance of ten or twelve inches — a 
 spectacle which may be witnessed any day at low water. When 
 abandoned by the retreating tide, they try to regain the sea. If 
 seized by the hand, in order to drag them out of the sand, aided by 
 their compressed, branched, and angular feet, they give to their shell 
 
 Fig. 127. — Donax trunculus (Linnaeus). 
 
 the sudden and energetic movement under which the bounding action 
 takes place. The shell of the genus Donax is slightly triangular and 
 compressed ; its length exceeds its height ; it is regular, univalve, 
 unequally lateral, and its hinge bears three or four teeth on each 
 valve. The action of these feet is very simple, and is compared by 
 Re'aumur to that of a man placed on his belly, who, stretching out 
 one hand, seizes upon some fixed object, and draws himself towards 
 it. There is just this difference, that the movement of the member 
 in the mollusc is altogether contractile. 
 
 Authors have described more than 4,000 species of bivalve mol- 
 luscs, so that our space only permits us to describe a few families, or 
 rather types of families. 
 
 The arrangement of bivalves now most generally adopted in 
 England is that of the late Mr. Woodward, as developed in the last 
 edition of his manual of the mollusca ; it is greatly based on that 
 of Lamarck. We have adopted his arrangement altered from a 
 descending to an ascending scale of organisation. 
 
 The Lamellebranchiata, so called from the leaf-like form assumed 
 
BIl^ALVE AWLLUSCA. 322 
 
 by the branchiae, is divisible into two sections, the Siphonida, from 
 the animals having respiratory siphons, and the Asiphonida, which are 
 destitute of them. 
 
 The genus Mya may be taken as a type of the first, and the oyster 
 of the second. The division Siphonida is divided into two sub- 
 sections, those without and those with a palliai line sinuated. The 
 first family of this latter section is the Pholadidae, which includes the 
 genera Teredo, Xylopagha, and Pholas, animals which possess extra- 
 ordinary powers of boring, not merely through sand, but through the 
 hardest rocks. 
 
 The genus Teredo consists of marine animals having a special and 
 irresistible inclination for submerged wood ; for while wood exposed 
 to the air becomes a prey to terrestrial animals, so submerged wood 
 is subject to invasion by aquatic animals, of which the Teredo is by 
 far the most formidable. The Teredo in the bosom of the ocean 
 perforates the hardest timbers, whatever be their hardness. The 
 galleries bored by these imperceptible miners riddle the whole interior 
 of a piece of wood, destroying it entirely, without the slightest external 
 indication of its ravages. The galleries sometimes follow the grain of 
 the wood, sometimes they cut it at right angles ; the miners, in fact, 
 change their route the moment they meet in their way either the 
 furrows hollowed out by one of their congeners, or some ancient and 
 abandoned gallery. By a strange kind of instinct, however multiplied 
 may be their furrows or tubes in the same piece of wood, they never 
 mingle — there is never any communication between them. The wood 
 is thus attacked at a thousand diverse points, until it is invaded, and 
 its entire substance destroyed. It is by secret ravages of this kind 
 that the piles and other submarine constructions upon which bridges 
 are built are often riddled and perforated. They appear to all out- 
 ward examination as solid and perfect as at the moment they were 
 first driven ; but they yield to the least effort, bringing ruin and 
 destruction on the edifices they support. Ships have been thus 
 silently and secretly mined, until the planks crumbled into dust under 
 the feet of the sailors. Others have gone down with their crews, 
 their destruction being entirely caused by the ravages of these relent* 
 less enemies, which are terrible from their unapproachable littleness. 
 
 M. Quatrefages, who has minutely studied the organisation and 
 habits of the Teredos in the Port of St. Sebastian, reports the following 
 fact, which will give the reader some idea of the rapidity with which 
 these dangerous molluscs pursue their ravages : — 
 
 " A boat, which served as a passage-boat between two villages on 
 the coast, went down in consequence of an accident at the commence- 
 L 
 
*?22 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 ment of spring. Four months after some fishermen, hoping to turn her 
 materials to advantage," raised the boat. But in that short space of 
 time the Teredos had committed such ravages that the planks and 
 timbers were riddled and worm-eaten so as to be totally useless." 
 
 At the beginning of the eighteenth century, half the coast of 
 Holland was threatened with annihilation because the piles which 
 support its dikes and sea-walls were attacked by a 
 species of Teredo ; and it proved no contemptible 
 foe. Many hundreds of thousands of pounds were 
 expended in order to avert the threatened danger. 
 Fortunately, a closer attention to the habits of the 
 molluscs has brought a remedy to a most formidable 
 evil ; the mollusc has an inveterate antipathy to iron 
 rust, and timber impregnated by the oxide of iron is 
 safe from its ravages. The taste of the Teredo being 
 known, it is only necessary, in order to avoid this 
 dangerous mollusc, to sink the timber which is to be 
 submerged in a tank of prepared oxide of iron — 
 clothed, in short, in a thick cuirass of that antipathy 
 of the Teredo, iron rust. Ships' timbers are also 
 covered with the same protecting coating ; but the 
 copper in which ships' bottoms are usually sheathed 
 serves the same purpose. 
 
 The singular Acephalous Mollusc, known to natu- 
 ralists as the Teredo navalis^ and popularly as the Ship 
 Worm, has the appearance of a long worm without 
 articulations. Between the valves of a little shell, with 
 which it is provided anteriorly, may be seen a sort 
 of smooth rim, which surrounds a swelling projecting 
 pad or cushion. This cushion is the only part of the 
 body of the animal which can be regarded as a foot. 
 Starting from this point, all the body of the Teredo 
 is enveloped by the shell and mantle, the latter of 
 which forms a sort of sheath communicating by two siphons with 
 the exterior (Fig. 128). 
 
 The mantle adheres to the circumference of the shell. The tissue 
 of the mantle is of a greyish tint, very light, and transparent enough, 
 especially in the young, to permit of the mass of the liver, the ovary, 
 the branchiae, and the heart being distinguished in the interior, even 
 to counting the pulsations of the latter. The siphons are extensile, and 
 attached the one to the other for about two-thirds of their length. 
 It is by these tubes that the aerated water enters which feeds the 
 
 Fig. 128. 
 
 Teredo navalis 
 
 (Linnaeus). 
 
BIVALVE MOLLUSCA^ 323 
 
 animal and enables it to breathe. It is discharged l^y the second 
 tube, when deprived of its oxygen and no longer respirable, carrying 
 with it also the useless products of digestion. This movement is 
 continuous ; but from time to time the animal shuts at once the 
 orifices of both tubes, and slightly contracts itself. 
 
 The shell, seen on the side, presents an irregularly triangular 
 form ; it is nearly as broad as it is long ; its two valves are solidly 
 attached the one to the other above and below by the mantle, in 
 such a manner as only to permit of very slight movements. It is 
 coloured in yellow and brown lines ; sometimes it is quite plain. On 
 the upper edge of the anterior portion of the body of the animal is 
 the mouth, a sort of funnel, flat and slightly bell-shaped, furnished 
 with four labial palpi, a stomach without any peculiar feature, and a 
 well-developed intestine. 
 
 The heart consists of two auricles and a ventricle, which beat at 
 very irregular intervals, four or five in the minute. The blood is 
 colourless, transparent, and charged with small irregular corpuscles. 
 The act of breathing is accomplished in the branchiae, or gills. 
 Nevertheless, the one half of the blood returns to the heart without 
 passing through these branchiae. 
 
 The nervous system is well developed, and consists of nervous 
 filaments, and of ganglions, which are distributed to the mantle, the 
 branchiae, the foot, and the siphon tubes. 
 
 The adult animal is surrounded by a sort of sheath, consisting of 
 a solid shelly coat, which has sometimes been described, erroneously, 
 as forming part of the animal. The Teredo, shut up in this tube, is 
 limited in its movements ; when observed in a vase, its motions are 
 slow and deliberate — movements of extension and contraction, by 
 the aid of which it contrives with difficulty to exchange its place ; 
 but nothing indicates a true creeping movement. In a state of 
 nature, according to M. Quatrefages, the body of the animal is 
 stretched out to three times its length without diminishing in any 
 respect its proportional thickness ; the afflux of water penetrating 
 under the mantle, and of the blood which accumulates in the interior 
 vessels, sufficiently accounting for a phenomenon which at the first 
 glance is very singular. 
 
 The Teredo lays a spherical greenish-yellow egg. Shortly after 
 fecundation, these eggs are hatched. At first naked and motionless, 
 these larvae are soon covered with vibratile cilia, when they begin tO' 
 move, at first by a revolving pirouette, afterwards swimming about 
 freely in the water. When one of these larvae has found a piece of 
 submerged wood, without which it probably could not live, the 
 
^2q THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 curious spectacle is observed of a being which fabricates, step by 
 step and as it requires them, the organs necessary for the performance 
 of its functions. It begins by creeping along the surface of the wood 
 by means of the very long tubes with which it is furnished. Then it is 
 observed from time to time to open and shut the valves of the little 
 ■embryo shell which partly envelopes it. As soon as it has found a 
 part of the wood sufficiently soft and porous for its purpose, it pauses, 
 attacks the ligneous substance, and soon produces a Httle depression 
 or opening, which will be the entrance to the future tunnel. 
 
 Once fairly lodged in this little opening, the young Teredo is 
 rapidly developed ; it covers itself with a coating of mucous matter, 
 which, condensing by degrees, assumes a brownish tint, forming a 
 solid covering, with two small holes for the passage of the siphon 
 tubes. At the end of three days this covering has become quite 
 soHd j it is the commencement of the calcareous tube, in which the 
 animal is to attain its full size. When secured beneath this opaque 
 screen, the httle miner is no longer exposed to observation ; but 
 if his cell is opened at the end of a few days, it is found that it has 
 secreted a shell, larger and more solid than the original one ; and 
 this is the shell of the adult animal. 
 
 The young Teredo, which feeds on the raspings of the wood, 
 increases rapidly; it passes first from a spheroid form to an elongated 
 shape, and when its body can no longer be contained in the shell, it 
 projects beyond the edge, and would find itself naked were it not 
 protected by its membranous sheath, which adheres to the walls of the 
 ligneous channel, now the dwelling-place of the animal. 
 
 The process by which a creature soft and naked like the Teredo 
 should break into a solid piece of the hardest wood so quickly, and 
 destroy it with so much facility, was long a mystery. Until very 
 recently, the shell was looked on as the implement of perforation. 
 But in that case the shell should preserve certain traces of its action 
 upon surfaces so resistant as oak and fir j but the shell, on the con- 
 
 ■ trary, is in such cases perfect, with no signs of friction. On the other 
 ,hand, the muscular apparatus of the Teredo is not well calculated to 
 :put the shell into rotatory action, were the process a boring one. It 
 •does not seem therefore possible to attribute these perforations to a 
 r simple physical action. 
 
 Some naturalists have suggested, in explanation of this phenomenon, 
 that the animal is furnished with the means of secreting a liquid 
 'Capable of dissolving the woody fibre. This has been met by the 
 
 ■ statement that, in whatever way the wood is attacked, whether the 
 ..gallery is excavated with or across the fibre of the wood, the groove 
 
BIVALVE MOLLUSC A, 
 
 325 
 
 is as exactly and neatly cut as if it had been perforated by the 
 sharpest tool, and that a corroding dissolvent could not act with this 
 regularity, but would attack the harder and more tender parts un- 
 equally. This objection, which M. Quatrefages opposes to the idea 
 of a chemical solvent, appears to us to admit of no reply. But, 
 
 Fig. 129.— Pholas dactylus having hollowed out a shelter in a block of gneiss 
 
 while opposing unassailable reasons against the two theories, M. 
 Quatrefages does not leave us without a reasonable explanation of a 
 very^ puzzling phenomenon. " Let us not forget," he says, '•' that 
 the interior of the gallery is constantly saturated ^ith water ; conse- 
 quently all the points of the walls which are not protected by the 
 tube are subjected to constant maceration. In this state a mechanical 
 action, even though inconsiderable, would suffice to clear away the bed 
 of fibre thus softened, and, if this action is in any degree continuous. 
 
326 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 it suffices to explain the excavation of the galleries, however extensive 
 their ramifications. Again, the upper cutaneous folds, especially the 
 cephalic hood, having the power of expanding at will by an afflux of 
 blood, being covered with a thick coriaceous epidermis, and moved 
 by four strong muscles, seems to me very capable of performing the 
 operation. It appears very probable that it is this hood which is 
 charged with the removal of the woody fibre, rendering it incapable 
 of resistance by previous maceration, which may also be assisted by 
 some secretion from the animal." That the fleshy parts of the mollusc, 
 
 acting upon the surface, softened 
 by long maceration in water, is 
 the true boring implement em- 
 ployed by the Teredo, is, pro- 
 bably, the only explanation the 
 case admits of; at all events, in 
 the present state of our know- 
 ledge, the explanation of this 
 naturalist is the most reasonable 
 which can be given. 
 
 The engraving (Fig. 129) re- 
 presents Pholas dactylus, which 
 has hollowed itself a home out of 
 a block of gneiss. This dweUing 
 is a cell just deep enough to con- 
 tain the animal and its shell 
 (Fig. 130). To excavate its cell 
 at the bottom of one of these 
 gloomy retreats seems to be all 
 that the animal lives for. To 
 ascend to the summit or sink to 
 the bottom of their narrow house 
 makes up all the accidents of existence to these strange creatures : 
 the hole they dig is at once their dwelling and their grave ; which 
 fact is attested both by the rocks of the past and the present. 
 
 In its structure the shell of this genus differs notably from other 
 Acephalous Molluscs, which led Linnseus to place it in a section 
 which he made of multivalve shells. Between the two ordinary 
 valves, in short, this shell presents certain accessory pieces, smaller 
 than the true valves, and placed near the hinge, as represented in 
 Pholas dadyhis (Fig. 129), pieces which would not be there without 
 a purpose. 
 
 The shell is equivalve, gaping on each side, swelling below, very 
 
 Fig;. 130. — Pholas dactylus (Linnaeus). 
 
BI VA L VE MOLL USCA. 
 
 327 
 
 thin, transparent, and white. The animal has a thick, white, 
 elongated, fleshy body ; its mouth opening anteriorly, throws out a 
 long tube traversed by two canals or siphons, through one of which 
 the water necessary for the respiration of the animal is absorbed, and 
 ejected through the other. Through another opening in the mantle 
 a very thick and short foot is protruded. 
 
 In three ways also has this creature's method of boring been ac- 
 counted for — the mechanical, the chemical, and the electrical; the first 
 being the one generally held. In this case it is supposed that the animal 
 uses its foot as a boring tool. The second presumes on the Pholas 
 secreting an acid which corrodes the rock ; the third that it possesses 
 
 Fig. 131. — Pholas crispata (Linnseus). 
 
 a galvanic battery with similar powers. It is not impossible but that 
 all these three theories may have a measure of truth. That the foot 
 of the borer is used is clear. The luminosity which is so characteristic 
 of the animal is in favour of an electric current, which is almost 
 always accompanied by chemical decomposition, which would set 
 free the hydrochloric acid of the sea water. The small size of the 
 entrance to the chambers of the Pholas is accounted for by the 
 increase of its size during its residence there. De Blainville thought 
 that a simple movement of the shell incessantly repeated would suffice 
 to pierce the stone, macerated by the sea water which passed through 
 the breathing apparatus. 
 
 Mr, Robertson, of Brighton, exhibited the living Pholas in the act 
 of boring through masses of chalk, and tliinks the process entirely 
 
328 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 effected by the simple mechanical action of the '•' hydraulic apparatus, 
 rasp, and syringe." 
 
 "If you examine the living molluscs," says Gosse, "you will see 
 that the fore part of the shell, where the foot protrudes, is set with 
 stony points arranged in transverse and longitudinal rows, the former 
 being the result of elevated ridges, radiating from the hinge, the latter 
 that of the edges of successive growths of the shell. These points 
 have the most accurate resemblance to those set on a steel rasp in a 
 blacksmith's shop. The animal," Gosse adds, " turns in its burrow 
 from side to side when at work, adhering to the interior by the foot, 
 and therefore only partially rotating to and fro. The substance is 
 
 Fig. 132. — Pholas papyracea (Solander). 
 
 Fig. 133. — Pholas melanoura (Sowerby). 
 
 abraded in the form of a fine powder, which is gradually ejected from 
 the mouth of the hole by contraction of the efferent siphon." 
 
 The Pholads are met with on every sea-shore, and are plentiful 
 in the Channel ; on the French coast they are called Dails, and 
 sought for for their fine flavour. As examples of the genus, we may 
 quote Pholas dadyhis (Fig. 130) ; Pholas Candida, found in the 
 Channel and in the Atlantic Ocean, which lives buried in the mud 
 or in decayed wood; Pholas adspata (Fig. 131), also found in the 
 Channel; Pholas papyi^acea (Fig. 132); and Pholas melanoiira 
 
 (Fig. 133)- 
 
 The bodies of many genera of Mollusca have the property of 
 shining in the dark, but none emit a light more brilliant than that of 
 the Pholads. Those who eat the Pholads in an uncooked state 
 (which is by no means rare, for the flavour of the mollusc does not 
 
BIVALVE MOLLUSCA. .331 
 
 require the aid of cooking to render it palatable) would appear in the 
 dark as if they had swallowed phosphorus ; and the fisherman who, 
 in a spirit of economy, supped on this mollusc in the dark, would 
 give to his little ones the spectacle of a fire-eater on a small scale. 
 
 The perforations produced in stone by the Pholads have become 
 important evidence in a geological point of view. In many countries 
 there are evident signs of a considerable past sinking and then up- 
 heaval of the earth. But in no place is the evidence of this clearer 
 than in a monument of high antiquity on the Pozzuolan coast, known 
 as the Temple of Serapis (Plate XL). 
 
 In speaking of the culture of oysters by the Romans we shall have 
 occasion to mention the disappearance of the Lucrine Lake, and its 
 replacement by an enormous mountain, the Monte Nuovo. Now, 
 Pozzuolo is situated at the foot of Monte Nuovo. We need not add 
 that the whole neighbourhood is volcanic. Pozzuolo touches on the 
 Solfaterra, on the Lake Avernus, and is not far from Vesuvius ; and in 
 the bay is the monument of other days, erroneously called the Temple 
 of Serapis. In reality it was most probably a thermal establishment, 
 established for its mineral waters, although the world has now agreed 
 to call it a temple. 
 
 However that may be, the building has been nearly levelled by the 
 hand of Time, aided by the hand of man; and the ruins now consist of 
 three magnificent marble columns of about forty feet high. But the 
 curious and important fact is, that these three columns, at about ten 
 feet above the surface, are riddled with holes, and full of cavities bored 
 deeply into the marble, and these borings occupy the space of about 
 three feet on each column. The cause of these perforations is no longer 
 doubtful. In some of the cavities the shell of the operator is still 
 found, and it seems settled among naturalists that it belongs to a 
 species of Pholas, although M. Pouchet, a naturalist of Rouen, denies 
 this. "As far," he says, "as I have been able to judge from the 
 fragment which I extracted from this temple, which is destitute of 
 the hinge, it is infinitely more probable that this mollusc is a species 
 of the genus Coralliophaga.^' In spite, however, of M. Pouchet's 
 scepticism, the mass of evidence is opposed to his theory. 
 
 There are two modes of explaining the fact to which we have called 
 attention. To enable the stone-boring molluscs, which live only in 
 the sea, to excavate this marble, the temple and columns must have 
 been buried several fathoms deep in sea-water. It is only in these 
 conditions that the borers could have made burrows into, and laboured 
 at their ease, in the marble columns. 
 
 But since the same traces of perforation are now visible ten feet 
 
332* 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 above the surface, it follows that, after being long immersed under 
 water, the columns have been elevated to their present position. The 
 temple has been restored to its primitive elevation, 
 carrying with it, engraved in the marble, ineffaceable 
 proofs of its immersion. Sir Charles Lyell has 
 devoted a long chapter to the successive sinking 
 and elevation of this temple, where the fact is most 
 conclusively proved. 
 
 The second family of the Gastrochsenidse is a 
 somewhat heterogeneous one, as it contains the 
 genera Saxicava and Aspergillum. We have only 
 space for a short account of the latter genus. A. 
 vaginifenun has received the strange name of the 
 Watering-Pot, and is represented in Fig. 134. It 
 inhabits a calcareous tube, thick, solid, of consider- 
 able length, and nearly cyHndrical, presenting at 
 one extremity an opening fringed with one or many 
 foliaceous folds in the form of frills, and at the 
 other extremity a convex disc, pierced with holes 
 like a watering-pot, whence its name. The animal 
 is attached by certain muscles to the interior of the 
 tube. Chenu, to whom we are indebted for our 
 information respecting this curious mollusc, tells 
 us " that the animal which inhabits this curious 
 shell was first described by Russell, whose account 
 of it is deficient in the anatomical details, which 
 might explain the utility of the holes in the disc 
 of the central fissure, and of the spiriform tubes 
 found there." We suppose that this arrangement 
 is necessary in order to facilitate respiration ; and 
 M. de Blainville thinks the small tubes are intended 
 for the passage of the muscles which are necessary 
 to fix the animal to the body on which it is to live, 
 and in such a manner as to admit of its movements 
 round a fixed point. 
 
 The animal which inhabits the Aspergillum is 
 elongated, contractile, and only occupies the upper 
 part of the tube, but it can stretch itself out sufficiently for all its wants. 
 Shells of this genus are rare, although a great number of species are 
 known. They are found in the Red Sea, and in the seas of Australia 
 and Java. The shells are generally of a white or yellowish tint ; some 
 
 Fig. 134. — Aspergillum 
 vaginiferum (Lamarck), 
 
BIVALVE MOLLUSC A. 333 
 
 have the tube covered with a glutinated sand, mixed with small frag- 
 ments of shells of diverse colours. We know nothing of their habits, 
 and their singular forms have left naturalists in doubt as to the place 
 which should be assigned to them. It is only after having recognised 
 the existence of two valves, which were detected with great difficulty just 
 under the disc, and forming part of the sheath in which the animal is 
 encased, that it has been decided to range them with the Gastrochœ- 
 nidse, and with the shells presenting an arrangement analogous and 
 equally singular. These molluscs are, as M. Chenu says, little known, 
 rare, and hence much sought for by collectors. They are exclusively 
 exotic, the most common species being from Java. It is imported 
 into Europe by the Dutch. A third family, the Anatinidae, includes 
 such genera as Myochama, Pandora, Lyonsia, Myacites, Pholadomya, 
 Thracia, and Anatina, genera which were more important in the 
 former than in the present seas ; some, in fact, being wholly extinct, 
 or represented, as in Pholadomya, by but one living species. A fourth 
 family, the Myacidae, including Glycimeris, which is found only in 
 iVmerica; Panopsea, now for the most part extinct, Thetis, Nesera, 
 Corbula, and Mya. 
 
 A fifth family, Solenidae, contains the Solens, which under the 
 name of "razor-fish" are so abundant on the sandy shores of all parts 
 of the globe. These molluscs live with their shells buried vertically 
 in the sand, a short distance from the shore ; the hole which they 
 have hollowed, and which they never quit, sometimes attains as much 
 as two yards in depth; by means of their foot, which is large, conical, 
 swollen in the middle, and pointed at its extremity, they raise them- 
 selves with great agility to the entrance of their burrow. They 
 bury themselves rapidly, and disappear on the slightest approach of 
 danger. 
 
 When the sea retires, the presence of the Solen is indicated by a 
 small orifice in the sand, whence escape at intervals bubbles of air. 
 In order to attract them to the surface, the fishermen throw into the 
 hole a pinch of salt ; immediately the sand becomes stirred, and the 
 animal presents itself just above the point of its shell. It must be 
 seized at once, for it disappears again very quickly, and no renewed 
 efforts will bring it to the surface a second time. Its retreat is 
 commonly cut short by a knife being passed below it ; for it burrows 
 into the ground with such velocity that it is difficult to capture it with 
 the hands alone. 
 
 This shell has by some been compared to a knife-handle ; by 
 others to a razor, which has become its popular name. It is a thin, 
 transparent, long, and slender equivalved bivalve, with parallel edges, 
 
334 ^^^ OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 gaping and truncated at both extremities. The tints are rose-coloured, 
 bluish-grey, and violet ; the valves are generally covered with an 
 epidermis of a greenish brown. 
 
 The animal which hves in this elegant dwelling has the form of 
 an elongated cylinder. Its mantle is closed in its whole length, and 
 only open at the ends at one side for the passage of the food to the 
 mouth, and at the other for the passage of a tube formed of the two 
 siphons united together. This curious shell, various species of which 
 are presented in Plate XII., is known as razor-fish, sabre-fish, and 
 other names, which in some respects indicate the pecuHar form and 
 appearance of the shell. 
 
 The Tellinidse, the sixth family in our table, is very important, as 
 including a vast number of genera and species, of which, as types, we 
 
 Fig. 135.— Donax rugosus (Linnaeus;. Fig. 136.— Donax denticulatus. 
 
 will particulaiiie Tellina and Donax; but Galatea, Mesodesma, 
 Semele, Sanguinolaria, Psammobia, and Capsula, are also important 
 genera. 
 
 Along the shores of the Channel and in the Mediterranean there 
 are few bivalves more abundant than the several species of the genus 
 Donax. They live near the shore in shallow water, burying them- 
 selves perpendicularly in the sand. They have the very singular 
 habit, considering their apparent helplessness, of being able to leap 
 to a certain height and then project themselves ten or twelve inches. 
 This may often be witnessed in the case of individuals left by the 
 retreating tide. If seized by the hand, and attempts are made to 
 disengage them from the sand, they continue to impress on their 
 shell a sudden and energetic movement, aided by the elasticity of 
 their foot, which is at once decisive and angular. 
 
 The shell of the genus Donax is nearly triangular in shape, com- 
 pressed, longer than broad, regular, equivalve, not equilateral ; the 
 hinge with three or four teeth on each valve. 
 
 The animal is slightly compressed, and more or less triangular. 
 
IV. Solen ensis major. (Lamarck.) 
 
 V. Solen ambiguus. (Lamarck.) 
 
 VI. Solen legumen. 
 
 XII. Razor-fish {Salcnidœ). 
 
BIVALVE MOLLUSC A. 
 
 117 
 
 Its mantle, which forms two symmetrical lobes enveloping the body, 
 is open pretty nearly in all its extent, but it is united posteriorly, and 
 terminates in two siphons, or nearly equal tubes, as in Fig. 127, 
 
 Fig. 137. — Tellina radiata (Linnaeus), 
 
 p. 320. One of these tubes serves the purpose of respiration: it is 
 the respiratory siphon. The other, serving the purpose of ejecting 
 the products of digestion and the used-up water, is termed the ex- 
 current siphon. The tentacles of the respiratory siphon seem to be 
 
 -Tellina virgata (Linnaeus). 
 
 Fig. 13g, — Tellina sulphurea (Lamarck). 
 
 possessed of exquisite sensibility. When touched, the animal draws 
 in its siphon, and only puts it forth anew when the danger has passed. 
 The species of Donax are very numerous, especially in the Asiatic and 
 American seas. Among the European species we may mention 
 Donax I'ugosus (Fig. 135) and Donax denticulatus (Fig. 136). 
 
33^ 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 Next to Donax comes the genus Tclli/ia, which includes many 
 species of both small and large shells, all remarkable for their beauty 
 of form, and for their brilliant and varied colours. One of these, 
 called the rising sun {TelUjia radiatd)^ is represented in Fig. 137. 
 
 Fig. 140. — Tellina donacina (Linnaeus). 
 
 The Tellinas are found in every sea ; the French coast furnishes 
 many species : such as Tellina virgafa (Fig. 138) and Tellina sulphiirea 
 (Lamarck), Fig. 139. In Fig. 140 Tellina donacina is represented 
 with its two tubes or siphons. 
 
 The seventh family, or Mactridse, includes Lutraria and Mactra. 
 
 Fig. 141. — Venus verrucosa (Linnaeus). 
 
 They are widely distributed genera, and there are several British 
 species of both. 
 
 The eighth family, Veneridse, includes Venus, Cytherea, Meroe, 
 and Artemis ; beautiful genera, and as such called by Linnaeus and 
 his followers after heroines of Greek mythology; Petricola, Venerupis, 
 
VI.— Cytherea petechlalis (Lamarck). 
 
 VII.— Cytlierea maculata (Linn.). 
 
 XIIL— Venus and Cylherea. 
 
BIVALVE MOLLUSC A. 34 1 
 
 Tapes, Lucinopsis, and Trigona, also belong to the family. These 
 inhabit every sea ; they are found in every region of the globe, more 
 than 150 species being known. In most the shell is elliptic in form, 
 the valves either smooth, warted, striated, spiny, or lamellous, some 
 like those of Cardium and Donax. Like these, too, they bury them- 
 selves in the sand. 
 
 Among the vast number of species, many of them are extremely 
 rare, and much sought after by collectors in consequence of their great 
 beauty. In the principal ports of France, Venus verri/cosa (Fig. 141), 
 and another species known in the south of France under the name of 
 Clovisse, are eaten there like oysters. Prepared with fine herbs, the 
 Clovisse, we have M. Figuier's authority for saying, is not to be 
 
 Fig. 142. — Cytherea geographica (Chemnitz). 
 
 despised. "We may be beHeved also," he says, "if we add that 
 nothing is more delicious than to eat the living Clovisse torn from the 
 rock of the Phara of Lake Thau, when the Mediterranean sun of a 
 day in winter is shining down upon us, the heart rejoicing in man- 
 hood's strength." In Plate XIII. some of the principal species 
 are represented, along with some of the more remarkable species of 
 Cytherea. In Fig. 142 we have the elegantly-pencilled shell of Cytherea 
 geographica, together with the animal, both drawn from Nature. 
 
 The sub-section we shill now treat of is without the palliai Une 
 sinuated. The Cyprinidse form the ninth family of our arrangement, 
 and contain the genera Cardita, Cypricardia, Isocardia, Crassatella, 
 Astarte, Circe, and Cyprina, which contain among them some hundred 
 species. 
 
 The Cycladidse are our tenth family, and include Cyrenoides, 
 Cyrena, Pisidium, and Cyclas. 
 
 The Lucinidae is the eleventh family, containing Galeomma, 
 Lepton, Montacuta, Kellia, Diplodonta, Corbis, and Lucina. 
 
342 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 belonging 
 
 The twelfth family, Cardiadae, contains the familiar cockles, 
 to the genus Cardium, which is derived from /capSio, a 
 heari~\N\i\Q\i they are supposed to resemble in form : they are amongst 
 the most widely-distributed of shells. The shell is convex, as we see 
 in C. hians (Fig. 143), somewhat heart-shaped, equivalved, the edges 
 dentate or corrugated, the hinge furnished with four teeth upon each 
 valve. The accessary ornamentation varies with the species, some 
 being smooth, as in Cardium g7'oenlandiaiin^ Chemnitz (Fig. 144) ; 
 others, and by far the greater number, are furnished with regular ripples, 
 
 Fig. 143.— Cardium hians (Brocchi). 
 
 Fig. 144. — Cardium groenlandicum (Chemnitz). 
 
 generally obtuse, sometimes in ridges diverging from the point and 
 armed with straight or curved spines, arranged in the oddest manner, 
 as in Caj'dmm aciileatum (Fig. 145). 
 
 In the genus Cardium, as well as Donax, TelUna, and Venus, the 
 respiratory organs are somewhat modified, so as to adapt them to the 
 habits of the animal. All these molluscs live buried in the sand, and 
 the two siphonal tubes, issuing from the interior of their bodies to 
 bring the atmospheric air into communication with their respiratory 
 organs, are usually very short. 
 
 In C. hians (Fig. 143) the mantle has a large opening in front, 
 fringed anteriorly with papillae in the form of tentacula; the in- 
 habitant of the shell has a very large foot; its mouth is transverse and 
 funnel-shaped, and furnished with labial appendages. One of the 
 
BI VA L VE MOLL USCA . 
 
 343 
 
 peculiarities in the organisation of these molluscs is in direct con- 
 nection with their mode of life. For those molluscs, which most 
 commonly live on the sea-shore, and bury themselves in the sand to 
 the depth of four or five inches, are enabled to breathe, to draw 
 water for their nourishment, and also to throw off the products of 
 digestion, by having the mantle prolonged, as we have seen, into two 
 tubes, the orifices of which reach to the surface of the mud. By means 
 of their foot, which is an extremely curious organ of locomotion, the 
 Cockles can at will issue from their holes and re-enter them. The 
 fishermen of the shore easily recognise the presence of these animals 
 by the little jets of water which they throw up through the sands. 
 
 C45. — Cardium aculeatura (Linnaeus). 
 
 Fig. 146. — Cardium edulis (Linnaeus). 
 
 These molluscs are found in every sea on the globe, and under 
 all latitudes. Many of them belong to our own and the French 
 coasts, where they are eagerly sought for by collectors, as well as for 
 food. The flesh of the animal, however, is somewhat leathery, and 
 little esteemed. The species most common on the littoral of the 
 Atlantic is Cardium edulis (Fig. 146), its white or fawn-coloured shell 
 being hollowed out into six-and-twenty furrows, forming so many 
 corrugated ripples on its side. It is considered good for food. 
 
 The common cockle frequents sandy bays, near low water. It 
 is sometimes met with in brackish water, as at the mouth of the 
 Thames. 
 
 Ca7'diuni cosfatum (Fig. 147) is an exotic species which inhabits 
 the coast of Guinea and the Senegal, the shell of which, white and 
 fragile, is much sought after by collectors. 
 
344 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 The thirteenth family of our hst, Tridacnidae, contains the genus 
 Tridacna, with only eight species, but it contains the largest of all 
 bivalve shells. The historian of the wars of Alexander the Great 
 speaks of oysters inhabiting the Indian Ocean which were more than 
 a foot long ; these were probably Tridacna, the shells of which were 
 most likely to be seen by the Macedonian conquerors. The valves 
 of Tridacna gigas are sometimes found a yard and a half in length, 
 and weighing 500 pounds. Magnificent examples may be seen 
 in the church of Saint wSulpice, Paris, where they hold the holy 
 water. These beautiful shells were the gift of the Venetian Republic 
 to Francis I. Under Louis XIV., the curé Languet had them 
 
 Fig. 147.— Cardium costatum (Linnseus). 
 
 presented to the church of Saint Sulpice, where they are used as 
 basins for holy water. Another pair are exhibited in the church of 
 Saint Eulala, at Montpelier, but much smaller in size. The shells of 
 Tridacna gigas are formed, as represented in Plate XIV., of three 
 acute angles, festooned on their edges by broad sides bristling with 
 deep white scales. The hinges have two teeth ; the ligament is 
 elongated and external. 
 
 The animal of Tridacna is remarkable for its fine colours. 
 Tridacna sei-rifera is of a beautiful blue round the edges of the mantle, 
 rayed through a shade of very pale blue ; more in the interior of the 
 mantle is a row of small ocelli of a yellowish green ; the centre is a 
 bright violet, with brownish longitudinal punctured lines. ^'We have 
 at this moment before our eyes," say the travellers Quoy and 
 Gaimard, '' one of the most charming spectacles that can be seen, 
 
XIV.— Tridacaa gigantea.— Holy Water Basin in the Church of Saint Sulpice at Pari?, 
 
Bl VA L VE MOLL USCA. 
 
 Fig. 148.— Tridacna squamosa (Lamarck). 
 
 when at a little depth beneath the surface a number of these animals 
 display the brilHant velvety colours and varying shades of their 
 submarine parterres. As we can only perceive the gaping opening of 
 the valves, we may imagine to ourselves what is its entire aspect." 
 The mantle of the animal is closed and ample ; its edges are swollen, 
 and reunited in nearly its whole circumference in such a manner as 
 to leave only three very 
 small openings — two in the 
 upper part ; the one serves 
 the purpose of discharging 
 the products of digestion, 
 the other gives entrance 
 and exit to the water ne- 
 cessary for respiratory pur- 
 poses. The third opening 
 is in the lower part of the 
 body, and free ; it leaves an 
 opening for the passage of 
 the foot, which is enormous, 
 and is surrounded with an 
 ample tuft of byssoidal 
 fibres. 
 
 Aided by this silky tuft, 
 the animal attaches itself to 
 the rocks, and suspends its 
 weighty shell from them. 
 If it is intended to remove 
 those attached to the sides 
 of the rock, it is necessary 
 to cut the cords of the ten- 
 donous byssus by which it 
 is held suspended with a 
 hatchet. 
 
 All the species are in- 
 habitants of the tropical seas. The Tridama gigas is a native of 
 the Indian Ocean. The flesh, though leathery and by no means of 
 an agreeable flavour, is a great resource to the poor Indians. The 
 accompanying representations of Tridacna squamosa (Figs. 148 and 
 149) will convey a general idea of the genus. 
 
 The fourteenth family, Hippuritidse, is entirely fossil; but the 
 fifteenth, Chamidse, of which the best example is the typical genus 
 Chama, is widely distributed in tropical seas. 
 
 Fig. 14g. — Tridacna squamosa, on the inside (Lamarck) 
 
34S 
 
 THE OCEAN WORT.D. 
 
 The very numerous division of shells called Asiphonida possesses 
 animals without respiratory siphons. To it belong the shells we shall 
 now describe. The sixteenth family, Unionidse, contains the genera 
 Iridina, Anodon, and Unio. 
 
 The pond mussels, Anodonta, are found in lakes, rivers, and seas of 
 North America, Europe, and Siberia. Their shells are rounded or 
 oval, generally very thin, regular, and equi valve, not gaping, the 
 hinges without teeth, whence their name, from the Greek, whlôvro^^ 
 without teeth. These shells are nacred inside, and generally smooth. 
 
 Fig. 150. — Unio littoralis (.Cuvier). 
 
 The Aiiodonta cygnea (Fig. III., Plate XV.) is broad, deep, and 
 light ; it is sometimes employed for skimming the cream off milk. 
 The genus is divided into many groups, the principal forms of which 
 are represented in Plate XV. 
 
 The genus Unio (river mussel) has a wider distribution than 
 Anodonta, and is found in the muddy bottoms of rivers in all the 
 great continents. The animal resembles that of Anodonta, but the 
 shell presents a toothed hinge. The lower face of the valve is nacre- 
 ous, but shaded with purplish violet, and iridescent ; the anterior 
 face is of a green colour, which varies from a hght to a blackish 
 
 green 
 
 Among the species found in European rivers may be noted the 
 
II. — Anodonta ensiformis (Spix). 
 
 I. — x\nodonta aii^ulata (Lea). 
 
 III. — Anodonta cygnea (Linn.). 
 
 IV. — Anodonta magnifica (Lea) 
 
 v.— Anodonta anserina (Spix). 
 
 VI. — Anodonta latomarginata (Lea). 
 
 XV. — Anodouta. 
 
•BIVALVE MOLLUSC A, 
 
 351 
 
 Rhine mussel, a large species, the nacre of which is employed for 
 ornamental purposes. Unio littoralis (Cuvier), rs represented in Fio-, 
 150, and Unio pictortun, Fig. 151. The flesh of the river mussels 
 is leathery, of an insipid taste, and scarcely eatable : the finest 
 species are found in the great American lakes and rivers. 
 
 Fresh-water mussels, as we have seen, produce pearls of moderate 
 value. Linnaeus, who was aware of the origin of the Pintadine pearls, 
 and of pearls in general, was also aware of the possibiUty of producing 
 them artificially from various molluscs. He suggested bringing 
 
 Fig. 151. — Unio pictorum (Linnaeus). 
 
 together a number of mussels, piercing holes in their shells with 
 an auger in order to produce a wound, and afterwards leave them 
 for five or six years, to give the pearl time to form. The Swedish 
 Government consented to try the experiment, and long did so in 
 secret ; pearls were produced, but they were of no value, and the 
 enterprise was abandoned as unsuccessful. 
 
 Scottish pearls were much celebrated in the middle ages ; and 
 between the years 1761 and 1784 pearls to the value of ^^f 10,000 
 were sent to London from the rivers Tay and Isla ; " and the trade 
 carried on in the corresponding years in the present century," says 
 Mr. Bertram, " is far more than double that amount.'' The pearl, 
 
352 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 according to Mr. Bertram, is found in a variety of the mussel, which 
 is characterised by the valves being united by a broad hinge, and 
 having a strong fibrous byssus, with which it attaches itself to other 
 shells, to rocks, and other solid substances. "The pearl fisheries of 
 Scotland," he adds, "may become a source of wealth to the people 
 living on the large rivers, if prudently conducted." Mr. linger, a 
 dealer in gems in Edinburgh, having discerned the capabilities of the 
 Scotch pearl as a gem of value, has established a scale of prices which 
 he gives for them, according to their size and quality ; and it is now 
 a fact that the beautiful pearls of our Scottish streams are admired 
 
 Fig. 152.— Pectunculusaureflua Fig. 153.— Pectunculus Delessertii 
 
 (Reeve). (Reeve). 
 
 beyond the Orient pearl. Empresses and queens, and royal and noble 
 ladies, have made large purchases of these gems ; and Mr. linger 
 estimates the sum paid to pearl-finders in the summer of 1864 at 
 ;£"io,ooo. The localities successfully fished have been the classic 
 Doon, the Forth, the Tay, the Don, the Spey, the Isla, and most of 
 the Highland rivers of note. Scottish pearls are much whiter in 
 colour than Oriental. What tint they have is bluish, while those of 
 the East are yellowish. Pink pearls are produced by several exotic 
 species of Unio. 
 
 The seventeenth family is that of the Trigoniadse, with the genus 
 Trigonia, of which so many species occurred in the Jurassic period 
 in the strata of Europe, but of which two or +.hree alone are now 
 left alive in the seas of Australia. 
 
 The eighteenth family, the Arcadse, affords between 200 and 300 
 species of the genera of Leda, Nucula, Pectunculus, and Area. Of 
 these we shall only at present instance Pectunculus. 
 
BIVALVh MOLLUSC A. 
 
 353 
 
 Species of the genus Pedujiculus are abundant on Lhe shores of 
 the Mediterranean and along the Atlantic coast. If we take up at 
 hazard a handful of shells on any part of the French coast, one-third 
 will consist of Fectwiculus. They are found mixed with species ot 
 the genera Cardium, Venus, Solen, and Pccten. Their round and 
 robust frame attracts much attention. They form the first of those 
 charming infantile collections which are gathered at our mother's 
 feet. 
 
 The animal which inhabits this pretty shell is moulded on its 
 
 Fig. 154. — Pectunculus pecteniformis 
 (Lamarck). 
 
 Fig. 155. — Pectunculus scnptus 
 (Born). 
 
 curvature ; like the shell, it is round and squat ; it is furnished with a 
 mouth, large, and thick for its size, and with branchiae. When the 
 animal is taken alive, it sometimes exudes a thick mucous liquid 
 over the shell, which has disgusted many a young collector with his 
 capture. 
 
 Among numerous species of Pectunculus we note as worthy of 
 representation : P. au?'ejl7ia, Reeve (Fig. 152) ; P. Delessertii, Reeve 
 (Fig. 153); P. pecteniformis, Lamarck (Fig. 154); and P. ^criptus^ 
 Born (Fig. 155), 
 
354 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 ACEPHALOUS MOLLUSC A— {con ^mued). 
 
 MYTILID^ — THE MUSSEL FAMILY. 
 
 " Ecce inter viiides jactatur mytilus algas." — AntJiologia. 
 
 We now come to consider the nineteenth family, that of Mytilidae, 
 which includes the genera called Mytilus, Modiola, Lithodomus, and 
 Dreissena. 
 
 The well-known shell of the mussel {Mytilus eduHs, Fig. 156) is 
 
 Fig. 156. — Mytilus edulis (Linnaeus). 
 
 longitudinal, equivalve, and regular, pointed at the base, with 
 capacity to attach itself by a byssus ; the hinge has no teeth, but a 
 deep furrow, in which the ligament is located. In the genus Mytilus, 
 the byssus is strong and coarse, and the palpi are long. In Modiola 
 it is ample, but fine, and the palpi are triangular. In both these 
 genera the foot is elongated and grooved, its retractile muscles 
 numerous. In Lithodovms the byssus is rudimentary. In Dreissena 
 the shell is hke that met with in the genus Mytilus, but without its 
 pearly lining. 
 
 The animal of Mytilus edulis, as described by M. Chenu, is 
 
BIVALVE MOLLUSC A. 355 
 
 elongate, oval, the lobes of the mantle snuple or fringed, divided at 
 the edge into two leaves, the interior being very short, bearing 
 fringes of very minute and constantly moving cilia ; the exterior gill 
 is united to the shell very near the edge. The opening by which 
 water and food are introduced supplies the branchicC at the same 
 time. The stomach consists of a white membrane, thin, opaline, 
 and presenting itself in longitudinal folds ; the liver is granular, com- 
 posed of greenish grains more or less deep, contained in the meshes 
 of a whitish tissue forming a thickish bed, which surrounds the 
 stomach, the intestines taking the direction of the median and dorsal 
 line, and beneath the heart are received and terminate in a small 
 appendage, floating in the cavity of the mantle near the hinge. The 
 foot is, perhaps, the remarkable organ of the mussel — it is small, 
 semi-lunar when not in motion, but capable of great elongation, 
 resembling thus a sort of conical tongue having a longitudinal furrow 
 on its side. It is put in motion by several pairs of muscles, all of 
 which penetrate and are interlaced with the tissue ; behind it is the 
 silky byssus. The mouth is large, and furnished with two pairs of 
 soft palpi, which are pointed and fixed by their summit. At the base 
 of the foot is a gland which furnishes a viscous secretion ; this 
 viscous liquid is organised and moulded in the groove of the foot, 
 and forms a thread, which originates the byssus; this latter is a 
 bundle of viscid hairs, or threads, which holds on to its shell. 
 
 The byssus plays an important part in the organisation of the 
 mussel. While the oyster remains entirely riveted to its rock, until 
 torn from it by violence, the mussel moves about, and in this motion 
 the byssus is an active agent. The mussel attaches its byssus to 
 some fixed object, and drawing upon it, as upon a line, the shell is 
 displaced. The house is drawn onwards ; the animal is in motion. 
 It takes no great strides, but a fraction of an inch satisfies its desires; 
 it is, however, an advance upon the oyster, and a lesson in mechanics. 
 The mussel stretches out its foot, and, at the point chosen, it fixes 
 on a thread of the byssus ; then, withdrawing the foot suddenly, and 
 hauling in the thread, the animal and shell are moved forward. 
 Every time it repeats this motion it seems to attach an additional 
 thread, so that at the end of the four-and-twenty hours it has used 
 many inches in length of cordage. In the byssus of some mussels 
 we find as many as 150 of these small threads, with which the animal 
 anchors itself most securely to the rock. Aided by this cordage, the 
 mussel suspends itself to vertical rocks, holding on a little above the 
 surface of the water, so that the shell is smooth and polished as 
 compared with the coarse and rugged shell of the oyster. 
 
35^ 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 The mussels, like the oysters, are gregarious, and widely diffused 
 over all European seas. They abound on both sides the Channel, 
 their lower price having procured for them the name of " the poor 
 man's oyster;" but it is infinitely less digestible and savoury than its 
 congener. 
 
 Many of our readers may think that mussels are found on the 
 shore in a state of nature, of good size, well flavoured, and fit for the 
 table. Nothing of the kind ! Detached from the rocks and cHffs of 
 
 O Q X 
 
 Fig. 157. — Byssus, mantle, and oviduct of Mytilus. 
 
 A, right lobe of the mantle.; d, rectum ; G, branchiae ; H, foot ; j, posterior muscle ; L, superior 
 tube ; o, heart ; p, ventricle ; Q, auricle ; x, pericardium ; b, tentacles ; d, byssus ; e, gland of 
 the byssus ; g, retractile muscle of the foot ; h, valves of the mantle ; i, oviduct ; /, orifice of the 
 excretory organ ; k, internal ditto. 
 
 the sea, where it has been growing in a natural state, it is lean, small, 
 acrid, and unwholesome food ; and it is only when human industry 
 intervenes to ameliorate this child of Nature that it becomes palatable 
 and wholesome food. In order to trace the ameliorative process by 
 which the leathery flesh of the mussel is rendered tender, fat, and 
 even savoury, we must conduct the reader back into the middle ages. 
 Some time in 1236 a barque, freighted with sheep and manned 
 by three Irishmen, struck upon the rocks in the creek of Aiguillon, 
 a few miles distant from Rochelle. The neighbouring fishermen 
 who came to the relief of the crew succeeded with great difficulty in 
 saving the life of the master, a man named Walton. Exiled upon 
 
BIVALVE MOLLUSC A, 357 
 
 the lonely shore of the Aunis, with a few sheep saved from shipwreck, 
 Walton at first supported himself by hunting sea-fowl, which fre- 
 quented the shore and neighbouring marshes in vast flocks. He 
 was a skilful fowler, and invented or adapted a peculiar kind of net, 
 which he called the night net. This consisted of a net some 300 or 
 400 yards in length by tliree in breadth, which he placed horizontally, 
 like a screen, along the quiet waters of the bay, retaining it in its 
 position by means of posts driven into the muddy bottom. In the 
 obscurity of the night the wild fowl, in floating along the surface of 
 the waters, would come in contact with the net, and get themselves 
 entangled in its meshes. 
 
 But the Bay of Aiguillon was only a vast lake of mud, in which 
 boats moved with difficulty ; and Walton, having arranged his bird- 
 net, began to consider what kind of boat would enable him most 
 conveniently to navigate the sea of mud. The flat-bottomed, square- 
 sided boat, known in our rivers as a punt, and on the Norman coast 
 as an aeon, was the result. Walton's boat had a wooden frame some 
 three yards long and one in breadth and depth, the fore part of 
 which sloped down into the water, in the form of a prow, at a slight 
 angle. In propelling the boat the rower, who occupied the stern of 
 the punt, knelt on his right knee (as represented in Fig. 158), 
 inclining forward, with one hand on each edge, and the left leg out- 
 side the boat. A vigorous push with the left foot gave the frail boat 
 an impulse, under which it rapidly traversed the bay from one point 
 to the other. 
 
 The mussels swarmed in the little bay; and Walton soon 
 remarked that they attached themselves by preference to that part of 
 the post a little above the mud, and that those so placed soon 
 became fatter, as well as more agreeable to the taste, than those 
 buried in the mud. He saw in this peculiarity the elements of a 
 sort of mussel culture which might become a new branch of industry. 
 " The practices he introduced,^' says M. Coste, " were so happily 
 adapted to the requirements of the new industry, that, after six 
 centuries, they are still the rules by which the rich patrimony he 
 created for a numerous population is governed. He seems to have 
 applied himself to the enterprise, conscious not only of the service 
 he was rendering to his contemporaries, but desirous that their 
 descendants should remember him, for in every instance he has 
 given to the apparatus which he invented the form of his initial letter 
 W. After due consideration, Walton began to carry out his design. 
 He planted a long range of piles along the low marshy shore, each 
 pair forming a letter V, the front of the letter being towards the sea, 
 
358 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 and each limb diverging at an angle of 45''. These posts were 
 driven about a yard asunder ; they were about twelve feet long, six 
 feet being above water, and interlaced with branches wattled together, 
 so as to form continuous hurdles, each about 200 yards long, which 
 are called bouchots. By the assistance of this apparatus, which 
 intercepted spat which would otherwise have been swept away to sea 
 
 Fig. 158.— Punt or Pirogue of the Marsh. 
 
 by the tide, Walton formed a magnificent collection of musseb ; but 
 he did not abandon his isolated piles. These, being without 
 fascines or branches, and always submerged, arrested the spat at 
 the moment of emission." 
 
 The advantages of this system of culture adopted by the Irish 
 exile were so obvious, that his neighbours along the shore were not 
 slow to imitate his example. In a short time the ivhole bay was 
 
BIVALVE MOLLUSC A, 
 
 359 
 
 covered with similiar bouchots. At the present time these lines of 
 hurdles form a perfect forest in the little creek. About 230,000 piles 
 support 125,000 fascines, which, according to M. Coste, "bend all 
 the year under a harvest which a squadron of ships of the line would 
 fail to float." There are about 500 of these bouchots in the bay, 
 each from 200 to 250 yards in length and six feet high. 
 
 The isolated piles are without palisades, and are uncovered only 
 at spring tides. In the months of February and March the spat 
 collected on them scarcely equals in size a grain of Unseed j by the 
 
 Fig. 159.— Isolated Piles covered -with the Spawn of Mussels. 
 
 month of May it will be about the size of a split pea; in July, a 
 small haricot bean : this is the moment for its transplantation. In 
 this month the houchotiers — as the men occupied in this culture are 
 called— launch their punts, and proceed to the part of the bay where 
 these piles are driven. They detach with a hook the agglomerated 
 masses of young mussels, which they gather in baskets, and carry 
 them to their bouchots. These bouchots, that is to say, the piles 
 covered with fascines and branches, are of four different heights, 
 forming, so to speak, four stages, according to the age and growth of 
 the mussel. Each stage receives the mollusc suitable to it. In the 
 first stage of its existence the mussel cannot endure exposure to the 
 
360 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 air, and remains constantly under water, except at the period of 
 spring tides. These are gathered in sacks made of old matting, or 
 suspended in interstices of the basket-work. " These immense 
 palisades," says M. Coste, " become covered with black clusters of 
 mussels developed between the meshes of their tissues." At this 
 time the second rows are cleared away to make room for younger 
 generations ; the mussels, which no longer dread the air, are trans- 
 ported to the more advanced bouchots, which remain above water in 
 all tides, where they stay till they are fit for market, which usually 
 
 Fig. 160.— Piles, with Basket-work, covered with Mussels in a fit state to be gathercù i... 
 
 happens after ten or twelve months of culture on the more advanced 
 bouchots. 
 
 But, in order to prepare for this consummation, they are su ejected 
 to a second and even a third remove. There is no longer any 
 danger in subjecting them to the air for many hours. From this 
 they pass to a fourth stage, termed Amont (Fig. 160). From this 
 stage the full-grown mussel is removed. Under this system of culture 
 the reproduction, nursing, collecting, and preparing for market, are 
 made simultaneously. From July to January the mussel trade is m 
 full operation, and the flesh in perfection. From February to_ April 
 is the close season ; their flesh is then poor and leathery. It is also 
 
BIVALVE MOLLUSCA. 36 1 , 
 
 remarked that those which inhabit the upper rows of the wicker-v/ork 
 are of a mellower flavour than those on the lower ranks, and that the 
 intermediate rows are an improvement on those which are buried in 
 the mud, although even these are preferable to mussels gathered on 
 the sea-shore in a state of nature. 
 
 M. Coste gives a graphic description of the manner in which this 
 industry is carried on. " Having supplied the neighbouring villages," 
 he says, "for the purpose of supplying the more distant cities, the 
 bouchotiers land their punts, filled with mussels, which their wives 
 carry into grottoes hollowed out of the cliffs, where they clean and 
 pack them in hampers, baskets, and panniers, for conveyance by 
 carts or pack-horses. They depart on their respective journeys at 
 night, so as to reach their markets at La Rochelle, Rochefort, 
 Surgères, Saint-Jean-d'Angely, xlngoulême, Niort, Poitiers, Tours, 
 Angers, and Saumur, at an early hour. A hundred and forty horses 
 and ninety carts make upwards of 33,000 journeys annually to 
 these cities. Besides this, forty or fifty boats come from Bordeaux, 
 the isles of Ré and Oleron, and from the sands of Olonne, 
 making an aggregate of 750 voyages per annum, distributing the 
 harvest of the little bay at places where horses could not serve 
 the purpose. 
 
 " A bouchot, well furnished, supplies annually, according to the 
 length of its wings, from 400 to 500 charges. The charge is 150 
 kilogrammes (over 300 pounds), and sells for five francs \ a single 
 bouchot thus carries a harvest equal in weight to 130,000 to 140,000 
 pounds, equal in value to ;£ioo ; the whole bay probably yielding a 
 gross revenue of ;z^48o,ooo. This figure, and the abundant harvest 
 which produces it, gives only a slight idea of the elementary resources 
 of the sea-shore ; and every part of the coast, properly adapted for 
 the purpose, could be turned to equal advantage. In the meantime, 
 the Bay of Aiguillon remains a monument of what one man may 
 accomplish." 
 
 While commending the mussel as an important article of food, we 
 must not conceal the fact that it has produced in certain persons 
 very grave effects, showing that for them its flesh has the effects of 
 poison. The symptoms, commonly observed two or three hours 
 after the repast, are weakness or torpor, constriction of the throat and 
 swelling of the head, accompanied by great thirst, nausea, frequent 
 vomitings, and eruption of the skin and severe itching. 
 
 The cause of these attacks is not very well ascertained ; they have 
 in turn been ascribed to the presence of the coppery pyrites in the 
 neighbourhood of the mussel i to certain small crabs which lodge 
 
302 rUE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 themselves as parasites in the shell of the mussel ; to the spawn of 
 star-fishes or medusae that the mussel may have swallowed. But, 
 probably, the true cause of this kind of poisoning resides in the pre- 
 disposition of individuals. The remedy is very simple : an emetic, 
 accompanied by drinking plentifully of slightly acidulated beverages. 
 We have now come to the twentieth family, the Aviculidse, which 
 contains Avicula, Malleus, Meleagrina, Perna, and Pinna. The shells 
 of the sub-genus Malleus (hammer-headed oysters) have a rough re- 
 semblance to the implement from which they derive their name. The 
 
 Fig. i6i. — Malleus vulgaris (Lamarck). 
 
 valves are nearly equal, blackish, and somewhat wrinkled on the 
 exterior, often brilliantly nacred in the interior. They are enlarged 
 to the right and left of the hinge, forming prolongations on each 
 side, which give them the fancied resemblance of a hammer-head 
 {Malleus indgaris^ Fig. i6iV At the same time they grow in a 
 direction opposite to the hinge, which gives an appearance something 
 approaching the handle of the implement. 
 
 This is the first feature which a glance at Malleus alba (Fig. 162) 
 conveys. The hinge is without teeth, having instead a deep conical 
 fossette or dimple, for the reception of a very strong ligament, which 
 acts upon the valves. The animal is contained in the interior 
 
BIVALVE MOLLUSC A, 
 
 363 
 
 of the shell, its mantle fringed by very small tentacular appendages. 
 Only six actually living species of the genera are known, which are 
 inhabitants of the Indian Ocean, of the Australian seas, and the 
 Pacific Ocean. 
 
 The beautiful diaphanous nacre which embellishes the interior of 
 so many ornamental cabinets is principally produced by the animal 
 inhabiting the Meleagrina margaritifera, a bivalve, sometimes 
 
 Fig. 162.— Malleus alba (LamarckV 
 
 designated the Pintadine, or mother-of-pearl shell. Phis bivalve 
 moors itself to the bottom of the sea by a strong byssus of a 
 brownish colour. The valves of the shells are irregularly rounded 
 in their young days \ they are externally lightly foliated, and orna- 
 mented with bands of green and white, which spring from the summit 
 in rays, and afterwards break off into two or three slightly scattered 
 branches. In old age they become rugged and blackish. The shell 
 is in its perfection when about eight or ten years old, their size being 
 then about six inches in diameter, with a thickness of about an inch 
 and a quarter. 
 
3^4 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 Nacre is the hard and brilliant substance with which the valves of 
 certain shells are lined in the interior. This substance is white, 
 silky, slightly azure, and more or less iridescent. Most of the bivalves 
 are supplied with nacre ; some of them even yield it of a blue, or 
 blue and violet colour. The iridescent Haliotis iris, for instance, has 
 a nacre of an emerald-greenish blue, changing colour with reflections 
 of a purple violet. Turbo argyrostoinus (Linnaeus) presents a mouth 
 of bright silvery hue, while Turbo chrysostomus appears in all the 
 glory of gold \ but the Pintadine yields the purest white nacre, as 
 well as the most uniform, and especially the thickest. This product 
 
 Outside of the shell. , _ _ Inside of the shell. 
 
 Fig. 163.— Meleagrina margaritifera (Linnseus). 
 
 owes its brilliant and delicate appearance to the play of light on 
 it in its highly-polished state. For practical purposes the nacre 
 is separated from the shell with an instrument j sometimes all the 
 exterior part of the shell being dissolved away from the precious 
 substance, leaving only the naked bed of nacre. 
 
 The pearl oyster {Meleagrina margaritifera), is the most interesting 
 of all the nacre-bearing shells ; the exterior as well as the interior of 
 the shell is represented in Fig. 163. The interior of the shell affords 
 the most exquisite pearls ; the Esterhazy collection of jewels contains 
 many magnificent specimens. This shell is nearly round, and 
 greenish in colour on the outside ; it furnishes at once the finest 
 pearls, under favourable circumstances, and the nacre so useful in 
 many industrial arts. Fine pearls and nacre have, in short, the same 
 origin. The nacre invests the whole interior of the shell of Melea- 
 
BIVALVE MOLLUSC A, 
 
 365 
 
 grîna margarîtifera ; being the same secretion which in the pearl has 
 assumed the globular form : in one state it is deposited as nacre on 
 the walls of the bivalve, in the other as a pearl in the fleshy interior 
 of the animal. This nacre is therefore at once a calcareous and a 
 horny substance, which the animal secretes, and which it attaches to 
 the interior walls of the shell during the several periods of its develop- 
 ment. Pearls are formed of the same substance, only in place of 
 being deposited upon the valves in beds, the material is condensed 
 and agglomerated in small spheroids, which develop themselves 
 either on the surface of the valves or in the fleshy part of the mollusc. 
 
 Fig. 164. — Meleagrina margaritifera (Linnaeus). 
 
 Between nacre and pearls, therefore, there is only the difference of 
 the form of deposition. Fig. 164 represents the pearl oyster with 
 calcareous concretions in various states of progress. 
 
 The finest pearls — solidified drops of dew, as the Orientals term 
 them in the language of poetry — are secretions of nacrous material 
 supposed to be spread over foreign bodies which have accidentally 
 got beneath the mantle of the mollusc. The matter, in place of 
 being spread over the surface of the valves in their beds, is condensed 
 either on the centre of the valves or in the interior of the organ, and 
 forms a more or less rounded body. The pearls^ when deposited on 
 the valves, are generally adherent ; those which originate in the body 
 of the animal are always free. Generally we find some small foreign 
 body in their centre which has served as a nucleus to the concretion, 
 the body being perhaps a sterile egg of the mollusc, the egg of a fish, 
 
366 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 a grain of sand even, round which has been deposited in concentric 
 layers the beautiful and much-prized gem. 
 
 The Chinese, and other Eastern nations, are said to turn this fact 
 in the natural history of this bivalve to practical use in making pearls 
 and cameos. By introducing into the mantle of the mollusc, or into 
 the interior of its body, a round grain of sand, glass, or metal, they 
 induce a deposit which in time yields a pearl, in the one case free, 
 and in the other adhering to the shell. In some cases pearls are said 
 to be produced in whole chaplets by the insertion of grains of quartz 
 connected by a string into the mantle of a species of Meleagrina ; in 
 other cases, a dozen enamelled figures of Buddha seated have been 
 produced by inserting small plates of embossed metal in the valves of 
 the same species. 
 
 The pearls are very small at first ; they increase by annual layers 
 deposited on the original nucleus, their brilliancy and shade of colour 
 varying with that of the nacre from which they are produced. Some- 
 times they are diaphanous, silky, lustrous, and more or less iridescent ; 
 occasionally they turn out dull, obscure, and even smoky. 
 
 The pearl oyster is met with in very different latitudes ; they are 
 found in the Persian Gulf, on the Arabian coast, and in Japan, in the 
 American seas, and on the shores of California, and in the islands of 
 the South Sea ; but the most important fisheries are found in the Bay 
 of Bengal, Ceylon, and other parts of the Indian Ocean. The Ceylon 
 fisheries are under Government inspection, and each year, before the 
 fisheries commence, an ofticial inspection of the coast takes place. 
 Sometimes the fishing is undertaken on account of the State, at 
 other times it is let to parties of speculators. In 1804 the pearl 
 fishery was granted to a capitalist for ;£"i 20,000; but, to avoid im- 
 poverishing all the beds at once, the same part of the gulf is not 
 fished every year. 
 
 The great fishery for mother-of-pearl Pintadines {Meleagrina mai'- 
 garitiferà) takes place in the Gulf of Manaar, a large bay to the north- 
 east of the island : it commences in the month of February or March, 
 and continues thirty days, taken collectively, and occupies 250 boats, 
 which come from different parts of the coast ; they reach the ground 
 at daybreak, the time being indicated by a signal gun. Each boat's 
 crew consists of twenty hands, and a negro. The rowers are ten in 
 xiumber. The divers divide themselves into two groups of five men 
 each, who labour and rest alternately ; they descend from forty to 
 fifty feet, seventy being the very utmost they can accomplish, and 
 eighty seconds the longest period the best divers can remain under 
 
BIVALVE MOLLUSC. I. 367 
 
 water, the ordinary period being only thirty seconds. In order to 
 accelerate their descent, a large stone is attached to a rope. Accord- 
 ing to travellers the oars are used to rig out a stage, across which 
 planks are laid over both sides of the boat ; to this stage the diving- 
 stone is suspended. This stone is in the form of a pyramid, weigh- 
 ing about fifty-six pounds; the cord which sustains it sometimes 
 carries in its lower part a sort of stirrup to receive the foot of the 
 diver. At the moment of his descent he places his right foot in this 
 stirrup, or, where there is no such provision, he rests it on the stone 
 with the cord between his toes. In his left foot he holds the net 
 which is to receive the bivalves ; then, seizing with his right hand a 
 signal-cord conveniently arranged for this purpose, and pressing his 
 nostrils with the left hand, he dives, holding himself vertically, and 
 balancing himself over his foot. 
 
 Each diver is naked, except for a band of calico which surrounds 
 his loins. Having reached the bottom, he withdraws his foot from 
 the stone, which ascends immediately to the stage. The diver throws 
 himself on his face, and begins to gather all the pintadines within his 
 reach, placing them in his net. When he wishes to ascend he pulls 
 the signal cord, and is drawn up with all possible expedition. 
 
 A good diver seldom remains more than thirty seconds under 
 water at one time ; but he repeats the operation three or four, and, 
 in favourable circumstances, even fifteen or twenty times. The 
 labour is extremely severe. On returning to the boat they sometimes 
 discharge water tinged with blood by the mouth, nose, and ears. 
 They are also exposed to great danger from sharks, which lie in wait 
 for and frequently devour the unhappy divers. 
 
 They continue to fish till mid-day, when a second gun gives the 
 signal to cease. The proprietors wait on shore for their boats, in 
 order to superintend their discharge, which must take place before 
 night sets in, in order to prevent concealment and robbery. 
 
 In past times the Ceylon fisheries were very valuable. In 1797 
 they are said to have produced ^144,000, and in 1798 as much as 
 ^,^192,000. In 1802 the fisheries were farmed for ^120,000; but for 
 many years the banks have been less productive, and are now said 
 to yield only the sum of ;^2o,ooo per annum. 
 
 The natives of the Bay of Bengal, those of the Chinese coast, of 
 Japan, and the Indian Archipelago, all devote themselves to the 
 pearl fishery, the produce being estimated to realise at least ^800,000. 
 Fisheries analogous to those of Ceylon take place on the Persian 
 coast, on the Arabian Gulf, along the coast of Muscat, and in the 
 Red Sea. 
 
368 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 In these latter countries the pearl fishing does not commence till 
 the months ot July and August, the sea being at that time calmer than 
 in other months of the year. Arrived on their fishing-ground, the 
 fishermen range their barques at a proper distance fi'om each other, 
 and cast anchor in water firom eight to nine fathoms deep. The 
 process is pursued here in a very simple manner. When about to 
 descend the divers pass a cord, the extremity of which communicates 
 with a bell placed in the barque, under the armpits ; they put cotton 
 in their ears, and press the nostrils together with a piece of wood or 
 horn ; they close their mouths hermetically, attach a heavy stone to 
 their feet, and at once sink to the bottom of the sea, where they 
 gather indiscriminately all shells within their reach, which they throw 
 into a bag suspended round their haunches. When they require to 
 breathe they sound the bell, and immediately they are assisted in 
 their ascent. 
 
 On the oyster-banks off the Isle of Bahrein the pearl fishery pro- 
 duces about ^240,000 ; and if we add to this the addition furnished 
 by the other fisheries of the neighbourhood, the sum total yielded by 
 the Arabian coast would probably not fall short of ;£"3 50,000. 
 
 In South America similar fisheries exist. Before the Mexican 
 conquest the pearl fisheries were located between Acapulco and the 
 Gulf of Tehuantepec ; subsequently they were estabUshed round the 
 Islands of Cubagua, Margarita, and Panama. The results became so 
 full of promise that populous cities were not slow to raise themselves 
 round these several places. 
 
 Under the reign of Charles V., America sent to Spain pearls 
 valued at ;^i 60,000 ; in the present day they are estimated to be 
 worth ;£'6o,ooo. In the places mentioned, the divers descend into 
 the sea quite naked ; they remain there from twenty-five to thirty 
 seconds, during which space they can only secure three or four 
 pintadines. They dive in this way a dozen times in succession, 
 which gives an average of between thirty and forty bivalves to each 
 diver. 
 
 The shells are carried on shore, and piled up on mats of Espartero 
 grass. The mollusc dies, and soon becomes decomposed; it requires 
 ten days to be thoroughly disorganised. When in a thoroughly 
 decayed state, they are thrown into reservoirs of sea water, when they 
 are opened, washed, and handed over to the dealers. The valves 
 furnish nacre, and the pearls are found in the soft decayed substance 
 of the mollusc. 
 
 The valves are cleansed, and piled up in tuns or casks; by taking 
 
BIVALVE MOLLUSC A. 369 
 
 off their external surface plates of nacre are obtained more or less 
 thick, according to the age of the mollusc. 
 
 Nacres of three kinds are distinguishable in commerce : silver- 
 lipped, bastard white, and bastard black. The first are sold in cases 
 of 250 to 280 pounds; they are brought from the Indies, from China, 
 and Peru. The ships of various nations import these shells as 
 ballast The second is delivered in casks of 250 pounds weight ; it 
 is a yellowish white, and sometimes greenish j sometimes red, blue, 
 and green. 
 
 Pearls form by far the most important product of the animal. 
 WhQXi they are adherent to the valves they are detached with pincers; 
 but, as a rule, they are found in the soft tissues of the animal. In 
 this case the substance is boiled, and afterwards sifted, in order to 
 obtain the most minute of the pearls ; for those of considerable size 
 are sometimes overlooked in the first operation. Months after the 
 mollusc is putrefied miserable Indians may be observed busying 
 themselves with the corrupt mass, in search of small pearls which 
 may have been overlooked by the workmen. 
 
 The pearls adherent to the valve are more or less irregular in their 
 shape ; they are sold by weight. Those found in the body of the 
 animal, and isolated, are called virgin pearls, or parago7is. They are 
 globular, ovoid, or pyriform, and are sold by the individual pearl. In 
 cleaning them, they are gathered together in a heap in a bag, and 
 worked with pov/dered nacre, in order to render them perfectly pure 
 in colour and round in shape, and give them a polish ; finally, they are 
 passed through a series of copper sieves, in order to size them. These 
 sieves, to the number of twelve, are made so as to be inserted one 
 within the other, each being pierced with holes, which determine the 
 size of the pearl, and the commercial number which is to distinguish it. 
 Thus, the sieve No. 20 is pierced with twenty holes. No. 50 with fifty 
 holes, and so on up to No. r,ooo, which is pierced with that number ot 
 holes. The pearls which are retained in Nos. 20 to 80, said to be wz7/, 
 are pearls of the first order. Those which pass and are retained be- 
 tween Nos. 100 to 800 are vivadoe, or pearls of the second order; and 
 those which pass through all the others and are retained in No. 1,000 
 belong to the class tool, or seed pearls, and are of the third order. 
 
 They are afterwards threaded ; the small and medium-sized pearls 
 on white or blue silk, arranged in rows, and tied with ribbon into a 
 ^op-knot of blue or red silk, in which condition they are exposed for 
 sale in rows, assorted according to their colours and quality. The 
 small or seed pearls are sold by measure or weight. 
 
3/0 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 In America the bivalve is opened with a knife, Hke the common 
 edible oyster, and the pearl is obtained by breaking up the mollusc 
 between die finger and thumb, without waiting for its decomposidon; 
 nor is it boiled. This is a much longer and less certain process than 
 that pursued in the East ; but the pearls are preserved in greater 
 freshness by the process — for the nacre of the dead shells is less 
 brilliant than that of those which have been suddenly killed and at 
 once separated from the soft parts. 
 
 Some few pearls have become historical for their size and beauty. 
 A pearl from Panama, in the form of a pear, and about the size of a 
 pigeon's egg, was presented in 1579 to Phihp IL, King of Spain, it 
 was valued at ;^4,ooo. A lady of Madrid possessed an American 
 pearl in 1605 valued at 31,000 ducats. 
 
 Pope Leo X. purchased a pearl of a Venetian jeweller for 
 ;£"i 4,000. Another was presented to the Sultan SoUman the Great by 
 the Venetian Republic valued at ^i 6,000. Julius Caesar, who was a 
 great admirer of pearls, presented one to Servilia which was valued at 
 a million of sesterces, about ;^48,ooo of our money. 
 
 There is no data for the volume or value of the two famous pearls 
 of Cleopatra : one of these, which the queen is said to have capriciously 
 dissolved in vinegar and drank — Heavens preserve us from such a 
 draught ! — is said by some authors to have been worth ;^6o,ooo; the 
 other was divided into two parts, ana suspended one half from each 
 ear of the Capitoline Venus. Another pearl was purchased at Califa by 
 the traveller Tavernier, and is said to have been sold by him to the 
 Shah of Persia for the enormous price of ^180,000. 
 
 A prince of Muscat possessed a pearl so valuable — not on 
 account of its size, for it was only twelve carats, but because it was 
 so clear and transparent that daylight was seen through it — that he 
 refused ;^4,ooo for it. 
 
 In the Zozema Museum at Moscow there is a pearl, called the 
 '^ Pilgrim," which is quite diaphanous ; it is globular in form, and 
 weighs nearly twenty-four, carats. It is said that the pearl in the 
 crown of Rudolph IL weighed thirty carats, and was as large as a 
 pear. This size, besides being indefinite, is more than doubtful. 
 
 The Shahs of Persia actually possess a string of pearls, each indi- 
 vidual of which is nearly the size of a hazel nut : the value of this 
 string of jewels is inestimable. 
 
 At the Paris Exposition of 1855, her Majesty the Queen exhibited 
 some magnificent pearls 3 and on the same occasion the Emperor of 
 the French exhibited a collection of 408 pearls, each weighing over 
 
BIVALVE MOLLUSC A. 
 
 371 
 
 nine pennyweights, all of perfect form and of the finest water. The 
 Romans were passionately fond of pearls, and they have transmitted 
 their taste to the Eastern nations, who attach notions of great 
 grandeur and wealth to the possessor of large and brilliant pearls. 
 
 The genus Pinna was so called by Linnaeus, from one of the species 
 which was so designated from the resemblance of its byssus to the 
 aigrette or plumelet which the Roman soldiers attached to the helmet. 
 French naturalists name ihQva ja?nba?i?ieauXy from their singular resem- 
 
 Fig. 165. — Pinna rudis (Linnaeus). 
 
 Fig. 166.— Pinna nigrina (Lamarck). 
 
 blance to a dried ham (Figs. 165 and 166), their brown, smoky colour 
 not a little aiding the resemblance. The shell is fibrous, horny, veiy 
 thin and fragile, compressed, regular, and equivalve, triangularly 
 pointed in front, round or truncated behind. The hinge is linear, 
 straight, and without teeth; the ligament, in great part internal, 
 occupies more than half the anterior portion of the dorsal edge of the 
 shell, forming a straight elongated fossette. 
 
 The animal is thick, elongated, with mantle open behmd, presenting 
 a conical furrowed foot, bearing a considerable byssus. 
 
 The species of the genus Puma are found in almost every sea, and 
 at various depths ; they are constantly attached by their byssus, and 
 
372 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 in a vertical position, the larger side of their shell being uppermost. 
 They are found on sandy bottoms in considerable numbers. The 
 byssus has in all ages fixed the attention of the Mediterranean fisher- 
 men upon these curious shells. With its tuft of fine silky hairs, six or 
 seven inches in length, of a fine reddish-brown hue, articles of luxury 
 are formed, which are often mentioned by the Latin writers. The 
 threads of the byssus, which are remarkable for their unalterable 
 colour, were formed by both Greeks and Romans into a fabric to 
 
 Fig. 167.— Pinna nobilis, with its byssus (Linnseus). Fig. 168.— Pinna biillata (Swainson). 
 
 which there is nothing analogous in the world. The Maltese and 
 Neapolitans still fashion soft tissues from it, but the stuffs so 
 manufactured are mere objects of curiosity. 
 
 Some thirty species are described as living in the several seas. 
 Pinna iiobilis (Fig. 167), the byssus of which was employed in the 
 ancient NeapoHtan industry, inhabits the shores of the Mediter- 
 ranean. Finfia bullata, Swainson (Fig. 168), is also a well-known 
 species. 
 
 Our twenty-first family, Ostreidse, contains the genera Lima, 
 Spondylus, Pecton, Anomia, and the all-important genus Ostrea, 
 
BIVALVE MOLLUSC A, 573 
 
 The common oyster, Ostrea edulis, is found in many seas. It is 
 unequally valved, modified in shape by the form of the submarine 
 body to which it happens to be attached. The lower or adherent 
 valve is concave, always the largest ; the upper one is thin, usually 
 flat; the shell is lamellar, rough externally, and seems to be com- 
 posed of broken layers, adhering slightly to each other, as if the 
 successive layers had been built up from within, and each succeeding 
 one was an enlargement upon its predecessor. The hinge which 
 unites the valves is an elastic toothless ligament, placed behind the 
 centre, which opens the valves. 
 
 The interior surface of the valves is smooth and white, diapha- 
 nous or pearly towards the centre, but near the back an oval or 
 rounded impression may be observed, to which a thick and whitish 
 fleshy muscle is attached. This is the central muscle which draws 
 the valves together, hermetically closing them upon the animal. This 
 muscle is cut through in the process of opening the oyster. 
 
 The animal has no power of locomotion ; its foot is very small, 
 and often wanting, no siphon, but lies with its mouth open, and 
 firmly attached to its shell. The shell itself is always adherent, as 
 if soldered to the rock or other submarine body, the point of 
 adherence being near the summit of the lower valve. 
 
 Let us suppose the oyster opened by the cutting through of the 
 ligament of the central muscle and of the adductor muscles. When 
 displayed before our eyes, we see in the bottom of the shell a flattened 
 shapeless animal, semi-transparent, greyish, and somewhat oval-shaped. 
 The gastronomist, who seldom sees beyond his nose, thinks that, in 
 spite of its culinary merits, the oyster belongs to the lowest rank of 
 animal existence ; but he deceives himself, and does not know how 
 complex and delicate is the organisation of the humble bivalve. The 
 animal is enveloped in a sort of smooth, thin, contractile tissue called 
 the mantle, which folds round it, presenting two lobes, separated on 
 the greatest part of its circumference, and forming a sort of hood, 
 the summit of which abuts upon the hinge of the bivalve. The edges 
 of this mantle are fringed with very small cilia, which the creature can 
 extend and draw back at pleasure, and which seem to be gifted with 
 a certain amount of sensibility. It is this mantle which secretes and 
 deposits the calcareous matter which forms the shell, each plate of 
 which is an enlargement on the preceding one, until it constitutes a 
 pyramid of thin convex lamellae. 
 
 At the point where the lobes of the mantle meet, near the summit 
 of the valve, is the mouth of the animal, with its thin membranous 
 lips. This organ is large and dilatable, and is accompanied by four 
 
374 THE OCEAN WORLD 
 
 flat triangular lips, by means of which the animal introduces its food 
 into the stomachal cavity. 
 
 A very short gullet is attached to the mouth, which leads to a 
 pear-shaped stomach. After this stomach comes a slender sinuous 
 intestine, which, leading obliquely towards the interior, descends a 
 little, then re-ascends, passes behind the stomachal cavity, nearly on 
 a level with the mouth, crossing its first path in order to reach the 
 posterior face of the adductor muscle, in the centre of which it 
 terminates with a free opening. The stomach and intestines are 
 surrounded on all sides by the liver, which alone constitutes a notable 
 portion of the total mass of the organs. This liver is of a blackish 
 colour, pervaded with a deep yellow liquid, which is the bile. Thus, 
 the stomach and intestines of the oyster are surrounded by the liver \ 
 the mouth is connected with the stomach, and the intestinal canal 
 has an opening of its own. 
 
 The heart of the oyster is placed under the liver, and is sur- 
 rounded closely by the terminal part of the intestines. It is com- 
 posed, like the same organ in the superior animals, of two distinct 
 cavities, an auricle and ventricle. From the ventricle issues a vessel, 
 which is divided into three distinct canals. One of these carries the 
 blood towards the mouth and labial tentacles : another carries it 
 towards the liver ; the last distributes the nourishing fluid to the rest 
 of the body. The blood of the oyster is limpid and colourless ; it 
 passes successively from the auricle of the heart, where it is vivified, 
 into the ventricle, and from this last cavity into the great vessel of 
 which we spoke, which distributes it throughout the interior of the 
 animal. 
 
 The oyster thus possesses a true circulation ; not that double 
 system which characterises the mammals, and which includes arterial 
 and pulmonary action, but a simple circulation, as it exists in fishes 
 and many other animals. It breathes also under the water, after the 
 manner of fishes, being, like the fish, provided with organs called 
 gills or branchiœ, whose function is to separate the oxygen dissolved 
 in the water from its other ingredients ; these branchise, which are 
 placed between the mantle folds, consist of a double series of very 
 delicate canals, placed close together, not unlike the teeth of a fine 
 comb. 
 
 Having no head, the oyster can have no brain; the nerves 
 originate near the mouth, where a great ganglion is visible, whence 
 issues a pair of nerves which distribute themselves in the regions of 
 the stomach and liver, terminating in a second ganglion, situated 
 behind the liver. The first nervous branch distributes its sensibility 
 
BIVALVE MOLLUSC A. 375 
 
 to the mouth and tentacles ; the second, to the respiratory branchiae. 
 With organs of the senses oysters are unprovided. Condemned 
 to a sedentary Hfe, riveted to a rock where they have been rooted, 
 as it were, in their infancy, they neither see nor hear ; touch appears 
 to be their only sense, and that is placed in the labial tentacles of 
 the mouth. 
 
 The mode of reproduction in these creatures is very peculiar. 
 The oyster unites in itself the functions of both sexes. In the same 
 organ are found the eggs — called spat — and the mobile corpuscles 
 intended to fertilise them. 
 
 The eggs are yellowish in colour, and exist in prodigious numbers 
 in each individual. We are assured that an oyster may carry as many 
 as two millions of eggs ! Nature always makes ample provision for 
 the preservation of species ; but in spite of the most ample provision 
 here displayed, man, in his reckless and v/asteful gluttony, has all 
 but defeated Nature. A tyro can compute how many individuals a 
 bank of oysters reckoned at 20,000 would produce, at the rate 
 of 2,000,000 — or 800,000, as other authorities assert — from each one 
 annually, and it will amount to an incredible number — in fact, each 
 would multiply itself by millions in three years 3 and yet, thanks to 
 our improvident management, oysters get scarcer every year. 
 
 The spawning season is usually from the month of June to the 
 end of September : during this season the oysters deposit their eggs 
 in the folds of their mantle. During the period of incubation the 
 eggs remain surrounded by mucous matter, which is necessary to 
 their development, the whole having the appearance of a thick cream 
 — this milky appearance being due to the accumulated mass of ova 
 surrounded by the mucus : this mass undergoes various changes of 
 colour while losing its fluidity, becoming successively yellowish, 
 greyish, brown, and violet, a condition which indicates the near 
 termination of the embryo state, for the oysters do not, like many other 
 inhabitants of the sea, eject their ova; they incubate them in the 
 folds of their mantle, and only discharge them when they can live 
 without maternal protection. Nothing is more curious to witness 
 than a bank of oysters at the spawning season. Every adult in- 
 dividual of which it is composed throws out its phalanx of progeny. 
 A living dust is seen to exhale from the oyster bank, troubling the 
 water and giving it a thick cloudy appearance, which disseminates 
 itself little by little in the Hquid, until it dissipates and loses itself far 
 from its focus of production. The spat is soon scattered far and wide 
 by the waves ; and unless the young oyster finds some solid body to 
 which, it can attach itself, it falls an inevitable victim to the larger 
 
3/6 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 animals which prey upon it. In this its infant state, when it has just 
 left the protection of the parent shell, the microscope reveals the 
 young bivalve as having a perfect shell, and having an apparatus which 
 is also for the time a swimming pad^ ready to adhere to the first solid 
 body which the current drives it against. This pad or cushion 
 (which is represented in Fig. 169) is furnished with vibratile cilia, 
 disposed round the young shell. Aided by the powerful adductor 
 muscles, with which it is also provided, this cushion is projected 
 through the water at the will of the young inhabitant, which has every 
 facihty for the purpose : it is even said to swim about near the 
 mother, before final dismissal from the maternal protection, seeking 
 shelter at the least alarm between the valves of the parent shell. The 
 
 Fig. 169.— Young Oysters furnished with locomotive organs. 
 
 pad disappears after the young oyster has finally attached itself to a 
 permanent bed of its own. 
 
 Before this period of its life arrives, however, many are the 
 dangers to which it is exposed : its enemies are numerous ; they lie 
 in ambush for it in every cranny ! It has to guard itself against 
 eddies and currents, which would drive it out to sea, and mud banks, 
 in which it would be smothered. Crustaceans, worms, and coelente- 
 rates, with other equally voracious marine inhabitants, prey upon it. 
 Last, but not least, come the terrible and multiplied engines of the 
 eager fisherman — and we can readily comprehend why it is that the 
 oyster should be provided with such accumulated masses of ova. 
 
 If the young bivalve is fortunate enough to escape all the snares 
 and dangers we have enumerated, it grows rapidly. It is quite 
 microscopic at the period of its discharge from the parent shell ; at 
 one month it is of the size of a large pea, at the end of six months it 
 i; about three-quarters of an inch, a year after its birth an inch and a 
 half to two inches, and finally, at the end of three years it has become 
 
BIVALVE MOLLUSCA. 
 
 177 
 
 Fig. 170.— Groups of Oysters of different ages attached to a block of wood. 
 
 merchandise ; that is to say, it is in a state to be sent to the parks 
 for preservation and feeding. In Fig. 171 we see a group of oysters,* 
 
 * We give this illustration as representing the comparative size of the oysters 
 at different ages ; but it is necessary to state that the specimens were artificially 
 
373 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 of various ages, attached to a piece of wood : A being oysters of 
 twelve to fifteen months, b five or six months, c three to four months, 
 D one to two months, and e oysters twenty days after birth. 
 
 The species of oysters usually eaten are the common oyster 
 {Ostrea edulis, Linn.) of our own coasts and the opposite shore, and 
 the horsefoot oyster {O. hippopus^ Linn.) On the Mediterranean 
 coast are the rose-coloured oyster {O. rosacea, Favanue), and the 
 milky oyster {O. lacteola, Moquin-Tandon), besides the small and 
 httle-known crested oyster ((9. cristata. Born), and the folded oyster 
 (O. plicafa, Chemnitz). On the Corsican coast is the oyster called 
 foliate {0. lainellosa, Brocchi). 
 
 There are two principal varieties of the common oyster dredged 
 on the French coast, which differ in size and delicacy of flavour. 
 These are the Cancale and Ostend oyster. When the first has been 
 fed for some time in the oyster park, and has assumed its greenish 
 hue, it is designated the Marenna oyster, from " the park " so named 
 in the Bay of Seudre. Of this green colour we shall speak else 
 where. 
 
 Who believed Uncle Jack when he told us in our youth of oysters 
 growing on trees, and oysters so large that they required to be 
 carved like a round of beef — of oysters on the Coromandel coast as 
 large as soup-plates ? Nevertheless Uncle Jack's stories were true : 
 there are oysters which require carving, and oysters have been 
 plucked off trees. In some parts of America they grow very large. 
 Virginia possesses nearly 2,000,000 acres of oyster-beds. The sea- 
 board of Georgia is famed for its immense supplies ; the whole coast 
 of Long Island, extending to 1 1 5 miles, is occupied with them, and 
 all over the States evidence is to be seen of the estimate in which the 
 favoured bivalve is held by the American people. 
 
 Natural oyster-beds are found in bays, estuaries, and other 
 sheltered sinuosities of the coast, with shelving and not too rocky 
 bottoms, such places being, according to the natural law of produc- 
 tion, favourable for the increase of the colony. Such banks abound 
 in every sea. In France the oyster-beds of Rochelle, of Rochefort, 
 the Isles of Ré and Oleron, the Bay of St. Brieuc, of Cancale, and 
 Granville, are famous for the quaUty of their produce. 
 
 On the Danish coast there are from forty to fifty oyster-banks, 
 situated on the west coast of Schleswig ; the best bed lying between 
 the small isles of Sylt, Amron, Fohr, Pelworm, and Nordstrand. At 
 
 attached to the block by means of glue for exhibition. Oysters always attach 
 themselves by the back of the rounded shell near to the hinge, as stated at p. 373. 
 
BIVALVE MOLLUSC A, 379 
 
 the point of Jutland, and opposite Shagen, beds less productive are 
 found. 
 
 The great oyster-beds of England extend from Gravesend, in the 
 estuary of the Thames and Medway, along the Kentish coast on the 
 one hand, and the estuary of the Colne and other rivers on the 
 Essex coast. The Frith of Forth is also famous for its oyster-beds, 
 extending from Prestonpans far up the estuary of the river ; but, 
 curiously enough, all these great banks, without exception, have been 
 impoverished, and all but exhausted, by improvident dredging, in 
 spite of the " close season " which has always existed.* 
 
 " He was a bold man who first ate an oyster," has been said 
 before. The name of the courageous individual has not been 
 recorded, but Mr. Bertram, in his " Harvest of the Sea," tells us a 
 legend concerning him : — " Once upon a time " — it must have been a 
 long time ago — " a man of melancholy mood was walking by the 
 shores of a picturesque estuary, listening to the monotonous murmur 
 of the sad sea-waves, when he espied a very old and ugly oyster-shell 
 all coated over with parasites and sea-weeds. It was so unpre- 
 possessing that he kicked it with his foot, and the animal, astonished 
 at receiving such rude treatment on its own domain, gaped wide 
 with indignation, preparatory to closing its valves still more tightly. 
 Seeing the beautiful cream-coloured layers that shone within the 
 shelly covering, and fancying that the interior of the shell itself must 
 be beautiful, he lifted up the aged ' native ' for further examination, 
 inserting his finger and thumb within the valves. The irate mollusc, 
 thinking, no doubt, that this was meant as a further insult, snapped 
 its pearly doors down upon his fingers, causing him considerable 
 pain. After releasing his wounded digits, our inquisitive gentleman 
 very naturally put it in his mouth. ' Delightful ! " exclaimed he, 
 opening wide his eyes ; ' what is this ? ' and again he sucked his 
 finger. Then the great truth flashed upon him that he had found 
 out a new delight — had, in fact, achieved the most important dis 
 covery ever made. He proceeded at once to realise the thought. 
 With a stone he opened the oyster's stronghold, and gingerly tried 
 a piece of the mollusc itself. ' Delicious ! ' he exclaimed ; and there 
 and then, with no other condiment than its own juice, with no 
 accompaniment of foaming brown stout or pale ChabHs to wash it 
 
 * The cause of the present scarcity of oysters is a much- vexed question. 
 Mr. Frank Buckland, a most excellent authority on oyster and fish culture 
 attributes it to sudden changes of temperature at the critical period when th 
 spat is newly formed, rather than to over-dredging. 
 
380 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 down, no newly-cut, well-buttered brown bread, did that solitary 
 anonymous man inaugurate the first oyster banquet." 
 
 Another story makes the act of eating the first oyster a punish- 
 ment. The poetaster also had his views on the subject : — 
 
 "The man had sure a palate covered o'er 
 "With brass, or steel, that on the rocky shore 
 First broke the oozy oyster's pearly coat, 
 And risked the living morsel down his throat." 
 
 And ever since men have gone on eating oysters. Emperors and 
 poets, princes and priests, pontiffs and statesmen, orators and 
 painters, have feasted on the favoured bivalve. 
 
 Man has made use of the oyster from the most remote antiquity. 
 Among the débris of festivals which precede by ages the epoch of 
 written history, oyster-shells are found. On the "midden heaps" of 
 northern Europe they are often discovered, mingling with other 
 rubbish and with stone implements, evidently the refuse of very 
 ancient feasts. We have all read of the classic feasts of the Romans, 
 which began with oysters brought from fabulous distances. Vitellius 
 ate oysters all day long, and the idea prevailed that he could eat 
 a thousand. Cahsthenes, the philosopher, was a passionate oyster 
 eater; so was Caligula; Seneca the wise could eat his hundred; 
 and the great Cicero did not despise the savoury bivalve. Lucullus 
 had sea-water brought to his villa from the shores of Campania, in 
 which he bred them in great abundance for the use of his guests. 
 To another Roman, Sergius Grata, we owe the original idea of the 
 oyster-park. He invented the oyster-pond, in which he bred oysters, 
 not for his own table, but for profit. 
 
 Among modern celebrities whose love of oysters is recorded, we 
 may mention Louis XL, who feasted the learned doctors of the 
 Sorbonne once a year on oysters. Another Louis invested his cook 
 with an order of nobility, in reward for his skill in cooking them. 
 Cervantes loved oysters, although he satirised oyster-dealers. Marshal 
 Turgot used to eat a hundred or two just to whet his appetite. 
 Rousseau, Helvetius, Diderot, the Abbé Raynal, and Voltaire, are 
 recorded lovers of oysters. Danton, Robespierre, and other of the 
 revolutionists, frequented the oyster salons of Paris. Cambaceres 
 was famous for his oyster feasts; and it is recorded of the great 
 Napoleon that he always partook of the bivalve on the eve of his 
 great battles, when they could be procured. 
 
 In short, it has been demonstrated as a gastronomic truth that 
 there is no feast worthy of a connoisseur where oysters do not come 
 io the front. It is their office to open the way by that gentle excite- 
 
BIVALVE MOLLUSC A. 38 1 
 
 ment which prepares the stomach for its proper function, digestion j 
 in a word, the oyster is the key of that paradise called appetite. 
 " There is no aHmentary substance, not even excepting bread, which 
 does not produce indigestion under given circumstances," says 
 Reveille-Parise, " but oysters never." This is an homage which is 
 due to them : " We may eat them to-day, to-morrow, eat them always, 
 and in profusion, without fear of indigestion." Dr. Gastaldi could 
 swallow, we are assured, his forty dozen with impunity — quite a bank 
 must he have eaten ! He was unfortunately struck with apoplexy at 
 table before a pâté de foie gras. 
 
 Montaigne quaintly says, to be subject to colic, or deny oneself 
 oysters, presents two evils to choose from, since one must choose 
 between the two, and hazard something for his pleasure. 
 
 England has always been famous for its oysters, and its pearls are said 
 to have been the chief incentive to Caesar's invasion. It is not, there- 
 fore, to be supposed that British magnates could be indifferent to the 
 " native." But the bivalve has perhaps been more celebrated, in prose 
 and verse, north of the Tweed than south, where silent enjoyment is 
 more relished than noisy demonstration. Dugald Stewart, Hume, 
 Cullen, and other Scotch philosophers of the last centuries, had their 
 "oyster ploys" as an accompaniment to their "high jinks," in the 
 quaint and dingy taverns of the old town of Edinburgh ; and what the 
 bivalve has been to modern celebrities let the " Noctes Ambrosianse " 
 tell. 
 
 The oyster may thus be said to be the palm and glory of the table. 
 It is considered the very perfection of digestive aliment. From Stock- 
 holm to Naples, from London to St. Petersburg, it is always in re- 
 quest. At Si. Petersburg they cost a paper rouble (nearly one 
 shilling), and at Stockholm fivepence each. For the last year or 
 two the English oyster eater has had to pay from two shillings to half- 
 a-crown a dozen for choice natives. 
 
 For his daily nourishment a man of middle size requires a 
 quantity of food equal to twelve ounces of dry nitrogenised substance. 
 According to this calculation, it would be necessary to swallow sixteen 
 dozen of oysters to make up the necessary quantity. The small pro- 
 portion of nutritive matter explains the extreme digestibility of the 
 oyster. It also explains the immense consumption of them attributed 
 to the Emperor Vitellius. Without this being so VitelHus, all emperor 
 and master of the world as he was, never could have absorbed twelve 
 hundred oysters by way of whetting his appetite. 
 
 The gourmets were long of opinion that the quadrangular-shaped 
 muscle or cushion in the oyster was the most savoury and exciting 
 
382 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 part. Certain distinguished amateur performers adopted and pro- 
 claimed the principle of dividing transversely the body of the mollusc, 
 and eating the cushion only. Natural history explains this gastro- 
 nomical discovery. It recognises the fact that the bile secreted by 
 the liver is contained in this substance, that it accelerates while it 
 exhausts the qualitative surface of the tongue and palate, aiding also 
 the functions of the stomach. 
 
 We have described the organisation of the oyster, and we have 
 said something of the enjoyment it confers. Did it ever occur to the 
 various societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals to con- 
 sider whether the oyster might not be a very proper object of their 
 care ? Let us see if we can make out a case for them. 
 
 We commence operations upon them by dragging them violently 
 from their own element. We place them out afterwards in water- 
 parks, more or less briny and unsuitable, filled with villanous green 
 matter, which presently pervades their breathing apparatus, impreg- 
 nating, obstructing, and colouring it ; the oyster swells, fattens, and 
 soon attains that state of obesity which verges on sickness. 
 
 When the poor creature has attained its livid green colour, it 
 is fished up a second time. Alas ! it is now doomed neither to 
 return to the sea, to the park, nor to its native rock. It has water 
 at its disposal only in the very small quantity which it can retain 
 between its two valves, a quantity scarcely sufficient to keep away 
 asphyxia. It is shut up in an obscure narrow basket— an ignoble 
 prison-house, without door or window. It seems to be forgotten that 
 they are animals : they are piled upon the pavement like inert mer- 
 chandise. The basket is carried by railway; the animal, shaken out of 
 existence almost, is at last landed at the door of some oyster-shop; and 
 this is the critical moment for the poor bivalve ! It is scarcely thrown 
 into a tub with water enough to remind it of its former luxurious 
 life, when it is again seized by the pitiless master of its fate. With a 
 great knife he brutally opens the shell, cuts through the muscle by 
 which it adheres to the valve, and violently detaches it, after breaking 
 the hinges. It is now laid out on a plate, exposed to every current 
 of air, and in this state of suffering it is carried to the table. There 
 the pitiless gourmet powders it over with the most pungent pepper, 
 squeezes over the wounded and still bleeding body the abomination 
 of its race in the shape of citric acid or vinegar, and then, alas ! with 
 a silver knife which cannot cut, he wounds and bruises it a second 
 time ; or, worse still, he saws and tears and rends it from its remaining 
 shell ; he seizes it with a three-pronged fork, which is driven through 
 
BIVALVE MOLLUSC A, 385 
 
 liver and stomach, and throws it into his mouth, where the teeth cut, 
 crush, and grind it, and, while still living and palpitating, red aced to 
 an inanimate mass, these organs fast triturate it, while our gourmet is 
 drinking its blood, its fat, and its bile. 
 
 We have said that oysters have no head, no arms — that they are 
 without eyes (although that is disputed), without ears, and without 
 nose ; that they do not stir — that they never cry ! 
 
 Agreed, perfectly agreed ; but all these negatives do not prevent 
 its being sensible to pain. Two eminent Germans, Herren Brandt 
 and Ratzeburg, have proved that they possess a well-developed 
 nervous system; and if they possess sensation they must suffer. 
 " Can an animal with nerves be impassible?" asks Voltaire. " Can 
 we suppose any such impossible contradiction in Nature?" 
 
 There is consolation, however, for all concerned. Let the 
 humanitarian fishermen, oyster-dredgers, merchants, and consumers, 
 console themselves with the vast difference between the helpless 
 imperfect mollusc and the higher classes of animals. In the case of 
 the former we swallow the animal, scarcely thinking of its animal 
 nature. It is the denizen of another element, lives in a medium in 
 which we cannot exist, presents itself in a form, so to speak, degraded 
 —an obscure vitality, motions undecided, and habits scarcely dis- 
 cernible. We may therefore see the oyster mutilated, mutilate them 
 oneself, grind them, and swallow them, without emotion or remorse. 
 
 A learned naturalist dwelling on the sea-shore possessed himself 
 one day of a dozen oysters. He wished to study their organisation ; 
 he turned them, and turned them again, examined their several parts 
 inside and out. He made drawings of and described them, and, 
 having satisfied himself that he had exhausted his scientific skill in 
 observing them, he swallowed them ; the interesting bivalves had lost 
 nothing of their excellence, and the examination did not prejudice 
 their flavour. 
 
 Oyster fishing is pursued in a very different manner in different 
 countries. Round Minorca, divers, with hammers attached to the 
 right hand, descend to the depth of a dozen fathoms, and bring up in 
 their left hand as many of the bivalves as they can carry, two fisher- 
 men, usually associatmg for the purpose, diving alternately until the 
 boat is filled. On the English and French coasts the dredge is 
 employed, as represented in Plate XVI. This operation is also 
 necessary to keep dov/n the marine vegetation, which would stifle the 
 oysters ; the engine is of iron, and is very heavy. It is thrown over- 
 board, and descends to the bo<"tom of the sea, which it ploughs and 
 
386 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 scrapes up, detaching the oysters, and throwing them into a net 
 attached to the dredge. In this process oysters, large and small, are 
 torn from their native bed, some going into the net, but a larger 
 number are buried in the mud. It would be difficult to imagine a 
 more destructive process ; and when the habits of the oyster are 
 considered, it is evidently one admirably contrived to destroy the 
 race. 
 
 In France oyster dredging is conducted by fleets of thirty or 
 forty boats, each carrying four or five men. At a fixed hour, and 
 under the surveillance of a coast-guard in a pinnace bearing the 
 national flag, the flotilla commences the fishing. In the estuary of 
 the Thames the practice is much the same, although no official 
 surveillance is observed. Each bark is provided with four or five 
 dredges, each resembling in shape a common clasp purse. These 
 dredges are formed of network, with a strong iron frame, as repre- 
 sented in Fig. 171, the iron frame serving the double purpose of 
 acting as a scraper, and keeping the mouth open, while giving it a 
 proper pressure as it travels over the oyster-beds. When the boat is 
 over the oyster scarp^ the dredge is let down, and no more attractive 
 sight exists than that presented by the well-appointed Whitstable 
 boats on one side of the estuary, or the Colne boats on the other, 
 as they wear and tack over the oyster-beds, bearing up from time to 
 time to haul in the dredge, and empty its contents into the hold. 
 The tension of the rope is the signal for hauling in, and very hetero- 
 geneous are the contents of the dredge — sea-weeds, star-fishes, 
 lobsters, crabs, actinia, and stones. In this manner the common 
 oyster-beds on both sides of the Channel were ploughed up by the 
 oyster dredger pretty much as the ploughman on shore turns up a 
 field. The consequence was that, twenty years ago, the French 
 beds were totally exhausted, and France had to look to foreign 
 countries for its oysters. Oyster-farms which had employed 1,400 
 men and 200 boats were reduced to employing 200 men and twenty 
 boats. Similar results from over-dredging would have followed, no 
 doubt, on this side the Channel had the mollusc not been protected 
 by the companies and private proprietors who held the oyster-beds 
 in the large estuaries. This state of things in France led to some 
 important discoveries in the science of oyster culture, which have 
 produced important changes there. 
 
 The name of Sergius Grata has already been mentioned as a culti- 
 vator of oysters. He lived in the fifth century before our era, and 
 according to Pliny he first attempted parking oysters at Baia in the 
 time of the orator Lucius Crassus. He was the first to recognise the 
 
BIVALVE MOLLUSC A. 387 
 
 superior flavour of the oysters of the Lucrin Lake, the Avernus of the 
 poets, probably for trade reasons of his own, for then, as now, Reveille- 
 Parise remarlis, writing on the subject, " tradesmen speculated on the 
 weaknesses of human gourmandism." But Sergius really created a 
 new industry, which is still practised in thousands of places much as 
 he left it. As a proof of the perfection to which Sergius had brought 
 oyster culture, his contemporaries said of him, in allusion to the 
 hanging banks which he invented, that if he had been prevented from 
 
 Fig, 171. — Dredge employed in Oyster fisheries. 
 
 raising oysters in the Lucrin Lake, " he would have made them grow 
 on the house-tops." The traveller who visits this celebrated lake 
 finds now only a miry puddle. The precious oysters placed there by 
 Catiline's grandfather are replaced by a host of miserable eels, which 
 leap in the mud ; vile mountains of ashes, coal, and pumice-stone, 
 which were thrown up in one night like a mushroom, having reduced 
 the once celebrated lake into the state described. 
 
 Rondeletius also speaks of a fisherman who understood the art of 
 oyster culture. 
 
 The NeapoHtan Lake Fusaro — the terrible Acheron of the poets — 
 is a great oyster-park, in which Art is made effectually to aid Nature 
 in the multiplication of its products. This famous oyster-bank, which 
 
3S8 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 is represented in Plate XVII., lies in the neighbourhood of Baia and 
 Cum^. It forms one of the most interesting spots in that beautiful 
 bay. In the month of February, 1865, M. Figuier tells us he traversed 
 its celebrated coast, seated himself on the banks of the historical lake, 
 and tasted the produce of this curious manufacture of living beings' 
 whose origin dates from the Roman period. ^ ' 
 
 Lake Fusaro was in ancient times a place of evil report : Virgil 
 immortalised it as the mythological Acheron ; but its landscape had 
 
 Lake Fusaro. 
 
 nothing of the sadness and desolation which accords with the sojourn 
 of the dead. It is a salt pond, shaded with a girdle of magnificent 
 trees. It is about a league in circumference, and about a fathom in 
 depth at its deepest part ; its bottom is muddy and black, like the rest 
 of this volcanic region. 
 
 It will be understood, from what has been said, that the chief 
 obstacle to the reproduction of oysters is the absence of any solid body 
 to which the young spawn can attach itself, and the means of shelter 
 from animals which prey upon them. The fishermen living on the 
 shores of Lake_ Fusaro have long realised this, and provided against 
 It by warehousing, as it were, in the lake near the sea, the oysters 
 ready to discharge their spawn, while retaining the young generations 
 
BIVALVE MOLLUSC A. 
 
 39 i 
 
 captive in the protected basins, where they are shehered from various 
 causes of destruction to which oysters are exposed in the open sea. 
 
 Upon the bottom of the lake, and all around it, the proprietors of 
 Fusaro have here and there constructed hillocks, with stones heaped 
 up, and artificial rocks, raised sufficiently to shelter the depots from 
 mud and slime. Upon these rocks they deposit the young oysters 
 gathered in the Gulf of Tarentum. Each of these rock-works is sur- 
 rounded by a girdle of piles, driven close to each other, and raised a 
 
 Fig. 173. — Pillars with cords attached in Lake Fusaro. 
 
 little above the surface of the water, as represented in Fig. 172. 
 Other piles are distributed in long lines, and bound to each other by 
 a cord, from which are suspended fagots of young wood. In the 
 spawning season the oysters which have been deposited on the arti- 
 ficial rocks discharge the myriads of young fry which have been 
 nurtured in the folds of their mantles. The fagots suspended from 
 the piles arrest the fry before they are driven away by the waves. 
 By these precautions the proprietors of Fusaro have provided for the 
 preservation of the young fry, besides removing many of the natural 
 enemies of the young oyster. 
 
 In other places the piles are distributed in long lines and bound 
 together by strong cords, from which fagots of brushwood are sus- 
 pended, on which the young spawn lay hold, as in Fig. 173. 
 
592 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 By means of these arrangements the pregnant oyster deposits its 
 very numerous progeny in quiet repose ; the young fry are inter- 
 cepted by the fagots and hurdles suspended between the piles, where 
 the young oysters develop themselves under the favourable conditions 
 of repose, temperature, and light. When the fishing season arrives, 
 the piles and fagots which surround the beds are removed, and the 
 oysters are gathered suitable for market. The oysters thus selected 
 for sale are packed loosely in osier baskets, and sunk, while waiting 
 for purchasers, into a reserve or park. This park is established on 
 the shores of the lake. It is constructed of piles, which support a 
 gangway, provided with hooks, from which the baskets, filled with 
 living oysters, are suspended, ready for sale. 
 
 Some twenty years ago the oyster-beds of France had become 
 totally exhausted under the open system of dredging ; and circum- 
 stances having brought the protective system pursued at Fusaro 
 under the notice of M. Coste — a learned academician, to whom 
 France is indebted for restoring to it its oysters — he reported to the 
 Emperor in 1858 that at Rochelle, Marennes, Rochefort, at the Isles 
 of Ré and Oleron, where there had been formerly twenty-three oyster- 
 beds, there were now only five, and these in danger of being destroyed 
 by the increase of mussels ; that at the Bay of St. Brieuc, so naturally 
 suited for oyster culture, the beds were reduced to three ; that even 
 on the classic oyster grounds of Cancale and Granville, it was only by 
 the most careful administration that their destruction was prevented, 
 while the increasing numbers of consumers threatened altogether to 
 destroy an industry essentially necessary for the support of a maritime 
 population. 
 
 The impulse given by this report has been productive of the most 
 satisfactory results in France. All along the coast the maritime 
 populations are now actively engaged in oyster culture. Oyster 
 parks, in imitation of those at Fusaro, have sprung up. In his 
 appeal to the Emperor, M. Coste suggested that the State, through 
 the Administration of Marine, and by means of the vessels at its 
 command, should take steps for sowing the whole French coast in 
 such a manner as to re-estabHsh the oyster-banks now in ruins, 
 extend those which were prosperous, and create others anew where- 
 ever the nature of the bottom would permit. The first serious 
 attempt to carry out the views of the distinguished academician 
 was made in the Bay of St. Brieuc. In the month of April in the 
 same year in which his report was received operations commenced 
 by planting 3,000,000 mother-oysters which had been dredged in 
 the common ground ; brood from the oyster grounds at Cancale and 
 
BIVALVE MOLLUSC A, 393 
 
 Tréquiers were distributed in ten longitudinal lines on tiles, frag- 
 ments of pottery, and valves of shells. At the end of eight months 
 the progress of the beds was tested, and the dredge in a few 
 minutes brought up 2,000 oysters fit for the table, while two 
 fascines draAvn up at random contained nearly 20,000, from one to 
 two inches in diameter. Two of these fascines exposed to public 
 view at Béni and Patrieux excited the astonishment of the maritime 
 population. 
 
 This result encouraged M. Coste to pursue his experiments upon 
 a greater scale; and he now proposed to bring the whole littoral under 
 a regulated system of oyster culture. In the roads of Toulon and in 
 Lake Thau, which touches this port, the same system was put in force 
 by the Administration of Marine as had already been done in the Bay 
 of Arcachon and in the Isle of Ré. In these locaUties oyster culture 
 assumed gigantic proportions. Associations were formed for the 
 purpose of prosecuting them, and forming oyster-parks. 
 
 These exertions roused the curiosity of foreign nations. Van 
 Beneden, the distinguished Professor of Natural History at Louvain, 
 and M. Eschrecht of Copenhagen, visited France, to study the 
 arrangements for oyster culture. M. Coste demonstrated that parks 
 could be established on all places visited by the tide; and, under his 
 advice, the Bay of Arcachon is now transformed into a vast field of 
 production, which increases every day, giving the happiest presages 
 of an abundant harvest. Already 1,200 capitalists, associated 
 with a similar number of fishermen, have caused a surface of 988 
 acres, which is exposed at low water, to be planted with oysters. In 
 this bay the State has organised two model farms for experimental 
 purposes, in which tiles, fascines, and valves of shells are laid down, 
 with other appliances, to which the young oysters may attach them- 
 selves. These expedients have been so successful, that the park, 
 which has cost about ;£ii4, is now estimated to be worth about 
 ;£8,ooo in money, with a total of 5,000,000 oysters, large and small. 
 The Isle of Ré, which was originally surrounded by a muddy bottom 
 ill adapted for oyster culture, has been totally changed, so that in two 
 years four leagues of foreshore have been turned into a rich and 
 profitable oyster-bed; 1,200 parks are in full activity, and 2,000 
 others are in course of construction, the whole forming a complete 
 girdle round the island. 
 
 Every one has heard of the green oysters of Marennes, the 
 preservation, amelioration, and ripening of these oysters, so to speak, 
 representing a very considerable branch of industry in France. In 
 order to gi^e the reader some idea of its importance, we shall give 
 
 N * ' ■ 
 
394 1'^^ OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 here a brief summary of M. Coste's voyage of exploration on the 
 French httoral. 
 
 The parks at Marennes, in which the oysters are placed in order 
 to acquire the green colour which characterises them, are basins 
 stretching along both banks of the Seudre for many leagues. They 
 are locally known as claires, and differ from the oyster-parks of other 
 countries in this particular — that, while the ordinary parks are so 
 arranged as to be submerged at every return of the tide, the basins of 
 Marennes are so arranged that they can only be submerged at spring 
 tides ; that is, at the new and full moon, when the waters rise beyond 
 the ordinary level. 
 
 The basins or claires occupy from 250 to 300 square yards of 
 superficies ; two sluices permit of the entrance and withdrawal of water 
 at will, so as to maintain it at the level most convenient to the 
 industrial wants of the place, or to empty it altogether when it is 
 necessary to cleanse the basin, pave the bottom, and furnish it with 
 a fresh supply of oysters. 
 
 When these necessary works are completed, advantage is taken of 
 the first spring tide to fill the basin. When the tide begins to ebb, 
 the sluices are closed, so as to retain sufficient water in the basins ; 
 and while thus shut up, salt held in solution is deposited. 
 
 When the basin has been filled with sea-water for the necessary 
 time, and the bottom is sufficiently impregnated with salt, it is 
 emptied and left to dry ; and now, the soil being prepared, it only 
 remains to furnish it with oysters of a mellow and ripe age, in order 
 to give them their green hue. Towards the month of September, at 
 low water, the whole sea-side population of Marennes go to gather 
 oysters on the pavement left uncovered by the ebbing tide, or by 
 using a dredger in the deeper parts of the claires where the water still 
 remains. A temporary magazine for the reception of the oysters thus 
 gathered is erected on the banks, which the water revisits twice a day. 
 The young are reserved for cultivation on the parks or ^/(^/r<?j- ; the 
 fullest are sold for consumption in the neighbourhood ; but the 
 quantity of oysters raised at Marennes is insufficient to supply the 
 demand. About a third of the provision intended for the claires 
 comes from the coast of Brittany, of Normandy, and La Vendée. 
 " These foreign oysters," says M. Coste, " never attain the fine flavour 
 of those bred in the locality. It is necessary to keep them for a long 
 time in the claires before they are sufficiently ameliorated, and, even 
 when they become green, they retain traces of their primitive nature, 
 remaining hard, in spite of the new qualities imparted to them by 
 cultivation ; a certain bitterness remains, which is easily distinguished 
 
BIVALVE MOLLUSCA. 395 
 
 by the true amateur ; it is the same with indigenous adult oysters. 
 When they are taken at this stage of their existence the colouring does 
 not succeed with them ; — it is only, so to speak, the false brand used 
 to give a speculative value to the merchandise. It is not enough 
 that the mollusc should have a fine flavour ; it must have the peculiar 
 taste. It is not enough that it has the green hue ; it is necessary 
 that these qualities should pervade it from the earliest age, and that 
 the culture of the claires should continue to the end." It is thus 
 necessary that the oysters for the claires of Marennes should be 
 selected when from twelve to eighteen months old, that the shells 
 should be well-formed and free from all foreign bodies adhering to 
 the surface. Being thus carefully picked out, the oysters are dis- 
 tributed over the bottom of the claires with a shovel, and afterwards 
 so arranged by the hand that they may not touch each other when 
 they increase in size ; that they do not embarrass each other by the 
 movements of their valves ; and that nothing should interfere with 
 the regularity of their forms. The young colony reposes under a 
 sheet of water from twelve to eighteen inches deep, which is, as we 
 have said, only renewed at spring tides, which reach the level. Nor 
 are the oysters abandoned to themselves in these privileged beds 
 while they are growing and ripening. They are objects of continual 
 care and of special manipulation. The spring tides visit the claires 
 charged with mud, which, if deposited in the motionless basins, 
 would act as a poison to the young mollusc ; hence the necessity of 
 transporting them from one claire charged with mud into others free 
 from such accumulations ; and this is a process in constant operation, 
 until the animals are finally gathered for consumption, Oysters 
 deposited in the claires aged eighteen months should remain two 
 years before they are ready for use \ but three and even four years 
 are required to give them the full degree of perfection which 
 characterises the best products of the Marennes oyster-parks. 
 
 Oysters placed in the reservoirs in an adult state become green, it 
 is true, in a very few days, but they never attain the exquisite flavour 
 of those which have been bred in the parks, and have undergone the 
 costly manipulation described from their earliest years. 
 
 The question arises. What is the colouring principle which is here 
 in operation ? The green colour is not general ; it is shown princi- 
 pally on the branchise, upon the labial tentacles and intestinal canal ; 
 it is often rather undecided; and the colouring matter appears to 
 differ chemically from all other known pigments of green colour. 
 Must it be attributed to the soil of the claire 1 This is its most 
 probable origin. But many naturalists insist that the colouring matter 
 
39^ THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 proceeds from a green-coloured infusorial animalcule. Others have 
 hazarded the opinion that it is a disease of the liver in our unfortunate 
 bivalve which produces the colour. Bile secreted in excess by a 
 diseased liver would give a green hue to the parenchyma of the 
 respiratory organs of an animal rendered sick by the exceptional 
 treatment to which it has been subjected. Of these three opinions, 
 says M. Figuier, the first, as we have said, presents the greatest 
 appearance of probability. 
 
 The system of oyster farms, which has worked admirably for tne 
 companies themselves, has proved of doubtful utility, so far as the 
 oyster-eating public is concerned, as the following sketch of the 
 Whitstable oyster farms will show. The oyster farm at Whitstable is 
 co-operative in the best sense of the term, and has been in operation 
 for many years. The company possesses large oyster grounds, and 
 a fine fleet of boats kept for the purpose of dredging and planting the 
 beds; it is established under the Joint-Stock Companies Act, but 
 there is no other way of entrance into it but by birth, as none of the 
 free dredgermen of the town can hold shares. When a man dies his 
 interest in the company dies with him, but his widow, if he leaves 
 one, obtains a pension. The aftairs of the company are managed 
 by twelve directors, who are called '' the jury.'^ 
 
 " The layings at Whitstable," to summarise Mr, Bertram, " occupy 
 about a mile and a half square ; and the oyster-beds have been so 
 prosperous as to have obtained the name of the ' happy fishing 
 grounds.' Whitstable lies in a sandy bay, formed by a small branch 
 of the Medway, which separates the Isle of Sheppey from the main- 
 land. Throughout this bay, from the town of Whitstable at its 
 eastern extremity to the old town of Faversham, which lies several 
 miles inland, the whole of the estuary is occupied by oyster farms, 
 on which the maritime population, to the extent of 3,000 people 
 and upwards, is occupied ; the sum paid for labour by the various 
 companies being set down at ;£"! 60,000 per annum, besides the 
 employment given at Whitstable in building and repairing boats, 
 dredges, and other requisites for the oyster-fishing. The business of 
 the various companies is to feed oysters for the London and other 
 markets, to protect the spawn or floatsome, as the dredgers call it, 
 which is emitted on their own beds, and to furnish, by purchase or 
 otherwise, the new brood necessary to supply the beds which have 
 been taken up for consumption." 
 
 We have hinted above that in oyster, as in other fisheries, a 
 wasteful spirit of extravagance has hitherto prevailed. It appears, 
 
BIVALVE MOLLUSC A 397 
 
 however, that no rule can be laid down even as to the particular yeai 
 in which the oysters will spawn, much less where it will be carried to ; 
 for, although the artificial contrivances adopted by Sergius Grata for 
 saving the spawn are perfectly well known to the parties interested 
 here, they have not hitherto been imitated ; the practice of the com- 
 panies and private owners of oyster- layers being to purchase their young 
 brood from the dredgers and others who fish along the public foreshore 
 and open grounds on the Kent and Essex coasts, and even as far 
 north as the Frith of Forth. The Uttle Bay of Pont, for instance, on 
 the Essex coast, which is an open piece of water sixteen miles long 
 and three broad, free to all, and which formerly yielded considerable 
 suppHes to Billingsgate, now gives employment to 150 boats, each 
 with crews of three or four men, who are wholly employed in obtain- 
 ing young brood — that is, oysters from eighteen months to two years 
 old — which they sell to the oyster farmers. The result is, that the 
 oyster farms have become a vast monopoly. By tacit consent they 
 agree to supply the market at some ;2^8 sterling per bushel ; they 
 [jay the dredger one-fourth of that sum ; and as the common fishing 
 grounds are thus rendered mere nurseries of young brood, the 
 lover of the bivalve must reconcile himself to pay a monopoly price 
 for the precious morsel. 
 
 The system pursued at Whitstable, and other oyster-parks in the 
 estuary of the Thames and Medway, is most efiicient. The oysters 
 reared in them, called " native," in contradistinction to those called 
 " commons," which are bred in their natural beds, are justly considered 
 to be very superior in flavour, although they are a mixed breed, being 
 brought from every quarter to augment the stock. 
 
 The Thames, or "native" system, is as follows : — Every year each 
 layer is gone over and examined by means of a dredge, successive 
 portions being done day by day, till it may be said that each individual 
 oyster has been examined ; the young brood is detached from its bed, 
 the double oysters are separated, and all kinds of enemies killed. 
 During three days in each week dredging is pursued for " planting ; " 
 that is, for transference from one bed to another more suitable for 
 their growth or fattening, and for the removal of the dead or sickly 
 oysters and of mussels. On the other three days dredging for 
 market takes place, when the more mature beds are dredged, and as 
 many oysters are Hfted as are required. Not only is this constant 
 dredging of the beds themselves necessary, but the public beds im- 
 mediately outside require the same care to keep them in a fit state, 
 and free from enemies. 
 
 The same story of over-fishing and improvidence extends round 
 
398 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 our whole coast. The far-famed Pandores obtained at Prestonpans, 
 near Edinburgh, once so cheap, are becoming scarce and dear. The 
 brood is caught and barreled for export to Holland and other places, 
 especially the Thames oyster farms. English buyers pick the grown 
 oysters for Manchester and other large provincial markets ; and the 
 Corporation of Edinburgh, the Duke of Buccleuch, and other 
 proprietors of the foreshore, have just interfered in time to prevent 
 the total destruction of the trade, when the wild song of the 
 Cockenzie dredgerman might have been left to charm some future 
 antiquary, as it is now said to charm the oyster into the dredge with 
 its refrain : — 
 
 " The herring it loves the merry moonlight. 
 The mackerel it loves the wind ; 
 But the oyster it loves the dredger's song, 
 For it comes of a gentle kind." 
 
 The Scallop-shell {Fecten varius) is round, nearly equal-sided, 
 resting on the right valve, which is more convex, and marked with 
 radiating ribs, Linnaeus made the mistake of confounding with the 
 Ostrca a great number of shells, which, by their channeled edges and 
 surfaces, strongly reminded one of the arrangements of the teeth of 
 a comb, whence their name of Fecten. They were well known to 
 naturalists long before the time of Linnseus, under the name of 
 Pilgrims'' shells, a name which came into use from the practice which 
 prevailed among pilgrims in the middle ages — we know not why — of 
 ornamenting their habits and hats with the valves of some of the 
 species. 
 
 The shell of the species of Fecten is in general nearly circular, 
 more or less elongated, and terminated towards the summit in a 
 straight line, forming a sort of triangular appendage called the ear, to 
 which the hinges are attached. The valves are very regular, but 
 with no resemblance to each other. In some species, the shell of 
 which is closely shut, the lower valve is more or less convex than the 
 upper one. In others, both valves are convex. The hinge is without 
 teeth, and the ligament, which is intended to close the shell, is in- 
 serted into a triangular depression or dimple. The retractile muscles 
 are unequal, and nearly central. The valves are not nacred inside, 
 and are formed on their exterior surface of numerous fluted channels, 
 which spring from a lobe more or less pointed at the summit, 
 diverging towards the circumference. The edges are sometimes 
 smooth, as in the Watered Pecten {P. pseiidamussium, Fig. 174), but 
 more frequently they are formed in strips or scales, as in the Smooth- 
 shelled Pecten {P. glaber, Fig. 175). Upon the whole, however, the 
 
XVTIT.-Pectinidîe. 
 
BIVALVE MOLLUSC A, 
 
 401 
 
 Pectens are very variable, but always elegant in form ; the colours are 
 frequently lively and brilliant. In Plate XVIII. some of the most 
 striking forms are represented, as in Fig. I., the Ducal Mantle {Peden 
 pa/Iiu)?i), an inhabitant of the Indian Ocean, remarkable for its 
 elegant form, its twelve radiating stripes, diverging towards the cir- 
 cumference, the horizontal furrows of its sahent scales, and the 
 striking distribution of its white spots upon a bed of red and brown 
 marble ; Fig. IL, the Purple Pecten ; Fig. III., the Coral Pecten ; 
 Fig. IV., the Tiger Pecten; Fig. V., the Foliaceous Pecten; and 
 Fig. VI., the Northern Pecten. 
 
 The animal which inhabits the shells belonging to this genus has 
 
 Fig. 174. — Pecten pseudamussium (Chenu). 
 
 Fig. 175.— Pecten glaber (Linnaeus.) 
 
 the general form of the oyster, differing however from it in a remark- 
 able manner. The edges of the mande are furnished with multiplied 
 fringes of simple tentacles, between which we find other tentacular 
 appendages a little thicker, each terminating in a sort of small pearl, 
 vividly coloured, which has been taken for an eye, and to which is 
 attached a nervous thread. Another difference is that the branchiae, in 
 place of being connected to each other and the mantle lobes forming 
 as in Ostrea a complete branchial chamber, here are crescent-shaped, 
 and are quite unconnected posteriorly, and have excurrent canals. 
 The mouth is provided with foliaceous lips, and a foot is present, 
 somewhat finger-like, grooved, and byssiferous when young. 
 
 While the oyster shell is completely fixed to its bed, the Pecten is, 
 on the contrary, perfectly free, and shifts from place to place, moving 
 in the water even with a certain amount of agility ; by smartly closing 
 
402 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 its half-opened valves and forcibly expelling the water, it moves back- 
 ward by a sort of recoil ; this action, repeated many times, compels the 
 animal to move almost in spite of itself, and enables it to avoid 
 danger, or directs its steps towards the spot it wishes to reach. 
 
 The Pectens, of which 176 species are described, are inhabitants 
 of every known sea. Twenty species belong to Europe, among 
 which we may mention P. opercular is, represented in Fig. 176; P. 
 glaber{Y\g. 175), and P. nivea. Fig. 177 represents the White-mantled 
 
 176. — Pecten opercularis (Linnseus), 
 
 Pecten {P. plica, Linn.) of the Indian Ocean, and Fig. 178, the Con- 
 centric Pecten {P. japonica) of the Japan seas. 
 
 Among the Ostreadse the shells of several species of the genus 
 Spondylus are distinguished for their variety of form and the brilliant 
 colours with which they are decorated. This makes them much 
 sought after by amateur collectors, and procures for them a high 
 price. The shell of Spondylus is solid and thick, with unequal 
 adherent valves, nearly always bristling with spines, forming a very 
 peculiar kind of ornamentation to the valves ; the hinges have two. 
 very strong teeth. The animals which inhabit this shell resemble 
 the oyster in many respects, but they still more closely resemble the- 
 Pectens. The edges of the mantle are provided with two rows of 
 tentacles, the exterior row being, many of them, furnished at their 
 extremities with coloured tubercles. As examples, we note several 
 
XIX.— Spondylus. 
 
m VALVE MOLLUSCA. 
 
 405 
 
 species of these bivalves for representation. Spondyliis regius 
 (Fig. I., Plate XIX.) is, perhaps, the most remarkable for its immense 
 spines. Spondyhis radians^ Lamarck (Fig. III.), is noted for its 
 elegant form. Spondylus avicularis (Fig. IV.) shows remarkable 
 inequality in the valves. Spondylus imperialism Chenu (Fig. II.), has 
 long projecting spines, like feet; and the Scaly Spondylus (-5. crassis- 
 quama^ Fig. V.) is covered with scales arranged like so many roofing- 
 tiles. 
 
 Like Ostrea, the genus Spondylus is frequently found firmly rooted 
 
 :77. — Pecten plica (Linriceus). 
 
 Fig. 178.— Pecten japonica (Gmellin). 
 
 to rocks and other subm.arine bodies, and, oftener still, heaped one 
 upon the other, like herrings in their barrel. 
 
 These animals belong essentially to the seas of warm countries. 
 We find them, however, occupying considerable space in the 
 Mediterranean, where the S. gœderopus (Fig. VI.) abounds. 
 
 But the most remarkable species of all is assuredly Spondylus 
 regius (Fig. I., Plate XIX.) This species is a native of the Indian 
 Ocean, and at one time there scarcely existed three fragments of 
 this rare shell in the museums of Europe. M. Chenu relates in one 
 of his books an anecdote which would prove — if any proof were 
 necessary — how far the desire of a collector to obtain possession of 
 some rare and costly specimen will carry him in order to attain his 
 
 object. "M. R ," says M. Chenu, '^was Professor of Botany to 
 
 the Faculty of Paris, and was, as sometimes happens, more learned 
 than rich ; he wished, on the invitation of a stranger, to purchase 
 one of these shells at a very high price,, which might be from 3,000 
 
406 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 to 6,000 francs ; the bargain was made, and the price agreed upon ; 
 it was only necessary to pay. The money in the Professor's hands 
 made only a small part of the sum the merchant was to receive for 
 
 his shell, and he would not part with it without payment. M. R , 
 
 now consulting his desire to possess the shell more than his weak 
 resources, made up secretly a parcel of his scanty plate, and went out 
 to sell it. Without consulting his wife, he replaced his silver plate 
 by articles of tin, and ran to the merchant to secure his coveted 
 Spondylus, which he believed to be S. regius. 
 
 "The hour of dinner arrived, and we may imagine the astonish- 
 ment of Madame R , who could not comprehend the strange 
 
 metamorphosis of her plate. She delivered herself of a thousand 
 
 painful conjectures on the subject. M. R , on his part, returned 
 
 home happy with his shell, which he had committed to the safe 
 custody of a box placed in his coat pocket. But, as he approached 
 the house, he paused, and began for the first time to think of the 
 reception he might meet with. The reproaches which awaited him, 
 however, were compensated when he thought of the treasure he 
 
 carried home. Finally, he reached home, and Madame R 's 
 
 wrath was worthy of the occasion ; the poor man was overwhelmed 
 with the grief he had caused his wife ; his courage altogether forsook 
 him. He forgot his shell, and, in his trepidation, seated himself on 
 a chair without the necessary adjustment of his garment. He was 
 only reminded of his treasure by hearing the crushing sound of the 
 breaking box which contained it. Fortunately, the evil was not very 
 great — two spines only of the shell were broken ; but the good man's 
 
 grief made so great an impression on Madame R , that she no 
 
 longer thought of her own loss, but directed all her efforts to console 
 the simple-minded philosopher." 
 
 The variation in the number and direction of the spines is a 
 striking feature in Spondylus. When the whole lower surface adheres 
 to branches of coral — a very frequent occurrence — they are confined to 
 the upper valve ; but when a part only of the valve is so adherent, 
 the whole surface becomes covered. 
 
407 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Brachiopoda. 
 
 While it is out of the province of this work to enter into any lengthy 
 arguments as to the position of tliis class ; while we treat of them 
 here immediately after the Conchifera, it is not in ignorance that they 
 would be more justly placed among the Molluscoida, probably very 
 near to the Tunicata. They differ from ordinary bivalves in being 
 always equal sided, but never quite equi-valved. Their valves are 
 respectively dorsal and ventral. The ventral valve is usually largest, 
 and has often a prominent beak, by which it is attached, or through 
 which the organ of adhesion passes. The dorsal valve is always the 
 smaller, and is free and imperforate. The valves are articulated by 
 two curved teeth, which are so complete that the valves cannot be 
 separated without injury. A few genera have no hinge. In Crania 
 and Discina the lower valve is flat ; the upper like a limpet ; while 
 the valves of Lingula are nearly equal, and have been compared to a 
 duck's bill. In the Conchifera the sliding of the valves is well 
 guarded against by means of hinges with teeth and sockets ; but in 
 the Brachiopods the same end is apparently attained by means of 
 muscles. The blood system is not very complex, and does not differ 
 very greatiy from the same system in the Tunicates. The Brachio- 
 pods are all natives of the sea; but little is known as to their 
 development. Of all mollusca they enjoy the greatest range, both of 
 climate, of depth, and time. A large number of the genera contain 
 only extinct forms ; indeed of the 1,842* species formerly known, a 
 few types of but a small number of genera only are left, numbering 
 in all 102. The Terebratulidse are best represented. There were 
 once 300 or 400 species of this family ; there are now not more than 
 sixty-seven in the seas of the world. The difference between the 
 past and the present is especially striking, when we compare the 
 recent and fossil species of Europe. Among no other class of shell? 
 
 * "Woodward's Manual," p. 135. 
 
408 THE OCEAN WORLB. 
 
 has there been such a wholesale extinction of species. The great 
 family of Spiriferidae is wholly extinct, and of 400 species belonging 
 to the family of the Rhynconellidse only four are now living. Species 
 of the curious genera Crania, Discina, and Lingula are still living; 
 and are mostly found in the seas of the southern hemisphere. 
 
 The Brachiopoda contain the following families : — 
 I. Lingîilidœ, containing Lingula and other genera. 
 II. Discinidœ^ containing Siphonotreta and Discina. 
 
 III. Cranïadœ, containing Crania. 
 
 IV. FrodtididcB, containing Chonetes and Productus. 
 
 V. OrtMdœ, containing Calceola, Davidsonia, Strophomena, and 
 
 Orthis. 
 VI. Rhyncondlidœ^ containing Atrypa, Pentamerus, and Rhyn* 
 
 conella. 
 VII. Sptrïferïdœ, containing Uncites, Retzia, Athyris, and Spiri- 
 
 fera. 
 VIII. Terebratîdidœ, containing Thecidium, Argiope, Tercbratella, 
 and Terebratula. 
 
409 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 CEPHALOUS MOLLUSCA. 
 GASTEROPODA. 
 
 We take leave of our little friends the Headless Mollusca or 
 Acephala, and direct our attention to those molluscs to which Nature 
 has been more generous, and which are furnished with a head. This 
 head, however, is still carried humbly ', it is not yet os siiblinie dedit; 
 it is drawn along an inch or so from the ground, and in no respect 
 resembles the proud and magnificent organ which crowns and adorns 
 the body of the greater and more perfectly organised animals. 
 
 The organisation of the Cephalous Mollusca present three prin- 
 cipal types, which has led to their being divided into three classes, 
 after their more salient characteristics of form and locomotive appa- 
 ratus ; namely, Gasteropoda, Fkropoda, and Cephalopoda. 
 
 In the class Gasteropoda (from yao-r^p, belly, irovs, gen. iroSbs, foot), 
 locomotion is effected by means of a flattened muscular disk, placed 
 under the belly of the animal, by the aid of which it creeps. The 
 Snail {Helix), the Slug {Limax), and the Cowrie (Cyprea), are types 
 of this class. 
 
 In the Pteropoda (from Trrephv, wing, and tovs, foot), locomotion is 
 effected by appendages in the form of wings, or membranous swim- 
 ming fins, placed on each side of the neck. The Hyalea and Clio 
 are types of this class. 
 
 In the Cephalopoda (from «e^aAr/, head, and ttoû^, foot), locomotion 
 is effected partly by means of a set of arms, or tentacles, which 
 surround the mouth in numbers more or less considerable. The 
 Cuttle-fish {Sepia), and the Poulpes {Octopus) are types of this last 
 class. 
 
 The Molluscous Gasteropoda have the organs of respiration 
 formed for aerial respiration, or for respiration under water. 
 
 This physiological arrangement involves important differences in 
 
410 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 internal organisation in these molluscs, and renders it convenient to 
 divide them into two secondary groups ; namely, /^///;;z^;z(^;7 Gastero- 
 pods, which breathe in the air, and by a kind of lung, and Non-pul- 
 monary Gasferopods, which breathe in the water, by means of branchiae 
 or gills, or we may consider the Gasteropoda, as they w^re divided 
 by Milne-Edwards, into four orders. Firstly, Nucleo-branchiata, 
 animals which float on the surface of the ocean ; they are diœcious, 
 or in separate sexes, and the nervous centres are widely separated in 
 the body. The first family of this order is Atlantidas, of which 
 the types are the fossil genus Bellerophon and the recent genus 
 Atlanta. The second family is Firolidae, the typical genera of which 
 are Carinaria and Firola. The shell in Carinaria or Glass Nautilus is 
 shaped hke the bonnet-cap shell, Pileopsis. It is as transparent as 
 glass; and although now very common, was formerly one of the 
 shells most highly-prized by collectors. The shell covers only a 
 very small portion of the body. 
 
 The second order of Gasteropoda is Opistho-Branchiata, and 
 is divided into two sections, the Nudibranchiata and the Tectibran- 
 chiata. The Nudibranchiata have no shell except in the larval state ; 
 they mostly live at the bottom of the sea on rocky shores, but a 
 small number swim on the surface. They are remarkable for the 
 variety of their form and vivid colouring, being the most beautiful of 
 all molluscous animals ; they may truly be called the caterpillars of 
 the sea, for their branchise remind us of the spines with which many 
 lepidopterous larvae are covered. 
 
 The first family of the Nudibranchiata section is Elysiadœ : 
 typical genera, Limapontia and Elysia. 
 
 The second is Fhyllirhoidœ; typical genus, Phyllirhoe. 
 
 The third is yEoUdœ; typical genera, Glaucus, Alderia, and u:Eolis. 
 
 The fourth is TtHtoniadœ ; typical genera, Scyllaea and Tritonia. 
 
 The fifth is Doridce; typical genera, IdaHa, Triopa, and Doris. 
 
 The first family of the second section, Tectibranchiata, is Fhylli- 
 diadce; typical genera, Diphyllidia and Phyllidia. 
 
 The second family is Fleu?^obra7ichidœ ; typical genera, Umbrella 
 and Pleurobranchus. 
 
 The third family is Aplysiadœ; typical genera, Dolabella and 
 Aplysia. 
 
 The fourth family is Bullidœ; typical genera, Scaphander, Accra, 
 Cylichna, Amphisphyra, and Bulla. 
 
 The fifth family is Tornatellidœ ; typical genera, Tornatina and . 
 Tornatella. 
 
 In the order of the Opistho-branchiate Molluscs we reach a group 
 
UNIVALVE MOLLUSC A. 4I! 
 
 of Giisteropods very numerous, both in species and in special types, 
 all the species of which respire by the aid of branchiae or gills. 
 
 The Tectibranchiata have the gills attached either to the right 
 side of the body or upon the back, arranged in the form of leaflets, 
 more or less divided, but not symmetrical, and nearly covered by the 
 mantle. 
 
 Some species of the genus Aplysia were known to the ancients 
 under the name of sea-hares {Lepus marinus), from some fancied 
 resemblance to the terrestrial hare. They were objects of profound 
 horror, inspired either by their singular form, or from an acrid, caustic, 
 and inodorous liquid which they secrete. A magic influence was 
 attributed to them ; they were supposed, for instance, to have in- 
 fluence over the female heart. It is not easy, however, to explain 
 the evil renown acquired by an animal which is known to be gentle 
 and even timid. They are naked and fat, somewhat resembling the 
 Limnsea in their oval, elongated form, their thickness in the dorsal 
 region, and their peculiar locomotion. Their head, which is very 
 indistinct, is furnished with four tentacles, the anterior two of which 
 are the largest, and somewhat resemble the ears of a hare. The eyes 
 are found at the base of the posterior tentacles. These characters 
 are observed in Aplysia depilans (Fig. 179). Aplysia inca shows also 
 the same arrangement (Fig. 180). In this family the mollusc is 
 much more important from its volume than from its shell, which is 
 internal, rudimentary, and horny, and is placed just over the branchial 
 cavity. In Fig. 181 we have this small and thin cartilaginous shell 
 as it exists in A. inca figured. 
 
 Species of the genus Aplysia are found nearly in every region of the 
 globe, not only upon the shores of continents, but on every island 
 shore. They commonly inhabit sandy and muddy shores of small 
 depths, or even their rocky recesses, or under shelter of the stones 
 which have fallen from the cliffs. Their eggs form great long filaments, 
 which are discharged in immense numbers, and which fishermen call 
 sea-worms. 
 
 They feed upon certain algae, with which the bottom of the sea is 
 covered ; but they eat also small marine animals, such as the naked 
 molluscs, annelids, and crustaceans. 
 
 We are the less astonished to see the Aplysia so gluttonous when 
 we learn how liberally Nature has accorded to them organs of masti- 
 cation, trituration, and digestion. Their mouth is formed of thick 
 and muscular lips ; a very long œsophagus or gullet succeeds, and 
 this oesophagus does not communicate with a single stomach, but 
 with four — one enormous membranous crop, an exceedingly muscular 
 
412 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 gizzard, with two accessary pockets, one of which terminates in the 
 form of sac. The gizzard has thick walls, and is furnished on the 
 internal wall with cartilaginous quadrangular pyramids, the summits 
 of which intertwine. This apparatus is intended to bruise the food 
 
 Fig. 179. — Aplysia depllaiis 
 (Linn). 
 
 Fig. 180. — Aplysia inca (D'Orbigny). 
 
 Fig. iSi.— Shell oi 
 Aplyaia inca. 
 
 when it reaches the third stomach. It is also armed with little 
 hooks, the curvature of which is directed towards the entrance of the 
 gizzard. 
 
 The genus Biclla differs materially from the genus Aplysia. 
 The species have a well-developed shell, the form of which is elegant 
 
 Figs. 182 and 183. — Bulla ampulla (Linnaeus). 
 
 and delicate in structure ; their brilliant colours, consisting of red, 
 black, or white bands, separated by many varied tints, cause these 
 little shells to be much sought after for ornamental collections. I'he 
 shell itself is oval or globulous, rolled up in a scroll, smooth, spotted, 
 very thin and fragile, with a concave spire, umbilicate, open in all its 
 length, with a straight, wide, and cutting edge. The gills of the 
 animal are placed upon the back, a little to the right and behind, but 
 
UNIVALVE MOLLUSC A. 
 
 413 
 
 well protected by the shell ; its stomach, which alone fills a great 
 part of the cavity of the body, presents the peculiarity, already noted 
 in the genus Aplysia, of being furnished with bony pieces, evidently 
 intended to grind the food. 
 
 The Bullae can swim with facility in deep water, but they evidently 
 
 Fig. 184.— Bulla oblonga 
 (Adams,. 
 
 Fig. 185.— Bulla a.spersa 
 (Adams'. 
 
 [86.— Bulla nebulosa 
 (Gould). 
 
 prefer the shallows and a sandy bottom, feeding upon smaller mol- 
 luscs. They are found in every sea, but they abound chiefly in the 
 Indian Ocean and Oceania. Some species, however, such as Bulla 
 ampulla (Figs. 182 and 183), the shell of which is shaded grey and 
 brown, and the Water-drop {Bulla hydatls), inhabit European seas. 
 Bulla oblonga and Bulla aspeisa (Adams), and Bulla nebulosa {QiOvXà)^ 
 represented in Figs. 184, 185, and 186, are also well-known species. 
 
414 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 PULMONIFERA OR PULMONARY GASTEROPODS. 
 
 The PulmoJiary Gastei-opods comprehend those molluscs which, 
 as vve have said, live in the air and breathe the natural atmosphere. 
 Their respiratory organ is a cavity, in the walls of which the blood- 
 vessels form a complicated network. The air enters this cavity 
 thrpugh an orifice, which the animal opens and shuts at will — a 
 species of lung, in short, which is placed upon the side of the animal. 
 They are both terrestrial and aquatic animals. In the latter case, 
 they must come to the surface of the water in order to breathe, like 
 the seals and whales among the mammals. 
 
 The Pulmonifera, the third order of Gasteropods, comprehends 
 those animals which live in and breathe the air. 
 
 It is divided into two sections ; I. the Operculata, or land-snails, 
 whose shells are closed by an operculum; and (II.) the In-Operculata, 
 or land-snails without operculum. 
 
 The first section, Operculata, is divided into two families; first, 
 Aciculidse, of which the typical genera are Geomelania and Acicula ; 
 and the second, Cyclostomidse, of which the typical genera are 
 Pupina, Cyclophorus, and Cyclostoma. Cyclostoma is perhaps the 
 best known genus; the mouth is circular, the name being derived 
 from cyclos^ circle, and stoina^ mouth. 
 
 The second section, In-Operculata, contains five families : — 
 I. Auriadidœ ; typical genera, Conovulus, Carychium, and 
 
 Auricula. 
 II. LimnœdicB; typical genera, Planorbis, Physa, Ancylus, and 
 
 Limnaea. 
 
 III. Oncidiadœ; typical genera, Vaginulus and Oncidium. ' 
 
 IV. Limacidœ ; typical genera, Testacellà, Arion, and Limax. 
 
 V Helicidœ; typical genera, Clausilia, Pupa, Achatina, Bulimus, 
 Succinea, Vitrina, and Helix. 
 
 It will be desirable to treat of a few of these families a litde in 
 detail, and we will commence with that of the Limnaeidse, which is 
 
UNIVALVE MOLLUSC A. 4I5 
 
 the second family of the In-Operculata series. Limnœa^ Planorhis, 
 and Physa, are among the principal genera of this family. 
 
 Species of the genus Limnsea live in great numbers in the fresh 
 waters of all countries, particularly of temperate climates. They 
 mnnot remain long under water, being compelled frequently to rise 
 to the surface in order to breathe atmospheric air. They are 
 even observed, by a mechanism not very well understood, to turn 
 upside down, in such a manner as to present themselves feet 
 uppermost, and to move slowly along in this position, creeping, as it 
 were, through the water. It is difficult to comprehend how the mov- 
 able liquid bed upon which the animal operates can offer resistance 
 enough to permit of its creeping as if it were on a solid resisting body ; 
 but it seems to produce the movement with the assistance of its foot, 
 which is broad and thick, and shorter than the shell. 
 
 Limnsea is characterised by having a large flat head, from each 
 side of which issues a triangular contractile tentacle, carrying at its 
 base and on the inner side an extremely small dot, or eye. The 
 whole of the somewhat considerable mass of the body is contained in 
 a thin diaphanous shell (Fig. 187), the turns in the spiral of which 
 are generally elongated, the body whorl being larger than all the 
 others, and the aperture is rounded in front. The interior of this is 
 occupied by the respiratory cavity, which communicates outwardly by 
 an opening analogous to that which exists in the snail. This opening 
 dilates and contracts in such a manner as to receive the air into the 
 cavity, and exclude water when the animal feeds itself under it. 
 The mouth is a transverse slit between two rather thin lips, and is armed 
 with small Hngual teeth. When the animal sallies from its shell, it 
 has the appearance of a short trumpet. The mouth is armed with a 
 horny dentated crescent-shaped upper mandible ; the lingual mem- 
 brane lies at the bottom of the slit, and is flat, oval shaped, with the 
 central teeth inconspicuous, and the lateral ones numerous and 
 similar. 
 
 Limnsea, aided by its complicated buccal apparatus, is enabled to 
 feed on vegetable substances, such as the leaves of aquatic plants, 
 which it cuts and bruises with its teeth. They are very active in the 
 spring season, towards the end of which they deposit their spawn, 
 which at this period is found in the form of little ovil or semi-cylindri- 
 cal masses adhering to floating bodies, or on stones and aquatic 
 plants, glittering and transparent as crystal. When winter sets in, 
 the Limnsea of our climate fall into a state of torpor, and sink, more 
 or less deeply, into the mud of the lakes, marshes, rivers, or brooks, 
 which they inhabit. 
 
4i6 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 They are of great utility, both to feed fishes and aquatic birds, 
 and also as scavengers of the decaying vegetation of brooks. 
 
 The genus Planorbis has an organisation analogous to Limnsea, of 
 which it is the faithful companion in stagnant waters. Their shells (Fig. 
 1 88) are thin, light, and disc-like in form, rolled round their planes in 
 such a manner as to render all the turns of the spiral visible from above 
 as well as below; they are concave on both sides, with an oval, oblong- 
 shaped opening, which is furnished with a thin peristome. The 
 animal is conformable to the shell in shape. The visceral mass forms 
 
 Fig. i88. — Planorhi.s corneas 
 (Linnaeus). 
 
 ■Fig. 187. — Limnœa stagnalis (Linnseus). 
 
 Fig. 189. — Physa castanea (Lamarck). 
 
 a very elongated cone, which follows the spiral turns of the shell. 
 The foot, or abdominal locomotive mass, is short, and very nearly 
 round. The head is sufficiently distinct, and furnished with two very 
 long filiform, contractile tentacles, having at their base, and on the 
 inner side, two small organs, which look like eyes. The mouth is 
 armed in the upper part with cross-cutting teeth, and in the lower 
 part with a tongue, bristling with a great number of subquadrate and 
 bi- or tri-cuspid teeth. 
 
 In habits Planorbis resembles Limnaea ; it creeps like it on the 
 surface of solid bodies, and swims in the water with the foot upwards 
 and the shell down. It feeds on similar substances, and its eggs are 
 
UNIVALVE MOLLUSC A. 41/ 
 
 also collected in gelatinous masses. It passes the winter in a state 
 of torpor, buried in the mud of the rivers it inhabits. 
 
 The principal native species is Planorbis corneus (Fig. i88), which 
 is common everywhere in Great Britain. 
 
 Another genus of these molluscs, which occupies our fresh-water 
 rivers, and often swims with the head down and foot up, is represented 
 by the genus Physa. Physa castanea (¥\g. 189) has an oval, oblong, or 
 nearly globular shell, very thin, smooth, and fragile, opening longi- 
 tudinally, narrow above, with the right edge sharp ; the last • turn of 
 the spiral being the largest of all. The animal appears to be inter- 
 mediate in form between Planorbis and Limnaea ; it is oval in form, 
 and unrolls itself like the Limnsea, but its tentacles, in place of being 
 triangular and thick, like the latter, are elongated and narrow, hke 
 those of Planorbis. These little inhabitants of the fresh water swim 
 with facility, the foot upwards, the shell below, and like Limnœa, they 
 feed on vegetables. 
 
 The fourth family, Limacidas, containing Testacella and Limax, 
 consists of terrestrial pulmonary molluscs, entirely naked, or having 
 only a very small shell. The species of the genus Limax vary very 
 considerably in appearance, and in consequence of their extreme 
 variability we find even individuals of a species differing much. 
 When seen creeping along on the surface of the soil, they have nearly 
 the form of a very elonglated ellipse, at one extremity of which is the 
 head ; the surface of the body in contact with the earth is flat, the 
 other convex. Towards the anterior extremity, and upon the middle 
 of the back, a portion of the skin projects as if it were detached from 
 the body, and is ornamented with transverse stripes of various con- 
 volutions. This part is named the cuirass, or buckler, under which 
 the animal can hide its head. The mouth is a transverse opening in 
 the front of the head; above are two pairs of tentacles, or horns, 
 immensely retractile, cylindrical ; the lower tentacles are the shorter ; 
 the upper terminating in small black points, as in Helix, which are 
 regarded as eyes. 
 
 Upon the right side of the body, and hollowed in the thickness 
 of its edge, which is large and contractile, is the respirator}^ orifice, 
 whose function it is to give access to the atmospheric air, it abuts on 
 an internal cavity, also large, which is the pulmonary sac. The outer 
 skin, or epidermis, is rayed in brownish furrows, its surface covered 
 with a viscous glutinous substance, which permits of the animal 
 creeping up the smoothest surfaces, locomotion being produced 
 by the successive contraction and extension of the muscular fibres 
 of the foot. 
 
 o 
 
4i8 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 The internal organisation of Limax is analogous to that to be 
 described in the snails. The organs of taste and smell in the Lima- 
 ceans differ only slightly from those organs in Hdix. They are said, 
 like the snails, to be deaf, and nearly blind. They love humid places; 
 they lodge themselves in the holes of old walls, under stones, or half- 
 decomposed leaves, in the crevices of the bark of old trees, and 
 even underground, coming forth only at night and in the morning ; 
 especially after soft showers in spring and summer. In the garden, 
 after one of these soft showers, many of these little creatures are sure 
 to be met with in the more shaded alleys. 
 
 The slugs are mostly herbivorous. They seek, above all, for 
 young plants, fruits, mushrooms, and half-decayed vegetables. They 
 
 Fig. 190. — Limax rufus (Linnseus). 
 
 are very voracious, and cause great ravages in gardens and young 
 plantations, and many are the devices of the watchful gardener to 
 destroy them. Lime and salt are their abomination ; ashes and fine 
 sand they avoid. They dislike the noonday sun, and the gardener 
 knows it ; he arranges little sheltering tiles, or planks of wood and 
 stone, under which they retire, where they are surprised to their 
 destruction. 
 
 There are about fifty known species of the genus Limax. Some 
 are remarkable for their very striking colours. Limax rufus (Fig. 190) 
 is common in woods, and well known for its large size and its colour 
 of rich yellowish red ; it is known all over Europe, from Norway to 
 Spain. 
 
 Among the Limacid^ not altogether destitute of external shells 
 we find Testacella haliotoides (Fig. 191), which is provided with a very 
 small shell placed at its posterior extremity, just over the pulmonary 
 cavity. This shell becomes more important in Vif7'ma, already spoken 
 
UNIVALVE MOLLUSC A. 4I9 
 
 of as forming the point of transition between Limax and Helix, This 
 passage from Limaceans entirely destitute of shells to those furnished 
 with a very small shell, as in Testacella^ is very exactly indicated by 
 Nature. Limax rufus, spoken of above, presents, under the posterior 
 part of the cuirass, calcareous, unequal, isolated granulations, which 
 are, so to speak, the elements, as yet internal, of a shell which is on 
 the point of being built. Other species in the same genus present 
 under the cuirass a little rough, imperfect scale, which seems to be 
 produced by a great number of those calcareous granulations, which 
 show themselves in an isolated state in Limax riifus. 
 
 The Hehcidse is the last family we have to consider of this order. 
 
 It is only necessary to witness the snail as it creeps along tht 
 gravel walks of a garden, or in the damp alleys of a park, in order to 
 see that it is a being uf higher organisation than the headless molluscs. 
 The common snail {Helix aspersa) goes and comes j it roams and 
 
 91. — Testacella haliotoides (Draparnaud). 
 
 saunters after its own peculiar manner, searching for its food or its 
 pleasure ; it has a head and two prominent tentacles, which feel and 
 seem to express their sensations ; it has nerves, a brain, a strong 
 mouth, and a well-formed stomach. 
 
 Without possessing a high order of intelligence, the snail is by no 
 means an imbecile ; it knows very well how to choose a tree the 
 fruit of which is agreeable to it. A fine cluster of grapes, a succulent 
 pear, which the horticulturist devours with his looks, and hopes to 
 devour otherwise, is sure to be the identical fruit which will be chosen 
 by our enlightened depredator the snail. 
 
 The body of the snail is oval, elongated, convex above, flat below. 
 The convex or upper surface of the body is rugged, in consequence 
 of the existence of numerous tubercles projecting slightly, and sepa- 
 rated by irregular furrows; its anterior is terminated by an obtuse 
 head, its posterior more flat and less pointed. All the flat portion, 
 thick and soft, and upon which the animal moves itself by a creej^ing 
 motion, bears the name of " foot.'' The head is not really very 
 distinct, especially in the upper part ; but the organs with which it 
 is provided are prominent. These organs are in reality tentacles, 
 although they are more popularly known as horns, especially among 
 
420 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 children — those charming ignoramuses — who have been taught to 
 repeat the well-known couplet — 
 
 ** Snail, snail, come out of your hole, 
 Or else I'll beat you black as a coal," 
 
 which finds its counterpart in all European languages. There are 
 two pairs of these tentacles or horns ; one pair quite in front and 
 above, and another smaller and less forward. The first, or upper 
 pair, is distinguished by its size, and also by a black spot or point at 
 their extremity, which are said to be the eye-specks of the snail. 
 These tentacles difi"er in many respects from the same organs in 
 other molluscs; they are retractile, and can be drawn altogether 
 within the animal into a sort of sheath, by the contraction of the 
 muscles. 
 
 At the anterior extremity of the head we find a sort of plaited 
 opening, which is the mouth ; it is of moderate extent, closed in front 
 by two lips, and armed with two shear-like organs of horny con- 
 sistence, one of them being a sort of rasp, which occupies the place 
 of the buccal cavity, and may be called a tongue \ the other is a 
 median jaw, placed transversely in the membranous walls of the 
 palate, terminating in a free edge, armed with small teeth. This 
 cutting blade, however, executes no movement; but the lingual 
 organ, pressing all alimentary matter forcibly against its lower edge, 
 effects their mastication, and enables it to dispose of fruit, tender 
 leaves, mushrooms, and other substances easily divided. 
 
 At the bottom of the mouth is an oesophagus, or gullet, to which 
 succeeds a stomach of moderate size. The intestine lies in folds 
 round the liver, which is divided into four lobes, and terminates in a 
 special orifice. 
 
 The httle lung of the snail is placed in a cavity, vast for its size, 
 just above the general mass of the viscera, and occupies all the last 
 spiral turn of the cavity. 
 
 The mechanism, of respiration is as follows : The animal inhales 
 the air into its lung by forcibly dilating the pulmonary orifice, which 
 lies in the largest spiral turn of the shell. In order to expel the air 
 respired by the lung, it withdraws its body into the narrower part of 
 the shell, where it gathers itself up completely, even to its head and 
 feet, and by this compression of all its little being it expels the air 
 which fills it. These respiratory movements, however, are not 
 regular, but succeed each other only at certain intervals. Life would 
 be too hard for the poor snail were it passed in such violent efforts 
 as would be necessary if it respired as the larger animals do. In its 
 
UNIVALVE MOLLUSCA. 421 
 
 case the breathing is intermittent and imperfect ; it is merely a rough 
 attempt, as it were, at respiration, which becomes perfect in some of 
 the higher branches of the animal kingdom. 
 
 The snail has a heart, consisting of a ventricle and auricle, con- 
 nected with a well- developed arterial vascular system, while the 
 venous system is imperfect. In short, the blood only returns from 
 the various parts of the body to the respiratory apparatus, after 
 traversing lacunœ, or air-cells, existing between the several organs. 
 The blood of the snail is a pale rose colour, slightly tinted with blue. 
 
 The snail has a rudimentary brain, composed of a pair of thick 
 ganglions, situated above the oesophagus, which is in connection with 
 another pair of ganglions placed below, and these two together form 
 a sort of collar, or ring, around the oesophagus. From this ring 
 spring a great number of nervous cords, which are distributed to the 
 mouth, the tentacles, the lung, and the heart. The skin, in those 
 parts covered by the shell, exhibits great sensibility ; it receives a 
 considerable number of nervous filaments, so that the sense of touch 
 ought to possess extreme delicacy. 
 
 The tentacles, the skin of which is so fine and so sensitive, are 
 the organs of touch. Other functions are sometimes attributed to 
 them ; the anterior tentacles are sometimes considered to be the 
 organs of smell. This, at all events, is certain, that the snail is very 
 sensible of strong odours, and is easily attracted by many plants the 
 odours of which please it. 
 
 The black points which terminate the first pair of tentacles have 
 been considered as eyes ; but the existence of a visual organ in the 
 snail is still disputed by some. They are quite insensible to sudden 
 changes of light ; they always travel in the dark, and never recognise 
 obstacles placed before them. We may add that the snail is destitute 
 of all organs of hearing. No noise appears to aiîfect it, at least till 
 the noise is so near as to agitate the air which immediately surrounds 
 it. Indeed, the snail has few senses ; the poor creature is at once 
 blind, deaf, and dumb. 
 
 The snails are male and female in the same individual, or herma- 
 phrodite. Their eggs are roundish, heavy, and of a whitish colour. 
 The animal deposits them on the soil in little irregular heaps ; at 
 other times it deposits them one after the other, fike the grains of a 
 chaplet, in holes which it digs in the soil, or in the natural excava- 
 tions created by moisture. The eggs are even found in the hollows 
 of old trees, and in fissures of walls or rocks. 
 
 When the young snail issues from the Qgg, it is already provided 
 with an extremely thin membranous shell. The timid and tender 
 
422 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 youth is conscious of its weakness, and full of humility. It rarely 
 trusts itself out of the obscure hole in which it was hatched ; when 
 it does, it is only at night, dreading the desiccating air, and above 
 all, the sun's rays, even with the house it always carries with it for 
 shelter. 
 
 This calcareous and velluted house is spiral, which the animal has 
 the inappreciable advantage of transporting without fatigue. It is 
 hght, and sometimes quite disproportionate to the body of the animal, 
 which it covers only in that part which contains the viscera and 
 respiratory organs. 
 
 The form of the shell is generally much variegated. Some are 
 flattened, others are orbicular or globose ; in some the spiral is very 
 pointed. The edges of the shell are sometimes simple, sharp, and 
 pointed ; others, on the contrary, thick and inverted, presenting an 
 edging of great solidity. The spire is generally rolled up from right 
 to left. A Helix shell, the spiral of which follows the inverse direc- 
 tion, that is, from left to right, is a rarity much sought after by 
 amateurs. 
 
 The ancients held snails in special esteem for the table. The 
 Romans had many species served up at their feasts, which they 
 distinguished in categories according to the delicacy of their flesh. 
 Pliny tells us that the best were imported from Sicily, from the 
 Balearic Isles, and from the Isle of Capri, the last dwelhng-place of 
 the aged Tiberius ; the largest came from lllyria. Ships proceeded 
 to the Ligurian coast to gather them for the tables of the Roman 
 patricians. The great consumption led to the estabhshment of parks 
 ( Cochlearia^ Varro ; Cochleariun vivaria, Pliny), in order to fatten 
 the animals, as is now done with oysters. They were fed for this 
 end upon various plants mixed with soup ; when it was desired to 
 improve the flavour, a little wine and sometimes laurel leaves were 
 added. These parks were formed in humid shady places surrounded 
 by a fosse or a wall. Pliny has even transmitted to us the name of 
 the inventor of the Cochlearia, a certain Fulvius Hispinus. Addison 
 describes, with details, one of these establishments kept up by the 
 Capuchins at Fribourg in vSwitzerland, in imitation of the ingenious 
 Roman gourmet we have named. 
 
 Among the Romans snails were served at the funeral repast. 
 Certain heaps of their shells, which are found in the cemetery of 
 Pompeii, are the remains of those funeral festivities with which the 
 inhabitants of the buried citv honoured the tombs of their friends 
 and relations 
 
UNIVALVE MOLLUSC A. 
 
 423 
 
 The practice of eating snails had fallen into disuse in Europe 
 when, in the seventeenth century, John Howard the philanthropist 
 began to collect them with the view of re-introducing them as human 
 food. He chose Helix Vari'oiiis^ which was probably the species 
 cultivated by the Romans ; it surpasses all those of Europe in size, 
 and was found plentifully in the district of Bagnes, in the Valois. 
 Howard, having procured the species from Bagnes, found them in- 
 crease so rapidly that the crops were likely to be devoured by the 
 swarms of molluscs thus brought together, and steps were at once 
 taken to destroy them. In other parts of Europe the snail continues 
 to be sought for as an article of luxury. They are consumed at 
 
 Fig. 192.— "Helix aspersa '(Muller). 
 
 Vienna in great numbers during Lent, supplies being brought from 
 the Swiss canton of Appenzell. At Naples a soup made from Hdix 
 iiemoralis is sold publicly to the strange population with which the 
 streets of that city swarm, for the king's pavement is their bed-chamber, 
 dining-saloon, and work-room. In France snails are a valuable re- 
 source to the poor in the southern departments. 
 
 The flesh of all the species of snails is not alike in a culinary 
 point of view. Amateurs class as first in quality Helix veriniailata, 
 called at Montpellier the Little Hermit, because it buries itself so 
 deeply in its shell. Helix aspersa (Figs. 192, 193, 194) is thought to 
 be more tender and delicate. In Provence a species is called 
 iapada, that is, " closed," from the cretaceous deposit with which it 
 closes its shell. 
 
 la the north of France and round Paris Helix pomatia is the. 
 
424 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 favourite culinary snail (Fig. 195). This is the species which is 
 used as a speaking sign-board over the doors of the wine-shops and 
 
 Fig. 193.— Helix aspersa (Millier). 
 
 Fig. 194. — Helix aspersa 
 (Var. Scalaris). 
 
 small restaurants in the neighbourhood of the Halles, at Paris. Its 
 shell is globose and tun-shaped, very solid, marked with irregular 
 
 transverse stripes of a brownish rust colour, with bands, often nearly 
 effaced, of a deeper tint, and of the same colour. The animal is 
 large, of a yellowish grey,, and covered with elongated irregular 
 tubercles. 
 
UNIVALVE MOLLUSCA, 
 
 425 
 
 Besides Helix pomatia, according to Moquin-Tandon, they eat in. 
 the north of France Helix sylvatica and H. nemoralis ; at Montpehier, 
 as we have ah-eady said, H. aspersa and H. rhodostoma ; dit Avignon, 
 also, these, along with H. vennicucata^ are favourites. In Provence,, 
 
 196. — Helix IMackenzi 
 (Adams) . 
 
 [97. — Helix undulata 
 (Ferussac). 
 
 Fig. 
 
 [98. — Helix translucida 
 (Linnseus). 
 
 Helex pisana, with H. aspersa and melastoma, are preferred, At Boni- 
 facio, Helix aspersa^ H veniiiculata^ and, more rarely, H. rhodostoma ; 
 and in other localities the smaller species and young individuals of 
 the larger kinds are employed for feeding poultry. 
 
 Figs. 199 and 200. — Helix Walton! (Reeve). 
 
 Certain species are also employed for feeding ducks. Thus, in 
 the neighbourhood of Montpellier, ducks are fed upon Helix variabilis 
 and H. rhodostoma. Some fishes, especially the young salmon, are 
 very partial to the flesh of snails. 
 
 This important genus is very numerous in species, which are 
 distributed in groups according to the form of the shell; that is, 
 
426 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 whether it be globulous, as in Fig. 196, tun-bottomed, as in Fig. 197, 
 plain or biforni, as in Fig. 198, or truncated, as in Figs. 199 and 200. 
 These figures will give the reader some idea of the multiplied and 
 elegant forms which the shells of the genus JIdix sometimes assume. 
 
 -Helix citrina (Linnseus). 
 
 202. — Helix Stuartia (Sowerby). 
 
 In connection with the genus Helix we shall note some kindred 
 genera which our space only permits us to name. Such is the genus 
 B7dimus,t\\& European species of which are numerous: some of them 
 
 Figs. 203 and 204.— Bulimns sultanus (Lamarck). 
 
 very small, others of medium size ; of these Buliimis sultamis (Figs. 
 203 and 204). In Figs. 205 and 206, the Berry Pupa (Pupa uva\ as 
 an example of another genus, is represented. 
 
 Yet another typical form may be noted, which is found abund- 
 antly amid the grass and in shrubs near brooks round Paris and 
 elsewhere. It is Succw^^ ^utris, presenting a small, thin, diaphanous 
 
UNIVALVE MOLLUSC A. 
 
 427 
 
 shell of a pale amber yellow, marked with close and very fine longi- 
 tudinal stripes (Fig. 207). The Achatina zebra of Chemnitz is a great 
 
 Figs. 205 and 206. — Pupa uva. 
 
 snail, which devours shrubs and trees in Madagascar (Fig. 208), 
 Finally, Vitrina^ the shell of which is very small and very thin in 
 
 Fig. 207. — Succinea putris 
 (Linnseus . 
 
 208. — Achatina zebra 
 (Chemnitz). 
 
 Fig. 209. — Vitrina fasciata 
 (Ed. and Soul).' 
 
 some species— so small, indeed, in Vitrina fasciata (Fig. 209), that 
 the animal cannot fully enter the shell — occupies a point of transition 
 between Helix and Lifjiax. 
 
428 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 PROSOBRANCHIATE GaSTEROPODS. 
 
 In the Prosobranchiate division of the Gasteropods the branchiae or 
 gills are composed of numerous leaflets cut Hke the teeth of a comb, 
 and attached, byone or many lines, to the upper part of the respiratory 
 cavity. They constitute the most numerous order of Cephalous 
 Molluscs, comprehending nearly all the univalve spiral shells, and 
 many others which are simply conical. They inhabit the sea, rivers, 
 and lakes, and are of all sizes. The most remarkable genera which 
 we shall describe belong to the family Trochoïdœ and BucciiLOÏdœ. 
 
 This^ the fourth order of Gasteropods, Prosobranchiata, includes 
 the Pectinibranchiata and three other orders of Cuvier; in it the sexes 
 are distinct, the branchiae pectinated or plume-Hke, situated {proson) in 
 advance of the heart, and the mantle forms a vaulted chamber over 
 the back of the head. It is divided into two sections and twenty-one 
 families. The first section, Holostomata, contains the sea-snails, where 
 the margin of the aperture of the shell is entire. The muzzle is short, 
 non-retractile, and they are mostly phytophagous. The second section 
 contains the carnivorous Gasteropods. The aperture of the shell is 
 notched or produced in front; animals with a retractile proboscis. 
 Unlike the first section, the species are all marine. 
 
 The first family is that of the Chitonidœ. The Chitons are very 
 singular creatures, destitute of eyes and of tentacles ; they bear upon 
 their back in place of a shell a cuirass composed of imbricated and 
 movable scales. They have the power of elongating and contracting 
 themselves like the snails. They roll themselves up into a ball like 
 the woodlouse. They adhere with great force to the rocks, preferring 
 those places most exposed to the beating waves. Chiton magnificus 
 (Fig. 210) is widely distributed. 
 
 The second family, Dentaliadœ, supplies the curious genus 
 Dtntaiium, or tooth shell. 
 
 The Patetlidœ, or Limpets, constitute the third and a very 
 numerous family, distinguished at once by the form and structure of 
 
UNIVALVE MOLLUSC A. 
 
 429 
 
 the animal and by that of the shell. Linn^us called it Patella, i.e.^ 
 a deep dish or knee-cap. 
 
 The shells of the Patellidse are univalve, oval, or circular, non- 
 spiral, but terminating in an elliptic cone, concave and simple beneath, 
 non-pierced at the summit, entire and inclined anteriorly. They are 
 smooth, or ornamented on the sides with ridges radiating from the 
 summit, and often covered with scales ; the edges are frequently 
 dentate. The colours are very varied. The interior is very smooth, 
 and remarkable for the brilliancy and lustre of its tints. 
 
 The head of the animal is furnished with two pointed tentacles or 
 horns, having an eye at the external base of 
 each. The body is oval and nearly circular, 
 conical, or depressed. The foot is in the form 
 of a thick fleshy disc. Certain lamellar branchi^ 
 are arranged in series all round the body. 
 
 The limpets dwell upon the sea-shore, in 
 the parts alternately covered and uncovered by 
 the waves. They are almost always attached 
 to rocks, or other submerged bodies, to which 
 they adhere with great tenacity. If the com- 
 mon limpet {Patella vulgata) is alarmed before 
 any attempt is made to dislodge it, no human 
 force, pulling in a direct line, can remove it, and 
 it can sustain without being crushed a weight of 
 many pounds. It holds on by the great quantity 
 of vertical fibres in its foot, which in raising 
 the median part forms in the centre a sort of sucker. It is the 
 celebrated experiment of the Magdeburg cups which these little 
 molluscs realise by their vital action. 
 
 These animals bury themselves in the chalky rocks to the depth 
 of two or three lines ; when they are dispersed, they are observed 
 constantly to return to the same place. Their movements are, 
 besides, extremely slow, the advance of the limpet being only 
 perceived by watching the slow upheaval of the shell above the 
 plane of its position. It is supposed, from the mouth being armed 
 on its upper edge with a large semi-lunar, horny, cutting tooth, and 
 in its lower part from having a tongue furnished with horny hooks, 
 and from their inhabiting in great numbers places covered with 
 marine plants, that their food is chiefly vegetable. 
 
 The poorer inhabitants of the coast eat limpets when they have 
 nothing else, but their flesh is singularly coriaceous and indigestible. 
 
 They are found in every sea; but are, however, found to be 
 
 ^^^^Kt-. 
 
 Chiloii niugiiificus 
 (Deshayes). 
 
430 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 larger as well as more numerous and much richer m colour m 
 equatorial seas, and especially in the southern hemisphere, than in 
 European seas. They attain, in fact, their maximum of develop- 
 
 Fig. 211. — Patella cserulea (Lamarck). 
 
 Fig. 212. — Patella umbelia (Gmel.) 
 
 ment there ; for in the Straits of Magellan species are found as large 
 as a slop-basin, which the natives use for culinary purposes. 
 
 The common limpet is thick, solid, oval, and nearly circular, 
 generally conical, and covered with a great number of very fine 
 
 Fig. 213.— Patella granatina (Linnaeus). 
 
 Fig. 214. — Patella barbata (Lamarck). 
 
 Stripes. Its colour is of a greenish grey, uniform above, and of a 
 greenish yeUow inside. It is abundant in the Channel and on 
 Atlantic coasts. 
 
 The blue limpet, Patella cœrulea (Fig. 211), from St. Helena, 
 aas an oval shell,, broadest behind, moderately thick, depressed, 
 
UNIVALVE MOLLUSC A. 
 
 431 
 
 flatuened, covered with angular wrinkles, and dentate on the edge. 
 It is of a spotted green outside and of a fine glossy blue within. 
 
 Other very elegant species are Patella wiibella (Fig. 212), from 
 the African coast ; Patella granatina (Fig. 213), the ruby-eyed 
 Hmpet from the Antilles ; Patella barbata, the bearded limpet 
 
 215 and 216. — Patella longicosla (Lamarck). 
 
 (Fig. 214); and the long spined Limpet, Patella lo/igieosta (Figs. 
 215 and 216). 
 
 The fourth family, Calyptrœidœ, of which the genera Pileopsls and 
 Calyptrœa may serve as a type, was classed by the older conchologists 
 with Patellidœ. Pileopsls hungaricus^ the Hungarian bonnet shell, is 
 rather abundant on some parts of the British coast. 
 
 The fifth family, Fissicrellldœ, contains the 
 genera Pa7^inoplwrus, the duck's-bill limpet of 
 Australia, and Fissnrella, the key-hole limpet, 
 which is remarkable for the opening of the 
 apex of the shell. 
 
 The sixth family, Ifallotldœ, contains Ian 
 tliijia, Scissii?'ella, and Haliotis. 
 
 Tbe attention of naturalists has long been 
 directed to a curious mollusc known under 
 the name of lanthina commiLiiis (Fig. 217); 
 
 its body is globular, and it presents an opening in front without con- 
 tracting itself in order to form the head, which is long and trumpet- 
 shaped, terminating in a large buccal opening, furnished with horny 
 plates, and covered with little hooks; and two conical _ tentacles, 
 slightly contracted, but very distinct, each bearing at their external 
 base a long peduncle. The foot is short, oval, divided into two 
 parts : the anterior, concave and cup-shaped ; the posterior, flat and 
 
 Fig. 217. 
 
 lanthina communis 
 
 (Lamarck). 
 
43'^ THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 fleshy. It is this foot, which bears a vesiculous mass like foam, 
 which gives its peculiar character to the pretty mollusc. The mass 
 consists of a great number of small eggs, which help to keep 
 the animal on the surface of the water. The shell is light, trans- 
 parent, violet-coloured, and very much resembles the shell of the 
 Helix. The lanthina inhabit the deep sea, and often form bands 
 of very great extent. Messrs. Quoy and Gaimard have seen legions 
 of lanthina driven by the current. They have sailed during many 
 days through these wandering tribes of molluscs, which would be the 
 sport of every gale if they could not, by drawing their heads within 
 their shells and contracting themselves, diminish their volume 
 and increase their weight at will, so as to sink quietly to the 
 bottom of the water till the tempest was over. The lanthijia 
 comnmnis possesses a liquid of a dark violet colour, which is believed 
 by many naturalists to have been one of the purple dyes known to 
 the ancients, if not the purple of Tyre : it is very common in the 
 Mediterranean, and in all the oceans. 
 
 Haliotis tuberculata, the ear-shell, is remarkable for its brilliant 
 colours, and for a line of singular perforations in many of the species. 
 
 The seventh family, Turbinidœ, contains Trochtis, Tiirbo, Rotella^ 
 Monodonta^ and Delphimda. 
 
 The species o. the genus Trochiis are found in all seas, and near 
 to the shore in the clefts of rocks, especially in places where sea- 
 weeds grow luxuriantly. Some of these thick, cone-shaped shells 
 are extremely beautiful, being richly nacred inside, and often re- 
 markable for the beauty and diversity of colour they exhibit. 
 Generally smooth, the principal spiral is, nevertheless, sometimes 
 edged with a series of regular spines. The form is conical, the spiral 
 more or less raised, broad and angular at the base ; the opening 
 entire, depressed transversely, and the edge disunited in the upper 
 part. 
 
 The animal which inhabits this shell is also spiral ; its head is 
 furnished with two conical tentacles, having at their base eyes borne 
 on a peduncle ; its foot is short, round at its two extremities, edged 
 or fringed round its circumference, and furnished with a horny 
 operculum, circular and regularly spiral. 
 
 The family consists of many genera or sub-genera. Among the 
 species of Trochus, properly so called, we may notice Trochus 
 niloticus (Fig. 218), T. vi7'gatus (Fig. 219), T. inerniis (Fig. 220), and 
 T. Cookii (Fig. 221), T. imhricatus (Fig. 222). 
 
 The species of the genus Turbo are very generally diffused, being 
 found on every shore, where they cling to rocks beaten by the waves. 
 
UNIVALVE MOLLUSC A. 433 
 
 About fifty species are known, some of them large shells, others very 
 
 Fig. 218. — Trochus niloticus (Linnaeus). 
 
 Fig. 2ig.— Trochus vlrgatus (Gmel. 
 
 Fig. 220.— Trochus inermis (Gmel.) Fig. 221. — Trochus Cookii (Chemnitz). 
 
 Fig. 222.— Trochus imbricatus (Gmel.) 
 
 Fig. 223.— Phorus conchyliophorus (Boifu). 
 
 small. Turbo margaritaceus (Fig. 224) is a large, thick, and weighty 
 shell, round-bellied, and deeply furrowed ; in colour it is yellow, or 
 
434 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 rust-coloured, marked by square brown spots. Turbo argyrostomiis^ 
 the Silver-mouthed Turbo (Fig. 225), is still larger, with protecting 
 spines on the top of its larger spiral. Turbo inarmoratus (Linnaeus), 
 
 Fig. 224. — Turbo margaritaceus 
 (Linnaeus). 
 
 l''ig. 225. —Turbo argyrostomub (Linnaeus). 
 
 Fig. 226. — Turbo marmoratus (Linnseus). 
 
 Fig. 227. — Turbo undulatus (Chemnitz). 
 
 the Marbled Turbo (Fig. 226), is the largest shell in the group. It is 
 marbled, green, white, and brown, outside, and superbly nacred within. 
 The Gold-mouthed Turbo is so named from its nacre being of a rich 
 golden yellow. The Wavy Turbo {T, undulatus, Fig. 2 2 7 ), commonly 
 
UNIVALVE MOLLUSC A. 
 
 435 
 
 known as the Australian Serpent's Skin. The shell is white, orna- 
 mented with longitudinal waving flexible lines of spots of green, or 
 greenish-violet. Turbo bnperialis (Fig. 228), from the Chinese seas, 
 is green without, and brilliantly nacred within; it is commonly known 
 as the paroquet shell. 
 
 The genus Tiirbo is found in the North seas, in the Channel, and 
 on the Atlantic coast. The animal is eaten in nearly all the seaports 
 of the Channel. 
 
 Rotella ZealiVidica, from the Indian Ocean, whose shell, represented 
 
 Fig. 229. 
 Rotella Zealandica, 
 
 Fig. 228.— Turbo imperialis (Gmel.). 
 
 Fig. 230. — Monodonta australi 
 (Lamarck). 
 
 in Fig. 229, presents the most lively colours, forms one of a genus 
 by no means numerous in species. This New Zealand species has 
 the spiral turns of its shell sculptured in descending furrows, and 
 studded with imbricated scales, which form a projecting edging 
 round its margin, and give it a radiating form. This species is 
 of a violet brown above and white below. 
 
 Near to the genera Trochus and Turbo in this system comes the 
 genus Monodonta. 
 
 The Monodonta are elegantly-marked shells, belonging to the seas 
 of warm countries. M. Australis (Fig. 230) is a native of the 
 Australian seas. M. labia (Fig. 231) is a small brown shell, with 
 
43^ 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 white spots, which is very common on the shores of the Medi- 
 terranean. 
 
 The eighth family is JSIeritidœ, of which we may give as typical 
 genera, Neritina, Navkella, and Nerita. The species of Nerita are 
 numerous and pretty, and are mostly marine. 
 
 Fig. 231.— Monodonta labia (Lamarck). 
 
 Fig. 232. — Delphinula sphserula (Kiener). 
 
 The ninth family, Turbijiidœ, has among its more important genera 
 those of Turbo, Phasianella, Trochus, Delphinula, and Iinperator, Of 
 Delphinula only about seventy living species are known. They are 
 
 Fig. 233.— Imperator Stella (Lamarck). 
 
 Fig. 234. — Trochus stellaris (Gmel). 
 
 mostly natives of the Indian Ocean, and are remarkable for their 
 numerous spines and the asperity of their sheUs (Fig. 232). Of the 
 genus l7nperator we may instance the Spurred Trochus, Imperator 
 Stella, which is studded with radiating spines (Fig. 233), Imperator 
 stellaris (Fig. 234), they are natives of the Australian seas, and 
 hnperator impeiHalis, commonly called the Royal Spur. 
 
 Our tenth family, littorinidœ, contains the genera Solarium^ 
 
UNIVALVE MOLLUSC A, 
 
 437 
 
 Littorifta, periwinkles, and Fhoriis, as an example of this latter genus, 
 we have F. Conchyliophortis (Fig. 223, page 443). 
 
 The Staircase-shell {^Solarium perspectivum)^ is recognised by its 
 deep umbilicus, wide and funnel-shaped, in the interior of which may- 
 be seen the little crenated teeth which follow the edge of every turn 
 of the spiral up to the top. In most collections of these pretty shells 
 we find this Staircase-shell {Solarium perspedivuni) of Lamarck, from 
 the Indian Ocean (Figs. 235, 236), the diameter of which is sometimes 
 two inches and a half. The Australian Sun-dial {S. variegafum, 
 Linnaeus, Fig. 237) is another species frequently seen in collections ; 
 it is as much variegated above as below, of a white and rusty brown 
 
 Fig- 235.— Solarium perspectivum. 
 
 Fig. 237.— Solarium vanegatum. 
 
 Another species, the minute, trelHsed Sun-dial, which is only ten 
 lines m diameter, comes from the coast of Tranquebar. 
 
 The eleventh family, Tîir?'iteliidœ, has, as typical genera, Vermetiis, 
 Scalaria, and Turidtella, which last is a genus with a great number 
 of species, many of which are found in every sea. All these shells, 
 as their name indicates, represent a winding pyramid, terminating in 
 a sharp point, some of them having fluted spirals, others rounded, 
 angular, or flat, and some of them elegantly pencilled. Figs. 238 to 
 242 represent some of the species of the genus. 
 
 The twelfth family, Melaiiiadœ, contains the fresh-water genera, 
 Paludoimis and Melania. 
 
 The thirteenth family, Cerithiadœ, contains the genera Potafiiides, 
 Aporrhais, and Cerithium. 
 
 The species of the genus Cerithium are marine, and are chiefly 
 found in muddy bottoms, and more frequently at the mouths of rivers, 
 
438 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 but rarely beyond the point to which the tide reaches. The genus is 
 numerous in species, of which we figure Cerithium fasciatum (Fig. 243) 
 and Cerithium aliico (Fig. 244). The Giant Cerithium, Cerithium 
 giganteum (Fig. 245), is the Uving analogue of a magnificent fossil 
 species belonging to the Tertiary formation. The single known 
 example of this species belongs to the Delessert Museum at Paris. 
 A manuscript note by Lamarck, attached to this specimen, relates 
 
 Fig. 238.— Turritella Fig. 239. -I'urri- Fig. 240.— Turritella Fig. 247.— Turri- Fig. 242.— Turri- 
 replicata (Linnseus). tella angulata sanguinea (Reeve), tella goniostoma. tella terebellata 
 (Sowerby). (Lamarck). 
 
 that this shell was first brought to Dunkirk in iSiobyan Englishman, 
 one of the crew of an English ship ; he had drawn it up from the 
 bottom of the sea with the sounding-lead from a bed of rocks off 
 the coast of Australia. 
 
 The fourteenth family, Pyraiîiidellidœ, contains the genera Eulima, 
 Siylifer, Chemnitzia, and Pyramidella. 
 
 The fifteenth family, Naticidce^ contains Velutina, Sigarefus, 
 Lamellaria, and Natica ; species of this last being found in most 
 seas. 
 
 The second section of the Frosobranchiata is termed Siphono- 
 STOMATA, and is characterised by the shell being spiral and usually 
 
UNIVALVE MOLLUSC A, 
 
 439 
 
 imperforate, the animal of which has sometimes a horny operculmii, 
 and is furnished with a retractile proboscis; the margin of the mantle 
 
 Fig. 243. — Cerithium 
 fasciatum (Brug.). 
 
 Fig. 244 — Cerithium 
 aluco. 
 
 Fig. 245. — Cerithium giganteum 
 (Lamarck). 
 
 is prolonged into a siphon. The species are all marine, and are 
 carnivorous. 
 
 The first family is the Cyprœidœ, containing the well-known genera, 
 Cyprœa and Ovvluni. 
 
440 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 The Cowries ( Cyprœa)^ have brilliant, smooth, and polished, oval- 
 shaped, or oblong convex shells, with edges rolling inwards, and longi- 
 tudinal openings, narrow, arched, dentate on both edges, and notched 
 at the extremities. The spiral, placed quite posteriorly, is very 
 small, and often hidden by a calcareous bed of a vitreous appearance. 
 
 It is now known that the form and colouring of the shells vary 
 very considerably, according to the age of the animal ; so much so, 
 indeed, that the same species examined at various stages of its growth 
 
 Adults. 
 
 Fig. 246. — Cypraea Scotti 
 (Broderip). 
 
 I. 247. — Cypraja Scottii 
 (Broderip). 
 
 Yoang. 
 
 Fig. 248.— Cyprsea 
 (Broderip), 
 
 would almost seem to belong to species and even to genera essentially 
 different. 
 
 The young cowries are thin, conical, elongated, with a conspicuous 
 spiral and large openings. The right edge soon becomes thicker, 
 and folds itself inwardly ; the opening is narrowed ; finally, the 
 spire is unfolded in successive folds from the right edge, and by 
 successive deposits, of the vitreous matter we have spoken of the 
 opening is gradually contracted, its extremities hollowed out, its edges 
 disconnected, and the shell, until now only shaded in pale tints, 
 assumes its most brilliant colours, which are disposed in bands or 
 spots, as exhibited in Figs. 246 and 247, which are the adult shells, 
 and Fig. 248, which is the young shell, of Cyprœa Scottii. 
 
 The animal which inhabits this shell is elongated, and is provided 
 
UN IV A L VE MOT. T. USCA, 
 
 44Î 
 
 with a well-developed mantle, furnished on the inside with a band of 
 tentacular filaments ; it is able to fold itself over its shell in such a 
 
 Fig. 252. — C^TDrssa tigris (Linn.). 
 
 Figs. 253 and 254.— Cyprsea argus (Linn.). 
 
 manner as to envelop it all round. The head is provided with two 
 very long conical tentacles, each having a very large eye. The foot 
 is oval, elongate, and without operculum, and is well represented in 
 
44^ 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 Cyprœa tigris (Fig. 255). The cowries are found at a little distance 
 from the shore, generally in clefts of the rocky bottoms ; but some- 
 times they bury themselves in the sand. They are timid, shun the 
 light, and only leave their retreats to creep about in search of food, 
 
 Fig. 255. — Cyprcca tigris (Linnaeus). 
 
 Fig. 256. — Cyprsea cocci- 
 nella (Lamarck). 
 
 which appears to be exclusively animal. These magnificent molluscs 
 are natives of every sea. One small species lives in the British 
 Channel ; another and much larger species is found in the Adriatic ; 
 but the Indian Ocean is the home of the largest and finest species 
 of these shells. 
 
 As objects of curiosity and ornament these shells have been much 
 
 FigK. 257 and 258. — Cypraea undata (Lamarck). 
 
 Figs. 259 and 260. — Cj'prsea zigzag 
 (Linnaeus). 
 
 in request in all ages. The inhabitants of the Asiatic coast make 
 bracelets, collars, amulets, and head-dresses of them, and use them 
 to ornament boxes and harness. In New Zealand and the Fijis the 
 chiefs carry a rare and choice species [Cyprœa auraiitmni), suspended 
 from the neck, as a badge of their rank or sign of distinction. The 
 species are, indeed, extremely numerous, and we can only find room 
 for very brief descriptions of a few of the best known amiong them.. 
 
UNIVALVE MOLLUSC A. 
 
 443 
 
 The Waving and Zigzag Corvries (C zigzag and C. undata, are 
 beautifully ornamented with waving and broken lines, as we see them 
 in Figs. 257 to 260. 
 
 The Orange Cowrie (C. aurmitiuni), of which we have spoken 
 
 Figs. 261 and 262. 
 Cyprsea moneta (Linnaeus). 
 
 Fig. 263. — Cypreea jMadagascariensis (Gmel.). 
 ^I and 2.) 
 
 Fig. 264. — Cyprsea 
 capensis (Gray). 
 
 Figs. 265 and 266. — Cyprsea testudinaria (Linnaeus). 
 
 above, is nearly globular, of a uniform orange colour above, and white 
 below ; the teeth of the opening are of a bright orange. The shell is 
 rare, and much sought after. 
 
 The Money Cowrie, Cy_prœa moneta (FigSo 261 and 262), is a 
 
444 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 Figs. 267 and it 
 Cyprœa nucleus (Linneeus). 
 
 little oval shell, depressed, flat below, with very thick edges and 
 slightly waving. It is of a uniform yellowish-white colour, sometimes 
 citron-yellow above and white below. There are usually twelve teeth 
 in the outer lip of the adult shell. It comes from the Indian Ocean, 
 the Maldivian Isles, and the Atlantic Ocean. 
 
 This shell, so common in collections, 
 is gathered by the women on the shore of 
 the Maldivian Isles, three days after the 
 full moons and before the new moons ; it 
 is afterwards transported to Bengal, to 
 India, and Africa, where it is used by the 
 negroes and other natives as money. 
 
 The Madagascar Cowrie, Cyprœa Ma- 
 dagascariensis (Fig. 263), and the Granular 
 Cowrie, Cyprœa niLcleiis (Figs. 267 and 
 268), are beautifully marked species, 
 having the general appearance of being 
 mammillated all over. 
 
 The species most abundant in the 
 British seas is the little Cypi^œa (Irivia) 
 europœa^ already mentioned ; it is very 
 small, oval, tun-bellied, the opening dilated 
 in front with smooth transverse stripes of 
 greyish, tawny, or rose-colour, with or 
 without spots. 
 
 Cyprœa mappa (Fig. 249) is oval- 
 shaped, swelling below its sides, well- 
 rounded, ornamented with small white 
 spots below, with a dorsal branching line 
 above ; the interior is violet colour, with 
 thirty-six teeth on one side, and forty-two 
 on the other. It is met with in the Indian 
 Ocean. 
 
 The Harlequin Cowrie, Cyprœa histrio 
 (Figs. 250 and 251), from the coast of Mada- 
 gascar, is ornamented with white spots very 
 closely arranged, and much circumscribed 
 above, with black spots upon the sides. The under side is violet. 
 
 A very fine species, which is very common in collections, is found 
 in the Indian Ocean, from Madagascar to the Moluccas — the Tiger 
 Cowrie, Cyprœa tigris^ already figured with the animal. The shell 
 (Fig. 252) is large, oval, tun-bellied, thick, and convex, of a bluish 
 
 Fig. 269. 
 Cyprsea pantherina (Sol ). 
 
UNIVALVE MOLLUSC A. 
 
 445 
 
 white, ornamented witli numerous broad, black, round spots, much 
 scattered, and a straight dorsal line, brown above, and very white 
 
 Fig. 270. — Natural size of Ovulum oviformis (Lamarck). 
 
 below. It has generally twenty- three teeth on each edge, quite white. 
 Somewhat resembling the Tiger Cowrie is the Cyprœa paniherina 
 (Fig. 269), which is perhaps a variety of the same species. Another 
 remarkable species is Cyprœ argus, as represented in 
 Figs. 253 and 254. 
 
 The genus Ovuluin, so called from their egg-shaped 
 form, occupy a place next to the Cowries in some 
 systems. The shell is highly pohshed, white or rose- 
 coloured, oblong or oval, convex, attenuate, and acu- 
 minate at the extremities without apparent spire, the 
 edges milled within the long, narrow, and curved open- 
 ing, with teeth upon the left edge, and with a few 
 ripples on the right edge. The species of Ovulum are 
 inhabitants of the Indian Ocean and Chinese Seas. 
 Some few species, however, belong to the Mediterranean and the 
 Black Sea. The three species represented in Figs. 270, 271, and 
 272, present very singular contrasts of form and size. 
 
 The second family, Volutidœ, contains the genera Cyniba, Mar- 
 gifiella, Mitra, and Valuta. 
 
 The Mitres are so called from their resemblance to the bishop's 
 
 Fig. 271. 
 
 Ovulum cornea 
 
 (Lamarck). 
 
44^ THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 mitre. They are chiefly natives of warm climates, such as the Indian 
 Ocean, the Austrahan Seas, and the Mokiccas. The shells of the 
 
 272.- Ovulum volva (Linnseus). 
 
 Mitres are long, slender, and spiral, the spire ending in a point at the 
 summit : the opening is smah, narrow, and triangular, and notched 
 
 in front. The animal has a very 
 long proboscis ; it emits a purple 
 liquid, having a nauseous odour 
 when irritated. The eyes are 
 placed on the tentacles or at their 
 base. Miti^a episcopalis (Fig. 273), 
 from the Indian Ocean, is white, 
 ornamented with square spots of a 
 fine red, and capable of high polish. 
 Mitra papalis (Fig. 274) has 
 dentiform folds round the open- 
 ing, which also crown each turn of 
 the spiral ; the spots are smaller, 
 and much more numerous and 
 varied in form than those of 
 M. episcopalis. 
 
 In the genus Valuta the shell 
 is oval, more or less tun-bellied 
 — the spire is short, slightly mam- 
 millate, the opening large, the 
 edges notched, without channel ; 
 the columellar edge is lightly ex- 
 cavated and arranged in oblique 
 folds. The right edge is arched, 
 thick, or cutting, according to the 
 species. 
 The animal has a large head, provided with two tentacles. The 
 mouth terminates in a thick trunk furnished with hooked teeth. The 
 foot is very large, furrowed in front, and projecting from all parts of 
 
 Fig._ 273. 
 
 Mitra episcopalis 
 
 (Lamarck). 
 
III.— Voluta Delessertii (Petit). IV.— Volutamusica (Linn.). V.—Voluta imperialis (Lamarck). 
 
 VI.— Voluta scapha (Gmel.). 
 
 Vll.—Voluta vexillum (Chem.)» 
 
 XX.— Voluta. 
 
UNIVALVE MOLLUSCA. 449 
 
 the shell, but without operculum. The Volutes live on the sands 
 near the shore ; sometimes they are found high and dry, left by the 
 retreating tide. Their shells, of various forms, are ornamented with 
 the most lively colours, the surface covered with irregular lines, 
 the tint of which is generally in strong contrast with that of the 
 ground. 
 
 Among the more remarkable species illustrated in Plate XX., 
 we may note: Fig. I., Voluta undulata : Fig. IL, Voluia cymbiwn ; 
 Fig. III., VoliLta Delessertii ; Fig. IV., Voluta nmsica ; Fig. V., Voluta 
 imperialis ; Fig. VI., Volitta scapha; and Fig. VII., Voluta vexillu77i. 
 
 The third family, Cojiidœ, contains Pleurotonia and Conus. 
 
 The genus Conus is especially rich in species, as well as numerous 
 in individuals. The shells are much sought after by collectors, many 
 being rare, and so command high prices. Those belonging to 
 this group present a very remarkable uniformity of shape, at the 
 same time that the colours are very fine, and much varied in design. 
 The shell is thick, solid, inversely conical, wreathing spirally from the 
 base to the apex, the spire being generally short, the last turn con- 
 stituting alone the greater part of the surface of the shell. The 
 opening extends nearly along its whole length, occupying all the 
 height of the last whorl. It is always narrow, its edges quite parallel ; 
 the columella presents neither fold nor curvature ; the right edge is 
 plain, sharp, and thin, detached from the front of the last spiral by a 
 sloping hollow, more or less deep. 
 
 The animal creeps upon a foot, elongated, narrow, truncate in 
 front, furnished behind with a horny rudimentary operculum, altogether 
 insufficient to cover the opening. The head, which is large, is 
 elongated into a little snout, or muzzle, at the base of which rises on 
 either side a conical tentacle, having an exterior eye upon its anterior 
 extremity. At the extremity of the muzzle is the mouth, which is 
 armed within with numerous horny teeth in pairs, elongate or hastate. 
 A cylindrical syphon, reversing itself in the shell, serves the purpose 
 of carrying water to the branchiae or gills. The shells inhabit the 
 seas of warm countries, especially those lying between the Tropics, 
 where they affect sandy coasts, with a depth of ten to twelve fathoms 
 of water. 
 
 Among the species bearing a spiral crown, we may mention the 
 rare Conus cedo-nnlli, of which several va.rieties are known, which come 
 from the South American Seas and the Antilles. 
 
 Co7ius hebraica, from the shores of Asia, Africa, aud America, is a 
 common species. It is white with black spots, which are nearly 
 square, arranged in transverse bands, 
 p 
 
450 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 In Plate XXI. we have represented some interesting species. 
 Conus imperialis (Fig. I.) is a fine species, of white colour, with bands 
 of a greenish yellow or tawny colour, ornamented with transverse, cord- 
 like, articulated lines of white and brown. One of the largest species 
 IS Co7ius geog7'ap}nis (Fig. II.), which sometimes attains the length of 
 six or seven inches ; it is shaded white and brown. 
 
 Among the non-crowned species, we have represented in Fig. III. 
 Cojius tessellatiis^ common in the Indian Ocean. Its anterior part is 
 violet in the interior. The spots with which it is surrounded are of 
 a fine red or scarlet, or, in short, a red lead colour upon a white 
 ground. 
 
 Conns ammiralis^ of which three varieties. Figs. IV., V., and VI., 
 are natives of the seas which bathe the Moluccas ; they are beautifully 
 marked varieties, of a brownish citron colour, marked with white 
 spots nearly triangular, with tawny bands painted in very fine tracery. 
 This species has been, and is still, much sought after by collectors, 
 and presents many varieties besides those represented. 
 
 Among the shells, which seem almost ready to become cylindrical, 
 may be noted Conus nobilis (Fig. VIL), a rare shell of yellowish colour 
 approaching citron, ornamented with white spots. The golden drop, 
 Conus textile (Fig. VI 1 1.), is yellow in colour, ornamented with 
 waving longitudinal lines of brown, and white corded spots edged 
 with tawny colour. The glory of the sea, Conus gloria maris (Fig. 
 IX.), is white in colour, banded with orange, and reticulated with 
 numerous triangular white spots edged with brown. This is a native 
 of the East Indies, and one of the most beautiful shells of the whole 
 group. 
 
 The fourth family, Biiccinidœ, contains numerous genera, as 
 examples of which we may instance Oliva, Har'pa, Cassis, Purpura^ 
 Nassa, Terebra, Eburna, and Buccimnn. 
 
 The genus Oliva is so named from its resemblance in form to the 
 olive. Its nearly cylindrical shell is slightly spiral, pohshed, and 
 brilliant, as in the Cowries; its opening is still long and narrow, strongly 
 notched in front, its edge columellar, swollen anteriorly into a kind of 
 cushion, and striped obliquely in all its length. 
 
 These Molluscs belong to the seas of warm countries, M^here they 
 frequent the sandy bottoms and clear waters. They creep about 
 with much agiHty, reversing themselves quickly when they have been 
 overturned ; they live upon other animals, and are flesh-eaters. They 
 are, in fact, taken at the Isle of Tranu by using flesh as bait. The 
 colours of the shell are very varied, and sometimes fantastically 
 streaked. Oliva eiythrostoina (Fig. 275) is ornamented externally 
 
I- — Conur, imp^nalis (Linn ), 
 
 II. — Conus geographus 
 (Linn.). 
 
 IV., V. — Conns ammiralis (Linn.). 
 
 III. — Conus tescellatus 
 (Born.). 
 
 VI. — Conu.s ammiralis 
 (Linn. ). 
 
 Vll.-Conus nobilis (Linn.). IX.— Conus gloria maris (Chemn.). Vlll.-Conus textile (Linn.). 
 
 XXI. — Conus. 
 
UNIVALVE MOLLUSC A. 
 
 453 
 
 with flexual lines of a yellowish brown, with two brown bands, 
 combined with the fine yellowish tint of gold colour within. Oliva 
 porphyria^ from the Brazil coast (Fig. 276), presents lines of a reddish 
 brown, regularly interlaced with spotted large brown marks, upon a 
 flesh-coloured ground. Oliva irisans (Fig. 277) is painted in zigzag 
 lines, close and brown, edged with orange-yellow, and with two zones 
 of darker brown, and reticulated. Oliva Fe?^uviana (Fig. 278) is 
 furrowed with regularly spaced bands. 
 
 In the genus Cassis the shell is oval, convex, and the spire is 
 
 Fig. 275. 
 
 Oliva erythrostoma 
 
 (Lamarck), 
 
 Fig. 276. 
 
 Oliva porphyria 
 
 (Linnaeus). 
 
 Fig. 278. 
 
 Oliva Peruviana 
 
 (Lamarck). 
 
 not of considerable height. The longitudinal opening is narrow, 
 terminating in front in a short channel, which becomes suddenly 
 erect towards the back of the shell, as in Cassis glauca (Fig. 279), a 
 fine shell from the Moluccas. The columeUa is folded or toothed 
 transversely, as in Cassis rufa, Fig. 280 ; the right edge thick, 
 furnished with a sort of pad externally, and dentate within. This 
 shell is from the Indian Ocean, and is of a fine purple colour, varied 
 with black above ; the edges of the opening being of a coral red 
 colour, the teeth alone being white. 
 
 The head of the animal is large and thick, furnished with two 
 conical elongated tentacles, at the base of which are the eyes. The 
 mantle is ranged outside the shell, falling back upon the edges of the 
 opening, and terminating at its anterior extremity in a long cylindrical 
 channel, cloven in front, and passing by a hollow at the base into the 
 
454 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 branchial cavity. The foot is large, and furnished with a horny 
 operculum. 
 
 These animals keep near the shore, in shallow water. They walk 
 
 Fig, 279. — Cassis glauca 
 (Linnaeus). 
 
 Fig. 280. — Cassis rufa Fig. 281.— Cassis canaliculats 
 
 (Linnseus). (Brugières). 
 
 Figs. 282 and 283.— Cassis Madagascariensis (Lamarck). 
 
 slowly, and often sink themselves into the sand, where they prey 
 upon small bivalves. There are not very many species ; but specie 
 mens from the Indian Ocean are often large and beautifully marked. 
 
UNIVALVE MOLLUSC A. 45 Ç 
 
 The shells of the less marked species are frequently used in India as 
 lime for making mortar, under the name of Chunam. 
 
 Our space only permits us to mention, among the more curious 
 species. Cassis canaliculata (Fig. 281), two varieties of Cassis Mada- 
 gascariensis (Figs. 282 and 283), and the curious Cassis Zebra 
 (Lam.), or Zebra-marked Casque (Fig. 284). 
 
 The Purpuras have a classical name and history, having furnished 
 the Greeks and Romans with the brilliant purple colouring matter 
 which was reserved for the mantles of patricians and princes. The 
 genus Purpura is characterised as possessing an oval shell, thick 
 pointed, with short conical spiral, as in Fwpura lapillus (Fig. 285). 
 In some it is tubercular or angular, the last turn of the spiral being 
 larger than all the others put together. The opening is dilated, ter- 
 minating at its lower extremity in an oblique notch. The columellar 
 edge is smooth, often terminating in a point ; the right edge often 
 digitate, thick internally, and folded or rippled. 
 
 The animal presents a large head, furnished with two swollen 
 conical tentacles, close together, and bearing an eye towards the 
 middle of their external side. Its toot is large, bilobate in front, 
 with a semicircular horny operculum. 
 
 The species of Purpura inhabit the clefts of rocks in marine 
 regions covered with algae. On occasions they bury themselves in 
 the sand. They creep about by the help of their foot in pursuit of 
 bivalves. They are found in all seas ; but the larger species and 
 greatest numbers come from warm regions, more especially from the 
 West Indian and Australian seas. 
 
 The Purpura of the ancients was not, as is generally thought, a 
 vermilion red, but rather a very deep violet, which at a later period 
 came to have various shades of red. The secret of its preparation 
 was only known to the Phœnicians, that being most esteemed which 
 came from Tyre. Sir William Wilde has discovered on the eastern 
 shores of the Mediterranean, near the ruins of Tyre, a certain number 
 of circular excavations in the solid rock. In these excavations he 
 found a great number of broken shells of Murex trunculus. He 
 thinks it probable that they had been bruised in great masses by 
 the Tyrian workmen, for the manufacture of the purple dye. Many 
 shells of the same species are found actually living on the same coast 
 at the present time. 
 
 Aristotle, in his writings, dwells upon their purple dye. He says 
 that this dye is taken from two flesh-eating molluscs inhabiting the 
 sea which washes the Phœnician coast. According to the description 
 given by the celebrated Greek philosopher, one of these animals had 
 
456 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 a very large shell, consisting of seven turns of the spire, studded with 
 spines, and terminating in a strong beak ; the other had a shell much 
 smaller. Aristotle named the last animal Buccinum. It is thought 
 that the last species is to be recognised in the Fuj^pm-a lapillus 
 (Fig. 285), which abounds in the Channel. Reaumur and Duhamel 
 obtained, in fact, a purple colour from this species, which they applied 
 to some stuffs, and found that it resisted the strongest lye. The 
 genus Murex is supposed by some to have contained the species 
 indicated by Aristotle. 
 
 Up to the present time, the production of the Tyrian purple remains 
 
 Fig. 284.— Cassis zebra (Lamarck). Fig. 285.— Purpura lapillus. Fig. 286. -Purpura patula. 
 
 a mystery. It was long thought this fine dye was furnished by the 
 stomach and liver ; but M. Lacaze-Duthiers has demonstrated 
 that the organ which secretes it is found on the lower surface 
 of the mantle, between the intestines and the respiratory organs, 
 where it forms a sort of fascia, or small band. The colouring matter, 
 as it is extracted from the animal, is yellowish ; exposed to the light, 
 it becomes golden yellow, then green, taking finally a fine violet tint. 
 While these transformations are in progress a peculiarly pungent 
 odour is disengaged, which strongly reminds one of that of assafoetida. 
 That portion of the matter which has not passed into the violet tint 
 is soluble in water ; when it has taken that tint it becomes insoluble. 
 The appearance of the colour seems provoked rather by the in- 
 fluence of the sun's rays than by the action of the air. The matter 
 
UNIVALVE MOLLUSC A. 
 
 457 
 
 attains its tinal colour, in short, in proportion to the power of 
 the sun's rays. 
 
 It is a question how far the colour evolved under the solar rays 
 remains indelible. It is known that the contrary is the case with the 
 colouring matter of the cochineal insect, which changes very quickly 
 when exposed to the sun. It is probable that it was the remarkable 
 resistance which this purple opposed to the rays of the sun which re- 
 commended it to the ancients. The patricians of Rome, and the rich 
 citizens of Greece and Asia Minor, loved to watch the magical reflec- 
 tions of the sun on the glorious coloui which ornamented their mantles. 
 
 -Purpura consul 
 
 Fig. 288. — Buccinum 
 senticosum( Linnaeus). 
 
 Fig. 289. — Buccinum undatum 
 (Linnseus). 
 
 But to return to our humble shells. Purpura lapillus (Fig. 285) 
 is a thick shell, oval, acute, with conical spire, generally of a faded or 
 yellowish white, zoned with brown, and more or less spotted. 
 
 Purpura patula (Fig. 286) is very common in the Philippines, 
 and is one of the handsomest species ; its geographical distribution 
 has been a subject of much inquiry. 
 
 Pwpura co7isul {¥\g, 287) is one of the large shells of this genus, 
 and of a fine salmon colour, with brown bands and a corona of 
 spines. 
 
 The genus Bu.ccinum resembles that of Purpura in many respects. 
 Its shell is oval or conical, much notched in front. The species 
 inhabit every sea, especially those of Europe. The animal has a 
 
458 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 small flat head, furnished with lateral tentacles or horns, bearing the 
 eyes upon an external swelling, situated near their central length. 
 We need only refer to Fig. 288, Buccinwn senticosum^ and Biiccijiwn 
 undatuin, the well-known whelk of our markets (Fig. 289), for their 
 general form. 
 
 The genus Harpa contains shells from the Indian Ocean, richly 
 enamelled within, and ornamented externally with slightly oblique 
 longitudinal stripes in gay colours, with finely-sculptured forms in the 
 intervals ; spire very small, and opening large. Among the more 
 
 Fig. 290. — Harpa ventricosa (Lamarck). 
 
 Fig. 291. — Harpa imperialis (Lamarck). 
 
 attractive species are Harpa ventricosa (Fig. 290), Harpa imperialis 
 (Fig. 291), and Harpa ariiciûaris (Fig. 292). 
 
 The fifth family, Mw'icidœ^ contains Fusus^ Fyrula, Triton, and 
 Murex. 
 
 The genus Murex, or Rock Shells, include a large number of 
 species, all remarkable for- their bright colours and somewhat fantas- 
 tical and varied forms. They are found in all seas, but become 
 larger and more branching in the seas of warm regions. The shell 
 is oval, or rather oblong, the spire more or less elevated, its surface 
 generally covered with rows of spines, or tubercular ramifications. 
 The opening, which is oval, is prolonged in a straight canal, often of 
 very considerable length, as in Murex haustelluni (Fig. 293) \ the 
 external edge is often smooth or rippled, the columellar edge some- 
 times callous. 
 
UNIVALVE MOLLUSCA. 459 
 
 The head of the animal is furnished with two horns or tentacles, 
 with ocelli upon their external side, the mouth elongated in the form 
 of a proboscis. The foot is large and round, and furnished with a 
 horny operculum. 
 
 Among the species with long slender tube, covered with spines, 
 one of the most notable is Miu^ex tenuispina (Fig. 294), which is a 
 native of the Indian Ocean and the Moluccas. 
 
 Fig. 292.— Harpaarticularis Fig. 293.— Murex haustellum Fig. 294. — Murex tenuispina 
 (Lamarck). (Linnœus). (Lamarck). 
 
 Among the strong-tubed species with long canal and no spines, from 
 the same regions, is Muirx haustellum (Fig. 293). 
 
 Among the short-tubed species, furnished with foliaceous and 
 jagged fringes, is Mwex scorpio (Fig. 295). 
 
 One more typical species may be noted, namely. Murex erinaceus 
 (Fig. 296), which is found on all the coasts of Europe, and especially 
 in the British Channel. Other species worthy of notice are found in 
 the Mediterranean and Adriatic, some of them, according to Cuvier 
 and de Blainville, species which furnished the true Tyrian purple of 
 the ancients j but our space prevents us from dwelling on them. 
 
460 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 Fig. 295.— Murex bcorpi 
 (Linnaius). 
 
 Fig. 29C. --Murex erinaceus 
 (Linnaeus). 
 
 Fig. 297.— Triton variegatum Fig. 298.— Triton lotorium Fig. 299.— Triton anus 
 (Lamarck). (Linnaeus). (Lamarck). 
 
 The genus Triton is ranged beside the genus Murex in this 
 system. The shell is irregularly covered with scattered swelling 
 excrescences, not; as in Murex, in longitudinal rows^ but scattered 
 
UNI VAL VE MOLL USCA. 
 
 461 
 
 ail over the surface. About 100 species of Triton are known. They 
 inhabit many seas, but more especially those of warm countries. 
 Trito7i variegatum^ commonly called the Marine Trumpet (Fig. 297), 
 
 Fig. 300. — Fiisus proboscidiferus 
 (Lamarck). 
 
 Fig. 301.— Fusu.s pagodus 
 (Lesson). 
 
 Fig. 302. — Fusus colus. 
 
 is a very large shell, which even attains a length of sixteen inches ; 
 it is enamelled with great elegance in white, red, and tawny brown. 
 It comes from the Indian Ocean, where the shells are very common. 
 Trito7i lotorhim (Fig. 298) is of a reddish brown externally and white 
 within. The Trito?i anus (Fig. 299) is of a whitish colour, spotted 
 with red. 
 
462 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 The genus Fusus (or spindle- shells) is distinguished by the 
 elegance of its form rather than by the brilliancy of its colours. The 
 species are spindle-shaped, spire many-whorled, canal long, operculum 
 egg-shaped. Among the more remarkable species may be noted 
 Fusus proboscidiferus (Fig. 300), Fusus pagodus (Fig. 301), and 
 Fusus colus (Fig. 302). 
 
 The sixth family is Stromhidœ, of which we give as typical genera 
 Fostellaria, Fteroceras, and Strombus. Strombus is a marine genus, 
 belonging to equatorial seas, of whose habits and manners very litde 
 is known. It is probable that the species are long lived, for their 
 shells, when found perfect, have acquired a very considerable thick- 
 
 Fig. 303. — Strombus gigas (Linnaeus), with the animal. 
 
 ness and weight. They are even found encrusted in the interior with 
 numerous layers of soft earthy sediment, and covered externally with 
 small corals and other marine productions. Strombits gigas is repre- 
 sented in Figs. 303 and 304. 
 
 Some species of Sh-ombics attain great size, and are placed as orna- 
 ments in halls and dining-rooms. In some of them the opening is 
 brilliantly shaded, and those are chiefly sought after to decorate 
 grottoes in gardens, or for collections of shells, where, from their size, 
 they necessarily occupy a prominent place. 
 
 These shells are rather ventricose, terminating at their base by a 
 short canal, notched or truncated ; the right edge gets dilated with 
 age ; simple on one wing, lobed or cuneated in the upper part, and 
 presenting in its lower part a groove or cavity separated from the 
 canal or from the notch at the base. But these shells are not merely 
 
UNIVALVE MOLLUSCA. 
 
 46; 
 
 ornamental, for some of the streets of Vera Cruz are said to be 
 paved with Strombus gigas. 
 
 The animal which inhabits this shell presents a distinct head, pro- 
 vided with a trunk or snout, and with two tentacles or horns, each 
 bearing a large and vividly-coloured eye. The footis compressed and 
 divided into two portions, the posterior one, which is the longest, bear- 
 ing a horny operculum. In the eagle-winged Strombus, represented 
 in Figs. 303 and 304, these several peculiarities are well developed. 
 This shell is large, turbinate, distended in the middle, with an acutely- 
 
 Fig. 304. — Shell of Strombus gigas. 
 
 Fig. 305. — Strombus gallus (Linn.). 
 
 pointed spire studded with conical tubercles, the right edge very 
 broad, rounded off below. The opening is of a vivid rose purple 
 fading into white. It is a native of the Antilles. 
 
 Stro7nbus gallus, or the Angel-winged (Fig. 297), is veined with 
 stripes of white and red, and comes from the coasts of Asia and 
 America. Strombus luhuanus (Fig. 306) is fawn-coloured, marked 
 with white, externally the right edge is red and striped, inside the 
 columella is shaded purple and black. 
 
 Strombus cancellatus, the trellised Strombus (Fig. 307), is small 
 in size, and white in colour. Sti^ombus thersites is also represented 
 in Fig. 308. 
 
 The genus Pteroceras, from irrephu, wing, and K^pa-s, horn, in many 
 respects resembles the genus Strombus.. The. species are distinguished. 
 
464 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 ?\'g. 306. — Strombus luhuanus Fig. 307- — Strombus can- Fig. 
 (Linnaeus). cellatiis (Lamarck). 
 
 —Strombus thersites(Gra3')o 
 
 Fig. 309. — Pteroceras scorpno 
 (Linnaeus). 
 
 Fig. 310. — Pteroceras millepeda 
 (Linnaeus). 
 
 irom those of Stronihus chiefly in this, that the right edge develops 
 itself with age into long and slender digital spines more or less 
 numerous, the numbers of which vary according to the species. The 
 
UNIVALVE MOLLUSC A. 
 
 465 
 
 species of Pterocera are found in the seas of both hemispheres, their 
 vulgar denomination being sea-spider or scorpion shells. A glance at 
 the illustrations (Fig. 309, Pteroceras sco7'pio ; Fig. 310, P. millepeda ; 
 Fig. 311, P. chiragra; and Fig. 312, P. lainbis)^^''^ satisfy the reader 
 as to the general correctness of this designation. 
 
 Fig. 311. — Pteroceras chiragra (Linnaeus). 
 
 Fig. 312.— Pteroceras lambis fLinnseus'). 
 
 The genus Pteroceras, whose remarkable form is so well calculated 
 to excite our admiration, has yet another attraction : the colouring of 
 the shells exhibits many shades, which are particularly varied towards 
 the opening, where it is generally distinguished by great freshness 
 and brilliancy, which, added to its other characters, render it among 
 the most interesting of all the Gasteropods. 
 
466 
 
 CHAPTER XVTI. 
 
 PTEROPODS. 
 
 '* Natura non facil saltus." — LlNN^^US. 
 
 The position of the Pteropoda is somewhat unsatisfactory Theii 
 organisation in some respects places them below the level of the 
 Gasteropods ; yet the general feeling amongst naturalists has been 
 to assign them a place between the Gasteropods and the most highly 
 organised of the molluscs, the Cephalopods. The number of genera 
 and species is very much less than that of the other great classes 
 of molluscs. 
 
 The principal characteristic of the Pteropoda is a membranous 
 expansion situated on the right and left side of their head, from 
 which they take their name of Pteropoda, from irTephv, wing, and irovs, 
 gen. TToBhs, foot, winged feet. 
 
 The wings or flappers with which they are provided enable them 
 to pass rapidly through the water, reminding us strongly of the 
 movements of a butterfly, or other winged insect, and like them, 
 their motions are long continued. They advance in this manner in 
 a given direction, while the body or the shell remains in an obhque 
 or vertical position. 
 
 These httle molluscs may be seen to ascend to the surface very 
 suddenly, turn themselves in a determinate space, or rather swim, 
 without appearing to change their place, while sustaining themselves 
 at the same height. If anything alarms them they fold up their 
 flappers, and descend to such a depth in their watery world as will 
 give them the security they seek. They thus pass their lives in the 
 open sea far from any other shelter, except that yielded by the gulf 
 weed and other algae. In appearance and habits, these small and 
 sometimes microscopic creatures resemble the fry of some other 
 forms of moUusca. They literally swarm both in tropical and 
 arctic seas ; and are sometimes so numerous as to colour the ocean 
 for leagues. They are the principal food of whales and sea-birds in 
 high latitudes, rarely approaching the coast. Only one or two 
 
PTEROPODS. 467 
 
 species have been accidentally taken on our shores, and those 
 evidently driven thither by currents into which they have been en- 
 tangled, or by tempests which have stirred the waters with a 
 power beyond theirs. Dr. Leach states that in 181 1, during a tour 
 to the Orkneys, he observed on the rocks of the Isle of Staffa 
 several mutilated specimens of Clio horealis. Some days after, 
 having borrowed a large shrimp-net, and rowing along the coast of 
 Mull, when the sea, which had previously been extremely stormy, 
 had become calm, he succeeded in catching one alive, which is now 
 in the British Museum. 
 
 ^ In structure," Mr. Huxley tells us, " the Pteropods are most 
 nearly related to the marine univalves, but much inferior to them. 
 Their numerous ganglia are concentrated into a mass below the 
 oesophagus ; they have auditory vesicles containing otolithes, and 
 are sensible of light and heat, and probably of odours, although at 
 most they possess very imperfect eyes and tentacles. The true foot 
 is small or obsolete; in Cleodora (Fig. 317) it is combined with the 
 fins ; but in Clio it is sufficiently distinct, and consists of two 
 elements ; in SpiriaHs the posterior portion of the foot supports an 
 operculum. The fins are developed from the sides of the mouth or 
 neck, and are the equivalents of the side-lappets iepipodia) of the 
 sea-snails. The mouth of Pneimioderino7i is furnished with two 
 tentacles supporting miniature suckers; these organs have been 
 compared to the dorsal arms of the cuttle-fishes ; but it is doubtful 
 whether their nature is the same. A more certain point of resem- 
 blance is the ventral flexure of the alimentary canal, which terminates 
 on the under surface near the right side of the neck. The Pteropods 
 have a muscular gizzard armed with gastric teeth, a Hver, a pyloric 
 c£ecum, and a contractile renal organ opening into the cavity of the 
 mantle. The heart consists of an auricle and a ventricle, and is 
 essentially opisthobranchiatic, although sometimes affected by the 
 general flexure of the body. The venous system is extremely in- 
 complete. The respiratory organ, which is little more than a ciliated 
 surface, is either situated at the extremity of the body, and unpro- 
 tected by a mantle, or included in a branchial chamber with an 
 opening in front. The shell when present is symmetrical, glassy. 
 and translucent, consisting of a dorsal and a ventral plate united, 
 with an anterior opening for the head, lateral slits for long filiform 
 processes of the mantle, and terminated behind in one or three points; 
 in other cases it is conical or spirally-coiled, or closed by a spiral 
 operculum. The sexes are united, and the orifices are situated on 
 the right side of the neck. According to Vogt, the embryo Pteropod 
 
458 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 has deciduous vela like the sea-snails, before the proper locomotive 
 organs are developed." 
 
 The Pteropods seem to be eminently sociable and gregarious, 
 swarming together in great numbers ; they present some analogical 
 resemblances to the Cephalopoda ; but permanently they represent 
 the larval stage of the sea-snails. De Blainville divides the group 
 into two sections, Thecosomata and Gyinîiosomata, the first including 
 the Hyaleidœ and Limacinidœ ; the second contains one family, the 
 Cliidœ. Of these three principal families of Pteropods, the first, 
 the Cliidœ, contains Cymodocea, Pelagia, Pneumodermon, and Clio ; 
 the second, Limacijiidce, contains Macgillivrayia, Cheletropis, Spinalis, 
 and Limacina ; the third, Hyaleidœ^ contains Tiedemannia, Cymbulia, 
 
 Figs. 313 and 314.— Hyalea gibbosa (Rang.). Figs. 315 and 316.— Hyalea longirostris (Lesueur). 
 
 Eurybia, Theca, Cleodora, and Hyalea. The Hyaleidse have small 
 horny shells, very thin and transparent, globular, or elongated, open 
 anteriorly, cloven on the sides, and truncate at the posterior ex- 
 tremity. Their globular body is formed of two parts, the one 
 including the head, bearing two very strong tentacles, and two large 
 fins or flappers in the form of wings, springing from each side of the 
 mouth. 
 
 These molluscs are small, and generally of a yellowish-blue or 
 violet colour. They are inhabitants of the deep sea, and rarely 
 seen out of what sailors call "blue water." They plough the waves 
 with great rapidity by the aid of their powerful fins. Certain winds 
 throw them sometimes in great numbers on the shores of the 
 Mediterranean. These little creatures, so inoftensive, and living 
 together in vast numbers, seem to be an easy and ready-prepared 
 prey, which the great marine animals may swallow by thousands. 
 Twenty species of Hyalea are described as actually living in the 
 Atlantic and Australian seas. Of these Hyalea gibbosa (Figs. 313, 
 314) and Hyalea longïroshis (Figs. 315, 316) are here represented. 
 
PTEROPODS, 
 
 469 
 
 The great flappers of Hyalea tridentata are yellow, marked at 
 their base with a fine violet spot. Its shell, plain above, convex 
 beneath, is cloven on the side. The superior part is longer than the 
 inferior, and the transverse line which unites them is furnished with 
 three teeth. This shell is yellow, and nearly translucent. When 
 
 Fig. 317. 
 Cleodora lanceolata (Lesueur). 
 
 Fig. 31S. 
 
 Cleodora compressa (Eydoux 
 
 and Souleyet). 
 
 Fig- 319- 
 Cleodora cuspidata (Rocc. 
 
 the animal swims, two expansions of its mantle issue from the 
 lateral clefts in the shell. 
 
 Cleodora lanceolata is a delicate and graceful creature ; its body, 
 of gelatinous appearance, has a distinct head, with its fins near the 
 neck, notched in the form of a heart (Fig. 317); its posterior part 
 is globulous, transparent, and luminous even in the dark. The 
 animal which inhabits it sometimes shines through the shell like a 
 light placed inside a lantern. This shell is triangular, as in Cleodora 
 cuspidata (Fig. 319), thin, vitreous, and fragile, terminating in a long 
 spine at the base. The shell in Cleodora compressa (Fig. 318) is 
 elongated and very elegant in shape. 
 
470 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 MOLLUSCA CEPHALOPODA. 
 
 "Monstrum horrendum, informe, ingens." — ViRGIL. 
 
 The highest class of the Mollusca is the Cephalopoda, which has 
 been divided by Professor Owen into two orders, Tefrabranchiata, or 
 animals having four branchiae, and the Dibrafichiata, having two 
 iranchise. The first order, Tetrabra?ichiata, contains the family 
 Ammonitidœ, with the fossil genera Goîiiatites and Ammonites; the 
 family Oi'thoceritidœ, the fossil genera Gomphoceras and Orthoceras; 
 and the family Nautilidœ^ with the genus Nautilus. 
 
 The name Cephalopoda, as already stated, is taken from the 
 position of their feet, or more properly their arms, which are inserted 
 in the anterior part of the head : in Greek /ce<^aÀ7j, head, TroPs-TroSàs, 
 foot. 
 
 The Cephalopodous Molluscs are indeed highly organised for 
 Molluscs, for they possess in a high degree the sense of sight, 
 hearing, and touch. They appear with the earlier animals which 
 present themselves on the earth, and they are numerous even now, 
 although they are far from playing the important part that was 
 assigned to them in the early ages of organic life upon our planet. 
 The Ammonites and Belemnites existed by thousands among the 
 beings which peopled the seas during the Secondary epoch in the 
 history of the globe. 
 
 Tetrabranchiata. 
 
 In this order the animal is creeping, protected with an external 
 shell ; the head is retractile within the mantle ; the eyes are peduncu- 
 lated ; the mandibles are calcareous ; there are very numerous arms. 
 The shell is external, camerated, and provided with a siphuncle, or 
 membranous tube {Nautilus)^ with a thin nacreous investment. In 
 many fossil forms it consists of a number of funnel-shaped or bead- 
 hke tubes. This order differs from that of the Dib7'anchiata chiiîfly 
 in their more numerous arms, which are quite tentaculiferous, in 
 
CEPHALOPODS. 47 1 
 
 the branchise or gills being four, in having no suckers, and in having 
 an external shell. The number of living species is extremely small — 
 for this group of animals belongs pecuharly to the earUer ages of our 
 globe — is gradually becoming extinct, and presents in our days only 
 some species very rare and few, especially when we compare them 
 with the prodigious numbers of these beings which animated the seas 
 of the ancient world. In fact, the only living genus of the order is 
 that of Nautilus, the external shell of which has a singular resem- 
 blance in form to the internal shell of the genus ArgonaiUa, 
 
 In Nautilus the shell has a regularly convoluted form, the last 
 whorl being equal to all the others. It is divided internally into 
 
 Fig. 320. Nautilus pompilius (Linnseus), 
 showing the interior of the lower cell, to which the animal is fixed. 
 
 numerous cells, formed by transverse partitions, concave in front and 
 perforated towards the centre, and forming a kind of funnel, which 
 gives passage to a respiratory syphon. 
 
 In the last partition of the shell (Fig. 320) is the animal, covered 
 by its mantle, which lines the walls of the partitions. When it 
 contracts itself it is protected by a sort of triangular and fleshy hood. 
 Numerous tentacles, which are retractile, within sheaths, or " digita- 
 tions," corresponding to the eight ordinary arms of a cuttle-fish, and 
 some of them furnished with numerous lamellae, surround the head, 
 which is, besides, scarcely distinguished from the body. The head 
 bears two great projecting eyes, each planted upon a peduncle, ' 
 
 Like Sepia and Octopus, the mouth of the Nautilus is armed with 
 mandibles, fashioned somewhat like the parrot's beak. The branchise, 
 as we have seen, are four in number ; the circulatory system^consists 
 
472 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 of a heart, with a ventricle and auricle. The shell is secreted by the 
 outer edge of the mantle, while its posterior extremity fashions the 
 walls of the partitions, which indicate the successive growth of the 
 individual. 
 
 Fig. 321 represents the shell of Nautilus, with the animal re- 
 moved ; the last partition is seen empty, and with the perforations 
 through which the siphuncle passes. 
 
 The genus Nautilus inhabits the Indian Ocean and the sea round 
 the Molucca Islands. In swimming, the head and tentacles are 
 projected from out of the shell. In walking on rocks, they drag 
 themselves along the ground, the body upwards, the head and 
 
 21. — Nautilus pompilius (Linn£eus) 
 
 rig. 321- — !■< «iiiLiiub puiiipiiiu^ 1, i^iiiiiècn^;, 
 showing the lower cell and the partition giving passage to the siphon. 
 
 tentacles beneath. They betake themselves frequently to miry 
 cavities frequented by fish. It is a much more common occurrence 
 to find the empty than inhabited shells of the Nautilus at sea. 
 This probably arises from its exposure to the attacks of crustaceans 
 and other marine animals, which seems to be proved by the mangled 
 appearance of the edges of the empty shells thus met with. 
 
 The Pearly ^3Mtihis, Nautilus pompilius (Fig. 322), is said to be 
 so common on the Nicobar coast that the inhabitants salt and dry 
 its flesh, and store it as provisions. Its shell attains about eight 
 inches in its greatest height. This shell is said to be still used by the 
 Hindoo priest, as the conch with which they summon their devotees 
 to worship. It is nearly round, smooth, transversely blazed in its 
 posterior part, and entirely white anteriorly. A very fine nacre is 
 yielded by this mollusc, which is much used in ornamental cabinet- 
 work. The Orientals make drinking-cups, on which they engrave 
 
CEPHALOPODS. 4/3 
 
 designs and figures, which form graceful objects. Similar vases were 
 formerly shaped in Europe, which found their way into great houses. 
 In our days they are generally consigned to cabinets of curiosities 
 and the shops of dealers in articles of vertt^. 
 
 DiBRANCHIATA. 
 
 Owen's second order, Dibranchiata, contains six families : The 
 first is Spirulidœ, containing the curious genus Spirula^ that little 
 gem amongst oceanic shells. The second family is Sepiadce^ con- 
 taining the genus Sepia. The third is Belemnitidœ^ with the genera 
 
 Fig. 322. — Shell of Nautilus pompilius (Linnaeus). 
 
 Belemnites, and Bekmnoteuthis. The fourth, Teutîiidiœ, with Loligo^ 
 Sepiola, Onimastrephes^ and others. The fifth, Odopodœ^ with Octopus 
 and Eledone. And the sixth, Argonatitidœ, with the genus Ai^go- 
 nauta. The order is most conveniently divided into two sections : 
 the first, those Dibranchiates with eight arms — Octopoda, including 
 the last two families ; the second, those with ten arms — Decapoda, 
 including the first four families. 
 
 To this group belong the Cuttle-fish, Squids, and Argonauts, 
 among existing species, and the Belemnites among the fossil species. 
 Some of these creatures are large, and essentially flesh-eaters, or 
 carnivorous; and, if we may believe all that has been written respecting 
 them, very formidable ones. Listen to Michelet, while he wonderfully 
 paints the humour of these inhabitants of the deep : — " The Medusae 
 and Molluscs," says this popular author, "are generally innocent 
 
474 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 creatures, and I have lived with them in a world of gentle peace. 
 Few flesh-eaters among them ; those even which are so, only kill to 
 satisfy their wants, living for the most part on Ufe just commenced— 
 on gelatinous animals which can scarcely be called organic. From 
 this world grief was absent. No cruelty and no passion. Their 
 little souls, if mild, were not without their ray of aspiration towards 
 the light, and towards what comes to us from heaven, and towards 
 that love, revelling in that changing flame which at night is the 
 light of the deep. It is now, however, necessary to describe a much 
 graver world : a world of rapine and of murder ; from the very 
 beginning, from the first appearance of life, violent death appeared ; 
 sudden refinement, useful but cruel purification of all which has 
 languished, or which may linger or languish, of the slow and feeble 
 creation whose fecundity had encumbered the globe. 
 
 " In the more ancient formations of the old world we find two 
 murderers — a nipper and a sucker. The first is revealed to us by 
 the imprint of the trilobite, an order now lost, the most destructive of 
 extinct beings. The second subsists in one gigantic fragment, a beak 
 nearly two feet in length, wliich was that of a great sucker or cuttle- 
 fish {Sepia). If we may judge from such a beak, this monster — if the 
 other parts of the body were in proportion — must have been enormous; 
 its ventose, invincible arms, of perhaps twenty or thirty feet, like those 
 of some monstrous spider. In making war on the molluscs he remains 
 mollusc also ; that is to say, always an embryo. He presents the 
 strange, almost ridiculous, if it was not also terrible, appearance of 
 an embryo going to war ; of a foetus furious and cruel, soft and trans- 
 parent, but tenacious, breathing with a m.urderous breath, for it is not 
 for food alone that it makes war : it has the wish to destroy. Satiated, 
 and even bursting, it still destroys. Without defensive armour, under 
 its threatening murmurs there is no peace \ its safety is to attack. It 
 regards all creatures as a possible enemy. It throws about its long 
 arms, or rather thongs, armed with suclœrs, at random." Such is the 
 somewhat exaggerated picture which the eloquent historian and poet 
 draws of the Molluscous. Cephalopod, and perhaps it must be 
 admitted that there is some little basis of truth in this, though there 
 is scarcely any in the more recent one which has been painted by 
 the more imaginative Victor Hugo, in his eloquent book, entitled 
 " Les Travailleurs de la Mer." Where, however, there is so much 
 of the fictitious, it will be our earnest endeavour to eliminate 
 facts only. 
 
 These formidable and curious Cephalopods, the MaAa/cta of Aris- 
 totle, MMia of Pliny, and Cephalophora of De Blaiuville, have the 
 
CEPHALOPODS. 475 
 
 mantle, according to Cuvier, united beneath the body, thus forming 
 a muscular sac which envelopes the whole viscera. The body is soft 
 and fleshy, varying much in form, being sub-spherical, sub-elliptical, 
 and cylindrical, the sides of the mantle in many species extending into 
 fleshy fins. The head protrudes from the muscular sac, and is dis- 
 tinct from the body ; it is gifted with all the usual organs of sense, the 
 eyes in particular, which are either pedunculate or sessile, being large 
 and well developed. The mouth is anterior and terminal, armed 
 with a pair of horny or calcareous mandibles, which bear a strong 
 resemblance to the bill of a parrot, acting transversely, one upon the 
 other. Its position is the bottom of a sub-conical cavity, forming 
 the base of numerous fleshy tentacular appendages which surround it, 
 and which are termed arms by some writers. These appendages in 
 the great majority of living species are provided with suckers, 
 acetahula (cupping-glass-hke appendages), by means of which the 
 animal moves at the bottom of the sea, head downwards, or attaches 
 itself to its prey. These suckers are armed or unarmed with a long, 
 sharp, horny claw. In the unarmed acetabula, the mechanism for 
 adhesion is well described by Dr. Roget. " The circumference 
 of the disc," says this writer, " is raised by a soft and turned margin ; 
 a series of long slender folds of membrane covering corresponding 
 fascicula of muscular fibre converge from the circumference towards 
 the centre of the sucker, at a short distance from which they leave a 
 circular aperture \ this opens into a cavity which widens as it descends, 
 and contains a cone of soft substance rising from the bottom of the 
 cavity, like the piston of a syringe. When the sucker is applied to 
 the surface for the purpose of adhesion, the piston, having previously 
 been raised so as to fill the cavity, is retracted, and a vacuum pro- 
 duced, which may be still further increased by the retraction of the 
 plicated portion of the disc." Here we have an excellent description 
 of the apparatus for holding on. When the animal is disposed to let 
 go his hold, according to Professor Owen, " the muscular arrange- 
 ment enables it to push forward the piston, and thus in a moment 
 destroy the vacuum which retraction had produced." 
 
 In the case of the Cephalopods, with the arms and tentacles 
 armed, as Ofiychoteuthis^ Professor Owen remarks, " that there are 
 circumstances in which even the remarkable apparatus described by 
 Dr. Roget would be insufficient to fulfil the offices in the economy of 
 Nature for which the Cephalopod was created, and that in species 
 which have to contend with the agile mucous fishes more power- 
 ful organs of prehension are superadded to the suckers, so that in the 
 armed Calamary the base of the piston is, he remarks, enclosed in a 
 
4/6 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 horny hoop, the outer and anterior margin of which is developed intc 
 a series of sharp curved teeth, which can be firmly pressed into the 
 flesh of a struggling prey by the contraction of the surrounding trans- 
 verse fibres, and can be withdrawn by the action of the retracting 
 fibres of the piston. " Let the reader," the Professor adds, " picture 
 to himself the projecting weapon of the horny hoop developed into a 
 long, curved, sharp-pointed claw, and these weapons clustered at the 
 expanded terminations of the tentacles, and arranged in a double 
 alternate series along the internal surface of the eight muscular feet, 
 and he will have some idea of the formidable nature of the carnivorous 
 cephalopod." The Professor notices another structure which adds 
 greatly to the prehensile powers of theuncinated Cephalopods. " At 
 the extremities of the long tentacles a cluster of small, snuple, unarmed 
 suckers may be observed at the base of the expanded part. When 
 these latter suckers are applied to one another, the tentacles are 
 firmly locked together at that part, and the united strength of both 
 the elongated peduncles can be applied to drag towards the mouth 
 any resisting object which has been grappled by the terminal hooks. 
 There is no mechanical contrivance which surpasses this structure ; 
 art has remotely imitated it in the fabrication of the obstetrical 
 forceps, in which either blade can be used separately, or, by the 
 interlocking of a temporary blade, be made to act in combination." * 
 
 If we study the general aspect of the animal more closely, we find 
 that the arms — which serve at once as organs of locomotion for 
 swimming, for creeping, and as prehensile organs for seizing and 
 retaining its prey — are conical, very long, and all of the same form. 
 Each of them has towards its axis a longitudinal canal, which encloses 
 a great nerve, and is also surrounded with muscular fibres, arranged 
 in rays. The suckers, already described, occupy all the internal 
 surface of the eight tentacular arms, which are arranged in two rows, 
 having the form very nearly of a semi-spherical capsule. Of these 
 suckers, each arm of the cuttle-fish carries about 240, the total 
 number being nearly 1,000. The mouth we have already described, 
 in Dr. Roget's words : " The teeth move vertically, much as the 
 cutting edge of the two blades of a pair of scissors move upon each 
 other, tearing the prey by the assistance of their hooked terminations." 
 
 The tongue is covered on its upper part by a thick horny surface, 
 bristling in the centre with a series of recurved teeth, while its edge 
 is armed with three other erect teeth, which are slender and hooked. 
 The oesophagus is long and slender. At the abdomen the gullet 
 
 * " Cyclopœdia of Anatomy." 
 
CEPHALOPODS. A^J'J 
 
 expands into a sort of pouch, to which succeeds a gizzard, with 
 strong fleshy walls ; and, finally, a very short intestine, which directs 
 itself forward, terminating on the median line of the body. 
 
 Towards the anterior parts is the branchial cavity, of which a few 
 words must be said. It occupies the free space comprised between 
 the exterior surface of the abdomen and the internal face of the 
 mantle ; and here the respiratory organs, namely, the branchiœ, are 
 lodged. Here, also, are the reproductive and excretory organs. 
 
 The branchiae, which in all the families of this order are two in 
 number, are voluminous, but short, tufted, and leaf-like. The 
 branchial cavity can dilate and contract itself alternately. It com- 
 municates externally by two openings : the one, fashioned into a 
 cleft, receives, while the other, which is prolonged into a funnel, 
 serves to eject, the water, and thereby becomes a powerful organ of 
 locomotion. The inspiration of the animal is thus made by a cleft 
 in the mantle, and expiration is effected by the funnel : the renewal 
 of the respirable liquid acts as a sort of sucking and forcing pump, 
 at the surface of the lamelliform branchiae. 
 
 The cuttle-fish would be at no loss to reply to the question of the 
 Don Diego of Corneille — 
 
 " Rodrique, as-tu du cœur?" 
 
 for they have three hearts. Besides the ordinary systemic heart, the 
 circulation is aided by two additional ones placed at the end of the 
 branchiae. With each beat of the pulse the venous blood is brought 
 from all parts of the body, and propelled through each gill or 
 branchiae. Vivified by respiration in the internal tissue of the 
 branchiae, it is carried by the veins into the third (systemic) heart, 
 situated upon the median line of the body ; and now the regenerated 
 fluid is again distributed throughout the rest of the economy. 
 
 Not to oppress the reader with anatomical details, we shall just 
 remark that the gaze of the cuttle-fish is decided and threatening. Its 
 projecting eyes and golden-coloured iris are said to have something of 
 fascination in them. The animal seems able even to economise the 
 power of its glance, being able to cover its eyes from time to time by 
 contracting the skin which surrounds them, and bringing the two 
 translucent eyelids with which it is furnished together. 
 
 The cuttle-fishes are essentially aquatic and marine animals. We 
 find them in every sea in all parts of the world ; but they are most 
 formidable in warm countries. They have a great predilection for 
 the shore. During their youth they associate in flocks ; but with age 
 they fly from association, and retire into the clefts and hollows of the 
 
47^ THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 rocks. The old cuttle-fish is only found in rugged and rocky places, 
 bristling with naked, pointed rocks, which have been worn by the 
 waves, but generally in places only a few feet below the level of low 
 water. " How often," says d'Orbigny, " have we not observed the 
 cuttle-fish in his favourite retirement ! There, \\\\\\ one of his arms 
 clasped to the walls of its dwelling, it extends the other towards the 
 animals which pass at its gate, embraces them, and by its power 
 renders useless all their efforts to disengage themselves." 
 
 If we observe a cuttle-fish when it is what may be called walking, 
 either on land or at the bottom of the sea, it will be seen to walk on 
 one side, its head downwards, its mouth touching the ground, the 
 arms extending and grappling some supporting object, and drawing 
 the body forward ; at the same time the arms at the opposite side are 
 contracted and folded up, so as to assist by a contrary movement. 
 On shore the movement of these animals is very slow. On the other 
 hand, they swim very rapidly, assisted by all their arms, and aided by 
 the water ejected from the funnel, their movement being most 
 frequently backwards, the body first, the six superior arms placed 
 horizontally, the two others brought together above : the first help to 
 sustain them in their horizontal position, the last to guide them, in- 
 clining to the right or left as the animal changes its direction. 
 
 The cuttle-fishes feed on crustaceans, fishes, and also on shelled 
 molluscs — every kind of animal, in fact, which comes within their 
 reach ; so that it is readily taken by means of the flesh of fish or 
 crustaceans in which a strong hook is concealed. They live for five 
 or six years, and lay eggs, which are large, and generally found in 
 clusters ; fishermen know them under the name oi sea-grapes. 
 
 Like some of the lower animals, they possess the property of re- 
 integration, being able to reproduce any arm that may be destroyed. 
 There is another singular peculiarity which the cuttle-fish may be 
 said to share with man. Under the influence of strong emotion the 
 human face becomes pale, or blushes, and in some individuals it is 
 said to become blue. This has always been supposed to be an 
 attribute of humanity; but tlie cuttle-fish shares it with our race. 
 Yielding to the impressions of the moment, the cuttle-fish suddenly 
 changes colour, and, passing through various tints, it only resumes 
 its familiar one when the cause of the change has disappeared. They 
 are, in fact, gifted with great sensibility, which reacts immediately 
 upon their tissues, these being extremely elastic and delicate. Sudden 
 changes of colour are produced — changes which far exceed the same 
 phenomena in man. Under the influence of passion or emotion, 
 man is bom to blush, but under no sort of excitement does he cover 
 
CEPHA L OPODS. 479 
 
 himself with pustules; this the cuttle-fish does : it not only changes 
 colour, but it covers itself with little warts. '• Observe a cuttle in a 
 pool of water," says d'Orbigny, "as it walks round its retreat — it is 
 smooth, and of a very pale colour. Attempt to seize it, and it quickly 
 assumes a deeper tint, and its body becomes covered on the instant 
 with warts and excrescences, which remain there until its confidence 
 ii entirely restored." 
 
 The following fact is abbreviated from the " Natural History and 
 Fishery of the Sperm Whale." Mr. Beale had been searching for 
 shells among the rocks in Bonin Island, and was much astonished to 
 see at his feet a most extraordinary-looking animal, crawling back 
 towards the surf which it had just left. It was creeping on its eight 
 legs, which, from their soft and flexible nature, bent considerably 
 under the weight of its body, so that it was just lifted by an effort 
 above the rocks. It appeared much alarmed, and made every 
 attempt to escape. Mr. Beale endeavoured to stop it by putting his 
 foot on one of its tentacles, but it liberated itself several times in spite 
 of all his efforts. He then laid hold of one of the tentacles with his 
 hand, and held it firmly, and the limb appeared as if it would be torn 
 asunder in the struggle. To terminate the contest, he gave it a 
 powerful jerk ; it resisted the effort successfully, but the moment after 
 the enraged animal lifted a head with large projecting eyes, and 
 loosing its hold of the rocks, suddenly sprang upon Mr. Beale's arm, 
 which had been previously bared to the shoulder, and clung to it 
 with its suckers, while it endeavoured to get the beak, which he could 
 now see between the tentacles, in a position to bite him. Mr. Beale 
 describes its cold slimy grasp as extremely sickening, and he loudly 
 called to his friend, who was also searching for shells, to come to 
 his assistance. They hastened to the boat, and he was released by 
 killing his tormentor with a boat-knife, when the arms were disen- 
 gaged bit by bit. Mr. Beale states that this Cephalopod must have 
 measured across its expanded arms about four feet, while its body 
 was not bigger than a large hand clenched. It was the species called 
 the rock-squid by whalers. 
 
 The Spirtilidœ. — This family contains but a single genus, Spifula^ 
 and but one or two perfect specimens of the perfect animal of S.perofiii 
 have been found. The shell is very common, and is found scattered 
 by thousands on the shores of New Zealand. The shell is entirely 
 nacreous-discoidal ; the whorls are separate, and the last chamber is 
 not larger in proportion than the rest. 
 
 The Sepiadœ have eight arms rising from the crown of the head, 
 armed with four rows of suckers, two long slender arms with broadly- 
 
/,8o 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 expanding ends, and stalked suckers (Fig. 323) ; eyes moving in theii 
 sockets, and in Sepia the body is broadly ovate. 
 
 The body of the cuttle-fish {Sepia, Fig. 324), is a very singular 
 structure, somewhat reminding us of certain species of polyps. We 
 find a body or abdominal mass, separated by compression from the 
 head, which is sufticiently marked. The body is covered by the 
 mantle, which has the form of a sac opened only in front by a trans- 
 verse cleft. The head has a projecting and well-developed eye on 
 
 Fig. 323- 
 
 Sepia tuberculosa (Lamarck), 
 
 arm of. 
 
 , Fig. 324. 
 Sepia officinalis (Linnaeus.) 
 
 Fig. 325. 
 
 Internal shell of Sepia 
 
 officinalis. 
 
 each side ; it is crowned by a sort of fleshy receptacle, which is 
 surrounded by four or five pairs of tentacles. At the bottom of this 
 receptacle is the mouth ;- and from the anterior opening in the 
 mantle the funnel issues, which is wide at its base. 
 
 The body is also bordered on all its length on both sides with a 
 wing or narrow fin ; it is broader than it is long, with two large eyes, 
 covered by an expansion of the skin, which becomes transparent over 
 a surface equal to the diameter of the iris, and furnished with inferior 
 contractile eyelids. 
 
 The skin of the cuttle-fish contains in one vast hollow, occupying 
 all the extent of the back, a great calcareous shell, the form and 
 
CEPHALOPODS, 4ô I 
 
 Structure of which is quite characteristic of this genus. It is known 
 as the cuttle-bone (Fig. 325). This bone is used for many purposes ; 
 among others, it is used in a powdered state as a dentifrice. It is 
 sometimes suspended in the cage with captive birds, that they may 
 whet their beaks on it, and collect phosphate of lime for the forma- 
 tion and repair of their bones. The shell is oval or oblong, some- 
 times provided with a slightly salient point. The upper part is 
 surrounded with a horny or cretaceous margin, and it presents in the 
 centre a combination of open cells. 
 
 Some of the Cephalopods secrete a blackish, inky fluid, the uses 
 of which, in the economy of the animals, is imperfectly known. 
 The cuttles have considerable quantities of this liquor, which is con- 
 tained in a sort of sac or ink-bag, placed low down in the abdomen. 
 When the animal is pursued or threatened with danger it discharges 
 a jet of the fluid, which renders the water thick and muddy, and 
 permits it to escape in the obscurity from its pursuers. It appears 
 that the cuttle-fish avails itself of this stratagem when left accidentally 
 ashore. It is related of an English officer, that, having dressed for 
 dinner, and having some time to spare, he proceeded along the shore 
 on his favourite search for objects of natural history. He reached a 
 hollow rock in which a cuttle-fish had established its quarters ; he 
 soon detected the animal, which looked at him for some time with 
 its great prominent eyes ; and for a little they watched each other 
 with fixed attention. This mute contemplation came to a sudden 
 and unexpected termination by the discharge of a voluminous jet of 
 inky fluid, that covered the officer, which was the more unfortunate, 
 since he was in his summer dress of white trousers. 
 
 The ink of the cuttle-fish is a favourite pigment, used in water- 
 colour painting under the name of sepia. It is truly indestructible ; 
 and the hard and black substance found in the sac of fossil species o, 
 cuttle-fish when diluted with water produces a brilliant sepia. This 
 property of the inky fluid was well known to the Romans, who used 
 it in making ink. It was long supposed to be the chief ingredient 
 in Indian ink ; but a recent traveller, Mr. Siebold, who has visited 
 the manufactory, and investigated the subject, has revealed the true 
 process by which Indian ink is prepared. 
 
 The species of the genus Sepia aftect the sea-shore ; they are 
 along-shore molluscs. The flattened form of their bodies is favourable 
 to a coasting life, by permitting them to rest easily on the bottom. 
 Still they do not remain all the year round upon the coast. The 
 cold in temperate regions, and the extreme heat in warm regions, lead 
 them to withdraw from the shore, to which they only return in the 
 Q 
 
482 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 spring. They are rarely seen in the Channel in winter ; but with the 
 vernal sun they appear in large shoals. What is the mechanism by 
 which these animals are moved? When the cuttle-fish wishes to 
 swim rapidly and backwards, it advances in the water by means of 
 the funnel which ejects the ambient liquid. When they wish to 
 approach a prey slowly in order to seize it, they swim by the aid of 
 their fins and arms. 
 
 The sepise are flesh-eaters, and tolerably voracious. They feed 
 upon fishes, molluscs, and crustaceans. They are also true aquatic 
 brigands, who kill, not to feed themselves, but for the sake of killing ; 
 and Nature, by a just equilibrium, applies to them the lex talionis. 
 They fall victims, in their turn, to the vengeful jaws of the porpoises 
 and dolphins. Such is the terrible law of Nature : some must die 
 that others may live. Michelet gives us a glimpse of the manner 
 in which the dolphins dispose of the cuttle-fish in his " Livre de 
 la Mer." " These lords of the ocean," he says, " are so delicate 
 in their tastes that they eat only the head and arms, which are 
 both tender and easy of digestion. They reject the hard parts, and 
 especially the after-part of the body. The coast at Royan, for 
 example, is covered with thousands of these mutilated cuttle-fish. 
 The porpoises take most incredible bounds, at first to frighten them, 
 and afterwards to run them down ; in short, after their feast they 
 give themselves up to gymnastics." 
 
 In the spring the sepise deposit their eggs, but without abandon- 
 ing them. On the contrary, they exhibit a truly maternal care, 
 taking much trouble to attach them to some submarine body, in 
 which position the temperature of the water serves to hatch the eggs. 
 Sepia officinalis, for example, chooses, at the moment of laying, a 
 stem of Fucus, or of Gorgonia, or some other solid submarine body 
 not less in diameter than the little finger, and there it firmly 
 attaches its eggs, which are pear-shaped, that is, pointed at one 
 extremity, while a long lanière of a gelatinous nature, flat and black 
 in appearance, with which they are provided, surrounds the sofid 
 body Hke a ring. Each female lays and attaches in this manner 
 from twenty to thirty eggs, which are clustered together somewhat 
 like a bunch of fine black grapes (Fig. 326). About a month after 
 this the eggs are hatched. 
 
 The colours of Sepia officinalis vary considerably ; but in general 
 it may be remarked that the males are ornamented with deeper 
 colours than the females. Transverse bands oi a blackish brown 
 farrow their backs, and seem to take from their breadth. Outside 
 of these bands are small spots of a vivid white ; very near the edge 
 
CEPHALOPODS. 483 
 
 there is a white border, accompanied inside with a second edging of 
 a beautiful violet. The median and anterior parts of the body are 
 spotted here and there ; beneath, a whitish tint with reddish speckles 
 prevails. 
 
 The sepias are found on every shore, and wherever they are found 
 they are eaten, for their flesh is savoury. They are usually fried or 
 boiled. They form an excellent bait for large ground-fish, such as 
 dog-fish, rays, and congers, which are fond of their flesh. 
 
 Thirty species are known, and they are chiefly characterised by 
 the arrangement and form of the suckers of the arms. Sepia officmalis 
 is common on the shores of the ocean from Sweden to the Canaries, 
 in all parts of the Mediterranean, and on our own British shores. 
 
 Fig. 326, — Sepia officinalis (Linnaeus). 
 
 The third family, Beleninitidœ^ contains the genera Belemnoteiithis 
 and Belemnites^ and other genera of less importance ; they are all 
 now extinct, although once numerous as to species. 
 
 The fourth family, Teiithidœ^ contains Loligopsis^ Cranchia^ 
 Sepioia, O?iychoteuthis, Loligo, and others. 
 
 The Calamaries or Squids were described by Aristode under the 
 name of rei>is, and by PHny under that of Loligo^ which is still 
 retained as the name of one genus. Their popular name of Calmai 
 (calamar in old French) is taken from their resemblance to certain 
 species of ink-holders. Oppian, who endowed the Argonaut with 
 wings, believed that the calmar also could take to the air, in order to 
 avoid his enemies. Nevertheless, he was much puzzled how to give 
 the form and functions of a bird to a fish. Themistocles, by way of 
 insult to the Eretrians, likened them to calmars, saying they had 
 swords and no hearts. Athen^us, a Greek physician before Galen, 
 dwelt upon the nourishing properties of the flesh of the calmar. 
 
484 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 The calmars, common enough in temperate regions, abound in 
 the seas of the torrid zone ; they are gregarious, and Uve in nume- 
 rous shoals, these flocks taking every year the same direction, their 
 emigration proceeding from temperate to warm regions — nearly the 
 same course as that followed by the herrings and pilchards. 
 
 The calmars, like the cuttles, propel themselves backwards through 
 the water with great velocity, driving back the water by means of 
 their funnel, moving with such vigour and promptitude that they have 
 been known to throw themselves out of the water, falling on the shore 
 
 Fig. 327.— Loligo vulgaris, with its pen, 
 or internal bone (Lamarck), 
 
 Fig. 328.— Loligo Gahi 
 (d'Orbigny). 
 
 or on the deck of a vessel. They only appear momentarily on the 
 shore, and only sojourn there to deposit their eggs, which are gela- 
 tinous in substance, about the level of the lowest tides. The body 
 in the calmars is longer than in the cuttle-fish, cylindrical in shape, 
 and terminating in a point, having two lateral fins, which occupy the 
 lower half or one-third of its body. 
 
 In the common calmar, Loligo vulgaris (Fig. 327), and the Loligo 
 Gahi (Fig. 328), we have two extreme forms represented, both taken 
 from the magnificent work of MM. d'Orbigny and Ferussac, on the 
 Céphalopodes acetahulifores. These molluscs are whitish-blue and 
 transparent, covered with spots of bright red. The pen is lanceolate — 
 that of the male elongated and somewhat resembling a feather, that 
 of the female much broader and more obtuse. Their head is short. 
 
CEPHALOPODS. 485 
 
 furnished with two large projecting eyes ; the mouth is surrounded with 
 ten arms, provided with suckers, two of these arms being much longer 
 than the others, and with peduncles or foot-stalks to the suckers. 
 
 The internal pen of the calmar differs much from that of the 
 cuttles; it is thin, horny, transparent, and somewhat resembling a 
 feather, from a portion of which the barbs have been removed. Their 
 food consists chiefly of small fishes and molluscs, though with the 
 greater fishes and cetaceae they carry on constant war. They are 
 caught and used for various purposes ; along the coast they are eaten \ 
 the fishermen use them as bait, especially in fishing for cod. 
 
 Dr. Grant describes the body of Sepiola vulgmis, found on our 
 coast, as measuring about two inches in length, and as much in 
 breadth, while the head measures half an inch in length, and, from the 
 magnitude of the eyes, is equal in breadth with the body. In Ony- 
 choteufhiSj distinguished for its uncinated suckers, the eyes are of the 
 size of those of a man. In Cook's first voyages, the naturalists to the 
 expedition, Banks and Solander, to quote Professor Owen's account, 
 " found the dead carcase of a gigantic species of this kind floating in 
 the sea between Cape Horn and the Polynesian Islands, in 30^ 44' 
 S. lat., and iio^ 10' W. long. It was surrounded by sea birds, which 
 were feeding on its remains. From the parts of this specimen which 
 are still preserved in the Hunterian Museum, and which have always 
 strongly excited the attention of naturalists, it must have measured at 
 least six feet from the end of the tail to the end of the tentacles." 
 
 It is no easy task to separate the real from the fabulous history of 
 the Cephalopods. Aristotle and PUny have alike assisted, by their 
 marvellous relations, to throw that halo of wonder round it which the 
 light of modern science has not altogether dispelled. Pliny the Ancient 
 relates the history of an enormous cuttle-fish which haunted the coas^ 
 of Spain, and destroyed the fishing-grounds. He adds that this 
 gigantic creature was finally taken, that its body weighed 7 00 lbs., 
 and that its arms were ten yards in length. Its head came by right 
 to Lucullus, to whose gastronomical privileges be all honour. It was 
 so large, says PHny, that it filled fifteen amphorae, and weighed 7 00 lbs. 
 also. 
 
 Some naturalists of the Renaissance, such as Olaiis Magnus and 
 Denis de Montfort, gave credit — which they are scarcely justified in 
 doing — to the assertions of certain writers of the north of Europe, who 
 believed seriously in the existence of a sea-monster 01 prodigious size 
 which haunted the northern seas. This monster has received the 
 name of the Kraken. The Kraken was long the terror of these seas ; 
 it arrested ships in spite of the action of the wind, sails.and oars, 
 
THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 often causing them to founder at sea, while the cause of shipwreck 
 remained unsuspected. Denis de Montfort gives a description and 
 representation of this Kraken, which he calls the Colossal Poulpe, in 
 which the creature is made to em.brace a three-masted ship in its vast 
 arms. Delighted with the success which his representation met with, 
 Denis laughed at the credulity of his contemporaries. " If my 
 Kraken takes with them," he said, " I shall make it extend its arms 
 to both shores of the Straits of Gibraltar." To another learned friend 
 he said, " If my entangled ship is accepted, I shall make my Poulpe 
 overthrow a whole fleet." 
 
 Among those who admitted the facetious history of the Kraken 
 without a smile, there was at least one holy bishop, who was, more- 
 over, something of a naturalist. Pontoppidan, Bishop of Bergen, 
 in N orway, in one of his books assures us that a whole regiment of 
 soldiers could easily manoeuvre on the back of the Kraken, which he 
 compares to a floating island. " SimiHor insulse quam bestise," wrote 
 the good Bishop of Bergen. 
 
 In the first edition of his " System of Nature," Linnaeus himself 
 admits the existence of this colossus of the seas, which he calls Sepia 
 mic?-ocos?nos. In subsequent editions, however, he erased the Kraken 
 from his catalogue. 
 
 The statements of Pliny respecting the Colossal Poulpe, like those 
 of Montfort about the Kraken, are evidently fabulous. It is, how- 
 ever, an undisputed fact that there exists in the Mediterranean and 
 other seas cuttle-fish of considerable size. A calmar has been caught 
 in our own time, near Nice, which weighed upwards of thirty pounds. 
 In the same neighbourhood some fishermen caught, twenty years ago, 
 an individual of the same genus nearly six feet long, which is preserved 
 in the Museum of Natural History at Montpellier. Pérou, the 
 naturalist, met in the AustraUan seas a cuttle-fish nearly eight feet long. 
 The travellers Quoy and Gaimard picked up in the Atlantic Ocean, 
 near the equator, the skeleton of a monstrous mollusc, which, accord- 
 ing to their calculations, must have weighed 200 pounds. M. Rang 
 met in the middle of the ocean a mollusc with short arms and 
 of a reddish colour, the body of which, according to this naturahst, 
 was as large as a tun cask. One of the mandibles of this creature 
 still preserved in the Museum of the College of Surgeons, is larger 
 than a hand. 
 
 In 1853 a gigantic Cephalopod was stranded on the coast of Jut- 
 land. The body of this monster, which was dismembered by the 
 fishermen, furnished many wheelbarrow loads, its pharynx, or back 
 part of the mouth, alone being as large as the head of an infant. 
 

 XXII.— C;igantic Cuttle-fish caug,ht by the French Corvette Alecton 
 
 J near Tenerifle. 
 
CEPHALOPODS. 489 
 
 Dr. Steenstrup, of Copenhagen, who published a description of this 
 creature under the name of Architeuthis dux, shows a portion of the 
 arm of another Cephalopod, which is as large as the thigh-bone of a 
 man. But an apparently well- authenticated fact connected with these 
 gigantic Cephalopods is related by Lieutenant Bayer, of the French 
 corvette Aledon, and M. Sabin Berthelot, French Consul at the 
 Canary Islands, by whom the report is made to the Académie des 
 Sciences. 
 
 The steam-corvette Alecion was between Teneriffe and Madeira 
 when she feh in with a gigantic calamar, not less — according to the 
 account — than fifteen mètres (fifty ieet) long, without reckoning its 
 eight formidable arms, covered with suckers, and about twenty feet 
 in circumference at its largest part, the head terminating in many 
 arms of enormous size, the other extremity terminating in two fleshy 
 lobes or fins of great size, the weight of the whole being estimated at 
 4,000 lbs. ; the flesh was soft, glutinous, and of reddish-brick ccloui. 
 
 The commandant, wishing in the interests of science to secure the 
 monster, actually engaged it in battle. Numerous shots were aimed 
 at it, but the balls traversed its flaccid and glutinous mass without 
 causing it any vital injury. But after one of these attacks the waves 
 were observed to be covered with foam and blood, and, singulai 
 thing, a strong odour of musk was inhaled by the spectators. This 
 musk odour we have already noticed as being peculiar to many of 
 the Cephalopods. 
 
 The musket-shots not having produced the desired results, 
 harpoons were employed, but they took no hold on the soft impal- 
 pable flesh of the marine monster. When it escaped from the harpoon 
 it dived under the ship, and came up again at the other side. They 
 succeeded at last in getting the harpoon to bite, and in passing a 
 bowling hitch round the posterior part of the animal. But when they 
 attempted to hoist it out of the water the rope penetrated deeply into 
 the flesh, and separated it into two parts, the head with the arms and 
 tentacles dropping into the sea and making off, while the fins and 
 posterior parts were brought on board : they weighed about forty 
 pounds. 
 
 The crew were eager to pursue, and would have launched a boat, 
 but the commander refused, fearing that the animal might capsize it. 
 The object was not, in his opinion, one in which he could risk the 
 lives of his crew. Plate XXII. is copied from M. Berthelot's 
 coloured representation of this scene. " It is probable," M. Moquin- 
 Tandon remarks, commenting on M. Berthelot's recital, "that this 
 colossal mollusc was sick or exhausted by some recent struggle with 
 
 Q * 
 
490 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 some Other monster of the deep, which would account for its having 
 quitted its native rocks in the depths of the ocean. Otherwise it 
 would have been more active in its movements, or it would have 
 obscured the waves with the inky liquid which all the Cephalopods 
 have at command. Judging from its size, it would carry at least a 
 barrel of this black liquid, if it had not been exhausted in some recent 
 struggle." 
 
 " Is this mollusc a calmar?" asks the same writer. " If we might 
 
 judge from the figure drawn 
 by one of the officers of the 
 Alccton during the struggle, 
 and communicated by M. 
 Berthelot, the animal had 
 terminal fins, like the cal- 
 mars ; but it had eight equal 
 arms, like the cuttle-fish. 
 Now the calmars have ten, 
 two of them being very long. 
 Was this some intermediate 
 species between the two ? 
 Or must we admit, with MM. 
 Crosse and Fisher, that the 
 animal had lost its more for- 
 midable tentacles in some 
 recent combat?'"'^ 
 
 We now leave the section 
 of the Decapoda^ and com- 
 mence the examination of 
 the last two families of the Dibranchiate Cephalopods, which belong 
 to the Octopoda. 
 
 The fifth family, Odopodidœ, contains Eledoiie, Octopus^ Pinnoc- 
 fopus, Ci?'7'ofeiithis,F/iilo7iexis, and Scœrugus^ and contains Cephalopods 
 having eight long arms, united at the base by a web ; the suckers in 
 two rows, which are sessile ; the eyes fixed ; shell, two short styles 
 enclosed in the mantle; the body united to the head by a broad 
 neck-band ; no side fins. The body is oval, warty, and without fins 
 in Octopus (Fig. 329). We have figured, as other species of the genus, 
 O. macropus (Fig. 330), O. brevipes (Fig. 331), and O. horridîis 
 (Fig. 332); it is small and oblong, arms tapering and webbed, and 
 suckers in a single row, in Eledo7i£. 
 
 Fig. 329.— Octopus vulgaris (Lamarck). 
 
 * The figure, Plate XXII., represents the animal with ten arms. 
 
CEPHALOPODS, 
 
 491 
 
 The two best-known species of this genus inhabit the Mediter- 
 ranean. The one is Eledone moschatus^ known in Italy under the 
 
 Fig. 330. — Octopus macropus (Risso). 
 
 Fig. 331.— Octopus brevipes 
 
 (d'Orbigny). 
 
 name of Muscardino, from the strong odour of musk which it emits, 
 even after death and desiccation ; the other is Eledone cirrhosus, a 
 small species, bluish-grey on 
 the back, and whitish under 
 the belly. 
 
 The habits of Eledone mos- 
 chatus have been carefully 
 studied by M. Verany. The 
 able naturalist of Nice pre- 
 served many of these animals 
 during a month, in a great 
 aquarium, noting their habits. 
 When in a state of tranquillity, 
 the Eledofte clung to the sides 
 of the glass tank in which it 
 was kept. Its head is then 
 inclined forwards, with the 
 body sac hanging behind ; the funnel, turned upwards, presents 
 the orifice between the arms. In this state the animal is yellowish 
 in colour, its eyes dilated, its inspirations regular. But if irritated. 
 
 33C2. — Octopus horridus (d'Orbigny). 
 
492 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 a remarkable change takes place : its body assumes a fine maroon 
 colour, and it is covered with numerous tubercles ; the eye becomes 
 contracted, a column of water is forcibly ejected from the funnel 
 at the aggressor, and the respiration becomes precipitate, jerky, 
 and irregular. The creature would take a strong inspiration, and, 
 having collected its force, suddenly throw a jet of water to a distance 
 of more than three feet. This state of passion, which the slightest 
 touch is sufficient to produce, endures for half an hour or more. 
 When it ceases, the animal resumes its form and primitive colours ; 
 but the least shock impressed on the water is sufficient to give it a 
 deeper tint, which passes like a flash of lightning over the skin of 
 this singular proteus. 
 
 The Eledone sleeps by day as well as by night, attaching itself 
 during its sieep to the walls of its prison, leaving its arms to float 
 around, the two inferior ones extending backwards, and the sac 
 inclining over them ; its eyes are then contracted, and in part 
 covered by the eyelids. Its respiration is regular and slow, and any 
 ejection of water very rare ; its colour is then of a livid grey, and 
 vinous red below, with whitish spots, while the brown spots have 
 now entirely disappeared. While still asleep, it is watchful and 
 attentive to all the dangers which could surprise it. The extremities 
 of the arms floating round its body are ready to announce the- 
 approach or contact of any other object. Even the most dehcate 
 touch is perceived immediately, and it shrinks from the hand which 
 seeks to approach it. Under every circumstance the Eledone exhales 
 a strong odour of musk, which it preserves long after death. 
 
 When the Eledoîte swims, which it rarely does unless pressed by 
 some urgent necessity, it carries the sac in advance, the arms floating 
 behind — the six upper ones being on a horizontal line, the two others 
 approaching each other below. Thus arranged, it presents, in conse- 
 quence of its flattened form, a very large resisting surface to the 
 water, its progress being due to the alternate dilatation and contrac- 
 tion of the body, which expels the water through the funnel, and by 
 reaction produces a rapid and jerking movement. Sometimes the 
 arms aid the movement ; the eyes of the animal are then much 
 dilated, and its colour a clear Uvid yellow, finely shaded with red, 
 and covered with bright spots. 
 
 It is a singular fact that the creature notably changes colour 
 under any exertion, so that the animal at rest and in motion are two 
 different beings. When walking under water the funnel is directed 
 behind, its arms are spread out, the head is raised, and the body 
 slightly inclined forward ; its mantle is then of a pearly grey, and 
 
CEPHALOPODS. 
 
 493 
 
 the spots take the tint of wine lees. When at rest the shades 
 disappear. 
 
 In Piîmoctopiis cordiifonnis, a member of this family, the body 
 is oblong, with lateral expansions, as represented in the accompanying 
 figure (Fig. 2>ZZ)- 
 
 In Cirrhotheictis the arms are completely united in their whole 
 extent by a thin membrane furnished with cirri, which alternate with 
 certain suckers arranged in one row. Only one species (C. Miilleri) 
 
 Fig. 333. — Pinnoctopus cordiiformis (Q. & G.)- 
 
 334. — Cirrhotheutis Mullen (Eschricht). 
 
 of this genera is known as an inhabitant of the northern seas, which 
 is represented in Fig. 334. 
 
 The sixth family, Ai'gonautidœ, contains only one genus, 
 Argonaitta. 
 
 Argonaiita argus is the Paper Nautilus. Floating gracefully on 
 the surface of the sea, trimming its tiny sail to the breeze, just 
 sufficient to rufile the surface of the waves, behold the exquisite living 
 shallop ! The elegant httle bark which thus plays with the current is 
 no work of human hands, but a child of Nature : it is the Argonaut, 
 whose tribes, decked in a thousand brilliant shades of colour, are 
 wanderers * of the night in innumerable swarms on the ocean's 
 surface ! 
 
 The marine shell which Linnaeus called the Argonaut enjoyed 
 
494 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 great renown among the ancient Greeks and Romans. It was the 
 subject of graceful legends ; it had inspired great poets; it occupied 
 the attention of Aristotle, who called it the Nautilus and Natiticos, 
 and of Pliny, who called it Pompylius. Few animals, indeed, have 
 been so celebrated, so anciently known. The Greek and Roman poets 
 saw in it an elegant model of the ship which the skill and audacity 
 of the man constructed who first braved the fury of the waves ; in the 
 words of the poet, "armour of triple oak and triple brass covered the 
 heart of him who first confided himself in a frail bark to the relentless 
 waves :" 
 
 ** Illi robur et ses triplex 
 
 Circa pectus erat, qui fragilem truci 
 Commisit pelago ratem 
 
 Primus " 
 
 Horace, Car. I., iii. 9. 
 
 To meet the Pompylius was, according to the superstitious Roman, 
 a favourable presage. This little oceanic wanderer, in spite of the 
 capricious waves, was a tutelar divinity, who guarded the navigator 
 in his course, and assured him of a happy passage. Listen to the 
 immortal author of the first natural history of animals, the philo- 
 sophical Aristotle. " The Nautilus Polyp," says the learned historian, 
 " is of the nature of animals which pass for extraordinary, for it can 
 float on the sea ; it raises itself from the bottom of the water, the shell 
 being reversed and empty, but when it reaches the surface it readjusts 
 it. It has between the arms a species of tissue similar to that which 
 unites the toes of web-footed birds. When there is a little wind, it 
 employs this tissue as a sort of rudder, letting it fall into the water 
 with the arms on each side. On the approach of the least danger it 
 fills its shell with water, and sinks into the sea." 
 
 Pliny gives it the name of Pompylius, and, after the example of 
 Aristotle, explains how it navigates, by elevating its two first arms, a 
 membrane of extreme tenuity stretching between them, while it rows 
 with the others, using its median arm as a rudder. The Greek poet, 
 Oppian, who Hved m the second century of our era, and to whom 
 we are indebted for poems on fishing {Helieutica) and the chase 
 [Cynegetica), says of it : — " Hiding itself in a concave shell, the Pom- 
 pylius can walk on land, but can also rise to the surface of the water, 
 the back of its shell upwards, for fear that it should be filled. The 
 moment it is seen, it turns the shell, and navigates it like a skifuU 
 seamen : in order to do this, it throws out two of its feet like antennse, 
 between which is a thin membrane, which is extended by the wind 
 like a sail, while two others, which touch the water, guide, as with a 
 
CEPHALOPODS. 
 
 495 
 
 rudder, the house, the ship, and the annual. If danger approaches, 
 it folds up its antenuce, its sail, and its rudder, and dives, its weight 
 being increased by the water which it causes to enter the shell. As 
 we see a man who is victor in the public games, his head circled by 
 a crown, while vast crowds press around, so the Pompylius have 
 always a crowd of ships following in their track, the crews of which 
 no longer dread to quit the land. O fish justly dear to navigators ! 
 thy presence announces winds soft and friendly : thou bringest the 
 calm, and thou art the sign of it ! " 
 
 </ , ,, 
 
 Fig. 33S-— Shell of Argonautaargo (Linnaeus). 
 
 Oppian carried his admiration a long way. That the Argonaut is 
 an animated skiff is agreed on all hands ; but, in making it almost a 
 bird— in according to it at once the faculty of gracefully navigating the 
 sea and floating in the atmosphere as an inhabitant of the regions of 
 air — he was passing even the limits permissible to poetic Hcense. 
 
 But the properties of the Argonaut have not alone struck the ima- 
 gination of the Greeks and Romans ; they also attracted the attention 
 of the Chinese, who call it the boat-polyp. Rumphius informs us, that 
 m India the shell (Fig. 335) fetches a great price. Women consider 
 it a great, a magnificent ornament. In their solemn fêtes, dancers 
 carry one of these shells in the right hand, holding it proudly above 
 
496 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 their heads. Nor did it require the dithyrambic praises with which 
 the ancients have surrounded it to recommend it to the admiration of 
 modern nalurahsts. Without exaggerating the graceful attributes 
 with which it is gifted, it is at once one of the most curious objects 
 in Nature. 
 
 Its body (Fig. ^:^6) is ovoid in form, and it is furnished with eight 
 tentacles, covered with a double row of suckers. Of these tentacles, 
 six are narrow and slender, tapering to a fine point towards the ex- 
 tremity, while the remaining two spread out in the form of wings or 
 
 sails. These are all folded up 
 when in a state of repose. The 
 body itself is contained in a thin, 
 white, and fragile univalve shell, 
 which is oval, flattened on the 
 exterior, but rolled up in a spiral 
 in the interior, the last turn of the 
 shell being so large as to give 
 it something of the form of an 
 elegantly-shaped shallop. Sin- 
 gularly enough, the body of the 
 animal does not penetrate to the 
 bottom of the shell, nor is it at- 
 tached to it by any muscular 
 ligament; nor is the shell moulded 
 exactly upon it, as is the case with 
 most other mollusca. 
 
 What does all this imply } Is 
 the Argonaut a parasite, a fraudu- 
 lent disinheritor, a vile assassin, 
 who, having surprised and killed 
 the legitimate proprietor of the shell, has installed itself in its place, 
 and in the proper house of its victim ? Such crimes are not v/ithout 
 example in the natural history of animals — witness the proceedings 
 of the curious hermit a^ab, whose proceedings we shall glance at in a 
 future chapter. The parasitic character of the Nautilus was long 
 believed in by naturalists ; but recent facts have corrected this opinion. 
 We have collected their shells, of all dimensions and of all ages, 
 inhabited always by the same animal, whose size is always propor- 
 tioned to the volume of the shell. More than that, it is now known 
 that in the egg of the Argonaut the rudiments of the shell exist. 
 M. Chenu tells us, that under the microscope Professor Duvernoy 
 discovered a distinct shell contained in the embryo. Sir Everard 
 
 Fig; 336.^ — The Argonauta argo (Linnaeus). 
 
CEPHALOPODS. 497 
 
 Home asserts the contrary ; and no opportunity presented itself for 
 the complete solution of the question, until Poli was placed by the 
 King of Naples in a position to solve it. The piscina of Portici was 
 placed at his disposal. He witnessed the curious mechanism by 
 which the egg is expelled from the egg cavity, and found in it the 
 rudiments of a shell, and satisfied himself, by following their develop- 
 ment day by day, that the shell existed in the embryo, and grew with 
 the animal. He satisfied himself also that the opinion enunciated by 
 Aristotle, that at no point did the animal adhere to the shell, was 
 perfectly true. 
 
 Finally, in the curious series of experiments carried on by 
 Madame Power, in the port of Messina, the fragments of the frail 
 bark of the mollusc, which were broken off in taking it, were restored 
 in a few days, having been reproduced. It is, therefore, now quite 
 demonstrated that the Argonaut, Hke other testaceous molluscs, itself 
 secretes and constructs its shell — its diaphanous skiff. The reader, 
 however, must not flatter himself that he can witness with his own 
 eyes from the shore, in our narrow channel, the charming picture of 
 the Argonaut painted by poets and natural historians : they never 
 come near the shore. They are timid and cautious creatures, dwelling 
 almost always in the open sea. They live in famiHes, some hundreds 
 of miles from the shore \ and it is during the night, or at most in the 
 fading light of sunset, that they assemble together to pursue their 
 gambols on the surface of a tranquil sea. 
 
 However reluctant we may be to destroy the marvellous fictions 
 of ancients and moderns, we are compelled to declare that there is no 
 truth in the often-repeated statement that the Argonaut uses its pal- 
 mated arms as oars or sails. In order to swim on the surface, it comports 
 itself as all other Cephalopods do. It uses neither oars nor sails, and 
 the palmate arms only serve to envelop and retain its hold on its irail 
 shell. Its principal apparatus of progression is the funnel with which 
 it is furnished, in common with all Cephalopods, and which is very 
 long in the Argonaut. Aided by this apparatus, it ejects the water 
 after it has served the purpose of respiration, and, in doing so, pro- 
 jects itseh through the water. While it advances through the water 
 under this impulse, its pendent arms, elongated and united in bundles, 
 extend the whole length of the shell. Fig. 337 shows the position of 
 the difierent parts of the animal when it thus breasts the waves. These 
 arms are also powerful aids when the animal creeps on the ground at 
 the bottom of the sea. 
 
 When the animal is disturbed it retires completely into its shell. 
 From that moment, the equilibriitni being changed, the shell is over- 
 
498 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 turned, and the animal is nearly invisible. If frightened, it entirely 
 submerges itself, and sinks to the bottom. 
 
 These Httle beings share with other Cephalopods the strange 
 
 ,^j0Pf9^^ 
 
 Fig. 337, — Argonauta papyracea, as it swims by means of its locomotive tube. 
 
 faculty of changing colour under the influence of some vivid impres- 
 sion ; but their graceful and delicate organisation redeems them from 
 the charge we have brought against the cuttles. The Argonaut can 
 blush, turn pale, and show through its transparent shell its body 
 
 changing in sudden shades ; but it 
 never exhibits those bristling, unplea- 
 sant tubercles, the inheritance of the 
 larger and coarser Cephalopods — the 
 tyrants of the sea. 
 
 The male Argonauts are very small, 
 often not a tenth part of the size of 
 the females, which alone possess the 
 shells. 
 
 The female Argonaut carries its 
 ^gg in the shell, and the little ones are 
 also hatched in this floating cradle. 
 Four or six species are at present known 
 — the species described by Aristotle and Pliny, and the more ancient 
 naturalists — namely, A. argo,^ or papyracea (Figs. 335 and 337), which 
 are inhabitants of the Mediterranean as well as the Indian Ocean 
 and the Antilles. Two others, A. Owenit, belonging exclusively to 
 the Indian Ocean, and A. hyans^ which is met occasionally in the 
 Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. 
 
 Fig. 338. . 
 Argonauta papyracea m its shell. 
 
 THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE MOLLUSCA. 
 
 We have thought it better to treat this subject in a separate portion 
 of this chapter, for its vast and complicated nature renders it other- 
 wise difficult to handle, except in a space which would exceed the 
 limits of this work, 
 
DISTRIBUTION OF MOLLUSC A. 499 
 
 The different genera of the Mollusca are pecuHar to, or most fre- 
 quent in, certain locaUties, and even species and varieties are known 
 to have their pecuhar hmits. This fact pervades the entire range of 
 organic beings, from the lowest plants to man. The geographical dis- 
 tribution of the Mollusca is perhaps that best known to science. The 
 labours of Messrs. Louis Agassiz and R. M'Andrew, Dr. J. E. Gray, 
 Professor Edward Forbes, and others, have done much towards 
 giving us a clear idea of tlieir distribution in space. Climate alone is 
 insufficient to account for the distribution of animals : some higher 
 cause rules here. But while we admit this, still we must acknow- 
 ledge that climate, exerts considerable influence in modifying species. 
 
 The distribution of the Mollusca may be considered from three 
 points of view. First, as regards space; second, as regards depth; 
 and third, as regards time; the last belongs to geology. 
 
 We shall now survey the principal divisions of the ocean ; the 
 line of demarcation being drawn, not by latitude or longitude, but 
 by genera and species. 
 
 The Mollusca of the arctic seas are well known to show con- 
 siderable analogy with those of the later Tertiary periods of Europe. 
 Hence the great interest connected with their comparison, as it affords 
 — provided we are satisfied with this line of argument — a proof that 
 an arctic cHmate formerly existed in temperate regions. It is the 
 northern Drift of which we are speaking. Even when species are 
 found living in Britain identical with those of the arctic regions, still 
 there is often a difference in the form or size of British and arctic 
 specimens; certain species, such as Cypi'ina Islafidica, being com- 
 paratively small in the south of Britain, larger in Shetland, and 
 attaining their greatest size in Iceland. 
 
 The countries included in the arctic molluscan province are 
 Lapland, Iceland, Greenland, the west coast of Davis' Straits, and 
 Behring's Straits. About 200 species are enumerated by the various 
 arctic voyagers, as found in these seas ; of these about one-half are 
 peculiar to them, and the other half are either found living in the 
 temperate regions of Europe, or in their so-called glacial strata. 
 
 The Boreal province includes the North Atlantic, from Nova 
 Scotia to Iceland, and from thence to Faroe, Shetland, and the 
 Norway coast. 
 
 The number of species is very large ; and more than one-half are 
 common both to Scandinavia and the North American coast, while a 
 great number also are found on the British coast. 
 
 The province called Celtic by Professor Edward Forbes embraces 
 the coasts of Britain, Sweden, and Denmark. 
 
500 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 Our British Mollusca are about 700 in number; those bearing 
 shells are above 500. Of these about thirty are peculiar to Britain. 
 The shells of the Baltic are identical with those of this province. 
 
 The Lusitanian province stretches from Madeira and the Canaries 
 to the coasts of Spain and Portugal, and includes also the Mediter- 
 ranean. But, as one might expect, on close examination the Mollusca 
 in such a large area differ so widely that we are forced to admit the 
 existence of great subdivisions. 
 
 The number of species found on the coast of Madeira by 
 Mr. McAndrew was 156, of which forty-four per cent, were identical 
 with British species, and eighty-three per cent, were common to the 
 Canaries. 
 
 The shells of the Mediterranean are 600 in number ; but it is 
 probable that more extensive dredging will result in great accessions 
 being made to this list. Nine genera are pecuHar to the Mediter- 
 ranean. A very small number of species only are identical with those 
 now found in the Red Sea or the West Indies 
 
 In the character of its shells, the Black Sea resembles the 
 Mediterranean, but does not contain much more than a tenth of 
 the number of its species., The number of shells found on the 
 Spanish and Portuguese coasts is much smaller than one would 
 expect, and can only be attributed to the scanty explorations that 
 have been made. As we might expect, the number of species 
 identical with those of Northern Europe is much greater on the 
 Atlantic than on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. 
 
 The sea of Aral, and the Caspian, contain a few peculiar species ; 
 but they have been so little explored, that it is premature, we think, 
 to form them into a province. The proportion of salt contained in 
 these seas is much less than in the ocean. 
 
 The west of Africa affords a considerable number of fine shells ; the 
 species most numerous being those of Murex, Conus, and Clavatula. 
 
 The South African province contains 400 species ; the character- 
 istic genera are Terebratella, Chiton, Patella, Trochus, Fissurella, 
 Cypraea, and Conus. A large number of the species are not found 
 elsewhere. 
 
 The Indo-Pacific province stretches from Australia to Japan, the 
 greater part of the east coast of Africa, the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, the 
 Asiatic coast, and the islands of the Indian Archipelago. 
 
 The Molluscs of the Red Sea remind us of those of India; the per- 
 centage of those found also in the Mediterranean being but small. 
 The shells of the Persian Gulf are but little known ; one species, the 
 brindled cowry (^Cyprœa princeps)^ has been sold for ;^5o 
 
DISTRIBUTION OF MOLLUSC A. 5OI 
 
 The seas of New Zealand and Australia have been formed into a 
 province. As might be anticipated, their mollusca have Httle in 
 common with those of the rest of the globe. 
 
 The Japonic province includes the coasts of Japan and the Corea. 
 
 The Aleutian province, the centre of which may be taken to be 
 the Aleutian Islands, shows great analogy with the Boreal province of 
 the west, a considerable number of the shells being identical — a fact 
 especially interesting when we consider that very few species are 
 found common to both the south-eastern and south-western coasts of 
 America. 
 
 The CaHfornian province is very distinct from that of Panama ; 
 the genera most numerous found there are Chiton, Acmsea, Fissurella, 
 Trochus, and Purpura. 
 
 The marine shells of Panama are upwards of 1,300 ; the region 
 included stretches from the Gulf of California to Peru. For our 
 knowledge of this province we are much indebted to the researches 
 of Dr. P. P. Carpenter, who has catalogued 654 species, as found at 
 Mazatlan. 
 
 The Peruvian province contains a long list of species, and extends 
 from Callao to Valparaiso. 
 
 The Magellanic province includes the extreme south of America 
 and the Falkland Islands. Many genera, the species of which are 
 usually small, here reach an enormous size, and afford, in many cases, 
 the chief animal food consumed by the quadrupeds and human 
 population of that wild and desolate coast. 
 
 The Patagonian province extends from St. Catharina to Point 
 Melo on the east coast. The number of species found also in the 
 Falkland Islands is very small; but a large number are identical 
 with Brazilian species ; yet the majority are peculiar. 
 
 The Caribbean province extends from Brazil to the West Indies, 
 and includes also the northern coast of South America and the Gulf 
 of Mexico; a total of 1,500 species is enumerated by Professor Adams 
 as belonging to the province. 
 
 The Transatlantic province, or that on the coast of the United 
 States, does not afford a large number of species, only 230 being 
 known ; of these only fifteen are found in Europe. 
 
 The study of the terrestrial and fresh-water mollusca affords even 
 better grounds for their division into provinces; but we shall not enter 
 into this subject here, as it belongs more especially to the Land World. 
 
 We shall now say a few words on the depth of the sea or ocean 
 in which Mollusca are found. 
 
502 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 The observations of Milne-Edwards, Audouin, and Professor 
 Edward Forbes, have led to the division of the sea into four zones : — 
 The deep sea Coral zone, from fifty to loo fathoms; the Coralline 
 zone from fifteen to fifty fathoms; the Laminarian zone, which 
 stretches from fifteen fathoms to low water ; and the littoral zone, 
 between high and low water marks. 
 
 The great stronghold of Crania, Thetis, Nesera, Yoldia, Dentalium, 
 and Scissurella, is in the deep sea Coral zone ; while Buccinum, Fusus, 
 Pleurotoma, Natica, Aporrhais, Philine, and Velutina, which are 
 among the most ravenous and predatory of molluscs, are found in 
 the Coralline zone. They attack the bivalves, whose shells among 
 the relics of former seas, as in those of the present, show evidence 
 of assaults and murder. 
 
 The principal genera of the Laminarian zone are the difterent 
 genera of the Nudibranchiata, and such genera as Aplysia, Trochus, 
 Navicella, Rissoa, and Lacuna, which feed so much on the seaweed 
 of this region. 
 
 The Littoral zone, which, being accessible as the tide recedes, is 
 best known, affords Cardium, Mytilus, Tellina, Solen, Trochus, 
 Patella, Littorina, and Purpura ; or in plain English, cockles, mussels, 
 razor-fish, limpets, periwinkles, and tingles — species which are the 
 first to attract our attention, and which are so much used for food. 
 
 Nothing was known at the time of the translation of this work of 
 the discoveries since made by Sars, Wyville Thomson, Pourtales, 
 and others, as to what may now be well called the Deep Sea fauna 
 which live in depths of from loo to 1,500 fathoms. 
 
501 
 
 CHAPTER xrx. 
 
 THE CRUSTACEA. 
 
 " Multa tamen isetus tristia prmtus habet," — OviD. 
 
 We divide the Arthropods into four classes, the Insecfa, the Myria- 
 poda, the Arachîiida, and the Crustacea, and it is this last which 
 must now engage our attention. It may, however, be proper to 
 remark that we pass over here the large section of the Annulosa — 
 animals, very many of which inhabit the sea ; indeed, the classes 
 Ajinelida and Gephyrea are almost exclusively marine. 
 
 The Crustacea is the lowest division of articulate animals ; they 
 possess feet ; they breathe by means of gills, and have no tracheae, or 
 air-passages, as in the Insecta. The name signifies a hard crust or 
 covering, with which the animals are protected. This consists of 
 layers of carbonate of lime with one of pigment, generally, but not 
 always, on the surface. The general outline of these animals is 
 peculiar ; unlike insects, they are not divisible into head, thorax, and 
 abdomen ; many species truly have no apparent head ; but a pair of 
 eyes point to the seat of inteUigence. Most of these animals have two 
 compound eyes \ but a few, like some insects, have eyes both simple 
 and compound. The mouth is situated in the under part of the 
 anterior of the body : in some cases they have jaws, as in crabs ; in 
 other suckers only. 
 
 The Crustaceans have nearly all of them claws, formidably hooked 
 and toothed, which they employ as pincers, both in offensive and 
 defensive war. They have been compared to the heavily-armed 
 knights of the middle ages — at once audacious and cruel ; barbed in 
 steel from head to foot, with visor and corslet, arm-pieces and thigh- 
 pieces — scarcely anything, in fact, is wanting to complete the re- 
 semblance. 
 
 These marine marauders live on the sea-coast, among the rocks, 
 and near the shore. Some few of them frequent the deep waters, 
 others hide themselves in the sand or under stones, while the common 
 crab (^Carcifius mœnaSy Leach) loves the shore almost as much as the 
 
504 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 salt water, and establishes itself accordingly under some moist cliiï 
 overhanging the sea, where it can enjoy both. 
 
 One of the necessary consequences of the condition of these 
 animals enclosed in a hard shell is their power of throwing it off. 
 The solidity of their calcareous carapace would effectually prevent 
 their growth, but at certain determinate periods Nature despoils the 
 warrior of his cuirass, the creature moults, and the calcareous crust 
 falls off, and leaves it with a thin, pale, and delicate skin. In this 
 state the Crustacean is no longer worthy of its name — its skin has 
 become as vulnerable as that of the softest mollusc ; but it has the 
 instinct of weakness, it retires into lonely places, and hides its 
 weakness in some obscure crevice, until another vestment, more 
 suitable for resistance, and adapted to its increased size, has been 
 given to it. 
 
 The body of a Crustacean consists of a great number of distinct 
 pieces, connected together by means of portions of the epidermis 
 which have not yet become hardened, somewhat as the bones in the 
 skeleton oi the vertebrata are connected by cartilages, the ossification 
 of which only takes place in old age. The body of the Crustacean 
 consists of a series of segments varying in number, the normal 
 number ot the body-segments being twenty-one. Each segment is 
 divisible into two arcs — one upper or dorsal, the other lower or 
 ventral ; and each arc may present four elementary pieces, two of 
 which are united in the mesial line forming the tergiim^ or back ; the 
 lower arc is a counterpart of this, while the others form the two side 
 or epimeral pieces. The skin, therefore, performs the functions of a 
 skeleton, so that the Crustaceans — as was said by Geoffroy Saint 
 Hilaire — Hke the molluscs, live inside and not outside their bony 
 column. The analogue of the Crustacea amongst Vertebrata is to be 
 found amongst Sturgeons, whose hard outer immovable bony case 
 encloses a softer skeleton ; these latter agree, however, in all their 
 other characters with the higher divisions of the vertebrata, although 
 their internal skeleton does not possess the solidity of bone. 
 
 The Crustaceans vary greatly in colour ; some are of a dark iron 
 grey with a dash of steel-blue, like metal weapons forged for combat ; 
 a few of them are red, or reddish-brown; others are of an earthy 
 yellow or of a livid blue. 
 
 " The integument,'' according to Milne-Edwards, " consists of a 
 corium, or true skin, and an epidermis, with pigmentary matter, which 
 colours the former. The corium is a thick, spongy, and vascular mem- 
 brane, connected with the serous substance which lines the parietal 
 walls of the cavities, as the serous membrane lines the internal 
 
CRUSTACEA. ^è5 
 
 cavities among the vertebrata." The pigment is less a membrane than 
 an amorphous matter diffused through the outer layer of the superficial 
 membrane, which changes to red in the greater number of species on 
 being immersed in alcohol, ether, acids, or water at 212° Fahr. 
 
 The calcareous crust of the animal is thick, and in the dorsal region 
 capable of great resistance ; their arms and legs are also of remarkable 
 hardness ; but in the smaller species the shell is often thin, and of 
 that crystalHne transparency which permits of the functions of diges- 
 tion and circulation being observed. Many species, which are quite 
 microscopic, contribute colour to the sea — red, purple, or scarlet — 
 such are G7'imothea Duperreii, and G. gregaria. 
 
 Before the year 1823 it was not generally supposed that this class 
 of animals was subject to change of shape in its larval condition, and 
 during its progressive development ; but about this time a certain able 
 microscopist clearly demonstrated that a minute nondescript kind of 
 animal, called the Zoea Tau7'us, was nothing more nor less than the 
 young of a kind of Prawn that had just escaped from the egg. This 
 able microscopist, Mr. Vaughan Thomson, of Cork, by many suc- 
 cessive observations, and under the fire of much adverse criticism, 
 satisfactorily established the truth of a metamorphic change taking 
 place in many genera, and, in particular, in the common crab {Cancer 
 mœnas); having succeeded in hatching the ova of this species, the 
 product of which proved to be a true Zoea. That there are variations 
 in this law of change has now been admitted, but that generally a meta- 
 morphosis exists analogous to that of insects in the various genera 
 of Crustacea with hardly an exception has been clearly established. 
 
 The recorded observations of the eminent naturahst we have men- 
 tioned, Mr. Vaughan Thomson, as well as those of Mr. Couch, of 
 Penzance, Professor Milne-Edwards — and particularly those of the 
 last mentioned, who is the author of perhaps the best general work 
 extant on the Crustacea — are referred to as treating in detail on this 
 interesting subject. 
 
 As an illustration of this metamorphosis, we give figures of the Zoea 
 Taurus in two states (Fig. 339), viz., a^ in the first stage ; and second, 
 ^, as the animal appeared on the fourth day after the first micro- 
 scopical examination, and when it resolved itself into a kind of prawn. 
 These drawings appear in Mr. Bell's " History of British Stalk-eyed 
 Crustacea," and were taken by that gentleman from the work of a 
 Dutch naturalist named Slabber, who made the original observation 
 in the year 1768, and pubhshed the result in 1778, from which time 
 the subject had been allowed to tall asleep until revived by \1x. 
 Vausfhan Thomson. 
 
$ob 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 Among the Crustacea which have no neck the head gradually 
 mingles with the thorax ( Céphalothorax), but the abdomen remains 
 distinct; the middle of the body is compressed. Among some 
 Crustaceans there are neither thorax nor abdomen, nor head, but all 
 
 Fig'. 339. —^oea Taurus. 
 
 three form only one mass, often short and squat, as in Pisa ietraodon 
 (Fig. 340), the four-horned spider crab. 
 
 Many of these animals have the abdomen developed into a power- 
 ful tail, consisting of a certain number of altered segments, which it 
 uses in swimming to force it through the water. 
 
 The Crustaceans, so far as they are aquatic, respire by means of 
 branchiœ, or gills. In the larger species these branchiae are in the 
 form of lamellae, which are traversed by two canals, one of which 
 
CRUSTACEA, 
 
 507 
 
 leads the blood into the general body of the animals, the other directs 
 it towards the heart. These organs are enclosed in the Céphalothorax. 
 In some of the smaller species the branchi^ often appear exteriorly, 
 hanging in the water Hke tassels. In some cases we find that the 
 Crustacea have no special organs of respiration. 
 
 Nearly all the Crustaceans are strong, hardy, and destructive, 
 forming a horde of nocturnal brigands — merciless marauders, who 
 recoil from no trap in which they can lie in wait for their prey. 
 
 -Pisa tetraodon. 
 
 CThey fight à l'outrance not only with their enemies, but often among 
 themselves, either for a prey or for a female, sometimes for the sake 
 of the fight. They struggle fiercely and audaciously with their claws. 
 The carapace generally resists the most formidable blows ; but the 
 . feet, the tail, and above all the antennae, suffer frightful mutilation. 
 \ , Happily for the vanquished, the mutilated members sprout again 
 / after a few weeks of repose. This is the reason for the many Crus- 
 taceans met with having the claws of very unequal size : the smaller 
 replace those lost in battle. Nature has willed that the Crustacean 
 should not long remain an invalid. They soon return cured of their 
 wounds. " We have seen lobsters," says Moquin-Tandon, " which 
 have in an unfortunate encounter lost a limb, sick and debilitated. 
 
508 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 reappear at the end of a few months with a perfect Hmb, vigorous, 
 and ready for service. O Nature, how thou fiUest our souls with 
 astonishment and wonder !" 
 
 On the Spanish coast there is a species of crab known singularly 
 enough by the name of Boccaccio. It is caught for its claw, which is 
 considered excellent eating; this is taken off, and the mutilated 
 animal is thrown into the sea, to be re-taken at some future time 
 when the claw has reappeared. 
 
 Crustaceans are nearly all carnivorous, and eat eagerly all other 
 animals, whether living or dead, fresh or decomposed. Little think 
 they of the quality or condition of their food. It is amusing ti 
 witness the address and gravity with which the common crab, when 
 it has seized an unfortunate mussel, holds the valve open with one 
 claw, while with the other it rapidly detaches the animal, carrying each 
 morsel to its mouth, as one might do with the hand, until the shell 
 is entirely empty. The crab does not kill its prey directly, like the 
 lobster ; it swallows it, certainly, but with greater appreciation. 
 
 M. Charles Lespes surprised upon the shore at Royan a shoal 
 of crabs at their repast. This day they seemed to have dined in 
 common, and " God knows the enjoyment," as the good Fontaines 
 said. They were in rows, every head turned to the same side, and 
 nearly on end on their eight feet. They seized the small objects on 
 the shore, which they carried to their mouths, each hand in its turn in 
 regular order ; when the right hand reached the mouth the left was on 
 the ground. Only imagine a company of disciplined soldiers thus 
 messing together at the same table ! 
 
 The Long-horned Corophius {^Corophmm Io?igico7'Jte), remarkable 
 for its long antennae, knows perfectly well how to cut the byssus by 
 which the mussels suspend themselves, in order that the bivalve may 
 fall on the weeds among them. Other Crustaceans are also great 
 oyster-eaters, and have the cunning or instinct to attack this mollusc 
 without exposing themselves to danger. When the bivalve half opens 
 its shell to enjoy the rays of the sun or take food, the evil-disposed 
 Crustacean is romantically said to slip a stone between the valves ; 
 this done, it devours the poor inhabitant of the shell at its leisure. 
 
 The Corophii, respecting whom this assertion is hazarded, are 
 extremely numerous on the shores of the Atlantic towards the end of 
 summer and autumn. They make constant war upon certain marine 
 worms. Off the coast of La Rochelle they may be seen in myriads 
 beating the muddy bottom with their long antennae in search of their 
 prey. Sometimes they meet a Nereid or Arenicola many times their 
 own size, when they unite in a body to attack it. In the oyster beds 
 
CRUSTACEA. 509 
 
 of La Rochelle they are useful friends to the oyster by destroying 
 these enemies, although they do not hesitate to attack the mollusc 
 when it comes in their way. During the winter the mud of the 
 bouchots gets piled up in unequal heaps, and when the warm season 
 returns it has become hard and unfit for the cultivation of the 
 mollusc. It is necessary to level and dry these mud-heaps — a process 
 which would be both difficult and costly. Well, the Corophii charge 
 themselves with the task. They plough up annually many square 
 leagues covered with these heaps. They dilute the mud, which is 
 carried out by the ebbing tide, and the surface of the bay is left 
 ^ smooth, as it was in the preceding autumn. 
 
 We have said that the Crustaceans do not even respect each other j 
 the larger of the same species often devour the smaller. Rara con- 
 
 -^ cordiafratrum ! Mr. Rymer Jones relates that he had on one occa- 
 sion introduced six crabs {Platycarcinus pagurus) of different sizes into 
 
 "S an aquarium. One of them, venturing towards the middle of the 
 
 / reservoir, was immediately accosted by another a little larger, which 
 
 took it with its claws as it might have taken a biscuit, and set about 
 
 breaking its shell, and so found a way to its flesh. It dug its crooked 
 
 / claws into it with voluptuous enjoyment, appearing to pay no attention 
 
 ' to the anger and jealousy of another of its companions, which was 
 still stronger and as cruel, and was advancing upon it. But, r.s 
 Horace says — and he was not the first to say it — " There is nothing 
 altogether happy" — 
 
 "Nihil est ab omni parte beatum." 
 
 Our ferocious Crustacean quietly continued its repast, when its com- 
 panion seized it exactly as it had seized its prey, broke and tore it in 
 the same fashion, penetrating to its middle, and tearing out its entrails 
 in the same savage manner. In the meantime the victim, singularly 
 enough, did not disturb itself for an instant, but continued to eat the 
 first crab bit by bit, until it was itself entirely torn to pieces by its 
 own executioner — a remarkable instance at once of insensibility to 
 pain and of cruel infliction under the lex talionis. To eat and to be 
 eaten seems to be one of the great laws of Nature. 
 
 Though essentially carnivorous, the Crustaceans sometimes feed 
 ' on vegetable food. Many even seem to prefer fruit to animal food. 
 Such is the robber-crab {Birgus latro) of the Polynesian Isles, which 
 feeds almost exclusively on the cocoa-nut. This crab has one thick 
 and strong claw ; the others are comparatively slender and weak. At 
 first glance it seems impossible that it could penetrate a thick cocoa- 
 nut surrounded by a thick bed of fibre and protected by its strono; 
 
510 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 shell ; but M. Liesk has often seen the operation. The crab begins 
 by tearing off the fibre at the extremity where the fruit is, always 
 choosing the right hand. When this is removed, it strikes it with its 
 great claws until it has made an opening ; then, by the aid of its 
 slender claws, and by turning itself round, it extracts the whole 
 substance of the nut. 
 
 The Crustaceans have eyes of two kinds, simple and compound : 
 the first are sessile and immovable, and very convex \ the others 
 are borne on short calcareous stems or peduncles, and are formed of 
 a number of small eyes symmetrically agglomerated together — the 
 reunion of all the microscopic cornea of a composite eye — resembling 
 in shape a cap formed of facets. It is said, for instance, that the eye 
 of the lobster consists of 2,500 of these little facets. The simple 
 eyes are short-sighted — the compound eyes are for more distant and 
 perfect sight. They appear to have a strong sense of smell. Many 
 of them cannot swim, but walk with more or less facility at the 
 bottom of the water. It is said, for instance, that the cavalier of the 
 Syrian coast, Oxypoda cursor (Fabricius), is named from the rapidity 
 with which it traverses great distances. 
 
 The class Crustacea may be divided into seven orders :— i. The 
 Decapoda; 2. the Amphipoda ; 3. the Isopoda; 4. the Xiphosura; 
 5. the Branchiopoda ; 6. the Entomostraca ; and 7. the Cirripedia. 
 The first of these orders is divided into three sub-orders : — Macrura^ 
 containing the Lobsters, Shrimps, and other long- tailed decapod 
 Crustacea \ Anomoura, containing the Hermit or Soldier-crabs ; and 
 the Bi^achyura or short-tailed crabs, such as the common edible crab. 
 The second order contains the common Sand-hopper {Talitrus locusta) 
 Among the families of the third order we may mention that of the 
 Oniscidœ, to which the very common Wood-louse belongs. The 
 fourth order contains but a single genus, Limulus. One of the 
 most remarkable species of this genus is the Z. Moluccamis, the 
 Molucca crab. It is distinguished by a long serrated spine or telson, 
 which looks most formidable. They are in great request in the 
 markets of Java. Linnaeus thought that the fossil trilobites were 
 closely allied to the Limulus. Latreille, on the contrary, classed 
 them near Chiton^ a genus of Mollusca. The body of Limulus so 
 strikingly resembles that of many Trilobites, that the most common 
 observers may perceive an affinity. The fifth order contains some 
 very remarkable forms. We may specialise the genera Apus, Dapknia, 
 and Cypris ; and here also very probably belongs that family of 
 extinct forms the Trilobites. The sixth order contains some non- 
 parasitic forms, as Cyclops; it embraces a very large number of forms 
 
'CRUSTACEA. 511 
 
 found parasitic on fish, such as Arguhis, Ckondr acanthus^ Lernea, 
 and -Penella. The seventh and last order contains the strange and 
 curious Acorn shells {Bala?tus), and Barnacles {Lepas), about which 
 so many romantic and untrue stories have been published in the 
 olden times. 
 
 To commence with the best known of these orders, the Decapoda, 
 we find it containing the crabs and lobsters ; these may be regarded 
 as the chiefs or lords of the Crustacea. The crabs have very large 
 claws, and often smooth backs ; the lobsters have also large claws 
 and the back sometimes covered with spines. Tiberius Csesar had 
 the face of a poor fisherman scratched by the rugged shell of a 
 craw-fish. 
 
 Both crabs and lobsters are amazingly fecund, and lay an im- 
 mense number of eggs, each female producing from 12,000 to 20,000 
 in the season. These eggs are, in the lobster, arranged in packets, 
 which are attached to the appendages of the lower surface of the tail, 
 to which they are connected by a viscous substance. The manner in 
 which the female lobster disposes of her burden is curious and 
 interesting. Whether she bends or stands erect she is able to hold it 
 concealed or exposed to the light at will. Sometimes, according to 
 Coste, the eggs are left immovable, or simply submerged ; at others 
 they are subjected to constant agitation by gently moving the false 
 feet which contain them to and fro. When first extruded from the 
 ovary the eggs are very small, but they seem to increase during the 
 time they are borne about under the tail, and before they are com- 
 mitted to the sand or water they have attained the size of small shot. 
 The evolution of the germ is in progress during six months. " As the 
 young lie enclosed within the membrane of the egg," says Couch, "the 
 claws are folded on each other^ and the tail is flexed on them as far 
 as the margin of the shield. The dorsal spine is bent backwards, and 
 lies in contact with the dorsal shield, for the young when it escapes 
 from the Qgg is quite soft, but it rapidly hardens and solidifies by the 
 deposition of calcareous matter on what may be called its skin." 
 
 As soon as they are born the young Crustaceans withdraw from 
 the mother and ascend to the surface of the water in order to gain 
 the open sea. They swim in a circle ; but their pelagic life is not 
 of long duration ; they quit it after their fourth moult, which takes 
 place between the thirtieth and fortieth day, at which time they lose 
 the transitory organs of natation which they have hitherto possessed. 
 After this they are no longer able to maintain themselves on the 
 surface, but drop to the bottom. Henceforth they are condemned 
 to remain there, and such walking as they can exercise becomes their 
 
512 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 Fig. 341.— Palinurus vulgaris, a, left outward foot-jaw. 
 
 habitual mode of progression. As tliey increase in size they gradually 
 approach the shore, which they had for the moment abandoned, and 
 return to the places inhabited by the parent Crustaceans. 
 
CRUSTACEA. 
 
 313 
 
 The form of the larva differs so much from that of the adult, 
 that it would be difficult, except on the clearest evidence, to deter- 
 mine the species from which they proceed. Former naturalists 
 considered the embryo cray-fish {^Palinurus) to belong to a distinct 
 genus, which they designated Phyllosoma. It is now known, how- 
 ever, that these Phyllosoma are but the young of the higher forms 
 of Crustacea undergoing metamorphosis. In the various forms of 
 Macnira the metamorphosis is less decided than in the Brachyura. 
 In the fresh-water cray-fish no marked metamorphosis whatever 
 
 Fig. 342. — Porluiius vanegatus, male. 
 a, external antenna ; b, external foot-jaw ; c, tail or abdomen. 
 
 takes place. Dissatisfied with the uncertainty of former experiments, 
 Mr. Couch undertook a series of observations, which he has re- 
 corded in the proceedings of the Cornwall Polytechnic Society, in 
 which he established the fact that a metamorphosis takes place in 
 the following genera : Cancer, Xanfho, Filmnnus, Carcinus, Fortufms, 
 Maja, Galathea, Homarus, and Palhiiirus. " Metamorphosis has 
 been demonstrated," says Dr. Bell, " in no less than seventeen genera 
 of the Brachyurous sub-order of Decapoda, in all which it is most 
 decided and obvious ; in Leptopodia, Maja, Ca?icer, Portimus, 
 Piîinothej^es, and Grapsus. In the Anomourous sub-order it is seen 
 in Pagui'us, Porcellana, and Galathea ; and in the Macrourous sub- 
 order in Ho mai' us, Palmurus, Palœfuon, and CrangonJ'' 
 
5 H 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 The swimming of these larval creatures is produced by contrac- 
 tions and expansions of the tail, and by repeated beating motions of 
 the claws, the tail acting as a sort of vibratile oar, aided by which 
 
 Fig. 343. — Corystes Cassivelaunus, male. 
 
 they maintain themselves in the water and facilitate their progress. 
 As the shell becomes more solid they get less active, and finally 
 return to the bottom to cast their shell and assume a new form. 
 
 According to the observations of M. Coste, the young lobster 
 casts its shell from eight to ten times in the first year, from five to 
 
CRUSTACEA. 
 
 515 
 
 seven m the second, three to four times the third, and two or three 
 times the fourth year. In the fifth year they attain the aduh state. 
 Whence it follows, that the small lobsters served at our tables have 
 changed their calcareous vestment something Hke twenty-one times, 
 and are now clothed in their twenty-second habit. 
 
 The species of crabs are numerous, and they vary in size. The 
 
 Fig. 344 — Corystes Cassivelaunus, female. 
 
 long-clawed crab {Corystes Cassivelaimus) of Pennant and Leach 
 (Fig. 343) is remarkable for its long antennae, which considerably 
 exceed the body. The foot-jaws have their third joint longer than 
 the second, terminating in an obtuse point, with a notch on its 
 interior edge ; eyes wide apart, borne upon large peduncles, which 
 are short and nearly cylindrical ; anterior feet large, equal, twice the 
 length of the body, and nearly cylindrical in the males ; in the 
 females (Fig. 344) about the length of the body, and compressed, 
 especially towards the hand-claw. The other feet terminate in an 
 
5l6 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 elongated claw, which is straight-pointed and channeled longitudi- 
 nally : the carapace oblong-oval, terminating in a rostrum anteriorly 
 ti-uncated and bordered posteriorly ; the regions are but slightly 
 indicated, with the exception of the caudal region, the branchial or 
 thoracic regions being very much elongated. 
 
 Latreille gives the name of Corystes — ^which signifies a warrior 
 armed — to this genus of short-tailed Decapod Crustacean, from KOpvs, 
 a helmet. Pennant had already conferred the name of Cassivelaunus^ 
 the chief of the ancient Britons, for the singular reason, according 
 to Gosse, that the carapace, which is marked by wrinkles, bears, in 
 old males especially, the strongest and most ludicrous resemblance 
 to the face of an ancient man, but surely Pennant's well-known sym- 
 pathy with his British ancestry certainly never led him to caricature the 
 grand old British warrior, as Mr. Gosse surmises. On the contrary, 
 he saw in this Crustacean a creature armed at all points, and he 
 named it after the hero of his imagination. 
 
 In this species the surface of the carapace is somewhat granulous, 
 with two denticles between the eyes, and three sharp points directed 
 forward on each side. The male has only five abdominal segments, 
 but the vestiges of the separation of two others may be clearly re- 
 marked upon the outer mediate or third piece, which is the largest of 
 all. The length of the antennae is remarked on by Mr. Couch, in 
 his "Cornish Fauna." "These organs,^' he says, "are of some use 
 beyond their common office of feelers ; perhaps, as in some other 
 Crustaceans, they assist in the process of excavation ; and when 
 soiled by labour, I have seen the crab effect their cleaning by alter- 
 nately bending the joints of their stalks, which stand conveniently 
 angular for the purpose. Each of the long antennae is thus drawn 
 along the brush that fringes the internal face of the other, until both 
 are cleared of every particle that adhered to them." On the other 
 hand, Mr. Gosse suggests that the office of the antennae is to keep a 
 passage open for ejecting the deteriorated water after it has bathed 
 and aerated the gills. "I have observed," he says, "that, when kept 
 in an aquarium, these crabs are fond of sitting bolt upright, the 
 antennae placed close together, and pointing straight upwards from 
 the head. This is doubtless the attitude in which the animal sits in 
 its burrow, for the tips of the antennae may often be seen just project- 
 ing from the sand. When the chosen seat has happened to be so 
 close to the glass side of the tank as to bring the antennae within the 
 range of a pocket lens, I have minutely investigated these organs 
 without disturbing the old warrior in his meditation. I saw on each 
 occasion that a strong current of water was continuously pouring up 
 
CRUSTACEA. 517 
 
 from the points of the antennae. Tracing this to its origin, it became 
 evident that it was produced by the rapid vibration of the foot-jaws 
 drawing in the surrounding water, and pouring it off upwards between 
 the united antennœ, as through a tube. Then, on examining these 
 organs, I perceived that the form and arrangement of their bristles did 
 indeed constitute each antennae a semi-tube, so that when the pair 
 were brought face to face the tube was complete." 
 
 Among the numerous genera of Brachyurous Crustaceans, Graf sus 
 is distinguished by its less regularly quadrilateral form ; the body nearly 
 always compressed, and the sternal plastron but little or not at all 
 curved backwards ; the front strongly re-curved, or, rather, bent down- 
 wards ; the orbits oval-shaped and of moderate size ; the lateral edges 
 of the carapace slightly curving and trenchant ; the ocular pedicles 
 large, but short : their insertion beneath the front and the cornea 
 occupies one half of their length. 
 
 The Hermit or Soldier Crab {Pagurus Beiiihardus^ Fabricius, Fig. 
 337) is, perhaps, the oddest and most curious ot anomourous 
 Crustaceans. It differs from most other Crustaceans in this : that in 
 place of having the body protected by a calcareous armour, more or 
 less thick and solid, it has only a cuirass and head-piece to protect 
 the head and breast ; all the rest of the body is invested in a soft 
 yielding skin ; and this, the vulnerable part of the hermit crab, is thç 
 delicate morsel devoured by the gourmet. Nor is our somewhat 
 soft-skinned Crustacean ignorant of the perfectly weak and defenceless 
 state of its posterior quarters. Prudence or instinct makes it seek the 
 shelter of some empty shell, of a shape and size corresponding to 
 what it needs. When it fails to find one empty, it does not hesitate 
 to attack some living mollusc, which it kills without pity or remorse, 
 and takes possession of its habitation without other form or process. 
 Once master of the shell (Fig. 345), it introduces itself, stern foremost, 
 and installs itself as in an entrenchment, where it is estabHshed so 
 firmly that it moves about with it more or less briskly, according to 
 its comparative size. 
 
 The Soldier Crabs belong to the Anomourous family of Crus- 
 taceans, of which there are several genera, and a considerable number 
 of species, the animal economy of which has been ably commented 
 upon by Mr. Broderip. " Their backs," he says, " are placed 
 towards the arch of the turbinated shell occupied by them, and their 
 well-armed nippers and first two pairs of succeeding feet generally 
 project beyond the mouth of it. The short feet rest upon the 
 polished surface of the columella, and the outer surface of their 
 termination, especially that of the first pair, is in some species 
 
5l8 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 most admirably rough-shod, to give * the soldier ' a firm footing when 
 he makes his sortie, or to add to the resistance of the crustaceous 
 holders at the end of his abdomen or tail when he is attacked, and 
 wishes to withdraw into his castle. On passing the finger down- 
 
 fa 
 
 Fig. 345. — Pagurus Bernhardus. - i, out of the shell ; b, in the shell ; a, right foot jaw. 
 
 wards over the terminations of these feet, they feel smooth ; but if 
 the finger be passed upwards, the roughness is instantly perceived. 
 The same sort of structure (it is as rough as a file) is to be seen in 
 the smaller caudal holders.'' In another species of Pagurus, from 
 the Mauritius, which was nearly a foot in length, he found a great 
 number of transverse rows, armed with acetabula, or suckers ; these, 
 
CRUSTACEA. 519 
 
 which must very much assist the hold of this species of Pagurus^ 
 were visible without the aid of a glass. 
 
 During feeding-time the hermit crab throws out his head and feet, 
 ana especially his great claws, and feels his way with his two antennae, 
 which are long and slender. When he walks he hooks on with his 
 pincers to the nearest body, and draws his shell after him, as the 
 snail does his. But the undefended parts of the body always remain 
 under cover. At low water the hermit crabs spread themselves over 
 the rocky shore, and the spectator thinks he sees a great number of 
 shells which move in all directions, with movements different from 
 that which belong to their essentially slow and measured race. If 
 they are touched they stop suddenly, and it is soon discovered that 
 their shell is the dwelling of a crustacean, not a mollusc. The 
 animal lives alone in its little citadel, like the hermit in his cell or 
 the sentinel in his box. Hence the names of hermit and soldier. 
 
 When our crustacean outgrows its borrowed habitation, it sets 
 out in search of another shell a little larger and better suited for 
 its increased size. 
 
 The hermit often avails itself, as we have said, of empty shells 
 abandoned by their owners ; when the tide retires these seldom fail 
 them, and the hermit crab may be seen examining, turning, and re- 
 turning, and even trying its nev/ domicile. It glides slowly along on 
 its abdomen, which is large and somewhat distorted, sometimes in 
 one shell, sometimes in another, looking defiantly all round it, and 
 returning very quickly to its ancient lodging if the new one does not 
 turn out to be perfectly comfortable, often trying a great number, as a 
 man might try many new suits of clothes before fitting himself. In its 
 successive removals the little sybarite chooses a hermitage more and 
 more spacious, according to its taste or caprice in colour or architec- 
 ture. The cunning little creature chooses its mansion, now grey or 
 yellow, now red or brown, globular or cylindrical, in the form of a 
 spiral or of a tun, toothed or crenulate, with trenchant edge or pointed 
 terminations ; but, as a rule, our crustacean Diogenes houses itself in 
 shells with spirals of considerable length, as in Ceidthium^ Buccinum. 
 or Murex. 
 
 The hermit crab is very timid ; at the least noise it shrinks into 
 its shell, and squats itself down, without motion, drawing in its 
 smaller claws and closing the door with its large one, the latter being 
 often covered with hairs, tubercles, or with teeth. In short, our 
 prudent cénobite clings so closely to the bottom of its retreat, that 
 we might pull it to pieces without getting it out entire ; its tail is 
 transformed into a sort of sucker, by the aid of which it attaches 
 
520 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 itself firmly to the walls of its habitation. It is at once strong and 
 voracious, eating with much relish the dead fishes and fragments of 
 molluscs and annelids which come in its way. Nor does it hesitate 
 to attack and devour living animals. When introduced into an 
 aquarium, it has sometimes thrown it into the utmost disorder by its 
 insatiable rapacity. It has been possible sometimes to preserve 
 harmony among many individuals inhabiting the same reservoir ; but 
 this has been owing rather to the impossibility of their attacking 
 each other, in consequence of cunningly-devised barricades, than to 
 their mildness of character or love of their neighbour. These 
 animals, in short, are very quarrelsome. Two hermit crabs cannot 
 meet without showing hostility ; each extends his long pincers, and 
 seems to try to touch the other, much as a spider does when it seeks 
 to seize a fly on its most vulnerable side ; but each finding the other 
 armed in proof, and perfectly protected, though eager to fight, usually 
 adopt the better part of valour, and prudently withdraws. They 
 often have true passages of arms, nevertheless, in which claws are spread 
 out and displayed in the most threatening manner ; the two adversaries 
 tumbling head over heels, and rolling one upon the other, but they 
 get more frightened than hurt. Nevertheless, Mr. Gosse once wit- 
 nessed a struggle which had a more tragic end. A hermit crab met 
 a brother hermit pleasantly lodged in a shell much more spacious 
 than his own. He seized it by the head with its powerful claws, tore 
 it from its asylum with the speed of lightning, and took its place not 
 less promptly, leaving the dispossessed unfortunate struggling on the 
 sand in convulsions of agony. " Our battles," says Charles Bonnet, 
 " have rarely such important objects in view ; they fight each other 
 for a house." 
 
 A pretty little Actinia, the Cloak Anemone i^Adamsia palliata,^ 
 loves to live with the hermit, and exhibits sympathies almost in- 
 explicable. In the sea this anemone attaches itself almost always 
 to the shell which serves as the dwelling of the Crustacean ; and it 
 may be looked upon as certain that where the hermit is there will the 
 anemone be found. These two creatures seem to live in perfect and 
 intelligent harmony together, for Mr. Gosse's observations establish 
 the existence of a cordial and reciprocal affection between them. 
 This learned and intelligent observer describes the proceedings of a 
 hermit crab which required a new habitation ; he saw it detach, in 
 the most deliberate but effective manner, its dear companion, the 
 anemone, from the old shell, transport it with every care and pre- 
 caution, and place it comfortably upon the new shell, and then with 
 its large pincers give to its well-beloved many little taps, as if to fix 
 
CRUSTACEA, 521 
 
 it there the more quickly. Another species of Hermit Crab makes a 
 companion of the mantled aiieinone. " And we are assured," says 
 Moquin-Tandon, " that when the crab dies its inconsolable friend is 
 not long in succumbing also/' 
 
 *' Is there not here much more than what our modern phy- 
 siologists call automatic movements, the results of reflex sensorial 
 action?" says Gosse. "The more I study the lower animals, the 
 more firmly am I persuaded of the existence in them of psychical 
 faculties, such as consciousness, intelligence, skill, and choice ; and 
 that even in those forms in which as yet no nervous centres have 
 been detected." 
 
 As an article of food we think that the lobster far excels the 
 crab ; like the latter, they have an amazing fecundity, each female 
 producing from 12,000 to 20,000 eggs in a season ; and wisely is it so 
 arranged, otherwise the consumption would soon exhaust the supply. 
 
 In France the size of the marketable lobster is regulated by law, 
 and fixed at twenty centimètres (eight inches) in length ; all under 
 that size are contraband. Every year the inhabitants of Blainville 
 proceed to Chaussy to fish for lobsters. They are taken in baskets 
 in the form of a truncated cone, the mouth of which is so arranged 
 that the animal can enter, but cannot get out. The numbers caught 
 by each fisherman and his family in a season may be estimated at 
 1,000 or 1,200, which realise to the family 1,300 or 1,400 francs, the 
 season lasting about nine months. 
 
 Lobsters are collected all round our own coast for the London 
 market. On the Scottish shore they are collected and kept in per- 
 forated chests floating on the water, until they can be taken away 
 to market. From the Sutherland coast alone 6,000 to 8,000 
 lobsters are collected in a season. This process goes on all round the 
 coast, and as far as Norway, whence an enormous supply of the finest 
 lobsters are obtained, for which something like ^£2 0,000 per annum 
 is paid, all these contributions being conveyed to the Thames and 
 Mersey in welled vessels. But these old-fashioned systems are being 
 rapidly superseded by the construction of artificial storing ponds, or 
 basins. Of these ponds Mr. Richard Scovell has erected one at 
 Hamble, near Southampton, in which he can store with ease 50,000 
 lobsters, which will thus keep in good condition for six weeks. 
 Mr. Scovell's tank is supplied from the coasts of France, Scotland, 
 and Ireland, where fine lobsters abound. He employs three large 
 and well-appointed smacks, each of which can carry from 5,000 to 
 10,000. On the west coast of Ireland alone, it is said, 10,000 fine 
 lobsters a week might be taken, 
 
522 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 The Lobstei {Homarus vulgaris) is, indeed, found in great 
 abundance all round our coast ; frequenting the more rocky shores 
 and clear water, where it is of no great depth, about the time of 
 depositing its eggs. Various are the modes in which they are taken; 
 cone-shaped traps made of wicker-work, and baited with garbage, are 
 perhaps the most successful. These are sunk among the rocks, and 
 marked by buoys. Sometimes nets are sunk, baited by the same 
 material. In other places a wooden instrument, which acts like a 
 pair of tongs, is used for their capture. 
 
 Mr. Pennant, the naturahst, paid great attention to the lobsters, 
 and their habits are well described in a letter from Mr. Travis, of 
 Scarborough. "The larger ones," he says, "are in their best season 
 from the middle of October to the beginning of May. Many of the 
 smaller ones, and some few of the larger individuals, are good all the 
 summer. If they are four and a half inches long from the top of the 
 head to the end of the back shell, they are called sizable lobsters ; 
 if under four inches, they are esteemed half size, and two of them are 
 reckoned for one of size. Under four inches they are called pawks, 
 and these are the best summer lobsters. The pincers of one of the 
 lobster's large claws are furnished with knobs, while the other claw is 
 always serrated. With the former it keeps firm hold of the stalks of 
 submarine plants ; with the latter it cuts its food very dexterously. 
 The knobbed or thumb claw, as the fishermen call it, is sometimes 
 on the left, sometimes on the right side, and it is more dangerous to 
 seize it by the serrated claw than the other. 
 
 There is little doubt that up to a certain age the lobsters cast 
 their shell annually, but the mode in which it is performed is not 
 satisfactorily explained. It is supposed that the old shell is cast, and 
 that the animal retires to some lurking-place till the new covering 
 acquires consistence to contend with his armour-clad congeners. 
 Others contend that the process is one of absorption, otherwise, if 
 there were a period of moult, it would be shown by their shells. The 
 most probable conjecture is that the shell sloughs off piecemeal, as it 
 does in the cray-fish. The greatest mystery of all, perhaps, is the 
 process by which the lobster withdraws the fleshy part of its claws 
 from their calcareous covering. Fishermen say the lobster pines 
 before casting its shell, and thus gets thin, so as to permit of with- 
 drawing its members from it. 
 
 The female lobster does not seem to cast her shell the same year 
 in which she deposits her ova, or, as the fishermen say, "is in berry/* 
 WTien the ova first appear under the tail, they are small and very 
 black, but before they are ready for deposition they are almost as 
 
CRUSTACEA, 523 
 
 large as ripe elderberries, and of a dark-brown colour. There does 
 not seem to be any particular season for the laying of the eggs, a^ 
 
 Fig. 346. — Nephrops norvégiens. 
 
 females are found in berry at all seasons, but more commonly in 
 winter. In this state they are found to be much exhausted, and by 
 no means fit for the table. 
 
 The generic name Astacus (Fabricius), is now confined to the 
 
524 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 crawfishes, Avhich have a depressed rostrum, one tooth on each side, 
 and the last ring of the thorax movable. The lobsters {Homai'us) 
 have the eyes spherical, the last ring of the thorax being soldered to 
 the penultimate one. The Norway Lobsters {Nephrops norvégiens, 
 
 Fig. 347. — Crangon vulgaris, a. Anterior foot or claw. 
 
 Fig. 346) have the eyes uniform, and the two last rings of the thorax 
 movable. 
 
 This last is one of the most beautiful of the larger Macrurans. Its 
 general tint is pale flesh colour, with darker shades in parts, its 
 pubescence light biown. This is generally considered a northern 
 species ; but Mr. Bell states that he has received specimens from the 
 Mediterranean. It is found plentifully on the coast of Norway, on 
 
CRUSTACEA. 525 
 
 the Scottish coast, and off the Bay of Dublin. It is considered the 
 most delicate of all the Crustaceans. 
 
 Before concluding this chapter, we perhaps should not omit brief 
 notices of the common prawn {Palϔ7ion st?'ratus) and the shrimp 
 {Cra7igo?i vulgaris^ Fig. 347) as types of the order Amphipoda. Species 
 of this order are found to inhabit all seas, and many of them perform 
 important functions as regards the sanitary state and economic con- 
 dition of the waters of the ocean. These small animals are the 
 scavengers of the sea — they pick up and devour all dead matter, 
 leaving (it may be) a clean skeleton, without a shred of fibre behind. 
 In this respect they resemble the ants on land, doing their work 
 always thoroughly and effectively. We need hardly mention, what 
 is so well known to every reader, that prawns and shrimps are 
 amongst the most esteemed delicacies at our table, and as articles of 
 food occupy no mean place on the fish-stall. It is hardly credible 
 what immense quantities arrive at Billingsgate alone and are daily 
 consumed Jn London and the neighbourhood by all classes of the 
 community. The shrimp, which although the smaller crustacean, is 
 perhaps the finest flavoured of the two, is sold in ouch larger 
 quantities than its more aristocratic congener, the prawn. The 
 fishery of these savoury comestibles gives occupation not only to 
 regular able-bodied fishermen, who devote themselves to this branch, 
 but also to large numbers of women and children, who, with their 
 baskets and small nets, may be seen plying their vocation in a 
 multitude of well-known localities on our coasts, especially on the 
 southern and south-eastern shores. To the visitors of Hastings, 
 Southampton, Bognor, &c., there is not a more picturesque or 
 familiar marine picture than to behold a troop of little shrimpers, in 
 their grotesque equipments, wading patiently knee deep, all in a row, 
 as they push before them their pole nets. 
 
 Without giving a detailed technical and anatomical description, 
 which our space will not permit of, we may observe that the common 
 prawn (^Palœmon serratus) is about four or five inches long, with a 
 rounded carapace, which is jointed and furnished at the head with 
 numerous long antennae, the eyes being large and round. The tail 
 is broad and flat, the caudal laminae of which are furnished with long 
 hairs on the terminal margins. The animal is also furnished with 
 several pairs of feet, very slender, and ordinarily bent within them- 
 selves. 
 
 The colour is light grey, spotted and lined with purplish shades. 
 In the water, however, prawns are almost transparent, from the nearly 
 entire absence of carbonate of Hme in the carapace ; they are thus 
 
526 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 very beautiful objects in the marine aquarium, moving as they do 
 like shadows in the water. 
 
 When prawns are boiled, they become of a delicate pink colour, 
 thus adding beauty to the dainty morceaux. 
 
 Like most other kinds of Crustacea, the prawn is much larger in 
 tropical climates. On the coast of South America, for instance, they 
 attain a size of nine or ten inches in length, three of them being 
 considered quite sufficient for a meal. 
 
 The London market is chiefly supplied with prawns from the Isle 
 of Wight and the Hampshire coast. 
 
 Like the prawn, the shrimp has many varieties. The common 
 shrimp i^Crangon vulgaris) is about two and a half inches long from 
 the eye to the extremity of the tail. It is also furnished with a 
 rounded articulated carapace, with two antenna. The eyes art 
 prominent, marked, and near each other ; the tail flat, laminated, and 
 hirsute. The shrimp is not very unlike the prawn in general appear- 
 ance, but is of a much less complex and finished structure. In 
 colour it is greyish brown, clotted all over with dark brown. 
 
 This is one of the most abundant of all our coast crustaceans, 
 swimming about and resting on the sands (which they closely re- 
 semble in colour) in immense shoals. Sometimes they are also found 
 in eep water ; but the margin of the sea is their favourite habitat. 
 It may be added that large quantities 01 the smaller Palaemonised 
 are caught with and sold as shrimps. Shrimps are in spawn all 
 the year through, and cast their shells during the three months of 
 spring. 
 
^27 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Fishes. 
 
 Before speaking of the habits of the principal kinds of fishes, it 
 is desirable to glance very briefly at their organisation. 
 
 Fishes are intended to live always* in water, and this circum- 
 stance has impressed its mark upon their organisation ; nevertheless, 
 their forms are very varied. They are generally oblong and compressed 
 laterally; they have no neck, the head being merely a prolongation 
 of the trunk. In the majority of instances, the body is covered with 
 scales, which may be described as thin bony substances, developed 
 out of the skin and over-lapping each other like the tiles of a roof. 
 
 Nothing is more remarkable than the variety and brilliancy of 
 colour in fishes ; they present almost every gradation of colour, from 
 gold or silver, and other dazzling colours, to the loveliest tints of 
 blue, green, red, and black. 
 
 Fishes are essentially fom.ed for swimming (Fig. 348), and all 
 the different parts of their bodies are adapted for this purpose. The 
 anterior limbs, which correspond with the arms in man and the wings 
 in birds, are attached to each side of the trunk, immediately behind 
 the head, and form the pectoral fins. The posterior limbs occupy 
 the lower surface of the body, and form the ventral fins. The latter, 
 which are always over the ventral line, may be placed before, be- 
 neath, or, as is most usual, behind the former. Fishes possess, 
 besides these two pair of fins, odd fins. The fins which are found 
 on the back or dorsum are called the back or dorsal fins^ those at 
 the end of the tail are the caudal fins; finally, there is frequently 
 another attached to the lower extremity of the body, which is called 
 the anal fin. These fins are always nearly of the same structure, 
 
 * The exceptions to these are the Doras, or flat-headed Hassars of India, which 
 march overland in large droves ; the Swampines of Carolina {Hydrargyra) ; and 
 the Perca scandens^ which in Tranquebar not merely walks over level ground, but 
 climbs trees. 
 
528 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 consisting generally of a fold of the skin, supported by slender, 
 
 flexible, cartilaginous or osseous rays, connected by a thin membrane. 
 
 The muscles which bind together the vertebral column are so 
 
 much developed in fishes, as well as others of the superior animals, 
 
 Fig. 348. — Skeleton of the Common Perch. 
 a, the inter-maxillary bone ; /;, the maxillary bone ; c, the under jaw ; d, the palatine arch ; 
 e, cranium : f, the inter-operculum ; g g, the vertebral column ; h, the pectoral fin ; /, the ventral 
 fin ; k and /, the dorsal fins ; in, the anal fin ; n, the caudal fin. 
 
 that they constitute in them alone the principal part of the body. The 
 caudal, dorsal, and anal fins act as outlying oars ; the pectoral and 
 ventral fins assist in progression, at the same time that they help to 
 
 Fig. 349. — Swimming bladder of the Carp. 
 
 maintain the equilibrium of the fish and guide and direct its move- 
 ments, which are generally astonishing from their rapidity. 
 
 An organ, which is only met with in fishes, though not to be 
 found in all species (Fig. 349), and which is usually considered as 
 their chief aid in floating, is a large bladder situated within the 
 body, between the dorsal spine and the abdomen ; this is usually 
 called the swimming bladder. According to the volume this bladder 
 
FISHES, 
 
 529 
 
 Fig. 350. — Anatomy of the Carp. 
 
 br, the branchiae, or gill openings ; c, the heart;/, the liver ; vn, swimming bladders ; ci, intes- 
 tinal canal ; 0, the ovaries ; u, urethra ; a, anus ; o', oviduct. 
 
530 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 assumes the animal can increase or diminish the specific gravity ol 
 its body ; that is, it can remain in equihbrium or ascend or descend 
 in the bosom of the waters \ it is, moreover, remarked that it is very 
 small in those species which swim at the bottom of the water, and, 
 as Mr. Gosse says, there is some reason for considering it to be the 
 first rudimentary form of the air-breathing lung. 
 
 Immediately behind the head two large openings are observed 
 in most fishes ; these are the gill openings. Their anterior edges 
 are mobile, and are raised or lowered to serve the purposes of 
 respiration \ for here, in special cavities, are the gills, or branchiae. 
 These usually consist of many rows of thin membranous lamellae, 
 hung on slender arches of bone, placed on each side of the head, 
 usually protected by bony plates, made up of several pieces, called 
 the gill-covers. Respiration is effected by water taken in at the 
 mouth, which passes over the giU-membranes, and is ejected through 
 the margins of the gill-covers. During the contact of the water 
 with the gills, the blood which circulates in these organs, and which 
 communicates to them the red colour by which we recognise them, 
 combines chemically with the oxygen ot the air which the water 
 holds in solution when it flows freely at the ordinary temperature 
 in presence of the air. The blood is thus oxygenised, or made fit by 
 respiration. 
 
 The heart in fishes is placed between the inferior parts of the 
 branchial arches, and consists of a ventricle and an auricle 
 (Fig. 350). It corresponds with the right half of the heart in the 
 Mammals and Birds, for it receives the venous blood from all 
 parts of the body and sends it to the gills. From this organ the 
 blood is delivered into one great artery, which creeps along the 
 vertebral column. 
 
 The eye in fishes is generally very large — ^we may even say 
 enormous, relative to the size of the head — and is generally without 
 true eyelids ; the skin usually passes over the ocular globe, and be- 
 comes in front of it so transparent that the luminous rays can traverse 
 it. This light covering is all the eyelid generally met with in fishes. 
 The interior of the globe of the eye is covered by the membrane 
 called choroid^ the thin external fold of which, in consequence of the 
 presence of innumerable microscopic crystals, often presents the 
 appearance of a gold or silver-coloured coating, which gives to the 
 iris that extraordinary brilliancy which belongs to the fish's eye. 
 The crystallhie lens is voluminous, spherical, and diaphanous. When 
 the fish is cooked, the crystalline lens constitutes that opaque and 
 hard white substance which is so often seen. Cuvier suspected, 
 
FISHES. 
 
 531 
 
 what anglers now know to be true, that these active chasseurs of the 
 deep saw far and very clearly/^ 
 
 If fishes have great eyes, they have, on the other hand, very small 
 ears. This organ, it is found, has no exterior opening. It forms a 
 
 Fig. 352. — Teeth of the Bream, 
 
 Fig. 351. — A Fish's Eye. 
 
 i, crystalline lens ; ee', cornea ; h, posterior 
 
 chamber ; c, optic nerve. 
 
 Fig. 353. — Teeth of the Carp. 
 
 cavity in the interior of the cranium, which is far from presenting the 
 complicated structure of the ear in mammals and birds. In spite, 
 
 * Dr. Fripp's theory of the properties of the fish's eye is very plausible. 
 
 1st. That the fish's eye in its normal state is arranged for the vision of near 
 objects, and that the great refractive power of a prolate spheroid lens, such as 
 exists in the fish, is adequate to the production of a picture at short focal distances, 
 even with rays of light passing through so dense a medium as water. 
 
 2nd. That there is no accommodation of the fish's eye for extended limits of 
 vision, 
 
 3rd, That the passive state of the fish's eye, being that in which it is enabled 
 to see objects near and at moderate distance, no active or physiological change for 
 accommodation of sight for distant objects takes place or seems necessary. 
 
 The dioptric arrangement, being the reverse of that which obtains in animals 
 where "accommodation'' is observed, and in whom the. passive state is that of 
 vision, arranged for distant objects, while the active state is that of vision accom- 
 modated at will for near objects, 
 
 4th. That the vascular distribution of the choroid vessels has no relation to any 
 movement of the lens, or change of its shape, but is arranged to meet the changes 
 of static condition of the circulating fluid, and of dynamic force exerted by the 
 heart under varying pressure from without ; and that by such an arrangement, 
 protection to the delicate tissues of the eye is afforded by a compensating balance 
 between the tension of the blood within the vessels and the external pressure 
 exerted upon them. 
 
532 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 however, of the imperfect structure of their ears, fishes are sensible 
 to the least noise. In consequence, silence is a rigorous law with 
 fishermen. 
 
 The dimensions of the mouth and teeth are very variable in 
 fishes; these organs are in proportion to their voracity, which in many 
 of these beings is very great. The form and development of the 
 buccal pieces are also very various. Some species are toothless, but 
 in most fishes the teeth are very numerous. They are sometimes 
 attached, not alone to the two jaws, but also to the palate, to the 
 tongue, and upon the interior of the branchial arches, and even in 
 the back mouth, that is to say, upon the pharyngeal portions, which 
 surround the entrance to the oesophagus. 
 
 The form of their teeth is very variable, both in arrangement and 
 position : some are in the form of an elongated cone, either straight 
 
 Fig. 354.— Teeth of the Trout. Fig. 355.— Teeth of the Gold-fish Dorada. 
 
 or curved. When small and numerous, they are comparable to the 
 points of the cards used in carding wool or cotton. Sometimes they 
 are so slender and dense as to resemble the piles of velvet, and often, 
 from their very minute size, their presence is more easily ascertained 
 by the finger than the eye. In some members of the Salmonidse, for 
 instance, we find a row of teeth on the bone that forms the middle 
 ridge of the palate, which is called the votner. On each side of 
 this is another row on the palatine bones, and outside these is a third 
 pair of rows on the upper jaw-bones. Some fishes have flat teeth, 
 with a cutting edge in front of the jaws, like a true incisor; others 
 have them rounded or oval, adapted to bruise or crush the various 
 substances on which they feed. 
 
 The oesophagus, connected with the mouth, is short in fishes ; the 
 stomach and intestines vary in form and dimensions. Digestion is 
 very rapid with these beings. Most of them feed on flesh, but there 
 are a few where the mouth is without teeth, v/hich feed on vegetables. 
 
 The growth of fishes is slow or very rapid, according to the abun- 
 dance of food ; they can suffer a very long fast, but in that state they 
 
FISHES. 533 
 
 become diminutive in size, and finally perish of exhaustion. At 
 certain seasons an irresistible impulse brings the two sexes together. 
 Many species whose ordinary appearance is generally dull and 
 unsightly now shine in the most brilliant colours. The female soon 
 after lays her eggs, the number of which passes all imagination. 
 Nature seems to have accumulated in the body of each female 
 myriads of eggs — a wise provision, which is rendered necessary by 
 the numerous causes of destruction which threaten them in their 
 native element. The eggs, abandoned by the females to the mercy 
 of the waves, are fecundated by the milt of the males, after being 
 deposited. Such is a very brief summary of the organisation of fishes, 
 which may be briefly described as vertebrate, cold-blooded animals, 
 breathing by means of gills ; living in water, moving through it by 
 means of their fins, and reproducing their kind by means of eggs. 
 And now a few words on their classification. 
 
 Fishes are naturally divided into two series, according to the 
 composition of their internal skeleton. This is usually osseous ; never- 
 theless, in a whole group of them the skeleton constantly retains the 
 cartilaginous or fibro-cartilaginous state. 
 
 Professor Millier divides the fishes into five great orders. I. Lep- 
 iocardia, II. Cydostomata, III. Selachia, IV. Gajioidm, V. Teleostea. 
 Agassiz's system of classification of fish, founded on the form of the 
 scales, is perhaps better suited than this to the palaeontologist, but 
 the one given above, founded as it is principally on the anatomical 
 peculiarities of fishes, is better suited to the zoologist. Agassiz's 
 orders are Ctenoid^ Placoid, Ganoid, and Cycloid. 
 
 I. — Leptocardia. 
 
 This order includes but a single genus, Amphioxus. A. lanceolatus 
 is a little slender transparent fish, rarely attaining two inches in length. 
 The vertebral column in it is represented by a gelatinous cord {chorda 
 dor salis). The mouth is quite destitute of jaws, and there is no trace 
 of a true muscular heart. It is common on sandy coasts in various 
 parts of the world. 
 
 II. — Cyclostomata. 
 
 The fishes of this order are characterised by the singular con- 
 formation of their mouth, which is formed for suction. The body is 
 elongated, naked, and viscous, reminding us of serpents in their 
 external form ; they have neither pectoral nor ventral fins ; the 
 skeleton is cartilaginous, and consists of a dorsal cord and of a 
 
534 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 rudimentary skull without any trace of true bony appendages. 
 There are no jaws, but the inner surface of the mouth is often 
 armed with teeth. Their gills, in place of presenting the comb-like 
 appearance of other fishes, have something of the form of Httle sacs. 
 The lampreys may be considered as the type of this family. 
 
 The Lampreys {Petro^nyzon) are cylindrical eel-like fish, with 
 seven gill-openings on each side of the neck, forming two longitudinal 
 lines ; mouth round, armed with many teeth. The Sea Lamprey 
 
 Fig. 356. — The Lamprey (Petromyzon marinus). 
 
 P. marinus (Fig. 356), belongs to the Mediterranean; it is also found 
 in the German Ocean, and is not rare along the coasts of Great 
 Britain and Ireland. In the spring it ascends the rivers, where it is 
 sometimes caught in abundance. Full-grown it is about three feet 
 long, its colour is a marbled brown upon yellow ; the dorsal fins are 
 separated by long intervals ; its mouth is circular and surrounded by 
 a fleshy fip, furnished with cirri, having a cartilaginous plate for sup- 
 port ; it is provided on its internal surface with many circular rows of 
 strong teeth, some single, the others double. 
 
 The Lamprey feeds on worms, molluscs, and small fishes ; its 
 mouth is a powerful sucker, by the aid of which it attaches itself to 
 rocks and stones under water. It is taken by hook and line, but is 
 
F/ SHE s. 535 
 
 much oftener speared by a sort of barbed harpoon, like the trident of 
 the mythological Neptune, which is thrown javelin fashion at the 
 animal when seen at the bottom of the water ; the flesh is fat and 
 delicate. In the twelfth century one of our kings, Henry I., surfeited 
 himself at Elbeuf by partaking too largely of the Lamprey. The 
 river-lamprey {P . fiuviatilis) resembles the above in its general con- 
 formation, but is much smaller, and differs in the armature of the 
 mouth, having only a single circular row of teeth. It is blackish 
 above, silvery beneath, and is common in the markets of London 
 and Paris. A smaller species, about ten inches in length, never 
 leaves the fresh waters. It resembles the last species in colour, but 
 its two dorsal fins are continuous ; it is found in most European 
 rivers and brooks. In some of the English rivers the river Lampreys 
 are frequently taken in the eel-pots to the weight of two and three 
 pounds each. 
 
 III. — Selachia. 
 
 The Selachians include a great number of cartilaginous fishes, 
 varying much in form, including the rays, dog-fish, skate, torpedo, 
 hammer-fish, sharks, and saw-fish; they have pectoral and ventral fins. 
 The branchial arches are fixed, and the branchial sacs open into the 
 pharynx by separate slits, and there are separate external apertures 
 as well. These latter vary from five to seven on each side and in 
 Chimœra there is but one. The young are often produced alive, 
 while in some the ova are enclosed in remarkably horny egg-cases. 
 Many of the Sharks have two spiracles on the upper part of their 
 head. The order is divided into the Chimserina, the Raidina, and 
 the Squalina. 
 
 Of the Chimœrina we may mention the remarkable Chimœra 
 monstrosa. The naturaHsts Clusius and Aldrovandus compared the 
 fish to which this name is given to the chimsera, a monster of 
 mythological antiquity, which is represented with the body of a goat, 
 the head of a lion, the tail of a dragon, and a gaping throat which 
 vomited flames. The strange form of this fish, the manner in which 
 it moves, the peculiar shape of its snout, its mode of showing its teeth, 
 its ape-like contortions and grimaces, its long tail, which acts with 
 great rapidity, reminding one not a little of a reptile, are well cal- 
 culated to strike the imagination. At a later period medieval 
 naturalists were contented to see in it a fish with a lion's head, and 
 as the lion was then regarded as the king of animals, so the chimsera 
 became the heri^ing king. 
 
 The king of the herrings (Fig. 357) is from three to four feet in 
 
536 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 length, of a general silvery colour, spotted with brown. It inhabits 
 the North Sea, living on molluscs and crustaceans ; occasionally, as if 
 to justify the title which has been given it, levying heavy contributions 
 upon the herrings. The Cailorhyfichus Australis is found in the 
 southern hemisphere, and greatly resembles, in its appearance and 
 habits, the northern species. In this species the end of the snout 
 terminates in a cartilaginous appendage, which is bent backwards at 
 the extremity, so as to acquire no small resemblance to a hoe. 
 
 357- 
 
 -Chimsera monstrosa (the Arctic chimsera). 
 
 Of the Raiina, if we regard them as a sub-order of the Selachia 
 we would have at least half a dozen families. In CepJialopte7'idœ 
 the head is truncated, with large, lateral eyes. In Myliobatidœ it is 
 projecting, the pectoral fins extending like wings. In Trygonidce it 
 is enclosed by the pectorals. In the Raiidœ the body is rhomboidal, 
 tail without spine, but with two small dorsals near the top. In the 
 To7'pedinidœ the body is nearly round, the tail short and fleshy, with 
 two dorsals and a caudal fin. In Rhiiiohatidœ the head is prolonged 
 into a sword-like organ, which is armed along its edges with strong 
 tooth-like spines. 
 
FISHES. 537 
 
 The White Ray, Raia batis (Fig. 358), reminds us of a lozenge, 
 the point of the muzzle forming the lower angle, the longest ray of 
 each pectoral forming the lateral angles, while the summit of the tail 
 forms the last angle ; the whole surface seems flat, but a swelhng is 
 distinguishable towards the head, on the upper surface, which bears, 
 
 Fig. 358.— The White Ray (Raia batis). 
 
 as it were, the contour of the body, properly so called, namely, the 
 three cavities of the head, the throat, and the belly, which occupy the 
 centre of the lozenge, beyond which the pectoral fins extend. These 
 fins, though covered with a thick skin, permit the cartilaginous rays, 
 with their articulations, to be very distinctly seen. 
 
 ^ The head of the white ray, which terminates in a muzzle slightly 
 pointed, is attached behind to the cavity of the breast. The mouth, 
 placed in the lower part of the head and far from the extremity of the 
 
538 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 muzzle, is elongated; its jaws are cartilaginous, and furnished with 
 many rows of hooked and pointed teeth ; the nostrils are placed in 
 front of the mouth. The eyes, which open in the upper part of the 
 head, are half projecting, and protected in part by a continuation of 
 the soft, elastic, and retractile skin which covers the head. Imme- 
 diately behind the eyes are two spiracles, which communicate with the 
 
 Fig- 3S9-— The Thornback (Raia clavata). 
 
 interior of the mouth. The animal is able to open and close these 
 holes at pleasure, by means of an extensible membrane, which acts 
 as a sort of valve. Through these holes it ejects the superabundant 
 water beyond that which is necessary for respiration. In its ^ general 
 colour the animal is ashy grey on its upper surface ; white with rows 
 of black spots below. 
 
 Its tail is long, flexible, and slender, acting at once as a rudder 
 and a weapon of offence or defence. When lying in ambush, nearly 
 buried in mud at the bottom oï the sea — and it has no desire to 
 
FISHES. 
 
 539 
 
 change its position — a rapid and sudden stroke of this formidable 
 weapon, armed with hooked spines on its upper surface, arrests its 
 victim by wounding or kihing it, without disturbing the mud or sea- 
 weed by which it is covered. This species sometimes attains a very 
 considerable size, and its flesh is firm and nourishing ; but the larger 
 specimens rarely approach inhabited shores, even when the female 
 desires to lay her eggs. These eggs have a very singular shape, 
 differing from almost every other fish, and particularly from those of 
 all other cartilaginous fishes. They are quadrangular, a little flat, 
 each of the four corners terminating in a small cyhndrical beak, 
 forming a kind of case formed of a strong and transparent membrane. 
 
 ■The Electric ray (Torpedo marmorata). 
 
 The Thornback, i?. clavata (Fig. 359), so called in consequence 
 of its armature, inhabits every European sea ; sometimes it attains 
 the length of twelve feet, and, being excellent eating, is much sought 
 after by fishermen. It is frequently seen with the skate in European 
 markets. A ray of great curving spines occupies the back and ex- 
 tends to the end of the tail ; two similar spines are above, and two 
 below the point of the muzzle. Two others are placed before, and 
 three behind the eyes. Each side of the tail is furnished with a row 
 of shorter spines ; the whole surface, in short, bristles with larger or 
 smaller spines, justifying the name of Thornback ; for these are not 
 given by way of ornament, but defence. The colour of the upper 
 surface is generally brown, with whitish spots. The tail, which ex- 
 ceeds the body in length, presents towards the end two small dorsal 
 fiT;s, and terminates in a caudal fin. 
 
540 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 Ray-fish of all kinds are inhabitants of the deep sea, but they 
 change according to the seasons. While stormy weather prevails, 
 they hide themselves in the depth of the ocean, where they lie in 
 ambush, creeping along the bottom. But they do not always live 
 at the bottom. They rise occasionally to the surface far from the 
 shore, eagerly chasing other inhabitants of the deep, lashing the 
 yater with their formidable tails and fins, springing out of the water, 
 ind making it foam again under their gambols. 
 
 When pursuing their prey the rays employ their great pectoral 
 fins, which resemble wings, and are aided by a very delicate and 
 mobile tail ; they beat the waters in order to fall unexpectedly upon 
 their prey, as the eagle swoops down upon its victim. It may thus 
 be called the king of fishes, as the eagle is the king of birds. 
 
 The family Torpedinidœ contains the genus Torpedo. The Electric 
 Ray, Torpedo 7narmorata (Fig. 360), has considerable analogy with 
 the Ray. Its flattened body forms a roundish disc, beyond which its 
 rays form large pectoral fins \ but the humeral girdle which carries 
 them, carries also, in a great hollow, a most singular organic apparatus, 
 which possesses the property of producing violent electrical commo- 
 tions. This apparatus is. placed in the interval between the end of 
 the muzzle and the extremity of the fin, and completes the rounded 
 disc of the body. The mouth is small, the slit crosswise ; the jaws 
 naked; the teeth in squares of five. The eyes are small; behind 
 them are two star-fike spiracles. On the lower or ventral surface 
 there are two rows of small transverse slits, openings of the branchial 
 sacs, like those of the rays. The tail is thick, short, and conical, 
 carrying part of the ventral, and terminating in a sort of caudal fin. 
 On the back are two small, soft, and adipose fins. The skin is 
 smooth ; the colour varies with the species ; generally it is reddish- 
 brown, with eye-like spots of a deep blue in the centre, sometimes 
 azure, and surrounded by a great brownish circle, the spots being 
 five or six. These curious fishes are found in the Channel and on 
 the shores of the Mediterranean. 
 
 The electrical effects produced on the fisherman who seize them 
 were noted from early times ; but Redi, the Italian naturafist of the 
 seventeenth century, was the" first who studied them scientifically. 
 He caught and landed one of them with every precaution. " 1 
 had scarcely touched and pressed it with my hand," says the Italian 
 naturalist, " than I experienced a tingling sensation, which extended 
 to my arms and shoulders, which was followed by a disagreeable 
 trembling, with a painful and acute sensation in the elbow joints 
 which made me withdraw my arm immediately." 
 
FISHES, 541 
 
 Reaumur also made some observations upon the Torpedo. ^' The 
 benumbing influence/' he says, " is very different from any similar 
 sensation. All over the arm there is a commotion which it is impos- 
 sible to describe, but which, so far as comparison can be made, 
 resembles the sensation produced by striking the tender part of the 
 elbow against a hard substance." Redi remarks, besides, that the 
 pain and trembling sensation resulting from the touch diminishes as 
 the death of the Torpedo approaches, and that it ceases altogether 
 when the animal dies. 
 
 In the seventeenth century the fishermen affirmed that the sensa- 
 tion was even communicated through the line by which it was caught, 
 and even by the water. Redi does not deny this phenomenon, 
 neither does he confirm it. He states that the action of the animal 
 is never more energetic than when it is strongly pressed by the hand, 
 and makes violent efforts to escape. Neither Redi nor Reaumur, 
 however, could explain the cause of the strange phenomenon. It 
 was reserved for Dr. Walsh, a Fellow of the Royal Society of London, 
 to demonstrate the fact that the power was electrical in its nature. 
 This he did by numerous experiments which he made in the Isle of 
 Ré. The following are some of his experiments. 
 
 He placed a living torpedo upon a clean wet towel ; from a plate 
 he suspended two pieces of brass wire by means of silken cord, which 
 served to isolate them. Round the torpedo were eight persons, 
 standing on isolating substances. One end of the brass wire was sup- 
 ported by the wet towel, the other end being placed in a basin full of 
 water. The first person had a finger of one hand in this basin, and a 
 finger of the other in a second basin, also full of water. The second 
 person placed a finger of one hand in this second basin, and a finger 
 of the other hand in a third basin. The third person did the same, 
 and so on, until a complete chain was estabfished between the eight 
 persons and nine basins. Into the ninth basin the end of the second 
 brass wire was plunged, while Dr. Walsh applied the other end to the 
 back of the torpedo, thus establishing a complete conducting circle. 
 At the moment when the experimenter touched the torpedo, the 
 eight actors in the experiment felt a sudden shock, similar in all 
 respects to that communicated by the shock of a Leyden jar, only 
 less intense. 
 
 When the torpedo was placed on an isolated supporter, it com- 
 municated to many persons similarly placed from forty to fifty shocks 
 in a minute and a half. Each effort made by the animal, in order 
 to give them, was accompanied by the depression of its eyes, which 
 were slightly projecting in their natural state, and seemed to be 
 
542 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 drawn within their orbits, while the other parts of the body remained 
 immovable. 
 
 If only one of the two organs of the torpedo is touched it happens 
 that, in place of a strong and sudden shock, only a slight sensation is 
 experienced — a numbness, or start, rather than a shock. The same 
 result followed with every experiment tried. The animal was tried 
 with a non-conducting rod, and no shock followed ; glass, or a 
 rod covered with wax, produced no effect ; touched with a metallic 
 wire, a violent shock followed. Melloni, Matteucci, Becquerel, and 
 Breschet have all made the same experiments, with the same results ; 
 Matteucci having ascertained that the shock produced by the tor- 
 pedo is comparable to that given by a voltaic pile of loo to 150 pairs 
 of plates. 
 
 The organ which produces this curious result is formed like a half- 
 moon ; it is double, and placed on each side of the head occupying 
 the space between it and the base of the pectoral fins. It consists of 
 a multitude of small prisms arranged parallel the one to the other 
 and perpendicularly to the surface; 1,262 of these prisms have been 
 counted in one of the two organs of a torpedo, three feet in length. 
 Without entering into the anatomical descriptions which have been 
 given by Stannius, Max Schultze, Breschet, and others, we may 
 mention here that all the small parallelopipedes, which enter into its 
 structure, are separated one from the other by walls of cellular tissue, 
 in which are distributed the vessels and nerves. The nervous threads 
 which each apparatus receives are divided into four principal trunks. 
 According to modern authors, the electricity is elaborated in the 
 brain under the influence of the will. It is afterwards transferred by 
 means of the nervous threads into the principal organ, where it serves 
 the purpose of charging the numerous little voltaic piles which con- 
 stitute the organ of commotion. 
 
 It is, nevertheless, necessary to receive our comparisons of the 
 apparatus of the torpedo with the voltaic pile of our laboratories with 
 caution. The apparatus resembles a good conducting body, which 
 is capable of being strongly electrified ; it is sufficient to touch one of 
 the surfaces in order to receive the shock. But if the little prisms 
 composing it were charged like our voltaic piles, it would be necessary 
 to touch both their surfaces in order to receive the shock. No perfect 
 analogy can therefore exist between this natural apparatus and the 
 scientific instrument named after Volta. 
 
 It is possible by the aid of heat to restore the extinct or suspended 
 electrical functions of the torpedo. Retained in a tank of sea-water 
 a yard in height by a third of that in diameter, and at 22° Centi- 
 
FISHES. 543 
 
 grade in temperature, a torpedo preserved its faculties during five or 
 six hours ; another, which remained during ten hours in a very small 
 quantity of sea-water at a temperature of lo^ to ii° Cent, and which 
 seemed dead, revived a little when placed in water at 20° Cent, and 
 gave shocks during an hour. If held firmly by the tail, and pressed 
 both above and below by a platinum rod to gather the true electricity, 
 the animal contracts itself violently ; but its movements are not 
 always accompanied by electrical discharges, which demonstrates that 
 the jets of electrical matter are not the result simply of the muscular 
 contractions, but that they are subject to the will of the animal, and 
 evidently given for resisting its enemies, and benumbing its prey. 
 How wonderful and varied are the resources which Nature grants to 
 her creatures in order to secure their existence ! 
 
 The families of the sub-order Squalina are Scyllidœ, or Dog-fishes : 
 Carcharidœ, or true Sharks ; Zygœnidœ, or Hammerheaded Sharks • 
 Lami7idœ; Galeidœ ; Cestraciontidœj Spinacidœj and Squatinidcs. 
 All the species have a lengthened body, merging into a thick tail, 
 pectorals moderate in size, gill-openings on the sides of the neck, 
 and not beneath the body, as in the Rays ; eyes lateral. 
 
 Carcharidœ. — This family contains the true Sharks. Some species 
 are said to attain the length of twenty and even thirty feet ; but 
 size is not their worst attribute ; they have received, besides, 
 strength and terrible teeth. Ferocious, voracious, impetuous, and 
 insatiable, spread over almost every climate, inhabitants of every sea, 
 and recently not seldom seen on our own shores, the sharks will 
 rapidly pursue every fish, which fly at their approach ; and threaten 
 with their wide gullet the unfortunate victims of shipv/reck, shutting 
 them out from all hope of safety. 
 
 The body of the shark is long, and its skin is studded with small 
 tubercles : this skin becomes so hard, and takes so high a polish, 
 that it is employed in the preparation of various ornamental work. 
 This dense resisting coat protects the shark from the bites of every 
 inhabitant of the sea, if there be any daring enough to approach it 
 with that view. 
 
 The back and sides of the White Shark, Car charms vulgaris 
 (Fig. 361), are of an ashy brown; beneath it is faded white. The 
 head is flat, and terminates in a muzzle slightly rounded. Its terrible 
 mouth is in the form of a semicircle, and of enormous size ; the 
 contour of the upper jaw of a shark of ten yards length being about 
 two yards wide, and its throat being of a proportionate diameter to 
 this monstrous opening. When the throat of the animal is open we 
 see beyond the lips, which are straight and of the consistence of 
 
544 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 leather, certain plates of teeth, which are triangular, dentate, and 
 white as ivory. If the shark is an adult it has in the upper as in the 
 lower jaw six rows of these murderous teeth, an arsenal ready to tear 
 and rend its victim. These teeth take different motions according to 
 the will of the animal, and are obedient to the muscles round their 
 base, by means of which it can erect or retract its various rows of 
 teeth ; it can even erect a portion of any row, while the others 
 remain at rest in their bed. Thus this far-seeing tyrant of the ocean 
 knows how to measure the number and power of the arms necessary 
 to destroy its prey : for the destruction of the weak and defenceless 
 
 Fig. 361. — ^I'he Shark (Carcliarius vulgaris). 
 
 one row of teeth suffices ; for the more formidable adversary it has a 
 whole arsenal at command. 
 
 The eyes of the shark are small, and nearly round ; the iris of a 
 deep green, the eyeball, enclosed in a transverse sHt, is bluish. 
 The scent of the white shark is said to be very subtle. Its fins are 
 strong and rough. The pectoral fins are triangular, and much larger 
 than the others, extending on each side, and giving powerful aid in 
 swimming. The caudal fin is divided into two very unequal lobes, 
 the upper extending in a sloping direction to twice the length of the 
 other. This tail is possessed of immense power, and is capable of 
 breaking the limb of a robust man by a single stroke. 
 
 During the hot season the male and female seek each other ; they 
 approach the coast roving in company, forgetting their ferocity for 
 the time. The eggs are hatched at several periods in the ovary, from 
 which the little ones issue two or three at a time. 
 
■F/s/Œs. 545 
 
 The shark, as soon as born, becomes the scourge of the sea. He 
 seizes all that comes near him. He eats the cuttle-fish, molluscs, and 
 fishes, among others, flounders and cod-fish. But the prey which 
 has the greatest charm for him is man ; the shark loves him dearly, 
 but it is with the affection of the gourmand. He even manifests, 
 according to some authors, a preference for certain races. If we may 
 believe some travellers, when several varieties of human food comes 
 in its way, the shark prefers the European to the Asiatic, and both 
 to the negro. Still, whatever may be the colour, he seeks eagerly 
 for human flesh, and haunts the neighbourhood where he hopes to 
 find the precious morsel. He follows the ship in which his instinct 
 tells him it is to be found, and makes extraordinary efforts to reach 
 it. He has been known to leap into a boat in order to seize the 
 frightened fishermen ; he throws himself upon the ship, cleaving the 
 waves at full speed, to snap up some unhappy sailor who has shown 
 himself beyond the bulwarks. He follows the course of the slaver, 
 watching for the horrors of the middle passage, ready to engulf the 
 negroes' corpses as they are thrown into the sea. Commerson relates 
 a significant fact bearing on the subject. The corpse of a negro had 
 been suspended from a yard-arm twenty feet above the level of the 
 sea. A shark was seen to make many efforts to reach the body, and 
 it finally succeeded in seizing it, member after member, undisturbed 
 by the cries of the horror-stricken crew assembled on deck to witness 
 the strange spectacle. In order that an animal so large and heavy 
 should be able to throw itself to this height, the muscles of the tail 
 and posterior parts of the body must have an astonishing power. 
 
 The mouth of the shark being placed in the lower part of the 
 head, it becomes necessary for him to turn himself round in the water 
 before he can seize the object which is placed above lijm. He meets 
 with men bold enough to profit by this peculiarity, and chase him, 
 formidable and ferocious though he is. On the African coast the 
 negroes attack the shark in his own element, swimming towards him, 
 and seizing the moment when he turns himself to rip up his belly with 
 a sharp knife. This act of courage and audacity cannot, however, be 
 said to be shark-fishing. The fishing operation is conducted as fol- 
 lows : — Choosing a dark night, the fisher prepares a hook by burying it 
 in a piece of fat pork, and attaching it to a long and solid wire chain ; 
 the shark looks askance at this prey, feels it, then leaves it ; he is 
 tempted by withdrawing the bait, when he follows, and swallows it 
 gluttonously. He now tries to sink into the water, but, checked by 
 the chain, he struggles and fights. By-and-by he gets exhausted, 
 and the chain is drawn up in such a manner as to raise the head out 
 s 
 
546 TfiÈ ÔCÈAN VVOl^LD: 
 
 of the water. Another cord is now thrown out, with a funning knot 
 or loop, in which the body of the shark is cauglit about the origin of 
 the tail. Thus bound, the captured shark is soon hoisted on deck, as 
 represented in Plate XXIII. On the quarter-deck of the ship he is 
 put to death, not without great precaution, however, for he is still a 
 formidable foe, from his terrible bites, and from the still dangerous 
 blows of his tail. Moreover, he dies hard, and long resists the most 
 formidable wounds. 
 
 Captain Basil Hall gives a spirited sketch of the appearance and 
 capture of one of these dreaded fishes — a capture in which the whole 
 ship's company, captain, officers, young gentlemen inclusive, shout 
 in triumphant exultation as the body of the shark flounders in 
 impotent rage on poop or forecastle. 
 
 "The sharp-curved dorsal fin of a huge shark was seen rising 
 about six inches above the water, and cutting the glazed surface of 
 the sea by as fine a line as if a sickle had been drawn along it. 
 ' Messenger, run to the cook for a piece of pork,' cried the captain, 
 taking the command with as much glee as if an enemy's cruiser had 
 been in sight. ' Where's your hook, quartermaster ? ' ' Here, sir, 
 here,' cried the fellow, feeling the point, and declaring it was as sharp 
 as any lady's needle, and in the next instant piercing it with a huge 
 junk of pork weighing four or five pounds. The hook, which is as 
 large as one's Httle finger, has a curvature about as large as a man's 
 hand when half closed, and is six or eight inches in length, while a 
 formidable line, furnished with three or four feet of chain attached 
 to the end of the mizen topsail halyard, is now cast into the ship's 
 wake. 
 
 " Sometimes the very instant the bait is cast over the stern the 
 shark flies at it with such eagerness that he actually springs partially 
 out of the water. This, however, is rare. On these occasions he 
 gorges the bait, the hook, and a foot or two of the chain, without any 
 mastication, and darts off with the treacherous prize wdth such pro- 
 digious velocity that it makes the rope crack again as soon as the 
 coil is drawn out. Much dexterity is required in the hand which 
 holds the line at this moment. A bungler is apt to be too pre- 
 cipitate, and jerk away the hook before it has got far enough into the 
 shark's maw. The secret of the sport is to let the monster gulp 
 down the whole bait, and then to give the line a violent pull, by 
 which the barbed point buries itself in the coat of the stomach. 
 When the hook is first fixed it spins out like the log line of a ship 
 going twelve knots. 
 
 '•The suddenness of the jerk with which the poor devil is brought 
 
XXUI.-Shark Fishing. 
 
FISHES. 549 
 
 up often turns him quite over. No sailor, however, thinks of hauling 
 a shark on board merely by the rope fastened to the hook. To 
 prevent the line breaking, the hook snapping, or the jaw being torn 
 away, a running bowline is adopted. This noose is slipped down 
 the rope and passed over the monster's head, and is made to join at 
 the point of junction of the tail with the body ; and now the first 
 part of the fun is held to be completed. The vanquished enemy is 
 easily drawn up over the taffrail, and flung on deck, to the delight of 
 the crew." 
 
 The flesh of the shark is leathery, of bad taste, and difficult to 
 digest. Nevertheless, the negroes of Guinea feed upon it, but not 
 until it has been made tender and eatable by long preservation. In 
 many parts of the Mediterranean coast small sharks are taken from 
 their mother's belly and eaten. The under part of adult sharks is 
 also eaten by the fishermen after the coarser parts have been 
 removed. In Norway and Iceland this part of the animal is dried 
 in the air during most part of the twelve months. The Icelanders 
 also use the fat of the animal ; the liver of one of them, according 
 to Pontoppidan, will furnish a great quantity of oil. 
 
 We have thus, with the care it deserves, painted the portrait of 
 the shark. The original is by no means beautiful ; but, frightful as it 
 may be, our description would be incomplete if we did not add that 
 divine honours have been granted to this monster of the waters. 
 Man worships force; he knows the hand which crushes, the teeth 
 which rend. He respects the master or the king who strikes, and he 
 venerates the shark. The inhabitants of several parts of the African 
 coast worship the shark ; they call it their joujou, and consider its 
 stomach the road to heaven. Three or four times in the year they 
 celebrate the festival of the shark, which is done in this wise : — 
 They all row out in their boats to the middle of the river, where 
 they invoke, with the strangest ceremonies, the protection of the 
 great shark. They offer to him poultry and goats, in order to satisfy 
 his sacred appetite. But this is nothing ; an infant is every year 
 sacrificed to the monster, which has been reared for the purpose from 
 its birth ; it is feted and nourished for the sacrifice from its birth to 
 the age of ten. On the day of the fête it is bound to a post on a 
 sandy point at low water ; as the tide rises, the child may utter cries 
 of horror, but they are of no avail, it is abandoned to the waves, and 
 the sharks arrive. The mother is not far oft'; perhaps she weeps, 
 but she dries her tears, and thinks that her child has entered heaven 
 through this horrible gate. 
 
 Of the family Spinacidœ. there is no better known species than 
 
550 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 that of the Picked Dog-fish, Acmithias vulgaris (Fig. 362), which 
 sometimes attains the length of between three and four feet, and is 
 exceedingly voracious. It feeds upon other fish, of which it destroys 
 great quantities ; it does not hesitate to attack even the fishermen, 
 and especially bathers in the sea. It places itself in ambush, like the 
 Rays, in order to attack its prey. The flesh of the Dog-fish is hard, 
 smells of musk, and is rarely eaten ; but the skin becomes an article 
 of commerce, and is known as shagrin^ being, like the skin of the 
 
 Fig. 362.— The Picked Dog-fish (Acanthias vulgaris). 
 
 shark, used for making spectacle-cases, and for other ornamental 
 purposes, for which its green colour and high poUsh recommend it. 
 There is a smaller species than the preceding, which haunts rocky 
 shores, where it lies in wait for its prey. Its spots are larger and 
 more scattered, and its ventral fins are nearly square. It feeds on 
 molluscs, crustaceans, and small fishes. 
 
 The family Zygœnidœ contains the strange Hammer-headed Shark, 
 Zygœna malleus (Fig. 363), which is chiefly distinguished by the 
 singular conformation of its head ; it is flattened horizontally, truncate 
 in front, and the sides prolonged transversely, giving it the appearance 
 of the head of a hammer. The eyes of this fis/n are placed at the 
 extremity of the lateral prolongations of the head ; they are grey,^ 
 
FISHES. 
 
 551 
 
 projecting, and the iris is gold-coloured. When the animal is 
 irritated, the colours of the iris are said to become like flame. 
 
 Beneath the head and near to the junction of the trunk is the 
 mouth, which is semicircular, and furnished on each jaw with three or 
 four rows of large teeth, pointed and barbed on two sides. 
 
 The most common species in our seas is long and slender in the 
 body, which is grey, the head blackish. It usually attains the length 
 
 Fig. 363.— The Hammerhead (Zygœna malleus). 
 
 of eleven or twelve feet, weighing occasionally nearly 500 lbs. Its 
 boldness and voracity, and craving for blood, are even more re- 
 markable than its size. If the hammerhead has not the strength of 
 the shark, it surpasses it in fury ; few fishes are better known to 
 sailors, in consequence of its peculiarly- shaped head. Its voracity 
 often brings it round ships, even in roadsteads and near the coast. 
 Its visits impress themselves on the memory of the sailor, and he 
 loves to relate his hairbreadth escapes from the meeting. 
 
 The family Rhinobatidœ contains the genus Pristis antiquorum, 
 the Saw-fish,, which is easily distinguished from all other knowB 
 
552 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 fishes by the formidable weapon which it carries in its head. This 
 weapon is a prolongation of the muzzle, which, in place of being 
 rounded off or reduced to a point, forms a long, strong, straight 
 sword-like termination, flat on both sides, but on the two edges 
 it is furnished with numerous strong teeth of considerable length, 
 which are prolongations of the hard, bony substance which forms 
 the muzzle — forming, in short, a sword-blade deeply toothed on 
 each edge. 
 
 Thus armed, the saw-fish, as it is sometimes called, the length of 
 which is from twelve to fifteen feet, fearlessly attacks the most 
 formidable inhabitants of the sea. With its threatening weapon, 
 sometimes two yards in length, it dares to measure its strength even 
 with the whale. All fishermen who visit the northern seas assert 
 that the meeting of these ocean potentates is always followed by a 
 combat of the most singular kind, in which the activity of the sword- 
 fish is a match for the formidable strength of the whale. Occasionally 
 it dashes itself with such force against the side of a ship, that its 
 sword is broken in the timber. In the British Museum the blade of 
 a sword-fish may be seen which was thus implanted in the timber of 
 a ship. 
 
 IV. — Ganoidea. 
 
 In this order the gills are free and pectinated, as in the ordinary 
 fishes. In the sturgeon the gill-openings present a single, very wide 
 orifice, with an operculum. They are fishes of great size, living in 
 the sea, but ascending the larger rivers in the spawning season. Our 
 space only permits us to notice the Sturgeon, which belongs to the 
 cartilaginous sub-order of the Ganoids ; a second sub-order contains 
 Ganoid fish with bony skeletons, such as the Bony Pike of the United 
 States {Lepidosteus osseus). 
 
 The Sturgeons {Acipenser) are among the largest fishes known. 
 Their muscles, however, are less firmly knit, their flesh more delicate, 
 and their muscular strength is less than one would think from their 
 great size ; their mouths, instead of being armed with so many rows 
 of teeth, are funnel-shaped and protrusible, and adapted for sucking 
 up particles of food ; they are not voracious, and their habits are not 
 at all ferocious. 
 
 The Sturgeons are sea-fishes, periodically ascending and so- 
 journing for a time in the larger rivers of Europe. They abound in 
 the Black Sea and Sea of Azof, but they are chiefly known as 
 frequenting the Volga and the Danube. The enormous consumption 
 of caviare in Russia leads to a deadly pursuit of the common sturgeon 
 
FISHES. 
 
 553 
 
 in all the great European rivers, and this species is in a fair way of 
 disappearing altogether. 
 
 The Common Sturgeon, Acipenser sterio (Fig. 364), abounds in 
 the North Sea and the Mediterranean, and occasionally it appears in 
 the Thames, as well as here and there on the British coasts ; in the 
 Rhine, the Seine, the Loire, and the Gironde. It is usually from 
 six to seven feet long, but has been known to attain the length of 
 
 364. — The Common Sturgeon (Acipenser sturio). 
 
 nine or ten feet. Its general colour is yellow, with a white belly. It 
 is rendered remarkable by the number and form of the osseous 
 plates or scales, which cover the body like so many bucklers. Upon 
 the back and belly are no less than twelve to fifteen of these rough 
 bony plates, relieved by projections, which are pointed in the young, 
 and are worn down with age. On each side is a row of thirty to 
 thirty-five of these triangular ganoid plates, separated from each other 
 by considerable intervals. Tlie head is broad at the base, gradually 
 contracting towards the point, and terminating in a conical muzzle. 
 The mouth is large, and placed considerably behind the extremity of 
 
554 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 the muzzle; and its jaws, in place of teeth, are furnished with 
 cartilages. Between the mouth and the muzzle are a few slender 
 and very elastic barbules. It is pretended that these barbules attract 
 small fishes to the jaws of the animal, while it conceals itself among 
 the roots of aquatic plants. 
 
 In the sea the sturgeon feeds on herrings, mackerel, and other 
 fishes of moderate size. In the rivers it attacks the salmon, which 
 ascend them about the same time. Mingling with them, however, 
 it seems a giant. It deposits its eggs in great quantity. The roe of 
 the female fish, when cleaned, washed in vinegar, and dried, is sold as 
 caviare. Its flesh is delicate, and in countries where they are caught 
 in quantities, it is dried and preserved. The rivers which enter the 
 Black and Caspian Seas contain, besides the common sturgeon, many 
 other species of the same genus, the flesh of which is even more 
 delicate and recherché than the common sturgeon. Among the 
 ancients this fish was held in unusual esteem. In Rome, in the 
 time of the Emperors, we read of sturgeons borne in triumph to the 
 sound of instruments, and laid upon tables fastidiously covered and 
 decorated with flowers. 
 
 The Great Sturgeon {Acipenser huso), which sometimes exceeds 
 i,ooo lbs. in weight, is only found in the rivers which flow into the 
 Caspian and Black Seas, such as the Volga, the Don, and the 
 Danube. 
 
 We are indebted to the Russian naturaHst Pallas for the informa- 
 tion we possess respecting the mode of taking the sturgeon in the 
 Volga and other Asiatic rivers. Stakes are placed across the river, 
 leaving just sufiicient space between each pile to permit the animal 
 to pass. Towards the centre this dike forms an angle opposed to 
 the current, and, consequently, opposed to the fish which ascend the 
 river towards the summit of this angle. At this point there is an 
 opening which leads into a kind of enclosure, consisting of fillets 
 towards the end of the winter and of osier hurdles during summer. 
 The fishermen establish themselves upon a sort of scaffold, placed 
 over the opening. When the fish are entangled in the reservoir, the 
 men upon the scaffold drop a gate, which prevents their return to the 
 sea. The movable bottom of the chamber is now raised, and the 
 fishes easily taken, as represented in Plate XXIV. 
 
 The fishermen are informed during the day of the approach of the 
 sturgeons to the great enclosure by the movement they communicate 
 to cords suspended to small floating substances in the water. During 
 the night the sturgeons enter the enclosure, agitating by their move- 
 ments other cords arranged round the hurdles. The agitation 
 
XXIV. — Sturgeon Fishing on the Volga. 
 
FISHES. 557 
 
 communicated to the cord is sufficient to shut the gates behind j they 
 are thus imprisoned by the dropping of the gate, which in falling 
 sounds a bell to wake the fisherman on the scaffold, should he be 
 asleep. The sturgeon fisheries of the Volga are most admirably 
 organised. Gmelin describes with some minuteness the sturgeon- 
 fishing during the winter, in the caverns and hollows of the river- 
 banks near Astrakhan, in the estuary of the Volga. A great number 
 of fishermen are assembled there with their boats. The flotilla 
 approaches the retreats to which the fishes have betaken themselves, 
 the nets are skilfully arranged all round them, and all at once the 
 whole mass of fishermen join in a great cry, at which the frightened 
 fishes rush from their concealment and throw themselves into the 
 nets spread for them. 
 
 The size of the fish, the nourishing properties of its flesh, its 
 healthy and agreeable taste, and the immense quantity of eggs 
 produced, have a wonderful power in exciting the commerce and 
 industry of the inhabitants of these countries. 
 
 In order to give some idea of the abundance of the eggs of the 
 sturgeon, it is stated that the weight of the roe in these fish will equal 
 nearly a third of the weight of the whole animal ; in other words, the 
 roe would weigh nearly 800 lbs. in a female whose weight was 2,800 lbs. 
 It is with these eggs that caviare is prepared ; and the article is more 
 or less rehshed according to the state of the eggs. The display of 
 caviare, as exhibited at the Universal Exposition of Paris during the 
 year 1867 will remain in the memory of those who visited it 
 
558 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 V. — Teleostea, or Bony Fishes. 
 
 In this large order are many of the fishes which are most familial 
 to us. It is characterised, as we have said elsewhere, as a group of 
 animals having a solid skeleton. It is divided into six sub-orders ; 
 these are : i. F lectognatha. 2. Lophobranchia. 3. P haryngognatha. 
 4. Fhysostomata. 5. Anacanthina. 6. Acanthopterygea. All these 
 orders contain more or less familiar forms ; the first, contains the great 
 bun-fish, the globe-fish, and coffin-fish ; the second, the pipe-fish and 
 sea-horses ; the third, the flying-fish and the wrasser ; the fourth, the 
 eels, herrings, salmon, carp, &c. \ the fifth, the cod tribe and the 
 flat-fish \ and the sixth, the mullets, tunnies, gobies, perch, stickle- 
 backs, and many others. 
 
 I. — Plectognatha. 
 
 From their organisation the fishes of this order seem to establish 
 the passage from the cartilaginous to the osseous fishes. Their skeleton 
 remains in a partly unossified condition. The bones of the head are, 
 however, perfectly solid. The cranial and maxillary bones are firmly 
 attached to the sides of the intermaxillary bones, and so form the 
 jaw ; the bones of the palate are united to the skull in such a manner 
 as to be motionless. The opercula and rays of the gills are hidden 
 under a thick skin, which leaves externally only small branchial slits. 
 These fishes have no true ventral fin, and the pectoral fins are small 
 and soft. 
 
 This sub-order comprehends two natural families, characterised 
 by the armature of their jaws. They are the Gymnodonta and the 
 Sderodermata. 
 
 In the family of Gymnodonta the jaws have no apparent teeth, 
 but they are covered with a plate of an ivory-like substance which 
 represents them. The Sun-fish, Oi'thagoriscus niola (Fig. 365), 
 belongs to this family. 
 
 The Sun-fish [Orthagoriscus niola)^ Fig. 365, greatly reduced in 
 
FISHES. 
 
 559 
 
 Fig. 365. — Sun-fish (Orthagoriscus mola). 
 
 size, is easily distinguished from any species of the genus Teti'ao- 
 don by its compressed spineless body ; being very round in its vertical 
 contour, it has been compared 
 to a disc, and more poetically 
 to the sun — whence its popular 
 name — to the great circular 
 surface of which the dazzling 
 silvery white disc bears some 
 resemblance. But it is espe- 
 cially during the night that it 
 justifies the name given to it 
 Then it shines brightly, from 
 its own phosphorescent light, 
 at a little distance beneath the 
 surface. On very dark nights 
 the sun-fish is sometimes seen 
 swimming in the soft light 
 which emanates from its body, 
 the rays rendered undulating by the rippling of the water which it 
 traverses, so as to resemble the trembling light of the sun half-veiled 
 in misty vapours. When many of these fishes rove about together, 
 mingling their silvery trains, 
 the scene suggests the idea of 
 dancing stars. The sun-fish is 
 common on the west coast of 
 Ireland, also in the Medi- 
 terranean, and it sometimes 
 reaches the markets of Paris. 
 It is from four to five feet in 
 length, and its weight is con- 
 siderable. Its flesh is fat and 
 viscous, and by no means 
 pleasant to eat. 
 
 The species of the genus 
 Tetraodoii have a somewhat 
 
 large head and bony salient jaws, which are each divided in front by a 
 sort of vertical slit into two portions, which look like two teeth. 
 These four portions of bony jaw, which project beyond the lips, some- 
 what resemble the hard and dentate jaws of the turde. Their anterior 
 part is sometimes prolonged, like the mandibles of the beak of the 
 parrot. They are perfectly adapted to crush the shells of the molluscs, 
 as well as the hard carapaces of the crustaceans, on which they feed. 
 
 Fig. 366.— The Globe-fish (Tetraodon). 
 
56o 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 The skin of these fishes bristles with small slightly-projecting spines, 
 the number of which compensate for their smallnes's, which repel 
 their enemies, and even wound the hand that would grasp them. 
 They enjoy, besides, a singular faculty : they can inflate the lower 
 portion of their body, and give it an extension so considerable that 
 it becomes like an inflated ball, in which the real shape of the animal 
 is lost. This result is obtained by the introduction of an immense 
 quantity of air into the stomach when it wishes to ascend to the 
 
 Fig- 307. — Diodon pilosus. 
 
 surface. The species of globe-fish are numerous (Fig. '^^(i). One 
 is common in the Nile, where specimens are frequently left ashore 
 during the annual inundations. 
 
 The species of Diodoji (Fig. 367) differ from the sun-fish in the form 
 of their bony jaws, each forming only one piece. They seem to have 
 two teeth, whence their name, from S/sj /7w, hlovs^ teeth. They differ 
 also in their spines, which are larger. The fishes belonging to the 
 genera Tetraodon and Diodon may be said to be the hedgehogs and 
 porcupines of the sea. 
 
 There are many species of this genu.s — Diodon pilosus^ represented 
 in Fig, 367, will give an idea of the others- 
 
FISHES. 
 
 S6i 
 
 The Sclerodermata are distinguished by their conical or pyramidal 
 snout, terminating in a Httle mouth armed with true teeth ; the 
 skin is generally stiff and covered with hard scales. The File-fish, 
 Balistes, and the Trunk-fish {Ostracion), are selected for notice. The 
 File or Rudder-fish (Fig. 368) has the body compressed; the jaws are 
 furnished with eight teeth, arranged in a single row on each jaw, and 
 covered with true lips ; the eyes are nearly level with the skin ; the 
 mouth is small, and the body enveloped in very hard scales, which 
 
 The File-fish (Balistes) . 
 
 are connected in groups and distributed into compartments more or 
 less regular, and strongly connected by means of a thick skin. The 
 animal is thus protected by a sort of cuirass and casque very difficult 
 to penetrate. 
 
 With the exception of one species, the genus Balistes inhabits the 
 tropical seas. They are generally brilliantly coloured ; they herd 
 together in great numbers, and in their gambols produce curious com- 
 binations of brilliant colouring in the equatorial seas. Their flesh is 
 held in slight estimation, and at certain periods of the year is even 
 said to be dangerous. 
 
 The Trunk-fish, or Ostracion (Fig. 369), is without scales, but 
 covered with regular osseous plates, which are so jointed the one to 
 
562 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 the Other that the body is, as it were, enclosed in a kind of box or 
 long coffer, which only leaves the external organs of locomotion 
 exposed, namely, the pectoral, dorsal, and caudal fins. In some the 
 body is triangular, in others quadrangular, with or without spmes. 
 
 Fig. 369. —The Trunk-fish (Ostracion). 
 
 These singular fishes are generally of moderate size, and are found 
 only in the seas of warm climates. 
 
 II.— LOPHOBRANCHIA. 
 
 The Lophobranchiate sub-order comprehends but few genera which 
 are pretty numerous in species. Here the gills are formed of small 
 round tufts, and arranged in pairs along the branchial arches— a 
 structure quite peculiar, of which we have no examples m any other 
 fishes. These gills are enclosed under a large cover, or operculum, 
 attached on all sides by a membrane, which leaves only a small hole 
 for the escape of water which has served the purposes of respiration. 
 Of these little cuirassed fishes the two best-known genera are 
 Syngnathiis and Hippocampus. The former, known as pipe-fishes, 
 present a very curious snake-like oudine. Their bodies are long, 
 slender, and slightly tapering, covered with plates set lengthwise. 
 
FISHES. 
 
 563 
 
 without ventral fins ; the skin forms under the belly near the base of 
 the tail, in some species, a pouch into which the eggs to be hatched 
 are placed, and which is afterwards a shelter for the young. Most of 
 the species are strangers to European seas, but some few are found 
 around our coasts. The Pipe-fish, S. acus (Fig. 370), has the head 
 small, the snout long, nearly cylindrical, slightly raised at the end, 
 and terminating in a very small mouth without teeth. The animal is 
 about twenty inches long ; its skin is of a yellowish colour varied 
 
 Fig. 370. — The Pipe-fish (Syngnathus acus). 
 
 with brown. It lives in both the Atlantic and Mediterranean seas, 
 where it is largely used by the fishermen in baiting their hooks. 
 
 The Sea Horse {Hippocampus brevi?vsh'is) is a small creature 
 about the size of the engraving (Fig. 371); its head has a singular 
 resemblance to that of the horse. The rings which form the integu- 
 ment of the body and tail have a close resemblance to the rings of 
 some caterpillars. This curious combination of forms originated the 
 name Hippocampus, from 'l-mros, horse, kol/xttos, j^s/i, adopted in very 
 ancient times to designate this creature. It is found in the Atlantic, 
 round the coast of Spain, the south of France, on the coast of 
 Britain, in the Mediterranean, and in the Indian Ocean. Mr. Lukis, 
 who observed jtwo females in captivity, describes their habits as 
 
564 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 follows: — "When they swim," he says, "they preserve a vertical 
 position, but their tail seems on the alert to seize whatever it meets 
 with in the water, clasping the stem of the sea-weeds. Once fixed, 
 the animal seems to watch attentively all the surrounding objects, 
 and darts on any prey presenting itself with great dexterity. When 
 pne of them approaches the other, they interlace their two tails, and 
 it is only after a struggle that they can separate again, attaching 
 
 Fig. 371.— The Sea-horse (Hippocampus brevirostris). 
 
 themselves by the lower part of the chin to some weed in order to 
 release themselves. They have recourse to the same manœuvre 
 when they wish to raise the body, or when they wish to wind their 
 tail round some new object. Their two eyes seem to move indepen- 
 dently of each other, like those of the chameleon. The iris is bright 
 and edged with blue." 
 
 The sea-horses have the pectoral fins so formed as easily to 
 sustain the body in the water • they are, in fact, winged fishes, and 
 probably originated the famous winged courser of mythology, after 
 which they are sometimes named. They rarely exceed four inches in 
 
F/s /IE s. 565 
 
 length ; the body is covered with triangular scales, commonly of a 
 bluish colour. They live on worms, fishes' eggs, and firagments of 
 organic substances which they find at the bottom of the sea. 
 
 III. — Pharvngognatha. 
 
 This order contains fishes in which the inferior pharyngeal bones 
 are so completely coalescent as to form a single bone, which is 
 usually armed with teeth. Professor Miiller divides this sub-order 
 into two groups, that in which the fins are partially spinous {Acanthop- 
 terygii), and that in which the fins are soft {Malacopterygii). Of this 
 latter group we have one interesting family, that of the Scomber- 
 esocidce, to which the genus Exocœtics belongs. 
 
 Flying is so much associated in our minds with the usual denizens 
 of the air, that the idea of flying-fishes seems to be a contradiction. 
 Nevertheless, some fishes possess that power, the fins being trans- 
 formed into wings, which they are enabled to raise for a few seconds. 
 These wings, however, are neither long nor powerful, for they rather 
 act the part of a parachute than wings. The distinguishing charac- 
 teristic of the Exocœtus, or flying-fish, is its pectoral fins, which are 
 nearly the length of the body, the head is flattened above and on the 
 sides, the lower part of the body furnished with a longitudinal series 
 of carinated scales on each side, the dorsal fin placed above the 
 anal, the eyes large, and the jaws furnished with small pointed teeth. 
 
 The flying-fishes (Fig. 372) in their own element are harassed by 
 attacks of other inhabitants of the ocean, and when, under the excite- 
 ment of fear, they take to the air, they are equally exposed to the 
 attacks of aquatic birds, especially the various species of gulls. We 
 have said that in their leap from the water their fins sustain them 
 rather as parachutes than wings, with which they beat the air. Mr. 
 Bennett's description is pretty clear on this point. " I have never," 
 he says, " been able to see any percussion of the pectoral fins during 
 flight ; and the greatest length of time I have seen this volatile fish 
 on the fly has been thirty seconds by the watch, and the longest 
 flight, mentioned by Captain Basil Hall, has been 200 yards, but he 
 thinks that subsequent observation has extended the space. The 
 usual height of their flight, as seen above the surface of the water, is 
 from two to three feet ; but I have known them come on board at the 
 height of fourteen feet and upwards ; and they have been well 
 ascertained to come into the chains of a Hne-of-battle ship, which is 
 considered to be upwards of twenty feet. But it must not be sup- 
 posed that they have the power of raising themselves into the air after 
 
566 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 having left their native element ; for on watching them I have often 
 seen them fall much below the elevation at which they first rose from 
 the water ; nor have I ever in any instance seen them rise from the 
 height to which they first sprang, for I conceive the elevation they 
 take depends on the power of the first spring. 
 
 372. — The Flying-fish (E. exiliens). 
 
 The most common species is E. volitans. Its brilliant colouring 
 would seem designed to point it out to its enemies, against whom it 
 is totally defenceless. A dazzling silvery splendour pervades its 
 surface. The summit of its head, its back, and its sides, are of azure 
 blue ; this blue becomes spotted upon the dorsal fin, the pectoral fin, 
 and the tail. This fish is the common prey of the sea-birds and 
 the more voracious fishes, such as the shark ; its enemies abound in 
 the air and water. If it succeeds in escaping the Charybdis of the 
 
FISHES. 567 
 
 water, the chances are in favour of its meeting its fate in the Scylla of 
 the atmosphere; if it escapes the jaws of the shark, it will probably 
 fall to the share of the sea-gull. The dolphin is also a formidable 
 enemy to the much-persecuted flying-fish. Captain Basil Hall gives 
 a very animated description of their mode of attack.* He was in a 
 prize, a low Spanish schooner, rising not above two feet and half out 
 of the water. " Two or three dolphins had ranged past the ship in 
 all their beauty. The ship in her progress through the water had 
 put up a shoal of these Httle things (flying-fish), which took their 
 flight to windward. A large dolphin, which had been keeping com- 
 pany with us abreast of the weather gangway at the depth of two or 
 three fathoms, and, as usual, glistening most beautifully in the sun, no 
 sooner detected our poor dear friends take wing than he turned his 
 head towards them, darted to the surface, and leaped from the water 
 with a velocity little short, as it seemed to us, of a cannon-ball. But 
 though the impetus with which he shot himself into the air gave him 
 an initial velocity greatly exceeding that of the flying-fish, the start 
 which his fated prey had got enabled them to keep ahead of him 
 for a considerable time. The length of the dolphin's first spring 
 could not be less than ten yards, and after he fell we could see him 
 gliding like lightning through the water for a moment, when he again 
 rose, and shot upwards with considerably greater velocity than at 
 first, and of course to a still greater distance. In this manner 
 the merciless pursuer seemed to stride along the sea with fearful 
 rapidity, while his brilliant coat sparkled and flashed in the sun quite 
 splendidly. As he fell headlong in the water at the end of each 
 leap, a series of circles were sent far over the surface, for the breeze — 
 just enough to keep the royals and topgallant studding-sails extended 
 — ^was hardly felt as yet below. 
 
 " The group of wretched flying-fishes, thus hotly pursued, at 
 length dropped into the sea ; but we were rejoiced to observe that 
 they merely touched the top of the swell, and instantly set off again 
 in a fresh and even more vigorous flight. It was particularly in- 
 teresting to observe that the direction they took now was quite 
 different from the one in which they had set out, implying but too 
 obviously that they had detected their fierce enemy, who was follow- 
 ing them with giant steps along the waves, and was gaining rapidly 
 upon them. His pace, indeed, was two or three times as swift as 
 theirs, poor little things ! and the greedy dolphin was fully as quick- 
 sighted ; for whenever they varied their flight in the smallest degree, 
 
 ♦*' Lieutenant and Commander." By Captain Basil Hall. Bell & Daldy, London. 
 
568 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 he lost not the tenth part of a second in shaping his course so as to 
 cut off the chase ; while they, in a manner really not unlike that of 
 ';he hare, doubled more than once upon their pursuer. But it was soon 
 plainly to be seen that the strength and confidence of the flying-fish 
 were fast ebbing ; their flights became shorter and shorter, and their 
 course more fluttering and uncertain, while the leaps of the dolphin 
 seemed to grow more vigorous at each bound. Eventually this 
 skilful sea-sportsman seemed to arrange his springs so as to fall just 
 
 Fig. 373. — Stomias boa. 
 
 under the very spot on which the exhausted flying-fish were about to 
 drop. This catastrophe took place at too great a distance for us to 
 see from the deck what happened ; but on our mounting high on the 
 rigging, we may be said to have been in at the death ; for then we 
 could discover that the unfortunate little creatures, one after another, 
 either popped right into the dolphin's jaws as they lighted on the 
 water, or were snapped up instantly after." 
 
 EsociD^. — This family contains the well-known fresh-water Pike 
 and also the marine genus Belo?ie, to which the gar fish belongs, 
 and the strange genus Stomias, Here the body is much elongated, 
 the muzzle being very short, the mouth very deeply cleft, the opercula 
 reduced to small membranous lamina \ the intermaxiUary palatine 
 
F/SffES, 
 
 569 
 
 and maxillary bones are rather sparingly furnished with teeth, and 
 these are long and hooked. Similar teeth are observable on the 
 tongue. The ventral fins are placed far back, and the dorsal fin is 
 placed opposite the anal fin, on the hinder extremity of the body. 
 Only two species of this genus are known: the one of the 
 
 Fig. 374.— Adult Green and Red varieties of Labrus communis. 
 
 Mediterranean, Sfomms boa (Fig. 378), the other of the Atlantic 
 Ocean, S. barbatus, so called from the long barbula on the chin. 
 Both species are black in colour, with numerous small silvery spots 
 on the abdomen. The body of S. boa is thin, compressed, covered 
 with little thin scales of blackish blue, much spotted on the back and 
 abdomen, a Httle brighter on the sides ; the head, in some respects, 
 recalling that of a serpent. 
 
 Of the former division we have the Labridœ. This family contains 
 
570 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 the Wrasse (Labrus)^ a genus of fishes decked in the most lively 
 
 colours; for the yellow, green, blue, and red, forming bands of 
 spots, give the body the appearance of being enriched with brilliant 
 metallic reflections. 
 
 We represent here, as a type of the genus, the adult Green and 
 Red Labrus (Fig. 374), varieties of the commonest species, called 
 the sea-parrot, the body being oblong, clothed with large scales ; a 
 dorsal fin, frequently with membranous appendages, thick fleshy lips, 
 and large conical teeth ; cheeks and gill-covers clothed with scales ; 
 gill-covers smooth at the edges ; three spines in the anal fin. 
 
 IV. — Physostomata. 
 
 The principal character of the fishes of this order is that the rays 
 of the fins are soft, except sometimes the first ray of the dorsal or 
 pectoral. They inhabit either sea or fresh water, and include fishes 
 of the utmost importance as human food, such as the herring, the 
 cod, the salmon, carp, pike, and many others. Modern naturalists, 
 following Millier, divide them into two sub-orders : — i. Apoda, with- 
 out ventral fins ; 2. Abdominalia, having ventral fins. 
 
 I. Apoda. — There are but three families in this sub-order, which 
 comprehends great numbers both of genera and species ; they are 
 anguilliform or snake-like, elongated in form, the skin thick and soft, 
 and have no ventral fins. 
 
 In the Gymnotidœ the dorsal fin is entirely wanting ; the body is 
 long, nearly cylindrical, and also serpent-like, the tail being long in 
 comparison to the other parts of the body ; beneath the tail is a long 
 anal fin, the tail is the only locomotive organ ; it is the nakedness of 
 the back which confers its designation of yvfxvhs, 7iaked, vœros, back. 
 
 The species of the genus Gymnotiis are fresh-water fishes of South 
 America, where they attain a great size. There are several species, 
 but the most remarkable, from its singular physical properties, is the 
 Electrical Eel, Gymnotus electriciis (Fig. 375 ). These properties 
 enable the Electrical Eel to arrest suddenly the pursuit of an enemy, 
 or the flight of its prey, to suspend on the instant every movement of 
 its victim, and subdue it by an invisible power. Even the fishermen 
 themselves are suddenly struck and rendered torpid at the moment of 
 seizing it, while nothing external betrays the mysterious power 
 possessed by the animal. 
 
 The electrical properties of the Gymnotus were reported for the 
 first time by Van Berkal. The astronomer Richer, who had been 
 sent to Cayenne in 167 1 by the Academy of Sciences of Paris, on 
 
FISHES, 
 
 57ï 
 
 the Geodesic Survey, first made known the singular properties of this 
 American fish. " I was much astonished," says this author, " to see 
 a fish some three or four feet in length, and resembling an eel, 
 deprive of all sensation for a quarter of an hour the arm and neigh- 
 bouring parts which touched it. I was not only an ocular witness of 
 the effect produced by its touch; but I have myself felt it, on 
 touching one of these fishes still living, though wounded by a hook, 
 by means of which some Indians had drawn it from the water. They 
 could not tell what it was called ; but they assured me that it struck 
 Other fishes with its tail in order to stupefy them and devour them 
 
 Fig. 375 —The Electrical Eel (Gymnotus electricus). 
 
 afterwards, which is very probable, when we consider the effect of its 
 touch upon a man." 
 
 The observations of Richer made little impression at the time on 
 the savaiits of Paris, and matters remained in this state for seventy 
 years,^ when the traveller Condamine spoke in his "Voyage en 
 Amérique " of a fish which produced the effects described by Richer. 
 In 1750 a physician named Ingram furnished some new views 
 respecting this fish, which he thought was surrounded by an electric 
 atmosphere. In 1755 the Dutch physician. Dr. Gramund, ^vrites : 
 "The effect produced by this fish corresponds exactly with that 
 produced by the Leyden jar, with this difference, that we see no 
 luminous appearance on its body, however strong the blow it gives ; 
 for if the fish is large, those who touch it are struck dowUj and feel 
 the blow on their whole body.'* 
 
572 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 Many experiments followed these ; but we are indebted to 
 Alexander von Humboldt for the first precise account of this very 
 curious fish. This celebrated naturalist read to the Institute of France 
 an important memoir upon the electrical eel, from Bonpland's obser- 
 vations, the substance of which we shall give here. 
 
 In traversing the Lianas of the province of Caracas, in order to 
 embark at San Fernando de Apure on his voyage up the Orinoco, 
 M. Bonpland stopped at Calabozo. The object of this sojourn was 
 to investigate the history of the Gymnotus, great numbers of which 
 are found in the neighbourhood. After three days' residence in 
 Calabozo some Indians conducted him to the Cano de Bera, a muddy 
 and stagnant basin, but surrounded by rich vegetation, in which 
 Clusia rosea, Hymenœa cottrbaril, some grand Indian figs, and some 
 magnificent flowering odoriferous Mimosas, were pre-eminent. He 
 was much surprised when informed that it would be necessary to take 
 thirty half-wild horses from the neighbouring savannahs in order to 
 fish for the Gymnotus. 
 
 The idea of this fishing, called in the language of the country 
 embarbascar con caballos (intoxicating by means of horses), is very 
 odd. The word barbasco indicates the roots of the Lacqumia, or any 
 other poisonous plant, by contact of which a body of water acquires 
 the property of killing, or at least of intoxicating or stupefying the 
 fishes ; these come to the surface when they have been poisoned in 
 this manner. The horses chasing them here and there in a marsh 
 has, it seems, the same effect upon the alarmed fishes. While our 
 hosts were explaining to us this strange mode of fishing, the troop of 
 horses and mules had arrived, and the Indians had made a sort of 
 circle, pressing the horses on all sides, and forcing them into the 
 marsh. The Indians^ armed with long canes and harpoons, placed 
 themselves round the basin, some of them mounting the trees, the 
 branches of which hung over the water, and by their cries, and still more 
 by their canes, preventing the horses from landing again. The eels, 
 stunned by the noise, defended themselves by repeated discharges of 
 their batteries. For a long time it seemed as if they would be 
 victorious over the horses. Some of the mules especially, being 
 almost stifled by the frequency and force of the shocks, disappeared 
 under water, and some of the horses, in spite of the watchfulness of 
 the Indians, regained the bank, where, overcome by the shocks they 
 had undergone, they stretched themselves at their whole length. The 
 picture presented was now indescribable. Groups of Indians sur- 
 rounded the basin ; the horses with bristling manes, terror and grief 
 in their eyes, trying to escape from the storm which had surprised 
 
lliem ; the eels, yellow and livid, looking like great aquatic serpents 
 swimming on the surface of the water, and chasing their enemies, 
 were objects at once appalling and picturesque. In less than five 
 minutes two horses were drowned. An eel, more than five feet long, 
 glided under one horse, and discharged its apparatus through its 
 whole extent, attacking at once the heart, the viscera, and the solar 
 plexus of the animal, probably benumbing and finally drowning it. 
 
 When the struggle had endured a quarter of an hour, the mules 
 and horses appeared less frightened, their manes become more erect, 
 their eyes expressed less terror, the eels shunned in place of attacking 
 them, at the same time approaching the bank, when they were easily 
 taken by throwing little harpoons at them attached to long cords, the 
 harpoon, sometimes hooking two at a time, being landed by means 
 of the long cord. They were drawn ashore without being able to 
 communicate any shock. 
 
 Having landed the eels, they were transported to little pools dug 
 in the soil, and filled with fi-esh water ; but such is the terror they 
 inspire, that none of the people of the country would release them 
 from the harpoon — a task which the travellers had to perform them- 
 selves, thereby receiving the first shock, which was not slight, the 
 most energetic surpassing in force that communicated by a Leyden 
 jar completely charged. The Gymnotus surpasses in size and strength 
 all the other electric fishes. Humboldt saw them five feet three 
 inches long. They vary in colour, according to age, and the nature 
 of the muddy water in which they live. Beneath, the head is of a 
 fine yellow colour mixed with red ; the mouth is large, and furnished 
 with small teeth arranged in many rows. 
 
 The Gymnotus makes its shock felt in any part of its body which 
 is touched, but the excitement is greater when touched under the 
 belly and near the pectoral fin. The Gymnotus gives the most 
 frightful shocks without the least muscular movement in the fins, in 
 the head, or any other part of the body. The shock, indeed, depends 
 upon the will of the animal, and in this respect differs from a Leyden 
 jar, which is discharged by communicating with two opposite poles. 
 It happens sometimes that a Gymnotus, seriously wounded, only gives 
 a very weak shock, but if, thinking it exhausted, it is touched fearlessly 
 and at once, its discharge is terrible. Indeed, the phenomenon de- 
 pends so much upon the will of the animal, that, according to Von 
 Humboldt, if it is touched by two metallic rods, the shock is com- 
 municated sometimes by one, sometimes by the other wand, though 
 their extremities are close together. 
 
 The experiments already related in connection with the torpedo 
 
576 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 have been repeated here. If we place ourselves upon isolated supports, 
 and take hold of a metallic rod, a shock is received; but no shock is 
 received, on the other hand, if the fish is touched with a glass rod, 
 or one covered with wax. Humboldt and Bonpland repeated this 
 experiment many times, with decisive results. The electric organ 
 ha's been carefully described by these observers. The organs extend • 
 from under the tail, occupying nearly one-half of the thickness. It is 
 divided into four longitudinal bundles of muscles, the upper ones 
 large, the two smaller below, and against the base of the anal fin. 
 Each bundle consists of many parallel membranous plates, placed 
 closely together and very nearly horizontal. These plates abut in one 
 part on the skin, in another on the mean vertical plane of the fish. 
 They are united to each other by an infinity of smaller plates, placed 
 either vertically or transversely. The smaller prismatic and trans- 
 versal canals, intercepted by those two orders of plates, are filled with 
 gelatinous matter. All this organic apparatus receives many nerves, 
 and presents, in many respects, an arrangement nearly analogous to 
 that of the torpedoes. 
 
 Of the Miirœnidœ^ we find the Sea-Eel {Murœna helena). It is a 
 serpent-like fish, of cylindrical form and delicate proportions, but 
 strong, flexible, and active, swimming in waving, undulating move- 
 ments in the water, just as a serpent creeps on dry land. The Sea- 
 Eels have no pectoral fin, the dorsal and anal fin are re-united in the 
 tail fin. A branchial opening is observable on each side of the body. 
 Murœna helena (Fig. 376), which is an inhabitant of the Mediterranean, 
 has only a single row of teeth upon each jaw. It attains the length 
 of forty to fifty inches. It loves to bask in the hollows of rocks, 
 approaching the coast in spring-time. It feeds on crabs and small 
 fishes, seeking eagerly for polyps. The voracity of these fishes is 
 such, that when other food fails they begin to nibble at each other's 
 tails. 
 
 The sea-eels are caught with rod and line, or by lines and ground- 
 bait, but their instinct is such that they often escape. When they 
 have swallowed a hook they often cut the line with their teeth, or 
 they turn upon it and try, by winding it round some other object, to 
 strain or break it. When caught in a net, they quickly choose some 
 mesh through which their body can glide. 
 
 Those who have studied the classics will remember the passionate 
 love with which the Roman gourmet regarded these fishes. In the 
 days of the Empire enormous sums were expended in keeping up 
 the ponds which enclosed them, and the fish themselves were 
 multiplied to such an extent that Caesar, on the occasion of one of 
 
FISHES. 577 
 
 his triumphs, distributed six thousand among his friends. Licinius 
 Crassus was celebrated among wealthy Romans for the splendour of 
 his eel-ponds. They obeyed his voice, he said, and when he called 
 them they darted towards him in order to be fed by his hands. The 
 same Licinius Crassus, and Quintus Hortensius, another wealthy 
 Roman patrician, wept the loss of their mur^nas on one occasion, 
 when they all died in their ponds from some disease. This, however, 
 was only a matter of taste, passion, or fashion, sometimes, however, 
 accompanied by cruelty and gross corruption. 
 
 It was thought among the Romans that murosnas fed with human 
 
 Fig. 376. — The Sea-Eel (Mursena Helena). 
 
 flesh were the most delicately flavoured. A rich freedman, named 
 Pollion, who must not, however, be confounded with the orator of 
 the name, had the cruelty to order such of his slaves as he thought 
 deserving of death, and sometimes even those wlio had done nothing 
 to excite his anger, to be thrown to them. On one occasion, when 
 he entertained the Emperor Augustus, a poor slave who attended had 
 the misfortune to break a precious vase ; Pollion immediately ordered 
 him to be thrown to the eels. But the indignant Emperor gave the 
 slave his freedom, and, in order to manifest his indignation with 
 Pollion, he ordered his attendants to break every vase of value which 
 the freedman had collected in his mansion. 
 
 In the present day sea-eels are little esteemed in a gastronomic point 
 of view. Nevertheless they are still sought for on the coast of Italy, 
 and the fishermen avoid with great care the bites of their sharp teeth, 
 
 T 
 
3/ 
 
 78 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 The Eels {AnguiHa) have pectoral fins, under which are the gill- 
 openings on each side ; the dorsal and anal fins extending up to the 
 tail, mingling with this last, which terminates in a point at the ex- 
 tremity. The Eels {Anguilla) inhabit most European rivers, except 
 in the spawning season, when, according to some naturaUsts, they 
 betake themselves to the sea. During the greater part of their 
 existence, therefore, they have no connection with the ocean. The 
 
 Fis. 377-— Th^ Common Conger (Conger vulgaris). 
 
 Congers, on the other hand, are fishes of great size, which inhabit the 
 seas of warm countries, as well as those of Northern Europe. I'he 
 type of this family is the Common Conger, Conger vulgaris (Fig. 377), 
 which differs from the true eels chiefly in the dorsal fins, which com- 
 mence very near to the pectorals ; and also in their upper jaw bemg 
 longer than their under one,. They attain the thickness of a man's 
 leg,'^and are sometimes two yards in length. The conger-eel is fre- 
 quently found in salt marshes, but its flesh is held in little esteem. 
 
 2.^ Abdominalia.—T\\^ fishes belonging to this sub-order have 
 the ventral fins placed on the abdomen, and not attached to the 
 
FISHES. 579 
 
 bones of the shoulder. It is much the more numerous and im- 
 portant of the order. It includes most of our fresh-water fishes, a 
 great number of marine species, and many like the salmon, which be- 
 take themselves to the rivers in the spawning season to deposit their 
 ova. We shall limit our remarks to the Salmonidœ, the Clupeadœ^ 
 and' a few others. 
 
 Salmonidœ. — The fishes of this family are graceful in shape, and 
 
 Fig. 378.— Adult Salmon. 
 
 have the body clothed in scales ; they have two dorsals, the first 
 with soft rays, followed by a second, which is smaller, formed without 
 rays, and adipose — that is, formed simply of a skin filled with fatty 
 matter, unsupported by osseous rays. They inhabit the seas of 
 temperate and northern regions ; ascending the rivers at certain 
 seasons, and, in some instances, living exclusively in the great rivers 
 and watercourses. They are found even in the most elevated moun- 
 tain brooks. The grayUng, trout, and the salmon, the type of the 
 family, belong to the group. 
 
 The genus Sahno includes three well-known species, namely, Sabno 
 
ego THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 salar (the Salmon), Sjario (the Salmon trout), and S. trutta{±Q trout). 
 Of these, 5. salar (Fig. 370) has the body long, the muzzle roundish, 
 
 Fig. ^.79. The Young Salmon. 
 
 but more so in the male than in the female, the upper jaw provided 
 with a fossette, into which the point of the lower jaw penetrates ; the 
 
 Fig. 380,— Salmon, or Parr, a year old. 
 
 back is a slaty blue, the sides and lower part of the body of a silvery 
 diaphanous white, with great black spots scattered round the upper 
 part of the head, round the upper edge of the eye, and over the oper- 
 
FISHES, 581 
 
 culum or gill-cover. Some brownish irregular spots, variable both in 
 form and size, are sprinkled over the sides. In other respects the 
 colours are subject to variations according to circumstances. Before 
 assuming the characters here indicated, however, the salmon has 
 passed through three stages, each of which is marked by peculiarities 
 worthy of being noted. The young salmon (Fig. 379) is greyish and 
 striped with black. At the end of a year it has acquired a fine 
 metallic hue. " The other parts," according to Mr. Blanchard, "are 
 of a dazzling steel-blue ; eight or ten large spots of the same brilliant 
 blue cover it as with a silvery mantle on the sides ] between these 
 spots a reddish, or, rather, brightish-rusty iron colour prevails ; a 
 black spot is usually observable in the middle of the operculum. 
 The belly is of a fine diaphanous blue in the parr" (Fig. 380). 
 
 Dr. Bertram gives a very clear and intelligible account of the early 
 life history of the salmon, which was at one time veiled in mystery. 
 " The spawn, deposited by the parent fish in October, November, 
 and December, lies in the river till about April or May, when it 
 quickens into lite. I have already described the changes apparent in 
 the salmon's egg, from the time of its fructification till the birth of 
 the fish. The infant fry are of course very helpless, and are seldom 
 seen during the first week or two of their existence, when they carry 
 about with them, as a provision for food, a portion of the yolk of the 
 egg from whence they were hatched. At that time the fish is about 
 half an inch in size, and presents such a singular appearance that no 
 person seeing it would ever believe that it would grow into a fine 
 grilse or salmon. After absorbing its umbilical bag, which it takes a 
 period of twenty to forty days to accomplish, the young salmon may 
 be seen about its birthplace, timid and weak, hiding about the stones, 
 and always apparently of the same colour as the surroundings of its 
 sheltering-place. The transverse bars of the parr, however, speedily 
 become apparent, and the fish begins to grow with considerable 
 rapidity, especially if it is to be a twelvemonth's smolt, and this is very 
 speedily seen at such a place as the Stormontfield ponds. The 
 young fish continue to grow for a little more than two years before 
 the whole number make the change from parr to smolt, and seek the 
 salt water. About fifty days is required for the animal to assume the 
 shape oi a perfect fish ; before that time it might be taken for any- 
 thing else than a young salmon. At the end of two years it has 
 changed into a smolt. Half the number of any one hatching begin to 
 change at a little over twelve months from the date of their coming to 
 life. And thus there is the extraordinary anomaly of fish of the same 
 hatching being at one and the same time parr of half an ounce in 
 
5^2 THE OCEAl^ WORLD, 
 
 weight, and grilse weighing four pounds. The smolts of the first 
 year return from the sea, while their brothers and sisters are timidly 
 disporting in the breeding shallows of the upper streams." A late 
 sea-going smolt explains the anomaly of a spring salmon. 
 
 It thus appears that, in this first stage, the young salmon (Fig. 380) 
 is called d^parr; during the second it is a sffîolt, namely, a parr plus 
 a jacket of silvery scales. While they continue in the state of parr 
 they lead a secluded life, totally unable to endure salt water, which 
 would kill them. When they have become smolts the fish betake 
 themselves in troops to the sea. The sea-feeding being favourable, 
 and the fish strong enough for the salt water, a rapid growth is the 
 consequence. After that they disappear, spreading themselves over 
 the wide world of the ocean. At the end of two months of a life 
 mysterious and so far unknown, these fishes reappear in the rivers, 
 returning to their native pools ; but how changed ! Quantum mutati ! 
 The smolt, which has lived in he rivers two or three years, and only 
 attained the length of six 01 eight inches, returns at the end of two 
 months' sojourn in the sea, weighing three to four pounds, and, after 
 six months', ten or twelve pounds. It is now a grilse. 
 
 After depositing their eggs the grilse remain some time in the 
 fresh water, when they again go to the sea. This second sojourn, of 
 about two months, is sufficient to send it back weighing from six to 
 twelve pounds. It is now an adult salmon. Each new visit to the 
 sea brings the salmon back increased in size in proportion to the 
 duration of the voyage. In the month of March, 1845, ^^ Duke of 
 Athole took a salmon in the Tay after it had deposited its eggs \ he 
 marked it by attaching a metal label to it. It weighed ten pounds. 
 The same individual, with its metal label, was again fished up after 
 five weeks and three days' absence. It now weighed twenty-one 
 pounds, having in the meantime travelled forty miles down the 
 river to the sea. This fish must, however, have made a long 
 sea run during these thirty-eight days and its seeking up the river 
 again. 
 
 In most circumstances, according to Mr. Blanchard, to whom we 
 are indebted for much information relative to the development and 
 migration of these fishes, salmon of various ages, which have never- 
 theless sojourned in the sea as grilse, adult salmon, and others inter- 
 mediate between them, whose first sojourn at sea has extended to 
 eight or ten months, ascend the rivers together in an order no less 
 varied, the older individuals heading the column, the youngest bring- 
 ing up the rear. 
 
 When the period for depositing their eggs approaches, a male and 
 
FISHES. 
 
 58: 
 
 female pair off, as it were ; seeming to choose, by a common accord, 
 a retired place in which to spawn. Here both male and female 
 employ themselves in hollowing out a nest in the sand some eight or 
 nine inches deep, wherein the female deposits her eggs, which the 
 male fertilises by shedding a milky fluid over them, sheltering the eggs 
 afterwards by a covering of sand. 
 
 The salmon only ascends the 
 rivers to spawn. They eagerly re- 
 turn afterwards to salt water. 
 When enjoying themselves in the 
 water they swim slowly, floating 
 near the surface ; but in pursuit of 
 any object, or if threatened with 
 danger, they dart out of the water 
 with extraordinary promptitude. 
 The tail is, in fact, a true oar 
 moved by powerful muscles. A 
 low waterfall is to the salmon no 
 serious obstacle when it is impelled 
 to ascend to its breeding-place ; 
 curving its vertebral column, it 
 forms itself into a sort of elastic 
 spring; the arc of which being 
 suddenly unbent, strikes the water 
 with great force with the tail, and 
 in the rebound it leaps to the 
 height of several yards, clearing 
 waterfalls of considerable height. 
 If it falls without accomplishing 
 its object, it repeats the manoeuvre 
 until it is at last successful. It is 
 
 381. — Salmon Leap at Kilmorack. 
 
 especially when the leader of the band makes a successful leap that 
 the others, acquiring new spirit from its example, throw themselves 
 upwards until their emulation is rewarded by success. 
 
 Some of the British waterfalls are celebrated for their salmon 
 leaps. Wales, Scotland, and Ireland have each their celebrated leaps ; 
 in Pembrokeshire, Argyleshire, and at Ballyshannon in county 
 Donegal, and at Leixlip near Dublin. This latter cataract is about 
 twenty feet high, and the country people make a holiday in order to 
 see the salmon clear its height. These acrobat fishes frequently fall 
 before they finally succeed, and it is not unusual for the people to 
 place osier baskets to trap them in their fall. At the cataract of 
 
5*84 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 Kilmorack, in Inveraess-shire (Fig. 381), the inhabitants living near 
 the river have a practice of fixing branches of trees on the edge of 
 the rocks. By means of these branches they contrive to catch the 
 fishes which liave failed in their leap; it is even asserted that sports- 
 men have been known to kill them on the wing, as it were, in their 
 leap. But the exploit attributed to Lord Lovat by Dr. Franklin is 
 perhaps the nearest approach to the fabulous which we have met 
 with. Having remarked that great numbers of salmon failed in their 
 eftbrts to surmount the Falls of Kilmorack, and that they generally 
 fell on the banks at the foot of the fall, Lord Lovat conceived the 
 idea ot placing a furnace and a frying-pan on a point of rock over- 
 hanging the river. After their unsuccessful efi"ort some of the un- 
 happy salmon would fall accidentally into the frying-pan. The noble 
 lord could thus boast that the resources of his country were so 
 abundant, that on placing a furnace and frying-pan on the banks 
 of its rivers, the salmon would leap into it of their own accord, 
 without troubling the sportsmen to catch them. It is more pro- 
 bable, however, that Lord Lovat knew that the way to enjoy salmon 
 in perfection is to cook it when fresh from the water, and before 
 the richer parts of the fish have ceased to curd. 
 
 The i^rincipal salmon found in the market are from the Tweed, 
 Tay, North Esk, Spey, Skye, and Norwegian rivers, and above all 
 from the Severn and the rivers of Ireland, which latter are said to be 
 the best which come to market. None of these must be confounded 
 with the imported American variety — the origin of the prevalent cheap 
 London kipper — and the Cape, or red-mouthed variety. Cape and 
 Americans are at once distinguished by their flesh boiling a blanched 
 white. Tweed salmon are more varied ; and this river, famous in song, 
 is also noted for its production of the greatest proportion of bull-trout. 
 The Tay yields the largest grilse and salmon, but the Spey follows 
 fast in her wake ; Tay fish sometimes weigh sixty pounds. The 
 minor Scotch rivers produce smaher but superior fish. Skye and 
 West-coast grilse are short, thick, and small-headed, and proportion- 
 ally more abundant. Trout are numerous ; sea-bull, burn, or loch, 
 and the so-called herring-trout, are the varieties usually met with. 
 The whitling of the Tweed, grayling of Tay, and tinnock of North 
 and South Esk, are young sea and bull-trout, abounding in March 
 and April, when a sportsman will land fifty or sixty daily weighing 
 from four ounces to a pound each. Trout flesh varies in colour 
 from a clear white to a dark red \ the North Esk red trout is most 
 esteemed. The best run from a pound and a half to three pounds. 
 The burn-trout is always red, and has been killed as heavy as thirty 
 
FISHES. 585 
 
 pounds. The herring-trout, never found in English rivers, and only 
 caught on our coast by herring-trawlers, is a special favourite : may 
 it not be the whitling of the French rivers ? In all other species 
 colour varies with locality, and cannot be accounted for. 
 
 We have seen how rapidly the young salmon increase in size in 
 the sea. During this stage of existence the salmon, being a carni- 
 vorous fish, rapidly develops itself from the grilse to the adult state. 
 From a careful analysis made by Dr. Wilson Johnston, of the Bengal 
 army, it appears that there is no recorded instance of healthy salmon 
 partaking of herring or sand-lances ; the tape-worm and other con- 
 ditions of perverted appetite were found in all. Tape-worm is most 
 common in the hybrid Norwegian, and perhaps explains the reason 
 why Clupeadae are sometimes found in their stomachs. Should the 
 fish not be charged with spawn, it will shortly return to sport among 
 the dancing waves ; but if matured for breeding, at which period 
 the female shows a dirty brown hue, and the male a black, they 
 mate, choose a spot for the salmon nest, and there deposit myriads 
 of ova. The longer a salmon continues in the river the duller 
 their colour becomes ; their flavour is greatly depreciated ; so that 
 Izaak Walton's statement, that "the further they get from the 
 sea they be both fatter and better," is dead against our daily 
 experience. 
 
 During the period of river residence salmon never feed. It avails 
 not to argue that fear acts as an emetic and empties the stomach ; 
 the incontestable fact remains that the entire gastro-intestinal tract 
 ab ore ad ano is in ninety-nine per cent, devoid of any trace of food. 
 Juvenile experience on the part of the fish, recurring as a phantasm, 
 causes them to snap at a shining artificial minnow or a gaudy fly, but 
 they never rise out of the water ; the bait must dip to them, and 
 when hooked they shake the intruder as a terrier does a rat. If salmon 
 never feed in fresh water, what is the rationale of their existing there ? 
 Well, the superabundant store of fat deposited in their areolar tissue 
 appears to furnish a material which is functionally homologous to 
 the fatty supply stored by the Asiatic and African doomba sheep, 
 which is drawn upon to sustain life-action, when neves^ avalanches, or 
 a heavy snow-fall imprisons the crop of herbage. That continued 
 muscular exertion can be sustained without special fatigue on non- 
 nitrogenous diet, Fick and Wislicensus have proved by their recent 
 ascent of the Faulhorn : it is moreover notorious that the chamois 
 hunter and the Hindoo runner prefer fats and saccharoids. Is there 
 any show ot reason, then, why the salmon should not maintain its 
 fresh- water muscular tear and wear by a stock of non-nitrogenous iatty 
 T * 
 
586 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 material ? That such is the true philosophy of salmon river life is 
 borne out by the following facts : — 
 
 I St. So soon as the secretions of the milt and roe become 
 exhausted, the spent fish turn seaward to recruit. 
 
 2nd. The digestive secretions are not eliminated in the absence 
 of food ; the most recent experience of physiology finds its echo here. 
 Your boxer trains on meat or nitrogenous aliment, but enters the hst 
 on hydro-carbons (fat, saccharines, and amylaceous substances). The 
 salmon get into condition by immediately appropriating plenty of 
 marine animals, enter their life-struggle of wintry months in river 
 waters with an incorporated stock of potential calorific aliment, con- 
 vertible, as occasion demands, into organic muscular mechanical effort. 
 
 The British rivers in which the salmon abound are, as we have 
 seen, the Severn, the Wye, the Tweed, the Tay, the Don, and the 
 Dee, with many of their tributaries ; and in Ireland, the Shannon, the 
 Suir, the Boyne, and many others. Besides these, many of the 
 watercourses of lesser note adjoining the coast have been renowned 
 for their salmon fisheries. Some of the Scottish rivers, especially, are 
 famous for the size and quality as well as numbers of salmon. In 
 days not very distant from ours, farm servants made it a condition of 
 their hiring that salmon should not be served to them more than 
 three days in the week. Those times are changed. In the districts 
 in which this condition was the most stringently insisted on, the 
 proprietors derive a princely revenue from this source alone. The 
 Tay fisheries yield a revenue of ^17,000 per annum. The Spey, 
 for its length the richest in Scotland, produces ;£"i 2,000 per annum. 
 The river is only 120 miles from its source to the sea, and its 
 picturesque banks are celebrated in a local ballad, which says, not 
 very harmoniously, that 
 
 "Dipple, Dundurcus, Dandaleith, and Dulocq, 
 Are the bonniest haughs of the run of the Spey ;" 
 
 but there's " no standing water in the Spey." The river drains 
 1,300 miles of mountains, many of whose bases are more than 
 1,000 feet above the level of the sea. The Tweed, which has been 
 "poached'' and plundered, by its proprietors using unfair implements, 
 until there was scarcely a fish in its upper waters, is slowly recovering 
 under legislative enactments, and its rental is now ^7,500 per annum. 
 Salmon abound in the Loire and its affluents, but are not so 
 plentiful in the Seine and Marne. They enter the Rhine and the 
 Elbe, and most of the great rivers of the north of Europe. In France 
 they were formerly found in the rivers of Brittany, and in the Gironde. 
 
FISHES, 587 
 
 They are now very rare in those rivers. The coast of Picardy is 
 well furnished, but they are rare in upper and lower Normandy. 
 In Nonvay, especially in the district of Drontheim, the salmon 
 fishery is conducted on a large scale on the sea-shore as well as in 
 the interior waters. The Baltic is rich in salmon. Considerable 
 fisheries are carried on in the waters of the Gulfs of Finland and 
 Bothnia, as well as in the waters of Swedish Laponia. The takes 
 vary greatly; in i860 being much above the average throughout 
 Great Britain; while in 1772 the fish were so scarce in the Tweed 
 that it was believed they had gone off the coast. They invariably 
 go to leeward with the wind, and have been caught 100 miles 
 off land. Salmon are in condition at various periods of the 
 year, apparently not depending on the latitude of the rivers. Thus, 
 the Tay is one of the earliest rivers, while the north and south 
 Esk are the latest, yet they debouch within a few miles of each 
 other. It is the opinion of Mr. Joseph Johnston of Montrose 
 (whose acknowledged fifty years' practical experience carries weight 
 with it in all parliamentary committees on this question) that the 
 Stormontfield ponds, by artificially rearing the parr, render them 
 more helpless when they commence river life on their own account. 
 As a natural result, the death-ratio is enormously increased — aii bono f 
 especially when the parr have only the option of leaving, and are not 
 compelled to go out. We must, therefore, receive Dr. Bertram's 
 narrative, much as we respect his authority, with some reserve. The 
 young will not grow, nor will a parr ever become a grilse, unless 
 under given conditions ; it is therefore an easy matter to explain the 
 anomaly of a parr passing seaward becoming a four-pound grilse, 
 while its twin-brother remaining in the breeding-pond is conditionally 
 developed as only a half-ounce samlet, yet none the less a dwarfed 
 grilse — the possibility of growth existing all the while, although it 
 was not actively evoked by physical surroundings. 
 
 The modes of procedure in salmon fishery are very various. 
 Spearing with tridents, and liestering with a weighted hook by torch- 
 light — " burning the water," as the Scotch have it — as well as trammel, 
 wear, and cruive-wear fishing, are now prohibited. Legal fishing in 
 rivers is confined to row nets, and fly and bait rod fishing, fixtures 
 being illegal since 18 10. Wear shot; a larger and heavier row-net 
 placed at the meeting of the waters ; stake, fly, and bag-nets are 
 used in the open sea. The latter is most in vogue, the former being 
 almost superseded by the fly. Fixtures on the sea coast were held 
 to be legal in Lord Kintore's case by the House of Lords in 1828, and 
 continued so till the passing of the recent Act. By this Act all legal 
 
5^8 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 modes of fishing are in action from the ist of February to the 
 14th of September, a period, however, now curtailed by twenty- 
 eight days— netting being illegal from Saturday to Monday in each 
 week. It remains to be seen whether the gourmet will enjoy his 
 salmon _ better after its Sabbath rest ; perhaps its ragout will then 
 haunt him as it did Talleyrand's abbé, who, instead of the mea culpa 
 of the Confiteor, iterated, "Ah ! le bon saumon ! ah ! le bon 
 
 saumon 
 
 A bag-net is composed of three chambers : the first, which is the 
 widest, is at the entrance ; the next is the doubling, and is one inch 
 to the mesh narrower than the outer. The last is the fish court, 
 where the fish, by a simple and ingenious contrivance, are prevented 
 from finding the door by which they entered. It is partly floated 
 by corks and partly by an empty cask on the head or principal riding 
 rope. It is set in the sea by ropes attached to anchors, one anchor 
 rope to the head of the net and one on each wing at the entrance of 
 the bag. The bag-leader is a separate net held by a rope and anchor on 
 the land side, and is fastened to the bag-net. The principle of fishing 
 is this : the tide makes a curve on the leader of the bag, in this curve 
 the fish swim into the net. Bags are adapted for any kind of coast, 
 and six or seven are run out to sea end on. Fly nets are the same 
 as bags in principle, but slightly altered so as to adapt them for 
 being fixed to stakes driven into the sand instead of being moored 
 by rope and anchor ; they are always used where the tide ebbs. 
 Stake nets are expensive, and seldom used nowadays. When in 
 fishing trim they are, however, more deadly than fly nets : their 
 chambers are three times as large, but the principle of fishing in bag 
 and stake nets is identical, leaders being used in all. It is note- 
 worthy that trout are never caught in these leaders. 
 
 The Clupeadœ. — Of this family the herring is the useful and well- 
 known type, to which also the pilchard, the shad, and the anchovy 
 belong. The species of Clupea have the body longish and com- 
 pressed, especially at the belly, where it comes to an edge ; they are 
 clothed with large scales, forming towards the belly a saw-like edge, 
 which is very thin and easily removed. They have one dorsal fin 
 without spinous rays, and one ventral, both placed near the middle 
 of the body. 
 
 The Herring, Clupea ha^'engus (Fig 382), is too well known to 
 require description ; its appearance is beautiful ; but we shall only 
 remark here that its back, which in the fish after death is of an indigo 
 bluish colour, is greenish during life ; the other parts vary consider- 
 ably in their colours and markings, sometimes representing written 
 
FISHES. 589 
 
 characters, which ignorant fishermen have considered to be words of 
 mystery. In November, 1587, two herrings were taken on the coast 
 of Norway, on the bodies of which were markings resembhng Gothic 
 printed characters. These herrings had the signal honour of being 
 presented to the King of Norway, Frederick II. This superstitious 
 prince turned pale at sight of this supposed prodigy. On the back of 
 these innocent inhabitants of the deep he saw certain cabalistic 
 characters, which he thought announced his death and that of his 
 
 Fig. 382. — The Herring (Clupea harengus). 
 
 queen. Learned men were consulted. Their science, as reported, 
 enabled them to read distinctly words expressing the sentiment, 
 "Very soon you will cease to fish herrings, as well as other people." 
 Other savants were assembled, who gave another explanation ; but in 
 1588 the king died, and the people were firmly convinced thai 
 the two herrings were celestial messengers charged to announce to 
 the Norwegian people the approaching end of the monarch. 
 
 This fish abounds throughout the entire Northern Ocean in 
 immense shoals, which are found in the bays of Greenland, Lapland, 
 and round the whole coast of the British Islands. Great shoals of 
 them occupy the gulfs of Sweden, of Norway, and of Denmark, the 
 
590 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 Baltic and the Zuyder Zee, the Channel, and the coast of France up 
 to the Loire, beyond which they never appear to be found. But 
 the finest herrings are said to be caught on Loch Fyne, on the west 
 coast of Scotland. 
 
 The herrings are gregarious fishes, and live in great shoals closely 
 packed together — shoals in which the herrings may be counted not by 
 hundreds, but by thousands and tens of thousands, in many a shore 
 and bay. It was the favourite theory, not very long ago, that 
 herrings emigrated to and from the arctic regions. It was asserted, 
 by the supporters of this theory, that in the inaccessible seas of high 
 northern latitudes herrings existed in overwhelming numbers, an 
 open sea within the arctic circle affording a safe and bounteous feed- 
 ing-ground. At the proper season vast bodies gathered themselves 
 together into one great army, which in numbers exceeding the powers 
 of imagination, departed for more southern regions. This great Heer^ 
 or army, was subdivided, by some instinct, as they reached the 
 different shores, led, according to the ideas of fishermen, by herrings 
 of more than ordinary size and sagacity, one division taking the west 
 side of Britain, while another took the east side, the result being an 
 adequate and well-divided supply of herrings, which penetrated every 
 bay and arm of the sea round our coast, from Wick to Yarmouth. 
 Closer observation, however, shows that this theory has no existence 
 in fact. Lacépède denies that these periodical journeyings take place. 
 Valenciennes also rejects the idea. It is true that the herrings have 
 disappeared in certain neighbourhoods in which they were formerly 
 very plentiful ; but it is also certain that in many of the fishing 
 stations fish are taken all the year round. Moreover, the discovery 
 that the herring of America is probably a distinct species from that of 
 Europe (which, smoked, is known as the " Digby Chick ") is against 
 the theory. In short, there is a total absence of proof of their 
 pretended migrations to high northern latitudes ; and recent discoveries 
 all tend to show that the herring is native to the shores on which it is 
 taken. 
 
 " It has been demonstrated,^' says Dr. Bertram, " that the herring 
 is really a native of our immediate seas, and can be caught all the 
 year round on the coast of the three kingdoms. The fishing begins 
 at the island of Lewis, in the Hebrides, in the month of May, and 
 goes on as the year advances, till in July it is being prosecuted off 
 the coast of Caithness; while in autumn and winter we find large 
 supplies of herrings at Yarmouth : there is a winter fishery in the 
 Firth of Forth. Moreover, this fish is found in the south long before 
 it ought to be there, according to the emigration theory. It has been 
 
F/SNF.S. 591 
 
 deduced, from a consideration of the annual takes of many years, 
 that the herring exists in distinct races, which arrive at maturity 
 month after month. It is well known that the herrings taken at 
 Wick in July are quite different from those caught at Dunbar in 
 August and September ; indeed, I would go further, and say that 
 even at Wick each month has its changing shoal, and that as one 
 race appears for capture another disappears, having fulfilled its 
 mission. It is certain that the herrings of these different seasons 
 vary considerably in size and appearance ; localities are marked by 
 distinctive features. Thus, the well-known Loch Fyne herring is 
 essentially different from that of the Firth of Forth; and those 
 differ again, in many particulars, from those caught off Yarmouth. 
 In fact, the herring never ventures far from the shore where it is 
 taken ; and its condition, when it is caught, is just an index of the 
 feeding it has enjoyed in its particular locality. The superiority of 
 flavour of the herring taken in our great land-locked salt-water lochs 
 is undoubted. Whether or not resulting from the depth and body of 
 water, from more plentiful marine vegetation, or from the greater 
 variety of land food likely to be washed into these inland seas, has 
 not yet been determined, but it is certain that the herrings of our 
 western sea-lochs are infinitely superior to those captured in the more 
 open sea." " Moreover," he adds, " it is now known, from the 
 inquiries of the late Mr. Mitchell and other authorities on the 
 geographical distribution of the herring, that the fish has never 
 been noticed as being at all abundant in the arctic regions." 
 
 The herring feeds on small crustaceans, fishes just hatched, and 
 even on the fry of its own species. Its enemies are among the most 
 formidable inhabitants of the ocean; the whales destroy them by 
 thousands, but man, above all, carries on a war which almost 
 threatens to be one of extermination. The herring-fishery has been 
 to certain nations the great cause of their prosperity. It was the 
 foundation of Dutch independence. Silk manufacture, coffee, tea, 
 spices, which are productive of great commercial movements, address 
 themselves only to the wants of luxury or fashion ; the produce of 
 the herring-fishery, on the contrary, is one of necessity to the people: 
 and Holland would have languished and quickly disappeared, with its 
 sinking territory, if the sea had not added to its commercial industry 
 this inexhaustible mine of wealth. That vast field it has worked with 
 persevering ardour. Struggling for an existence, it has conquered. 
 Every year numerous vessels leave the coast of Holland for this pre- 
 cious marine harvest. The herring fishery is, for the Dutch people, 
 ike most important of maritime expeditions. It is with them known 
 
592 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 as the "great fishery;" whahng is known as the "small fishery." 
 The great fishery is a golden mine to Holland. It is, besides, a very 
 ancient occupation with ourselves ; we find it flourishing in the 
 twelfth century; for, in 1195, according to the historians, the city of 
 Dunwich, in the county of Suffolk, was obliged to furnish the king 
 with 24,000 herrings. We also find mention made of the herring 
 fishery in a chronicle of the monastery of Evesham in the year 709. 
 
 Towards the year 1030, the French sent vessels into the North 
 Sea from Dieppe for this fishing, nearly a century before the Dutch 
 made the attempt ; but as early as the thirteenth century the latter en- 
 terprising people employed 2,000 boats in this industry. The Danes, 
 Swedes, and Norwegians also occupied themselves with this tra-de 
 at an early period. The French, Danes, and Swedes furnish them- 
 selves at the present time with only sufficient for home consumption. 
 The monopoly of the foreign trade belongs to the English, Dutch, 
 and Norwegians. " The quantity of herrings gathered every year by 
 our neighbours beyond the Channel," says Moquin- Tandon, "is truly 
 enormous. In Yarmouth alone 400 ships, of from forty to sixty tons, 
 are equipped; the largest being manned by twelve men. The 
 revenue derived from this fleet is about ;£'7oo,ooo. In 1857, three 
 of these fishing-boats, belonging to the same proprietors, carried 
 home 3,762,000 fishes." 
 
 Since the beginning of this century, the Scottish fishermen have 
 emulated the zeal of the English. In a paper communicated to the 
 British Association in 1854, Mr. Cleghorn, who has paid great atten- 
 tion to the subject, states "that there are 920 Wick boats engaged in 
 the fishing, and that the produce was 95,680 barrels" in one week 
 alone; this being, however, a fafling off of 61,000 barrels from the 
 previous year. The cause Oi this immense falling off was ascribed 
 to a storm which had swept along the coast at the height of the 
 season ; but Mr. Cleghorn was inclined to ascribe it mainly to 
 over-fishing, which had gradually diminished the number of herrings 
 captured. 
 
 The boats employed by the French and Dutch in the herring 
 fishery are about sixty tons burden. They generally depart for the 
 Orkney and Shetland Isles. They afterwards betake themselves to 
 the German Ocean, and fish the Channel in November and De- 
 cember. These boats carry up to sixteen hands, according to 
 their size. Arrived at their fishing-ground, they cast their nets, as 
 seen in Plate XXVI. 
 
 The lines 01 the Dutch fishermen are 500 feet in length, composed 
 of fifty or sixty different nets. The upper parts of these nets are 
 
F/sB.'iS. 595 
 
 supported by empty barrels or cork-buoys, the lower edge being 
 weighted with lead or stones, which are kept at a convenient depth 
 by shortening or lengthening the cords by which the buoys are attached. 
 The size of the mesh of the nets is such that the herrings of a certain 
 size are caught in by the gills and pectoral fins. If the first mesh is 
 too large to hold them, they pass through, and get caught by the next 
 or succeeding mesh, which is smaller. The herring-fishery is regu- 
 lated by Act of Parliament, and the legal mode of capture is by means 
 of what is called a drift-net. The drift-net is made of fine twine, 
 marked with squares of an inch each, to allow for the escape of the 
 young fish. The nets are measured by the barrel bulk, a net measuring 
 fifty feet long by thirty-two deep, and each holding half a barrel. The 
 drift is composed of many separate nets fastened together by means oi 
 a back rope, and each separate net of the series is marked off by a 
 bladder or empty cask. The process is that described by Dr. Bertram 
 in an article published in the " Cornhill Magazine." The writer had 
 made his arrangements for a night at the herring-fishery, under the 
 auspices of Francis Sinclair, a very gallant-looking fellow, who sails 
 his own boat from Wick, and takes his own venture. Bounding over 
 the waves with a good capful of wind, they had left the shore and 
 beetling cliffs far behind them ; they reached their fishing-ground, 
 where they tacked up and down, eagerly watching for the oily 
 phosphorescent gleam which is indicative of herrings. "At last, after 
 a lengthened cruise," he says, " our commander, who had been silent 
 for half an hour, jumped up and called to action. ' Up, men, and at 
 them!' was the order of the night. The preparations for shooting 
 the nets at once began by lowering sail. Surrounding us on all 
 sides was to be seen a moving world of boats; many with sails down, 
 their nets floating in the water, and their crews at rest. Others were 
 still flitting uneasily about, their skippers, like our own, anxious to 
 shoot in the right place. By-and-by we were ready ; the sucker goes 
 splash into the water ; the ' dog,' a large inflated bladder to mark the 
 far end of the train, is heaved overboard, and the nets, breadth after 
 breadth, follow as fast as the men can pay them out, till the immense 
 train is all in the water, forming a peiforated wall a mile long and 
 many feet in depth ; the ' dog ' and the marking-bladder floating and 
 dipping in long zigzag lines, reminding one of the imaginary coils 
 of the great sea-serpent. After three hours of quietude beneath a 
 beautiful sky, the stars — 
 
 ' The eternal orbs that beautify the night — 
 began to pale their fires, and, the grey dawn appearing, indicated that 
 
59C> THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 it was time to take stock. We found that the boat had floated quietly 
 with the tide till we were a long distance from the harbour. The 
 skipper had a presentiment that there were fish in his net ; and the 
 bobbing down of a few of the bladders made it almost a certainty ; 
 and he resolved to examine the drifts. By means of the swing rope, 
 the boat was hauled up to the nets. ' Hurrah !' exclaimed Murdoch 
 of Skye ; 'there's a lot offish, skipper, and no mistake !' Murdoch's 
 news was true ; our nets were silvery with herrings — so laden, in fact, 
 that it took a long time to haul them in. It was a beautiful sight to 
 see the shimmering fish as they came up like a sheet of silver from 
 the water, each uttering a weak death-chirp as it was flung into the 
 bottom of the boat. Formerly the fish were left in the meshes of the 
 net till the boat arrived in the harbour ; but now, as the net is hauled 
 on board, they are at once shaken out. As our silvery treasure 
 showers into the boat, we roughly guess our capture at fifty cranes — 
 a capital night's work." 
 
 But there is a reverse to this medal. Wick Bay is not always 
 rippled by the land-breeze as on this occasion. " The herring fleet 
 has been more than once overtaken by a fierce storm, when valuable 
 lives have been lost, and thousands of pounds worth of netting and 
 boats destroyed, and the gladdening sights of the herring-fishery have 
 been changed to wailing and sorrow." 
 
 The Yarmouth boats are decked vessels of from fifty to eighty 
 tons, with attendant boats, costing about ^i,ooo, and having stowage 
 for about fifty lasts; nominally, 10,000, but, counted fisherwise, 13,000, 
 herrings, besides provision for a five or six days' voyage. Leaving a 
 hand or two in charge of the vessel, the majority of the crew are out 
 in the smaller boats, fishing. 
 
 The Dutch herring fishery is usually pursued during the night. 
 When the nets are in the water, the boat is left, as we have seen in 
 Dr. Bertram's excursion, to drift in the meantime. Each boat is 
 furnished with a lantern, which serves the double purpose of attracting 
 the shoals of fish, and preventing collisions with other boats. The 
 herring fishery is extremely capricious in its results; one or two boats 
 have been known to carry into port the whole takings of a night. 
 Valenciennes witnessed the capture of 110,000 herrings in less than 
 two hours. The nets are hauled in when moderately charged with 
 fish by the crew ; but it is often necessary to have recourse to the 
 capstan in the process. Some of the hands are stationed to detach 
 the fish from the nets ; others detach the nets from the buoys ; while 
 others again fold up and stow away the nets for future use. 
 
 On the coast of Norway the electric telegraph is applied to the 
 
FISHES. 597 
 
 herring fishery, being employed to announce to the inhabitants of the 
 fishing towns the approach of the shoals of fish. In the fiords of 
 Norway, where the produce of the herring fishery is the principal 
 means of existence to nearly the entire population, it often happens 
 that the fish make their appearance at the most unexpected times, 
 and on some parts of the coast the shoals could only be met by one 
 or tv/o boats. Before the boats from the bays and fiords could 
 take part in the fishery, the herrings had deposited their spawn and 
 returned to the open sea. 
 
 To prevent these disappointments, often repeated with great loss 
 to the fishermen, the Norwegian Government established, in 1857, a 
 submarine electric eable along the coast frequented by the herrings, 
 of 100 miles in length, with stations on shore at intervals conveniently 
 placed for communicating with the villages inhabited by the fishermen. 
 As soon as a shoal of herrings is known to be in the ofiing — and they 
 can always be perceived at a considerable distance by the wave they 
 raise — a telegram is despatched along the coast, which makes known 
 in each village the approach to the bay in which the herrings have 
 established themselves. 
 
 This important branch of industry has only assumed its real 
 character since the fourteenth century, and its sudden and prodigious 
 extension is due to the discovery of a simple Dutch fisherman, George 
 Benkel, who died in 1397. To this man Holland owes much of its 
 wealth. He discovered, in short, the art of curing the herring so as 
 to preserve it for an indefinite time. From that moment the herring 
 fishery assumed an unexpected importance, and became the source of 
 much wealth to Holland and its industrious and enterprising people. 
 Two hundred years after his death, the Emperor Charles V. solemnly 
 ate a herring on Benkel's tomb ; it was a small homage paid to the 
 memory of the creator of an industry which had enriched his native 
 land. 
 
 The Shad {C. alosd) has the body round and more plump than the 
 herring, and is still more distinguishable by the arrangement of its 
 teeth. More than twenty species of this genus are known, varying 
 considerably in size. They inhabit the seas which wash the coasts of 
 Europe, Africa, India, and America. One species is the Common 
 Shad, C. alosa (Fig. 383), which is found in the Channel, the North 
 Sea, and all round our coast. It is of a silvery tint generally, greenish 
 on the back, with one or two black spots behind the gills. The shad 
 approaches the mouths of rivers and great estuaries, and habitually 
 ascends them in the spring for the purpose of depositing its ova ; it 
 is found at this season in the Rhine, the Seine, the Garonne, the 
 
598 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 Volga, the Elbe, and many of our own rivers. In some of the Irish 
 rivers the masses of shad taken in the seine-net have been so great 
 that no amount of exertion has been sufficient to land them. It some- 
 times attains a very considerable size, weighing as much as from four to 
 six pounds. The shad taken at sea are less delicate in their flesh than 
 those caught in fresh-water. The habits of the shad are very im- 
 perfectly known. Two varieties are found on the British coast, 
 namely, the Twaite Shad of Yarrell, which is about fourteen inches in 
 length, brownish-green on the back, inclining to blue in certain lights, 
 
 Fig 383- — The Common Shad (C. alosa). 
 
 the rest of the body silvery white, with five or six dusky spots on each 
 side, arranged longitudinally, the jaws are furnished with distinct 
 teeth, the tail deeply forked; and the Common or Allice Shad, 
 which is considerably larger, sometimes attaining twelve and even 
 fifteen inches in length, having only one spot on each side of the body 
 near the head j the jaws are without teeth, and the scales are small 
 in proportion. This species is plentiful in the Severn, but rare in the 
 Thames. 
 
 The Twaite shad is found in the Severn and Thames in con- 
 siderable quantities about the second week in July. They reach 
 the fresh water about May, deposit their spawn, and return to salt 
 water in July. Their scales are large. 
 
FISHES, 599 
 
 The Sprat (C Sprattus) has been the subject of a great controversy; 
 one party contending that it is the young of the herring, another that 
 it is a distinct species. Pennant, Yarrell, and many eminent natu- 
 raHsts adopt the first view ; yet its specific characters, according to 
 Pennant, are " greater depth of body than the young herring ; gill- 
 covers not veined ; teeth of the lower jaw so small as to be scarcely 
 sensible to the touch ; the dorsal fin placed far back, and the sharp 
 edge of the abdomen more acutely serrated than in the herring/' 
 Like the herring, they inhabit the deep water during the summer, 
 following the shoal to the sea-shore in autumn. The sprat fishing 
 commences in November, and continues during the winter months, 
 when they are caught in such numbers that in some localities they 
 have been used as manure. 
 
 In support of the view that the sprat is a good species, the 
 serrated belly and relative position of the fins are dwelt upon, 
 together with the instance detailed by Mr. Mitchell, the Belgian 
 consul at Leith, who exhibited a pair of sprats, having the roe and 
 milt fully developed. 
 
 On the other hand, the abundance of the sprat has been adduced 
 as a reason for its being the young herring. In addition to this, 
 anatomists declare their anatomy shows no difference but size. " As 
 to the serrated belly/' says Bertram, " we may look on that as we do 
 on the tuck in a child's frock, namely, as a provision for growth." 
 If this is so, Dr. Bertram's views supply material at once for thought 
 and legislation. " The slaughter of sprats," he says, " is as decided a 
 case of killing the goose with the golden eggs as the grilse slaughter 
 carried on in our salmon rivers." But Dr. Bertram here overlooks a 
 fact of which any one may convince himself, namely, that the young 
 herrings are caught without the serrated belly; nay, the curer's 
 purchase is regulated by the sprat's rough and the herring's smooth 
 belly. 
 
 The Pilchard, Clupea pilchardiis (Fig. 384), sometimes called the 
 Gipsy Herring, visits our coasts all the year round. It was at one time 
 thought, as the herring was, to be migratory, but, like that fish, it is 
 now found to be a native of our own seas, and a constant inhabitant 
 of our shores. It has been known to spawn in May, but the usual 
 time is October; and authorities like Mr. Couch think it breeds only 
 once a year. Its visit to shallow water causes immense excitement ; 
 persons watch night and day from the lofty cliffs along the Cornish 
 coast, and the watchers (locally called "huers") signal the boats at 
 sea beneath them the moment they see indications of the approach of 
 a shoal. Mr. Wilkie Collins gives an animated picture of the "huer \* 
 
600 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 "A Stranger in Cornwall, taking his first walk along the cliffs in 
 August, could not advance far without witnessing what would strike 
 him as a very singular and even alarming phenomenon. He would see 
 a man standing on the extreme edge of a precipice just over the sea, 
 gesticulating in a very remarkable manner, with a bush in his hand, 
 waving it to the right and to the left, brandishing it over his head, 
 sweeping it past his feet ; in short, acting the part apparently of a 
 maniac of the most dangerous description. It would add considerably 
 to the stranger's surprise if he were told that the insane individual 
 before him was paid for flourishing the bush at the rate of a guinea a 
 
 Fig. 384.— The Pilchard (Clupea pilchardus). / 
 
 week. And if he advanced a litde, so as to obtain a nearer view of 
 the madman, and observed a well-manned boat below turning carefully 
 to the right and left, as the bush turned, his mystification would 
 probably be complete, and his ideas as to the sanity of the inhabitants 
 would be expressed with grievous doubt. 
 
 " But a few words of explanation would make him alter his opinion. 
 He would learn that the man v/as an important agent in the pilchard 
 fishery of Cornwall, that he had just discovered a shoal swimming 
 towards the land, and that the men in the boats were guided by his 
 gesticulations alone in their arrangements for securing the fish on 
 which so many depend for a livelihood." 
 
 Where the pilchards come from, and whither they go, seems alike 
 unknown. All that is certain is, that they are met with in shoals 
 swimming past the Scilly Islands as early as July. In August the 
 inshore fishing begins, and they appear on various parts of the coast 
 
FISHES, ^' 
 
 as far north as Devonshire and the south coast of Ireland up to 
 October and November; no doubt those which have escaped the 
 innumerable nets spread for them. 
 
 " The first sight from the cliffs of a shoal of pilchards," says Mr. 
 Collins, "is not a little interesting. They produce on the sea the appear- 
 ance of the shadow of a dark cloud, which approaches until you can see 
 the fish leaping and playing on the surface by hundreds at a time, all 
 huddled close together, and so near the shore that they can be caught 
 in fifty or sixty feet of water. Indeed, when the shoals are of con- 
 siderable magnitude, the fish behind have been known hterally to force 
 the fish in front up to the beach, so that they could be taken in 
 baskets, or even with the hand. 
 
 " With the discovery of the first shoal, the active duties of the look- 
 out, or 'huer,' on the cliffs begin. Each fishing village places one or 
 more of these men on the watch all round the coast. He is, there- 
 fore, not only paid his guinea a week while he is on the watch, but a 
 percentage on the produce of all the fish taken under his auspices. 
 He is placed at his post, where he can command an uninterrupted 
 view of the sea, some days before the pilchards are expected. 
 
 " The principal boat used is, at least of fifteen tons burden, and 
 carries a large net called the ' seine,' which measures 190 fathoms 
 in length, and costs ;£i2o — sometimes more. It is simply one 
 long strip, from eleven to thirteen fathoms in breadth, composed of 
 very small meshes, and furnished all along its length with cork at one 
 edge and lead at the other. The men who cast this net are called 
 ' shooters,' and receive eleven shillings and sixpence a week and one 
 basket of fish out of every haul. 
 
 " As soon as the ' huer ' discerns a shoal he waves his bush. The 
 signal is conveyed to the beach by men and boys watching near him. 
 The ' seine '-boat, accompanied by another, to assist in casting the 
 net, is rowed out to where he can see it ; then there is a pause and 
 hush of expectation. Meanwhile the devoted pilchards press on — a 
 compact mass of thousands on thousands of fish — swimming to meet 
 their doom. All eyes are fixed on the 'huer;' he stands watchful 
 and still, until the shoal is thoroughly embayed in water which he 
 knows to be within the depths of the ' seine.' Then, as the fish begin 
 to pause in their progress, and gradually crowd closer and closer to- 
 gether, he gives the signal, and the ' seine ' is cast or ' shot ' over- 
 board. 
 
 " The grand object is now to enclose the entire shoal. The leads 
 sink one side of the net perpendicularly to the bottom, the corks buoy 
 the other to the surface of the water. When it has been taken all 
 
602 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 round the shoal, the two extremities are made fast, and the fish are 
 imprisoned within an oblong barrier of netting. The art is how to let 
 as few of the pilchards escape as possible while the process is being 
 completed. Whenever the ' huer ' observes that they are startled, and 
 separating at any particular point, he vv^aves his bush, and thither the 
 boat is steered, and there the net is shot at once ; the fish are thus 
 headed and thwarted in every direction with extraordinary address 
 and skill. This labour completed, the silence of intense expectation 
 that has hitherto prevailed is broken, there is a shout of joy on all 
 sides — the shoal is secured. 
 
 " The ' seine ' is now regarded as a great reservoir of fish. It may 
 remain in the water a week or more ; to secure it against being 
 moved from its position, in case a gale should come on, it is warped 
 by two or three ropes to points of land in the cliff, and is at the same 
 time contracted in circuit by its opposite ends being brought together 
 and passed lightly over its breadth for several feet. While these 
 operations are being performed, another boat, another set of men, and 
 another net, are approaching the scene of action. 
 
 " The new net is called the ' tuck ;' it is smaller than the ' seine,' 
 inside which it is to be let down, for the purpose of bringing the fish 
 close to the surface. The men who manage this net are called 
 ' regular sewers.' The boat is first of all rowed inside the seine-net, 
 and laid close to the seine-boat, which remains stationary outside. 
 To its bows one rope at the end of the tuck-net is fastened. The 
 tuck-boat now slowly makes the inner circle of the seine, the smaller 
 net being dropped overboard, and attached to the seine at intervals 
 as she goes. To prevent the fish from getting between the two nets 
 during the operation, they are frightened into the middle of the 
 enclosure by beating the water with oars, and stones fastened to ropes, 
 When the ' tuck ' has at length travelled round the whole circle of 
 the ' seine,' and is securely fastened to the seine-boat at the end as it 
 was at the beginning, everything is prepared for the great event of 
 the day — hauling the fish to the surface. 
 
 " Now all is excitement on sea and shore ; every little boat in 
 the place puts off, crammed with idle spectators ; boys shout, dogs 
 bark, and the shrill voices of the former are joined by the deep voices 
 of the ' seiners.' There they stand, six or eight stalwart, sun-burnt 
 fellows, ranged in a row in the seine-boat, hauling with all their 
 might at the ' tuck '-net, and roaring out the nautical ' Yo, heave ho!' 
 in chorus. Higher and higher rises the net; louder and louder 
 shout the boys and the idlers ; the ' huer,' so calm and collected 
 hitherto, loses his self-possession, and waves his cap triumphantly. 
 
FISHES, 603 
 
 ' Hooray ! hooray ! Yoy — hoy, hoy ! Pull away, boys ! Up she 
 comes ! Here they are !' The water boils and eddies ; the ' tuck '- 
 net rises to the surface ; one teeming, convulsed mass of shining, 
 glancing, silvery scales ; one compact mass of thousands of fish, each 
 one of which is madly striving to escape, appears in an instant. 
 Boats as large as barges now pull up, in hot haste, all round the nets, 
 baskets are produced by dozens, the fish are dipped up in them, and 
 shot out, like coals out of a sack, into the boats. Presently the men 
 are ankle-deep in pilchards ; they jump upon the benches, and work 
 on till the boats can hold no more. They are almost gunwale under 
 before they leave for the shore.'' 
 
 In the process of curing, the scene becomes doubly picturesque, 
 but this is shore-work, with which our space forbids us to deal. 
 
 " Some idea of the almost incalculable multitude of pilchards 
 caught on the Cornish shores," says Mr. Collins, " may be gathered 
 from the following data : At the small fishing cove of Trereen 600 
 hogsheads were taken in little more than a week, during August, 
 1850. Allowing 2,400 fish only to each hogshead (3,000 would 
 be the highest calculation), we have a result of 1,000,440 
 pilchards caught by the inhabitants of one little village alone, 
 on the Cornish coast, at the commencement of the season's 
 fishing." 
 
 The sardine of commerce [Clupea sardijta) is sometimes taken in 
 the Channel, on the coasts of Brittany and Cornwall, but is very 
 common indeed in the Mediterranean, and on the coast of Sardinia, 
 whence its commercial name. In Brittany floating nets are employed 
 for its capture. The fishing is conducted in boats, each carrying five 
 men ; hundreds of these boats may sometimes be seen engaged at the 
 same time three or four leagues from the coast, the nets being only 
 drawn when they are fully charged, when the fish are arranged bed 
 upon bed in osier baskets, each boat returning habitually to port 
 when it has secured 25,000 fishes. The fishery extends over five or 
 six months, the produce being about 600,000,000 of sardines. 
 
 The Anchovy i^Engi'aulis encrasicolus) is chiefly taken in the 
 Mediterranean, and is much sought after for its delicate flavour when 
 salted and cured. It is a small, slender fish, about four to four and 
 a half inches in length ; head pointed, mouth very wide, gill-open- 
 ings large, abdomen smooth ; when living it is greenish on the back, 
 silvery beneath j after death it changes to a bluish black. The 
 fishery which gives the most abundant results takes place on the 
 shores of the Mediterranean, principally on the coast of Sicily, the 
 isles of Elba, Corsica, Antibes, Frejus, St. Tropez, and Cannes. 
 
604 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 They are also taken on the Dahnatian coast, and in the neighbour- 
 hood of Ragusa. 
 
 The anchovy is only fit for food after being preserved and salted. 
 The process of curing commences by throwing it into a strong brine ; 
 then, the head and entrails being removed, they are arranged in rows 
 in barrels or boxes of tin, in alternate layers of salt and fish ; finally, 
 after some days of exposure, they are hermetically closed and des- 
 patched to market. Those prepared on the Provençal coast were 
 formerly carried to the fair of Beaucaire, whence they found their 
 way all over France, and to many parts of Europe. Now, the 
 anchovies cured at Marseilles, and other Provençal ports, are sent 
 direct to the various markets of Europe. 
 
 V. Anacanthina. 
 
 This sub-order of spineless fish contains four families, of which two, 
 the Ammodytidœ and Ophidiidœ, are destitute of ventral fins, and two, 
 the Gadidce and Fleuroîiectidœ, which have these organs placed in the 
 neighbourhood of the pectorals. Of the first family the best known 
 genus is that oi A77imodytes ; here the body is elongated and serpent- 
 like, having a continuous fin extending along the greater part of the 
 back, with another at the opposite side, and a third or forked fin at 
 the end of the tail. The muzzle is also lo^g; the lower jaw longer 
 than the upper. The Sand-eel, A. lancea (Fig. 385), buries itself 
 in the sand ; hence it is called the sand-eel ; it hollows out a burrow 
 for itself in the sand with its muzzle to the depth of fifteen or twenty 
 inches, where it hunts out worms, on which it feeds, while it shelters 
 itself from the jaws of many voracious fishes, which eagerly pursue it 
 for its delicate flesh. In appearance the A. lancea is silvery blue, 
 brighter on the lower parts than on the upper, the radiating fins on 
 the abdomen being alternately white and bluish in colour. 
 
 The Fleuronedidœ, or Flat-fishes, have the body flat and greatly 
 compressed. In the Rays the body is flattened horizontally, while in 
 the Pleuronectidse it is compressed laterally. The head of the fishes 
 of this order is not symmetrical ; the two eyes are placed on the same 
 side ; the two sides of the mouth are unequal. 
 
 To these peculiarities of structure we shall return when we come 
 to observe the several types more exac'.ly. In rest, as in motion, the 
 flat-fishes are always turned upon their side, and the side turned 
 towards the bottom of the sea is that which has no eye. This habit 
 of swimming on their side is that to which they owe their name of 
 TTAeupa, side, and ve'xTos^ swimmers. 
 
FISHES. 
 
 6c. 
 
 Their chief organ of natation is the caudal fin, but they are 
 distinguished from all other fishes by the manner in which they use 
 this oar. When turned upon their side this organ is not horizontal, but 
 vertical, and strikes the water vertically up and down. They advance 
 through the water but very slowly, compared to the motion of other 
 fishes. They ascend or descend in the water with great promptitude, 
 but they cannot turn to the right or left with the same facifity as other 
 fishes. This property of rising or sinking in the water with facility is 
 the more useful to them, inasmuch as the greater part of their existence 
 is passed at the greatest depths, where they draw themselves along the 
 
 Fig. 385.— The Sand-eel (Ammodytes lancea), 
 
 sands at the bottom of the sea, and often hide themse^^ fj-Q^-^-^ their 
 enemies. Among the Flcnro?iectidœ, soles, turb^g^ flQ^J^(^gJ.g ^^^ 
 plaice may be noted. ..„,^v-:^^'***'==^^ 
 
 The soles have the body oblong, tj^e snout is round, nearly always 
 in advance of the mouth, which is t^:,àsted to the left side and furnished 
 with teeth on one side only, whiV. the eyes are on the right side. The 
 dorsal fin commences about th-^ mouth, and extends up to the caudal 
 or terminal fin. The Conrmon Sole, Soka vulgaris (Fig. 386), is 
 plentiful in the Channel, along our coasts, and especially in the 
 Mediterranean. It is brown on the right and whitish on the opposite 
 side._ Its pectoral f,ns are spotted black; the scales rugged and 
 denticulate ; its sjzç seems to vary according to the coast it frequents. 
 Off the mouth of the Seine soles are sometimes taken eighteen and 
 twenty inches in length. There are several modes of taking them, 
 
THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 but for commercial purposes they are taken by the trawl-net. When 
 the ground-hook is employed it is baited with fragments of small fish. 
 Every one knows the deUcate flavour of the flesh of the sole, which, 
 however, varies greatly in different locahties, those of the Channel 
 Islands being particularly choice. 
 
 Fig. 386— The Comft':o" Sole (Solea vulgaris). 
 
 The Turbot, Rhombus maximus (%• 387), resembles in its general 
 form a lozenge, whence its name of rhoi^'hus. Its under jaw is more 
 advanced than the upper jaw, and is furnished with many rows of 
 small teeth. Its fins are yellow with brownish spots. ^ The left side 
 is marbled brown and yellow ; the right side, which is the inferior, 
 white with brownish spots and points. The true turbot is the special 
 delight of the epicure, and fabulous sums are said to have been given 
 at difi"erent times by rich persons in order to secure a fine turbot. 
 
FISHES. 
 
 607 
 
 The fish used to be taken largely on our own coasts, but now we have 
 to rely upon more distant fishing-grounds for a large portion of our 
 supply — large quantities coming from Holland. The turbot spawns 
 during the autumn, and is in fine condition during spring and early 
 summer. Mr. Yarrell says that it spawns in spring. Dr. Bertram 
 doubts this, although he is not quite sure of the contrary, inasmuch as 
 
 Fig, 387. — The Turbot CRhombus maximus). 
 
 " there will, no doubt, be individuals of the turbot kind, as there are of 
 all other kinds of fish, that will spawn all the year round." The 
 turbot abounds on our west coast, round Torbay, and ofi" the mouth 
 of the Seine and the Somme, from whence comes most of the fish 
 consumed in London and Paris. 
 
 The Flounders and Plaice {Plates so) inhabit the northern seas ot 
 Europe. They have their eyes placed on the right side ; the dorsal 
 as well as the anal fin extending from over the eyes to the caudal fin, 
 
6o8 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 both Stretching out to a point towards the centre, giving a rhombic 
 form to the fish. The jaws are furnished with a single row of obtuse 
 teeth. 
 
 The Common Plaice, F. vulgaris (Fig. 388), attains the length of 
 twelve or eighteen inches \ it is brown above, spotted with red or 
 orange. On the eye-side of the head are some osseous tubercles. 
 The body, which is somewhat lozenge- shaped, is smooth. 
 
 The Flounders {P. Jlesus) are fresh-water fishes of small size, 
 
 Fig. 388.— The Common Plaice (Platessa vulgaris). 
 
 abundant in the Thames and many other rivers ; these flounders 
 and plaice are only second in importance to the soles and turbot 
 among the Pleuronectidae ; tlie numbers of brill, flounders, dab, and 
 plaice required being close upon a hundred million for the yearly 
 supply of London alone. 
 
 The usual mode of capturing flat-fish is by means of a trawl-net, 
 but many species of them may be caught with a hand-line. "A day's 
 sea-fishing," says Dr. Bertram, in his "Harvest of the Sea,"' "will 
 be chequered by many little adventures. There are various minor 
 monsters of the deep that will vary the monotony of the day by oc- 
 casionally devouring the bait. A tadpole fish, better known as the 
 sea-devil, or angler, may be hooked ; or a visit from a hammer-headed 
 
fISHES. 
 
 609 
 
 shark, or a file-fish, will add greatly to the excitement ; and if the 
 ' dogs ' should be at all plentifiil, it is a chance if a single fish be got 
 out of the sea in its integrity. So voracious are these Squalidte, that 
 I have often enough pulled a mere skeleton into the boat, instead of 
 a plump cod of ten or twelve pounds weight." 
 
 The Dab, F. liuianda (Fig. 389), is very common in the markets 
 
 Fig. 389.— The Dab (Platessa limanda). 
 
 of Paris, where it is held in great esteem. It takes its name Limanda 
 from the hard and dentate scales on its body. It has jaws fur- 
 nished with a single row of obtuse teeth ; the dorsal fin only extends 
 in front to a line with the eye, leaving an interval between it and the 
 caudal. The form of the body is rhomboidal, as in the turbot, and 
 the eyes are usually on the right side. 
 
 The Holibut, Hippoglossus milga?'is (Fig. 390), is a large fish, 
 inhabiting the seas of Northern Europe and Greenland, where it is 
 measuring seven feet, and weighing from 300 
 
 y , 
 
 occasionally caught 
 
6iû 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 to 400 pounds. A fish of this species was brought to Edinburgh 
 market in April, 1828, measuring seven feet and a half in length 
 and thiee feet broad, weighing 320' pounds. The body of the 
 hohbut is more elongated than that of the plaice or flounder, the 
 jaws and ]Dharynx being armed with strong and pointed teeth. 
 
 fig. 390.— The Holibut (Hippoglossus vulgaris) 
 
 Great quantities ot this fish are caught on the Greenland and 
 Norway coasts, and other northern regions. According to Lacépède, 
 the natives fish for this with an implement which they call gangnaed. 
 It is composed of a hempen cord 500 or 600 yards in length, to 
 which are attached some thirty smaller cords, each furnished with 
 a barbed hook at its extremity. The larger cord is attached to float- 
 ing planks, which act as trimmers, indicating the place of this for- 
 midable engine of destruction. 
 
MS ft ES. 6î3 
 
 The Greenlanders usually replace the hempen cords by thongs ol 
 whalebone or narrow bands of shark's skin. At the end of twenty 
 hours these lines are drawn home, and it is not at all unusual to find 
 five or six large holibuts caught on the hooks. Plate XXVII. 
 represents the native mode of fishing for holibut in the Greenland 
 Seas. 
 
 Another mode of capturing this and other flat-fish is to speai 
 them on their sandy beds. " No rule can be laid down/' says Dr. 
 Bertram, " for this method of fishing. It is carried on successfully 
 by means of a common pitchfork, but some gentlemen go the length 
 of fine spears made for the purpose, very long, and with very sharp 
 prongs. Others, again, use a three-pronged farmyard graip, which 
 has been known to do as much real work as more elaborate single 
 points contrived for the purpose. The simplest directions I can give 
 is just to spear every fish you see." M. Figuier adds, as a caution, 
 that before attacking these fishes, body to body, it is necessary tc 
 wait till they are somewhat exhausted, otherwise they might overturn 
 both bark and fisherman. 
 
 The Greenlanders cut the animal up, and salt the pieces ; then 
 expose them to the air, in order to dry them, preparatory to a long 
 voyage. 
 
 In its fresh state the holibut is not very delicate, and is hard 
 and difficult of digestion ; however, its great size renders it a 
 valuable prize. We may add that, notwithstanding its large 
 dimensions, the holibut has deadly enemies in the dolphins, as 
 well as in the birds which prey upon fishes on the shore. It is 
 itself a voracious fish, devouring crabs, cod-fish, and even rays, not 
 even sparing its own species, for they sometimes attack each other, 
 nibbling at one another's tails or fins. 
 
 The Gadidas embrace the whole of the Linn^an genus Gadus. 
 They are found mostly in the seas of cold or temperate regions in 
 both hemispheres, and are the objects of pursuit for which the great 
 fisheries of Europe and America are estabUshed. They are known 
 by the position of the ventral fin under the throat, and by the pointed 
 character of these fins. The body is long and shghtly compressed ; 
 the head well proportioned. Their fins are soft, and their scales are 
 small and soft. The jaws have unequal-pointed teeth of moderate 
 size, which are disposed in several rows. The gill-covers are large, 
 and consist of seven rays. Most of the species have the dorsal fin, 
 and two other unpaired fins besides, namely, a ventral and an anal 
 fin. The stomach is large and the intestine long. The air-bladder 
 large and strong, and in some cases notched on the margin. The 
 
6 14 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 flesh of most of the species yields white, healthy, and agreeable food, 
 easily separable into flakes when cooked, and easy of digestion. The 
 family includes the several genera : — Morrhua, to which belongs 
 the common cod-fish {M. vulgaris)^ the haddock {M. œglefinus) ; 
 M'ej-la7îgîis, the whiting {M. vulgaris and M. albus); the coal-fish 
 (M. cm'b unarms) and the pollack {M. pollachius); Merluccius, the hake 
 {M. vulgaris); Lota, the ling (Z. molva) ; Motella, the rock ling 
 (M. vtilgaris), and silver gade {M. argenteola) ; and other genera of 
 less importance. 
 
 The head of the cod {Morrhua vulgaris) is compressed ; the eyes 
 placed on the side, close to each other, and veiled by a transparent 
 membrane, a conformation which, according to Lacépède, enables the 
 animal to swim on the surface of the water in northern regions in 
 the midst of mountains of ice and under banks covered with snow, 
 without being dazzled by the brilliant fight ; but this opinion is, 
 indeed, unsupported by any other naturalist of note. 
 
 The jaws of the cod-fish are unequal, and among the rows 
 of teeth with which it is armed many are mobile, and can be 
 hidden in their cavities, or raised, according to the will of the 
 animal. The dorsal fins are three in number, as represented in 
 Fig. 383 ; the anal fins are two ; pectoral fi^ns narrow, and termi- 
 nating in a point; the caudal fin slightly forked. Its colour is of 
 an ashy grey, spotted with yellow on the back; white and some- 
 times reddish beneath. 
 
 The cod-fish is provided with a vast stomach, and is very 
 voracious, feeding on fishes, crabs, and molluscs. It is so gluttonous 
 and indiscriminating, that it will even swallow pieces of wood and 
 other similar objects. This is essentially a sea-fish : it is never seen 
 in fresh- water streams or rivers, remaining during the greater part of 
 the year in the depths of the sea. Its habitual sojourn is in the 
 portion of the Northern Ocean lying between the fortieth and sixty- 
 sixth degrees of latitude. 
 
 In the vast range thus frequented by the cod, two large spaces 
 are pointed out which it seems to prefer. The first extends to the 
 coast of Greenland, and the other is limited by Iceland, Norway, the 
 Danish coast, Germany, Holland, and the east and north coast of 
 Great Britain and the Orkney Isles, comprehending the Doggerbank, 
 Vellbank, and Cromer coast, together with salt-water lakes and arms 
 of the sea, such as the Gairloch, Portsoy, and the Moray Firth, 
 which indent the west coast of Scotland- and attract considerable 
 shoals of cod-fish. 
 
 The second range, less generally known, but more celebrated 
 
FISHES. 
 
 615 
 
 among sailors, includes the coast of New England, Cape Breton, 
 Nova Scotia, and, above all, the island of Newfoundland, on the south 
 coast of which is the famous sand-bank called the Great Bank, having 
 a length of nearly 200 leagues, with a breadth of sixty-two, over 
 which flows from ten to fifteen fathoms of water. Here the cod-fish 
 swarm, for here they meet shoals of herrings and other animals, on 
 which they feed. Such is, according to Lacépède, the geographical 
 distribution of the cod-fish. 
 
 Fig. 391. — The Cod-fish (Llorrhua vulgaris). 
 
 The English, French, Dutch, and Americans devote themselves 
 to the cod-fishery on the bank of Newfoundland widi inconceivable 
 ardour. This island was discovered and visited by the Norwegians 
 in the tenth and eleventh centuries, long before the discovery of 
 America; but it was only in 1497, after the discoveries of. Columbus, 
 that the navigator, John Cabot, having visited these regions, gave it 
 the name by which it has since been known, and called attention to 
 swarms of cod-fish which inhabited the surrounding sea. Immediately 
 after, the EngHsh and some other nations hastened to reap these 
 
6l6 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 fruitful fields of fish. In 1578 Fiance sent 150 ships to the great 
 bank, Spain 125, Portugal 50, and England 40. 
 
 During the first half of the eighteenth century, England and her 
 colonies, with the French, cultivated the cod-fishery. 
 
 From 1823 to 183 1 France sent 341 ships, with 7,685 men, which 
 carried into port over 50,000,000 pounds offish, an average of about 
 6,000,000 pounds annually. Two thousand English ships of various 
 sizes, manned by 30,000 seamen, are now employed in this important 
 branch of industry. 
 
 On the coast of Norway, from the frontiers of Russia to Cape 
 Lindesnaes, the cod-fishery is an important branch of trade, in which 
 a maritime population of 20,000 fishermen are employed, with 5,000 
 boats. 
 
 The cod is taken either by net or line. The net is chiefly 
 employed at Newfoundland. The net used is rectangular, and 
 furnished with lead at the lower edge and cork buoys on the upper 
 edge. One of the extremities is fixed on the coast; the other is 
 carried seaward, following a curve taken by the boats, and the fish are 
 attracted by drawing upon both extremities of the net \ and by one 
 stroke many boat-loads are sometimes taken. 
 
 The modern cod-smack is clipper-built, with large wells for carry- 
 ing the fish alive, its cost being about ;£i,5oo. The crew usually 
 consists of ten to twelve men and boys, including the captain. The 
 line is also used for taking cod and haddocks. " Each man," says 
 Bertram, "has a line of fifty fathoms in length, and attached to each 
 ot these fines are a hundred ' snoods,' with hooks already baited with 
 mussels, pieces of herring, or whiting. Each line is laid clear in a 
 shallow basket, and so arranged as to run freely as the boat shoots 
 ahead. The fifty-fathom line with a hundred hooks is in Scotland 
 called a ' taes.' If there are eight men in a boat, the length of the 
 line will be 400 fathoms, with 800 hooks, the lines being tied to each 
 other before setting. On arriving at the fishing-ground, the fishermen 
 heave overboard a cork buoy, with a flagstaff about six feet in height 
 attached to it. This buoy is kept stationary by a line, called the ' pow 
 end,' reaching to the bottom of the water, where it is held by a stone 
 or grapnel fastened to the lower end. To the ' pow end ' is also 
 fastened the fishing-line, which is then paid out as fast as the boat 
 sails, which may be from four to five knots an hour. Should the 
 vvind be unfavourable for the direction in which the crew wish to set 
 the line, they use the oars. When the line or * taes ' is all out, the 
 end is dropped and the boat returns to the buoy. The ' pow ' line is 
 hauled up with the anchor and fishing-line attached to it. The 
 
FISHES. 615^ 
 
 fishermen then haul in the Hne, with the fish attached to it Eight 
 hundred fish might be, and often have been, taken by eight men in a 
 few hours by this operation ; but many fishermen say now that they 
 consider themselves fortunate when they get a fish on every fifth 
 hook on an eight-lined ' taes Mine." 
 
 Hungry cod-fish will seize almost any kind of bait, and this is used 
 either fresh or salted. The fresh bait is furnished by the herring, 
 whiting, and capelan, a httle fish which in the spring descends from 
 the North Sea in shoals, pursued by the cod-fish. In the terror 
 caused by the innumerable bands of their enemies, the cape! ans 
 spread themselves in all the seas round Newfoundland in masses so 
 thick that the waves throw them ashore, and they accumulate 
 occasionally in heaps upon the sandy beach. 
 
 The principal fishery for capelan intended for bait takes place on 
 the coast of Newfoundland. The inhabitants of these regions carry 
 their booty to the fishermen who make Saint-Pierre their rendezvous, 
 with whom they find ready purchasers. 
 
 The schooners, with a fair provision of bait, leave Saint-Pierre and 
 other ports, take a north-easterly direction towards the great bank, 
 and, having chosen their fishing-ground, cast anchor in fifty or sixty 
 fathoms, and forthwith the crews give their sole attention to the 
 work ; some of them watch the fines, which are raised every instant, 
 the captured fish removed, and the hooks re-baited; others subject the 
 captured fishes to a first preparation for preserving them ; they are 
 opened, the entrails removed, and the fish split in two, and piled one 
 on the other, and covered with salt. This labour goes on as long as 
 the fishing lasts. The sailor is on deck night and day, covered with 
 oil and blood, and surrounded with all sorts of offal and fish-fike 
 smells. But this alone is insuflicient. Boats manned by crews of 
 two or three sailors, are continually moving about, attending to the 
 more distant lines, or " taes," which radiate round the ship in all 
 directions. 
 
 One portion of the cod caught is dispatched to Europe in a fresh 
 state, without other preparation than the salting which they receive 
 on the deck of the schooner. But much the greater portion are 
 carried on shore and subjected to further preparation. Saint-Pierre 
 and Miquelon Islands, which are granted to the French fishermen on 
 condition that no fortifications are erected on them, are resorted to for 
 the purpose by the French fleet; St. John's, the capital, by the 
 Enghsh. The Comte de Gobineau gives an animated picture of the 
 whole process of curing the cod-fish in the " Tour du Monde for 
 1863." "The French houses which pursue this branch of trade," he 
 u ^ 
 
6l8 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 says, "belong principally t(3 the ports of Granville and St. Brieuc; and 
 the crews of their ships consist of two very distinct elements ; the 
 smaller portion being specially raised among the fishermen properly 
 so called, they form the aristocracy on board ; to these are added a 
 larger number of mere labourers, who are landed on the arrival of the 
 vessel at her port Their functions are limited to receiving the fish 
 from the boats, opening it, washing off the glutinous matter in the 
 chauffajit^ putting the liver apart, and laying out the split fish between 
 the layers of salt ; finally, subjecting it to the different phases of the 
 drying process on the strand. 
 
 " The chaiiffant is a shed raised upon piles, standing one half in 
 the water and one half on shore ; it is constructed of planks and 
 posts, through which the air is suffered to circulate freely, but covered 
 in with some of the ship's sails. Here the process of separating the 
 intestines from the body of the fish and the salting process are 
 carried on, in the midst of an atmosphere charged with all manner ot 
 disgusting smells, for the labourer is by no means delicate, and never 
 thinks of removing the disgusting impurities which he is creating. 
 There he stands, knife in hand, tearing and cutting out intestines and 
 separating vertebrae, his only care being to avoid cutting himself — 
 which is the chief danger he runs — in the midst of odours sufficient to 
 produce suffocation. 
 
 " Connected with the platform on which this rough operation is 
 performed is a cauldron, sunk in the earth, to receive the oil pressed 
 out of the liver. This cauldron is surmounted by a roof some nine 
 feet in height, in the fc~m of an inverted cone. Here the oil which 
 flows from the open way above is suffered to remain, after which it is 
 drawn off into casks. 
 
 " The drying sheds, formerly of wood, are now constructed of 
 stone, and in places well exposed to the sun, and especially to the 
 wind. The sun, it is said, does not dry, but scorches ; the wind, on 
 the other hand, marvellously fulfils the purpose, and in order to 
 avoid the one and court the other, an apparatus has been invented, 
 consisting of long movable branches, which can be inclined so as to 
 bring the wind directly upon the row of cod, in connection with the 
 sun's rays, which are, indeed, not very formidable in this foggy 
 region." 
 
 The cod-fish thus dried at Newfoundland are forwarded for con- 
 sumption to all parts of the world ; but only a small part of the 
 products of the fishery are thus prepared. More than half the pro- 
 duce of the French fleet are sent to France merely salted, by ships 
 which carry salt, bringing back fish in return to Rochelle, Bordeaux, 
 
FISHES. 619 
 
 and Cette, where the process of curing is completed. In our home 
 fisheries, to abbreviate slightly Dr. Bertram's account, the greater 
 part of the cod taken are eaten fresh, but considerable quantities of 
 the cod and ling taken on the coast are sent to market cured. The 
 process pursued is very simple : they are brought on shore quite fresh, 
 and are at once split from head to tail, and, by copious washings, 
 thoroughly cleansed from all particles of blood ; a piece of the back- 
 bone is cut away ; they are drained, and afterwards laid down in long 
 vats, where they are covered with salt, and kept under heavy weights. 
 By-and-bye the fish are taken out of the vats ; they are once more 
 drained, and carefully brushed, to remove any impurity, and bleached 
 by being spread out singly on the sandy beach or on the rocks , 
 when thoroughly bleached, they are collected into heaps technically 
 called steeples, and when the bloom, or whitish appearance, comes out 
 on the fish they are ready for the market. 
 
 The cod is one of our best-known fishes, and was at one time 
 much more plentiful and cheaper than it is now. It is a deep-water 
 fish, found, as we have seen, in all northern seas, and in the Atlantic, 
 but never in the Mediterranean. It is extremely voracious, greedily 
 eating up the smaller denizens of the ocean. It grows to a large 
 size, and is very prolific, as most fishes are. A cod's roe has been 
 found more than once to be half the gross weight of the fish, and 
 specimens of the female cod have been caught with upwards of 
 8,000,000 eggs. The fish spawn in mid-winter; but here our in- 
 formation ceases ; when it becomes reproductive is unknown. Dr. 
 Bertram thinks that it is at least three years old before it is endowed 
 with the power of breeding. 
 
 The growth of the cod is supposed to be very slow. Dr. Bertram 
 quotes the authority of a rather learned fisherman of Buckie, who had 
 seen a cod which had got enclosed in a large rock pool, and he found 
 that it did not grow at a greater rate than eight to twelve ounces per 
 annum, though it had abundance of food. 
 
 On our own coast two modes of fishing are in common use : one 
 by deep-sea lines, on each of which hooks are fastened at distances 
 twelve feet apart by means of short lines six feet long, called on the 
 Cornish coast " snoods." Buoys, ropes, or grapnels, are fixed to 
 each end of the long line, to keep them from entanglement with each 
 other. The hooks are baited with capelan, lance, or whelks, and the 
 lines are shot across the tide about the time of slack water, in from 
 forty to fifty fathoms, and are hauled in for examination after six hours. 
 
 An improvement has been introduced upon this mode of fishing 
 by Mr. Cobb. He fixes a small piece of cork about twelve inches 
 
620 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 above the hook, which suspends the bait and exhibits it more clearly 
 to the fish by the motion of the wave. The fishermen, when not 
 engaged in hauHng, shooting, or baiting the long lines, fish with 
 hand-lines, holding one in each hand, each armed with two hooks, 
 kept apart by a strong piece of wire. A heavy weight attached to 
 the lower end of each line keeps it steady near the ground, where the 
 fish principally feed. Enormous quantities of cod, haddock, whiting, 
 and coal-fish, with pollack, hake, ling, and torsk, are taken in this 
 way all round our coast. Of cod-fish alone 400 to 550 have been 
 
 Fig. 392.— The Whiting (Merlangus vulgaris). 
 
 taken in ten hours by one man, and eight men have taken eighty 
 score of cod in one day, fishing off the Doggerbank in five-and-twenty 
 fathoms water. Latterly the Norfolk and Lincoln, and even the 
 Essex coasts, have yielded a large supply of fish, which are caught 
 as described, and are stowed in well-boats, in which they are car- 
 ried to Gravesend, whence they are transhipped into market boats, 
 and sent up to Billingsgate by each evening tide ; the store-boats 
 not being allowed to come up higher, as the fresh water would kill 
 the fish. 
 
 The Haddock {MorrJnia œglefinus) is common in our markets ; it 
 is much smaller than the cod, but in other respects not unlike it. It 
 
F/SffBS. 62 1 
 
 frequents the same localities, and is caught with long lines baited 
 usually with mussels ; the old fish keep close in shore, and are only 
 got with herring bait. In the village of Findhorn, Morayshire, large 
 numbers of haddocks are dried and smoked with fumes of hard wood 
 and sawdust. Hence the term " Finnan haddies," an article in such 
 request at a Scottish breakfast. The village of Findhorn affords a 
 very small portion of the haddocks sold as such, but the true " Fin- 
 nans " are supposed to have the finest flavour. 
 
 The Whiting, Merlangus vulgaris (Fig. 392), by some amateurs 
 considered the most delicate of all the Gadidse, is plentiful all round 
 our coast. It spawns in March, and the eggs are quickly hatched. It 
 prefers a sandy shore, and is usually found some miles from the coast. 
 It is a small fish, rarely exceeding twelve inches long, and seldom 
 reaching two pounds in weight. The whiting is long in the body, 
 clothed with very small, thin, and round scales ; its dorsal fins are, 
 like the cod's, three in number; it is without barbels ; its upper jaw 
 projects over the lower ; it is of a silvery white, sometimes relieved 
 by an olive tint, which is contrasted upon the back by the blackish 
 tint which distinguishes the pectoral and caudal fins, and by a black 
 spot which some individuals have at the junction of the pectorals with 
 the body. 
 
 The whiting inhabits the seas which wash the whole European 
 coast, often approaching the shore in shoals, and are taken annually 
 in great numbers. 
 
 VÏ. — ACANTHOPTERYGEA. 
 
 The number of fishes belonging to this sub-order, which may be 
 regarded as the most typical of the class, is exceedingly great. The 
 families are also, as might be expected, very numerous. The first of 
 these we will mention is the Auiostomïdœ, in which the bones of the 
 face are drawn out into a longish tube at the end of which is the 
 small mouth. Of this family, Fistiilaria tabacœria (Fig. 393) m^ay be 
 considered the type. The tube of the muzzle is long and flat, and 
 from the caudal fin springs a terminal filament nearly as long as the 
 body. This species of pipe-fish is common at the Antilles ; it 
 attains the length of about three feet, but its flesh is leathery and 
 insipid. It feeds upon crustaceans and small fishes, which it drags 
 from the interstices of the rocks and stones by means of its long and 
 taper snout. 
 
 The Trachmidœ^ known in England as the Weevers, form 
 another family. They are characterised by their very compressed 
 iiead and the strong spines of the operculum. They are elongated 
 
622 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 in shape, with short muzzles; they have a habit of burying themselves 
 in the sand, and are formidable to fishermen, from the dangerous 
 v^^ounds they inflict with their spines. Trachinics commiuiis (Fig. 394) 
 is widely diffused in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. Another 
 genus, U'7'anoscop7is, is so named from the position of the eyes, which 
 are directed towards the sky, from ohpavos, the heavens, and aKOTréw, I 
 regard. From this peculiar arrangement, they can only see above 
 them. Uranoscopiis vuls;aris (Fig. 395) belongs to the Mediterranean, 
 
 Fig- 393. — The Pipe-fish (Fistularia tabacaria.) 
 
 and is remarkable for its thick cubical head and erect spiny dorsal 
 fins. 
 
 A third family is that of the Mullets {Miillidœ). They have the 
 body thick and oblong, the profile of the head approaching the ver- 
 tical line ; scales large, two dorsal fins, widely separated, the rays of 
 the first spinous, of the second, flexible ; two cirri at the lower jaw. 
 Several species are known, two are inhabitants of our west and 
 south-west coasts: the Striped or Red Mullet [Mulli^s S7i7'7jnilletns), 
 not rare as British, and the Red Mullet {M. barbatus). The first is a 
 fine bright vermihon red, with three dominating yellow lines ; the 
 throat, breast, ventral, and lower surface of the tail are white, slightly 
 tinged with rose ; the fins have their rays more or less red, the iris of 
 
FISHES. 
 
 '3 
 
 the eyes a pale gold colour, just touched with red ; the head bears 
 two barbels. This beautiful fish is plentiful in the Mediterranean, 
 and sometimes in the Channel, it is not very rare on the British 
 coasts, is common in the gulfs of Gascony, and is frequently served 
 on the table at Bordeaux and Bayonne, where it is known as the 
 barbel ; its flesh is a Httle flaky, of an agreeable flavour, but less 
 esteemed than the red mullet. 
 
 The Red Mullet {Mulliis barhatiis) is clothed in brilliant colour 
 of bright red, mingHng with silvery tints upon the side and belly ; it 
 
 394. — The Weever-fish (Trachinus communis). 
 
 presents fine indistinct reflections, but none of the yellow lines which 
 occur in the preceding species. It is to its brilliant colouring that 
 the red mullet owes much of its celebrity. When we add that its 
 flesh is white, firm, and agreeable to the taste, the estimation in 
 which it was held by the ancients is sufliciently explained. With 
 the Romans the mullet was an object of luxury on which they 
 expended fabulous sums ; they cultivated the fish in their fish-ponds 
 not only as a delicacy of the table, but for the beauty of its form and 
 colour. This fierce love of beauty, however, too often approached 
 to cruelty. Seneca and Pliny both give us to understand that the 
 rich patricians of Rome gave themselves the barbarous pleasure of 
 seeing the mullet expire under their eyes, in order to witness the 
 
024 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 various shades of purple, violet, and blue which succeed each other 
 — from cinnabar red to the palest white — as the animal gradually loses 
 its strength, and expires by a slow and cruel death. The great rival 
 of CicerOj the advocate Hortensius, who attracted crowds of people 
 to the Forum by his eloquent and elegant discourses, had an in- 
 ordinate passion for this kind of enjoyment. These httle inhabitants 
 of the waters were led by a small canal, which was carried under the 
 festive table, and his great enjoyment was to witness the agonies of 
 
 Fig. 395. — Uranoscopus vulgaris. 
 
 the unhappy fish just taken from its native element and carried to 
 the table, palpitating with its dying convulsions, as it perished 
 beneath his eyes, be in the meanwhile enjoying a sumptuous banquet 
 (Plate XXVIII.). The possession of these poor creatures had, 
 in short, become tire rage, a furious passion, and their price soon 
 became excessive. A fish of three pounds produced a considerable 
 sum to the fortunate fisherman, while one of four and a half pounds 
 was simply ruinous, says Martial. Asinius Gelius purchased one for 
 8,000 sesterces (upwards of sixty pounds). Under Caligula, accord- 
 ing to Suetonius, three mullets cost 30,000 sesterces (about £,2\6). 
 Although it is no longer the object of ferocious enjoyment on the 
 one hand, or prodigal expenditure on the other, it is still much 
 
FISHES. 627 
 
 sought after, both for its beauty of colour and excellent table 
 qualities. It is found in many seas, but particularly in the 
 Mediterranean, where it is taken all round the coast, usually in 
 muddy bottoms ; it is fished for both by line and net. 
 
 The family of the Gurnards {TrigHdœ) is remarkable for the 
 
 Fîg, 396.— The Red Gurnard (Trigla pinii). 
 
 smgular manner in which the head is mailed and cuirassed; the 
 operculum and shoulder-bones are armed with spines having 
 trenchant blades, which give them a disagreeable, even a 'hideous 
 physiognomy, and has procured them various names, such as sea- 
 frog, sea-scorpion, sea-devil, and sundry other equally significant 
 names. Even with this forbidding appearance, however, the gurnards 
 are among the most resplendent inhabitants of the sea. Nothino- 
 can exceed the beauty of their markings ; but the brilliancy with 
 
628 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 which Nature has gifted them is their misfortune ; it betrays them to 
 their enemies, which are found in the air as well as in the water ; and, 
 without their prodigious fecundity, many species would long since 
 liave disappeared. 
 
 Many species of the genus Trigla are known. In the British 
 seas the commonest species is the Grey Gurnard {Trigla gurnardus), 
 a silvery-grey fish, more or less clouded with brown and speckled 
 with black. A rare species with us, but very common in the Medi- 
 terranean, is the Red Gurnard, Trigla piiii (Fig. 396). It is of a 
 
 F'g- 397-— The Flying Gurnard (Dactylopterus volitans). 
 
 fine bright rose-red colour, paler beneath and more vivid about the 
 fins, of which there are two dorsal and one ventral. Beneath the 
 pectorals are three detached rays ; both jaws and front of the lower 
 palate are armed with fine velvety teeth. The Perlon, or Sapphmne 
 Gurnard {T. hirundo), is a large and handsome fish, remarkable for 
 the lively green and blue hues of the inner surface of its large 
 pectoral fins. 
 
 The Flying Gurnard {Dactylopterus volitans) somewhat resembles 
 the Grey Gurnard, but differs in having the fin-rays of the pectorals con- 
 nected by membranes, by which it is enabled to support itself some 
 tim.e in the air, like the flying-fish ; the pectorals, when extended. 
 
F/SHES. 629 
 
 fomiîng a sort of parachute (Fig. 397), which sustains it when it 
 leaps out of the water. Several species are known. 
 
 All Nature seems to conspire against these singular creatures, 
 while they have been gifted with the double power of swimming and 
 fl)ang. They only escape from the Bonitas, and other voracious 
 fishes, which pursue them on the bosom of the sea, to expose them- 
 selves to the attacks of the inhabitants of the air. A crowd of sea- 
 fowl, such as frigate-birds, the albatross, and the gulls, carry on a 
 bloody war with them when they venture on flight. Enemies thus 
 pursue the unhappy fish whatever element it betakes itself to. Never- 
 theless it passes from one element to the other with an energy which 
 frequently defeats the attacks of its enemies. When it leaps from the 
 sea to the height of five or six feet, it sustains itself for several hundred 
 feet, even changing its direction. In its flight it may be compared to 
 that of the flying dragon ; the popular name given to it is said to be 
 derived from the grunting noise they make on being taken out of the 
 water. 
 
 Here we may also mention the singular family of the Anahatidœ, 
 In the fishes of this family the superior pharyngeal bones are divided 
 into numerous and irregular little leaflets, which form numerous cells 
 situated under the operculum, which again serve to retain a certain 
 quantity of water. This water preserves the gills, moreover, when the 
 animal is on dryland, which permits them to five on shore, where they 
 frequently contrive to creep over great distances in search of water. 
 The genus Anabas, from ava^aivw, to ascend, possesses this peculiarity 
 of organisation in a remarkable degree ; the Climbing Perch {A. 
 scandens) is enabled to leave the rivers and marshes and little water- 
 courses of Borneo and Java, and other islands of the Indian Archi- 
 pelago, and creep through the herbage or along the ground by means 
 of inflexions of their bodies, and by the dentation of their opercula, 
 and by the spines of their fins. This fact, although only recently 
 acquiesced in by modern naturalists, was well known to the ancients, 
 and has been recorded by Theophrastus. 
 
 The great family of the Mackerels, or Scoinheridœ, is the most 
 important one in the order, comprehending some of the fishes most 
 useful to man, from their size, the excellence of their flesh, and their 
 abundance. The Tunny {Thytmus vulgar is), the Bonita {Thynnus 
 pela?nys), and the Mackerel {Scoînber scombrus\ have yielded, from the 
 remotest antiquity, immense suppUes of human food, both in the fresh 
 and preserved state. 
 
 The tunny, while resembflng the mackerel in many respects in its 
 general form, is rounder, and attains a much larger size, being some" 
 
630 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 times found eight and nine feet in length, and weighing 300 to 400 
 pounds. The upper part of the body is a bluish-black \ the belly is 
 grey, with silvery spots. These fishes sometimes present themselves 
 in the Atlantic, but in the Mediterranean they are very abundant. 
 At some periods of the year they approach the coast in innumerable 
 shoals, and in numerous serried ranks, forming a vast battalion, which 
 conceals itself under the waves, and only betrays itself on the exterior 
 by the motion of the sea, caused by such vast numbers travelling 
 rapidly through the water. In many localities the shoals of tunnies 
 show themselves in the spring, pursuing their way towards the sea; 
 and in the autumn v/e find them pursuing an opposite direction. We 
 see the same thing on the coast of Provence. Upon the coast of La 
 Ciotat a first fishing takes place from the months of March to July, 
 and a second again from July to October. But at other points of the 
 coast they arrive at the same time from very different directions ; 
 nevertheless, in some places they are only winter visitors. 
 
 The tunny-fishing goes back to the remotest antiquity. The 
 Phœnicians, the first navigators known, carried it on on the coast of 
 Spain. In our days the fishing is carried on with great activity on 
 the coasts of Provence, of Sardinia, and Sicily. 
 
 The fishing is generally carried on by the tunny-net, but in 
 Provence it is conducted in an enclosed pace called the madrague. 
 
 The tunny-net consists of a combination of nets, which is quickly 
 cast into the sea in order to head the tunnies at the moment of their 
 passage. When the sentinels, posted for the purpose, as in the pil- 
 chard fishery, have signalled the approach of a shoal of tunnies, and 
 its direction, by the indications of a flag which points to the spot 
 occupied by the finny tribe, the fishing-boats are immediately directed 
 to the designated spot, and ranged in curved lines, forming with the 
 light floating net a half circular enclosure, turned towards the shore, 
 the interior of which is called the garden. The tunnies thus enclosed 
 in this garden, between the coast and the net, become agitated with 
 terror. As they advance towards the shore they press upon the en- 
 closure, or rather a new interior enclosure is formed with other nets 
 held in reserve. In this second enclosure an opening is left, through 
 which the tunnies have to pass. In continuing thus to diminish the 
 space by successive enclosures, each occupies a smaller diameter, in 
 which the fish are enclosed in about a fathom and a half of water. 
 At this moment a species of seine-net is thrown into the garden. This 
 net is hauled into shallow water by the fishermen, and the small 
 tunnies are taken by the hand, the larger by hooks. The boats are 
 filled with them, and they are carried ashore. A single day's fishing 
 
FISHES. 633 
 
 will sometimes produce as many as 16,000 tunnies, each from twenty 
 to twenty-five pounds weight. 
 
 When the park, in place of being established for a single fishery, 
 is a permanent construction in the sea, it is called, in Provence, a 
 "madrague." The madrague is a vast enclosure. The netting which 
 forms the partitions of its chambers are sustained by buoys of cork 
 on the surface, and kept down by heavy stones and other weights on 
 the lower edge, and maintained in this position by cords, one ex- 
 tremity of which is attached to the net, and the other is moored to 
 an anchor. The madrague is intended to arrest the shoals of tunnies 
 at the moment when they abandon the shore in order to return to 
 the open sea. For this purpose a long alley or run is established 
 between the sea-shore and the park or madrague. The tunnies follow 
 this alley, and, after passing from chamber to chamber, betake them- 
 selves at last to the body of the park. 
 
 In order to force them into the madrague they are pressed towards 
 the shore by means of a long net, which is extended in their rear 
 attached to two boats, each of which sustains one of the upper 
 angles of the net. When the fishes come to the last compartment, 
 the fishermen raise a horizontal net, which makes a sort of false bottom 
 to this compartment, by which the fishes are gradually raised to the 
 surface of the water. This operation occupies the whole night. 
 
 In the morning the tunnies are collected in a very narrow space, 
 and at varying distances from the shore ; and now the carnage com- 
 mences. The unhappy creatures are struck with long poles, boat- 
 hooks, and other Aveapons. The tunny-fishing presents a very sad 
 spectacle at this its last stage ; fine large fish perish under the blows 
 of a multitude of fishermen, who pursue their bloody task with most 
 dramatic efiect. The sight of the poor creatures, some of them 
 wounded and half dead, trying in vain to struggle with their ferocious 
 assailants, is very painful to see. The sea, red with blood, long 
 preserves traces of this frightful carnage, of which an illustration is 
 attempted in Plate XXIX. 
 
 The flesh of the tunny is much esteemed, being firm and whole- 
 some. It is called the salmon of Provence. " For our part," says 
 M. Figuier, " we put it far above the salmon. Nothing is comparable 
 to the fresh tunny thrown into a hot frying pan, and sprinkled with 
 vinegar and salt. When properly cooked, nothing can be more firm 
 or savoury. In short, nothing of the kind can rival, or even be com- 
 pared, with the tunny, as we find it at Marseilles and Cette." 
 
 The tunny is greatly celebrated among the Greeks and other in- 
 habitants on the r>hores of the Mediterranean, of the Propontus, and 
 
634 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 the Black Sea. The Romans attached great value to certain parts of 
 this fish, as the head and the lower part of the behy. The neigh- 
 bouring parts were in little esteem with them. They cut them into 
 pieces and preserved them in vases filled with salt. They are now 
 preserved with oil and salt, before being cooked ; this preparation is 
 in great request at Cette, Montpelher, and Marseilles. With a pot of 
 marine tunny, preserved in the vinegar of Lunel, a household is 
 pretty well prepared for any event. 
 
 The Bonita {Ihynmis ptlaniys) is not unlike the mackerel in 
 shape, but less compressed/ and upwards of twenty-five to thirty 
 
 Fig. 
 
 The Mackerel ^Scombel• scombrus). 
 
 inches long ; it is a fish of considerable size, celebrated by its pursuit 
 in great shoals of the flying-fish {Exocœtus volitans). _ It is occasionally 
 found on our coast, but only as an accidental visitor, for its true 
 home is the Tropics. It is a beautiful fish of a fine blue colour, with 
 short pectoral fins and four longitudinal bands on each side of the 
 belly. It is easily harpooned from the dolphin-striker, and appears 
 to have some power of generating electricity. Any one grasping the 
 living fish is violently shaken as in palsy, so much so that the most 
 resolute son of Neptune cannot control his speech j every attempt 
 culminates in an unintelligible spasmodic sputter. The instant 
 the Bonita is dropped, the muscles resume their ordinary action. 
 
 The Mackerel {Scomber scombrus) Fig. 398, is too well known to 
 require minute description. Who has not admired these fishes, with 
 their steel-blue back, and changing iridescent sides of gold and 
 
FISHES. 635 
 
 purple and green, relieved by fine waving lines of deeper black, as 
 they appear on the market-stalls, or as they are emptied in the early 
 morning from the fishing-boat ? The head is blue above, with black 
 markings, the rest of the body being heightened with iridescent 
 shades of gold and purple. 
 
 The mackerel is common to all European seas : being the Veirat 
 of the Bay of Languedoc ; the Aurion of Provence ; the Bretal in 
 some parts of Brittany ; the Macarello of the modern Romans ; the 
 Scombro of the Venetians ; the Lacesto of the Neapolitans ; the 
 Cavallo of the Spaniards ; the well-known Mackerel of our own 
 shores, and the Makril of the Swedes ; it is found on the coast of 
 North America, and as far south as the Canary Islands. It is a 
 wandering, unsettled fish, supposed to be migratory, but individuals 
 are always found on our coast. They are supposed to remain during 
 the winter in the North Sea, and afterwards on the coast of Scotland 
 and Ireland in January and February, on their way to the Atlantic. 
 Here their great army is divided into two : one branch passes along 
 the Spanish and Portuguese coasts, while the other enters the 
 Channel. In May they appear on the coasts of England and France \ 
 in June they reach Holland ; in July one portion of them returns 
 to the Baltic, while another skirts the coast of Norway on its way to 
 winter quarters. 
 
 Lacépède believed that this migration, which is so regular, and 
 its stages so rigorously indicated, was irreconcilable with a great 
 number of very precise observations ; and he arrived at the conclu- 
 sion that the mackerel passes the winter at the bottom of the sea, more 
 or less remote from the coast, which they again approach in the 
 spring. At the commencement of the fine season they advance 
 towards the shore which best agreed with them, showing themselves 
 often on the surface ; like the tunny, traversing the sea in courses 
 more or less direct or sinuous, but never following the periodical 
 circle which has been so ingeniously traced out for them. 
 
 M. Milne-Edwards also remarks that, if these legions of fishes 
 ascend from the Polar seas, they ought to visit the Orkneys before 
 they appeared in the Channel, and enter the Mediterranean later in 
 the season j but he is assured that they appear at the Orkneys late 
 in the season. It appears, also, that there are different varieties 
 which haunt the several neighbourhoods in which they abound. 
 
 The largest mackerel are taken at the entrance of the Channel, 
 but they are considered less delicate than the smaller fishes. The 
 shoals of mackerel, it appears, never enter the Gulf of Gascony, but 
 they abound along the shores of Brittany up to the North Sea. It is 
 
636 THE OCEAN WORLb. 
 
 about the month of April that they begin to be met with, but they 
 are then still small and without milt or roe. In the months of June 
 and July the fish is in its most perfect state. Towards the end of 
 September and October mackerel of the same year's hatching are 
 taken ; finally, in November and December, the fishermen still fish 
 them, and send them to market, but this is an irregularity ; and the 
 fishermen of Lowestoft and Yarmouth take their great harvest in 
 May and June \ in the Frith of Forth, and on the north coast of 
 Scotland, at a few weeks later. 
 
 As mackerel are very voracious, they greedily devour all sorts of 
 bait, but they are chiefly taken by the drift-net. The drift-net is 
 twenty feet deep and 120 feet long, well buoyed at the upper edge, 
 but without weights at the bottom. The meshes, made of fine twine 
 tarred to a reddish colour for preservation, are calculated to admit 
 the head of the fish and catch it by the gill-covers so as to prevent 
 its withdrawal. A fleet of mackerel-boats dragging these large nets, 
 which are extended vertically in the sea, or float between the two 
 tides, is well represented in Plate XXX. 
 
 The flesh of the mackerel is fat and high flavoured. Among the 
 ancients a liquid was extracted from this fat called garum, which was 
 considered a very nourishing preparation. The price of this liquid 
 was very high ; in modern measures it was valued at about sixteen 
 shillings the pint. It was acrid, half putrefied, and very nauseous, 
 but it had the property of rousing the appetite and stimulating the 
 digestive organs. Garum played the part of a condiment at a period 
 when the exciting array of Indian spices was unknown. Seneca 
 charges it, as we do pepper and other hot spices taken in excess, 
 with destroying the stomach and health of gourmands. This garum 
 is spoken of by the traveller Pierre Belon, writing in the sixteenth 
 century, as being held in great estimation at Constantinople in his 
 time. Rondelet, the author of a very remarkable book published in 
 1554, who ate garum at the table of William Pellicier, Bishop of 
 Maguelonne, thought he could trace the liquid not to the mackerel, 
 but to one of the Sparoids {Spams smarts). 
 
 The mackerel possesses phosphorescent properties, which cause it 
 to shine in the dark, especially after death, when decomposition has 
 commenced. 
 
 The mackerel is not only voracious, but, in spite of its small size, 
 it has the hardihood to attack fishes much larger and much stronger 
 than itself It is even said that they love human flesh. According 
 to the naturalist bishop, Pontoppidan, who lived in the sixteenth 
 century, a sailor belonging to a vessel which had cast anchor in one 
 
FISHES. 
 
 639 
 
 of the Norwegian ports, when bathing one day in the sea, was assailed 
 by a shoal of mackerel. His companions came to his relief; the 
 eager band were repulsed with great difficulty, but not till it was too 
 late : the unfortunate sailor was so exhausted that he died a few 
 hours after. By a natural law of compensation the ubiquitous 
 mackerel is surrounded by numerous enemies ; the larger inhabitants 
 of the ocean eagerly devour them. Certain fishes, in appearance 
 very weak, such as the Muraena, fight them with great advantage. 
 
 Fig. 39g. — The S^vord-fish (Xiphias gladuis). 
 
 The family Xiphiidœ contains the Sword-fish, Xiphias gladius 
 (Fig. 399), so called from the upper jaw being elongated into a 
 formidable spear or sword. It was known to the ancients, and 
 has borne the name which recalls its salient characteristic from 
 very early times. It is recognised at a glance irom its peculiar 
 appearance, and from the resemblance of its prolonged horizontal 
 and trenchant snout to the blade of a sword. With the ancients it 
 was Ei^ms, and Gladius ; with the moderns it is the Sword-fish the 
 Da7't^ the Spece spada, and F Espadon épée. 
 
640 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 This fish attains a great size, being found in the Mediterranean 
 and Atlantic, in company with the tunny, from five to six feet m 
 lenc^th. Its body is lengthy, and covered with mmute scales, the 
 sword forming three-tenths of its length. On the back it bears a 
 sinc^le long dorsal fin ; the tail is keeled, the lower jaw is sharp, the 
 mouth toothless, the upper part of the fish bluish-black, merging into 
 
 Fîg. 400.— Fishing for Sword-fish in the Straits of Messina. 
 
 silver beneath. It seems to have a natural desire to exercise towards 
 and against all the weapon with which Nature has furnished it ; it 
 darts with the utmost fury upon the most formidable moving bodies ; 
 it attacks the whale ; and there are numerous and well-authenticated 
 instances of ships being perforated by the weapon of this powerful 
 
 In 1725 some carpenters having occasion to examine the bottom 
 of a ship which had just returned from the tropical seas, found the 
 snout of a sword-fish buried deep in the timbers of the ship. I hey 
 
FISHES. 64 ï 
 
 declared that, to drive a pointed bolt of iron of the same size and 
 form to the same depth, would require eight or nine blows with a 
 hammer weighing thirty pounds. From the position of the weapon 
 it was evident that the fish had followed the ship while under full 
 sail ; it had penetrated through the metal sheathing, and three inches 
 and a half beyond, into the solid frame. 
 
 The sword-fish has obstinate combats with the saw-fish, and even 
 the shark, and it is supposed that when he attacks the bottom of a 
 vessel he takes that sombre mass for the body of an enemy. 
 
 The flesh of the young sword-fish is white, compact, and of ex- 
 cellent taste ; that of adults resembles the tunny. It is the object of 
 
 Fig. 401. — The Sea-Snail (Liparis barbatus). 
 
 a fishery of some importance in the Straits of Messina. The fisher- 
 men of Messina and Reggio join in this fishery with a great number 
 of boats, carrying brilliant flambeaux, while one of the crew is 
 stationed at the mast-head to announce the approach of the sword- 
 fish. At a given signal the boats rush on to attack them with the 
 harpoons (Fig. 400). During this fishery the sailors sing a peculiar 
 melody without words. 
 
 In the family of Gobiodeae there is a section which consists of a 
 small number of species characterised by their ventral fins being 
 formed into a disc with all the rays undivided, as in the sea-snails 
 {Liparis), in which the lengthened body has but one long dorsal 
 fin ; the pectoral and ventrals forming a disc, as in Z. bm'hatus (Fig. 
 401), or the Suckers {Lepidogaster), where the pectorals and ventrals 
 
642 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
 
 form two discs. In the Lump-fish, Cydoptei'us hunpiis (Fig. 402), 
 the disc formed by the ventrals forms a sort of sucker, by which the 
 fish attaches itself to the rocks ; while the genus Echineis is remark- 
 able for having on its head a disc-like sucker, which, according to 
 M. Blainville, is an anterior dorsal fin strangely metamorphosed. 
 
 Fig. 402.— The Lump-fish (Cyclopterus lumpus). 
 
 The Echineis rémora is an inhabitant of the Mediterranean, and 
 abounds in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. It is furnished with a 
 flat disc, which covers its head, as represented in Fig. 403, which is 
 formed of a number of transverse and movable cartilaginous plates. 
 Aided by this organ, it attaches itself firmly to rocks, and even to 
 ships and larger fishes, such as the Dog-fish {Acanthiiis), which it 
 meets with in its wanderings. Its adhesion to those objects is so 
 strong that the strength of a man fails to separate them. It invari- 
 
FISHES. 643 
 
 ably attaches itself to the dorsum and flank of the shark, and some-^ 
 times weighs a pound and a quarter. " I have found," writes a friend, 
 " as many as seven on one shark." It is never solitary, and makes 
 long voyages on this monstrous animal locomotive, and that without 
 fatigue or danger, for its enemies are kept at a distance by the for- 
 midable monster which carries it. 
 
 The family of Lophiidœ. are particularly distinguished by having 
 the carpal bones very long, forming a sort of arm at the extremity of 
 which are the pectoral fins ; it includes the fishing Frog {Lophius 
 piscatof'ius), Fig. 404, remarkable for the excessive circumference of 
 
 Fig. 403. — Echineis rémora. 
 
 the head and shoulders as compared with the rest of the body, the 
 immense opening of its jaws, armed with pointed teeth, and the 
 cutaneous jagged stripes of various lengths with which it bristles at 
 many points. Its skin is soft, smooth, and without scales or other 
 asperities ; the carpal bones support the pectorals, and its shape and 
 other peculiarities combine to render it a hideous and forbidding 
 object, well calculated in ignorant and superstitious times to frighten 
 the multitude. The remains of this fish, prepared in such a manner 
 as to be transparent, and rendered luminous by a lamp enclosed in 
 its interior, has often helped to deceive and frighten the timid by its 
 fantastic appearance. 
 
 The Fishing-Frog, Lophius piscatorius, Linn. (Fig. 404), often 
 attains the length of four or five feet, lives in the sand, or sunk in the 
 mud, leaving the long and movable filaments with which the head is 
 
644 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 furnished to float in the water ; the shreds which terminate them act 
 as natural bait when they float about in difi"erent directions, from theii" 
 resemblance to worms and other marine creatures. The fishes which 
 swim above them, and which they see very well by the assistance of 
 their two eyes placed on the summit of the head, are attracted by 
 these deceitful decoys. When the prey arrives near to the enormous 
 
 Fig. 404. — The Frog-fish (Lophius piscatorius). 
 
 jaws, which are almost always wide open, it is engulfed and torn to 
 pieces by the strongly-hooked teeth. 
 
 This manner of lying in ambush, and fishing, as it were, with a 
 hook and line for fishes which its conformation may not permit it to 
 pursue, has acquired for it the name of the fishing-frog, which is some- 
 times given to it. It is found more or less in all parts of the Mediter- 
 ranean and in many parts of the Atlantic, being frequently taken both 
 in the Gulf of Gascony and around the British coast. 
 
 We close our abbreviated history of the Ocean and such of the 
 inhabitants with which it swarms as seems most likely, from their 
 
FrSHES, 645 
 
 habits and other peculiarities, to interest the reader, conscious of its 
 many imperfections. Where every creature which moves and breathes 
 in the watery world is so full of interest, it will not surprise the reader 
 to learn that one of the writer's chief difficulties has been that of 
 selection, his most painful task that of rejecting the vast mass of 
 interesting matter he had necessarily to pass in review. 
 
 We have shown in the first chapter of this work that nearly three- 
 fourths of the surface of the earth is bathed by the sea. Struck with 
 ihis vast extent of ocean, a witty French writer says, " One is almost 
 tempted to believe that our planet was specially created for fishes." 
 They are, indeed, a very important part of creation ; they form, as it 
 were, a bond uniting the vertebrate to invertebrate animals. They 
 nave a more complicated organisation than any of the other oceanic 
 inhabitants (except the Cetacea), as they are also the most numerous, 
 the most varied in form, and by far the most brilliant in colour, and 
 the most active in their movements. 
 
 Pliny, the naturalist, describes ninety-four species of fishes. Lin- 
 naeus has characterised 478. The naturalists of the present day know 
 upwards of 13,000, a tenth of which are fresh-water fishes. 
 
647 
 
 INDEX 
 
 THE ITALICS ARE ILLUSTRATION* 
 
 Acalephse, or Sea Nettles, 163. 
 
 Acanthopterygea, 621. 
 
 Acclimatising sponges, 73. 
 
 Acephalous MoUusca, 316. 
 
 Achatina zebra, 427, 
 
 Achatina zebi-a, 427. 
 
 Acrocladia niammilLata, 275, 277. 
 
 Actinidae, 203. 
 
 Actinia dianthus, 2ii. 
 
 ^quorea violacea, 157. 
 
 ^quorea violacea, 1 63. 
 
 Agalma rubra, 135. Its graceful appear- 
 
 •ance, ib. Its structure, ib. 
 Alcyonaria, 218. 
 Alcyonium digitatum, 240. 
 AUice Shad, 598. 
 
 Alternation of generation, 169, 315. 
 Alveolina ovoidea, 82. 
 Alveolina ovoidea, 85. 
 Ambulacral appendages, 256. 
 Ammodytes lancea, 604. 
 Amoeba diffluens, 77. 
 
 „ princeps, 78. 
 Amœba difflîiensy 78. 
 
 ,, princeps, 78. 
 Anabas scandens, 629. 
 Analysis of sea water, 14, 16, 17, 18. 
 Anatomy of fishes, 527. 
 Anchovy (Engraulis), 603, 
 Antarctic Ocean, 3. Discoveries, 46. 
 Antipathidae, 172. 
 Apiocrinus rotundus, 264. 
 Aplysia depiians, 411, 
 Aplysia depiians, 412. 
 
 ,, hica, 412, 
 
 „ ,, shell of , 412. 
 
 Apolemia contarta, 128. 
 
 Apolemia conforta, 131, 132- 
 
 Aporous Madrepores, 173. 
 
 Aquarium, the, 59. 
 
 Arctic Ocean, 2, 40. 
 
 Argonauta, fables concerning it, 493. 
 Aristotle's description, 494. Oppian's 
 description, ib. His mistakes, ib. 
 Rumphius, 495. Real history, 496. 
 Madame Power's experiments, 497. 
 Locomotive organs, ib. 
 
 Argonauta argo, 495, 496. 
 ,, papyracea, 498. 
 
 Argonauta argo, 498. 
 
 „ papyracea, 498. 
 
 Aristotle's Lantern, 279. 
 
 Ascidia microcosmus, 309, 
 ,, pedunculata, 310. 
 
 Ascidia microcostnus, 309. 
 ,, pedu7tculata, 310. 
 
 Ascidians, simple, social, and compo- 
 site, 309. 
 
 Aspergillum vaginiferum, 332. 
 
 Aspergillum vaginiferu?n, 332. 
 
 Asteracanthion glacialis, 258. 
 
 Asterias aurantiaca., 256. 
 ,, rubens, 255. 
 
 Asterias aurantiaca, 256. 
 ,, rubens, 255. 
 
 Asterophyton vemtcosuin, 272. 
 
 Asterophyton vermcosum, 272. 
 
 Astreopora punctifera, 188. 
 
 Astreopora punctifera, 180. 
 
 Atlantic Ocean, 2. 
 
 Atlantic Ocean, Chart of, 6. 
 ,, ,, Section of 8. 
 
 Atmospheric currents, 27. 
 
 Atolls, 191. 
 
648 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 Atirelia aiirita, 160. 
 
 Bacterium termo, 98. 
 
 Bacterium termo, 99. 
 
 Baffin's Bay discovered, 41. 
 
 Baltic Sea, 6. 
 
 Barrier Reefs, 197. 
 
 Beale's Ad venture v^^itha Cuttle-fish, 479. 
 
 Behring' s Straits, 41. 
 
 Beroe Forskalii, 249. 
 
 Beroe Forskalii, 248. 
 
 Berthelot's capture of a Cephalopod,489. 
 
 Birth of coralline larva, 233. 
 
 Bivalve mollusca, 316. 
 
 Blue Minyad, 216. 
 
 Bonitas, 634. 
 
 Bonpland's account of the Electrical 
 
 Eel, 572. 
 Boring Pholades, 327. 
 Botrillus, 310. 
 Bream, teeth of, 531. 
 Breathing in Molluscs, 374, 409, 477. 
 Brachiopoda, 407. 
 Brooke's Sounding Apparatus, 5. 
 Brookes Sounding Apparatus, 5. 
 Buccinum senticosum and B. undatum, 
 
 457- 
 Buccmujn senticosum, 457. 
 
 ,, tmdatum, 457. 
 
 Bulimus sultanus, 426. 
 Bulimus sultanus, 426. 
 Bulla ampulla, B. oblonga, and B. nebu- 
 
 losa, 412. 
 Btdla ampulla, 412. 
 
 ,, aspersa, 413. 
 
 ,, nebulosa, 413. 
 413. 
 
 Cabot's Discoveries, 41. 
 
 Calcarina calcitrapoides. Si. 
 
 Callianiridse, 252. 
 
 Calmar, the, 483. 
 
 Campanularinae, 126. 
 
 Cape of Good Hope, height of zvaves off 
 the, 39. 
 
 Carcharius vulgaris (the Shark), 543. 
 Its description, ib. Destructive 
 habits, 545. Immense power, ib. Its 
 flesh coarse, 549. Superstitious de- 
 votions to, ib. 
 
 Cardium hians and C. groenlandicum, 
 342. 
 
 Cardium aculeatum, C. edulis, and C. 
 
 costatum, 343. 
 Cardium acideatum, 343. 
 ,, costatum, 344. 
 ,, edulis, 343. 
 „ groenlajidicum, 342. 
 ,, hians, 342. 
 Carnivorous Cephalopods, 4S2. 
 Carp, anatomy of, 529. 
 
 ,, swimming bladder (?/j 528. 
 
 ,, teeth of, 531. 
 Cartilaginous fishes, 535. 
 Caryophillia cyathus, 176. 
 Caryophilla cyathus, 176. 
 Cassidulina lœvigata, 84. 
 Cassidulina laevigata, 85. 
 Cassiopea Andromeda, 165. 
 Cassiopea Andromeda, 166. 
 Cassis canaliculata, 454, 
 
 ,, glauca, 454. 
 
 ,, madagascariensis, 454. 
 
 ,, rifa, 454. 
 
 ,, zebra, 456. 
 Cassis glauca, C. rufa, C. canaliculata, 
 
 and C. madagascariensis, 453. 
 Cephalopodous Mollusca, 470. 
 Cephalous Mollusca, 409. 
 Cephea cyclophora, 167. 
 Cerithium aluco, 439. 
 
 ,, fasciatum, 439. 
 gigajttemn, 439. 
 Cerithium fasciatum, C. aluco, and 
 
 C, giganteum, 437. 
 Cestidse, 252. 
 Cestiujfi veneris, 251. 
 Ceihurnia pyxidiformis, I02. 
 Chart of the Atlantic, 6. 
 Charybdis, whirlpool of, 39. 
 Chimaera monstrosa, 535. 
 Chimcera monstrosa, 536. 
 Chiton magnificus, 428. 
 Chiton magnificus, 429. 
 Chiysaora Gaudichaudi, 162. 
 Chrysaora Gaudichaudi, 163. 
 Ciliate Infusoria, 102. 
 Cirrhotheutis Mulleri, 493. 
 Cirrhotheutis Mulleri, 493. 
 Cleodora cuspidata, 469. 
 
 ,, lanceolata and C. compressa, 
 
 469. 
 Cleodora compressa, 469. 
 ,, cuspidata, 469. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 649 
 
 Cleodora lanceolata, 469, 
 Clupeadœ, 588. 
 Clupea alosa, 598. 
 Clypeaster rosaceus, 279. 
 Clypea rosaceus, 281. 
 Clypeaster rosaceus, 280. 
 ■Cocos Island, 192, 195. 
 Cod curing, 617. 
 „ fish (Morrhua vulgaris), 614. 
 
 , fisheries, 615. 
 Cod-fish, the, 615. 
 Coffre-fish (Ostracion), 561. 
 'Colour of the sea, 10. Local causes 
 
 of, ib. Effects of animalcules, ib. 
 
 Algse, II. 
 Comatula, 267. 
 
 ,, mediterranea, 268. 
 Co77iatula medite7'ranea, 268. 
 Condylostoma patens, 104. 
 Conger [common), the, 578. 
 'Conger Eels (Anguilla conger), 5 78. 
 'Conus, principal forms of, 449. 
 Cook's discoveries, 46. 
 •Coral, apparatus for nutritive fluids in, 
 
 231. 
 
 „ larva, birth ^233. 
 
 ,, polyp, 229, 234, 235. 
 
 ,, section of a branch of, 232, 
 
 „ spicules, 230. 
 ■Coral, precious, 225. 
 
 ,, fisheries, 236. 
 
 ,, islands, 190. 
 
 ,, precious, spicula, 230. 
 'Cornularia cornucopia, 244. 
 Corystes Cassivelaunus, 514, 515. 
 'Corystes Cassivelaunus, 515. 
 Cothurina pyxidiformis, 103. 
 Crabs, their habits, 507. 
 'Cramp-fish (Torpedo marmorata), 540. 
 Crangon vulgaris, 524. 
 •Crania, 407. 
 Crinoidea, 263. 
 Cristatella, 305. 
 Cristatella mucedo, 306. 
 ■Crustacea, 503. Their organisation, 504. 
 
 Reproduction, 505. Breathing appa- 
 ratus, 506, Destructive habits, 507. 
 Ctenophora, 109, 248. 
 Cultivation of Oysters, 386, 
 •Currents of the ocean, their causes, 25. 
 Cuttle-fish, 473. Described, ib. Its 
 
 pigment, 481. Habits, 482. 
 
 Cyclones, 29. 
 Cyclopterus, 642. 
 Cyclostoma, 414. 
 Cyprœa, 440, 
 
 ,, ar^us, 441. 
 
 ,, capensis, 4-13. 
 
 ,, coccinella, 442. 
 
 „ histrio, 441. 
 
 ,, madagascariensis, 443. 
 
 ,, mappa, 441. 
 
 „ monda, 443. 
 
 ,, nucleus, 444. 
 
 ,, pantherina, 444. 
 
 ,, Scottii, 440. 
 
 ,, testudinaria, 443. 
 tigris, 441, 442. 
 
 ,, itndata, 442. 
 zig-zag, 442. 
 Cypraea, principal forms of, 440. 
 Cytherea, principal forms of, 341. 
 
 geographica, 342. 
 Cytherea geographica, 341. 
 
 Dab (Platessa limanda), 609, 
 Dab, the, 609, 
 
 Dactylopora cylindracea, 81. 
 Dactylopora cylindracea, 82. 
 Darwin's theory of coral islands, 192. 
 
 ,, ,, subsidence, 195. 
 
 Davis's discoveries, 41. 
 Dead men's fingers, 246. 
 Decapoda, their organisation, 5 1 j . 
 De Haven's search for Franklin, 53. 
 Delphinula sphserula, 436. 
 Delphinula sphœrula, 436. 
 Dendrophylla ramea, 185. 
 Dendrophylla ramea, 185, i£5. 
 Density of salt water, 15. 
 Dentalina subarcuata, 84. 
 Dentalina subarcuata, 84. 
 Depth of the sea, i. 
 Diodon pilosus, 560. 
 Diodon pilosus, 560. 
 Diphydae, 126. 
 
 Disaster of the San Francisco, 30. 
 Discina, 407. 
 Distribution of land and water, i . 
 
 ,, mollusca, 498. 
 
 Dog-fish (Acanthias vulgaris), 550. 
 Donax dentictdatus, 334. 
 
 „ rugosus, 334. 
 
 ,, trunculus, 320. 
 
650 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 Donax trunculus, 312. 
 
 , , rugosus and D. denticulatus, 337. 
 Dredge employed in oystei- fishing, 387. 
 Dujardin's discoveries, 92. 
 D'Urville's voyages, 47. Adelia's 
 
 Land, 48. 
 Dykes of Holland undermined, 322. 
 
 Early dawnings of animal life, 62. 
 
 Echineis rémora, 642. 
 
 Echinais rémora, 643. 
 
 Echinidse, 273. Skeleton and masti- 
 cating apparatus, 275. 
 
 Echinodermata, 253. 
 
 Echinus esculentus, 276. 
 
 Echinus esculentus, 277. 
 ,, lividus, 2'](). 
 
 Edible Snails, 422. 
 
 Edwardsia calimorpha, 215. 
 
 Edwardsia calimo^'pha^ 215. 
 
 Effects of hurricanes, 40. 
 
 Eggs of Sepia officinalis, 483, 
 
 Electrical Eel, 570. 
 
 Electrical eel, the, 571. 
 
 Electrical properties of the Torpedo, ] 
 540. Organs described, 542. 
 
 Electric ray, the, 539. 
 
 Eledone moschatus, its habits, 491. 
 
 Encrinites, or Stone-lilies, 264. 
 
 Encrinus liliformis, 264. 
 
 Equinoctial currents, 25. 
 
 Eschara, 303, 308. 
 
 Esocidse, 568. 
 
 Euglena viridis, 101. 
 
 Euglena viridis, loi. 
 
 Evaporation, 16. Its effects on the sea, 17. 
 
 Exocsetus exiliens, 565. 
 
 Experiments on the Physalia, 144. 
 
 Exuberance of life in the ocean, 55. 
 
 Fabularia discolithes, 82. 
 
 Fabularia discolithes, 81. 
 
 Falkland Islands, 164. 
 
 Fan Gorgon, 223. 
 
 File-fish (Balistes), 561. 
 
 File-fish, the, 561. 
 
 Fishes eye, a, 531. 
 
 Fishes, their organisation, 527. Loco- 
 motive apparatus, ib. Swimming 
 bladder, 528. Breathing apparatus, 
 530. Sight, ib. Propagation, 532. 
 Classification, 533. 
 
 Fishing for Coral, 236. 
 
 ,, Electrical Eels with horses, 
 
 572. 
 Holibut, 613. 
 Sponges, 70. 
 Fistularia, 621. 
 Flabellum pavonium, 178. 
 Flabellum pavonhwi, 177. 
 Flat fishes, their organisation, 604. 
 Flight of the Flying-fish, 565. 
 Flounders (Platessa flesus), 608. 
 Flustra foliacea, 307. 
 Flustra foliacea, 308. 
 Flying-fish, 565. 
 Flying-fish, the, 566. 
 Flying Gurnard, 628. 
 Foraminifera, 79. 
 Franklin's discoveries, 44. 
 PVinging reefs, 198. 
 Frog-fish (Lophius), 643. 
 Frog-fish, the, 644. 
 Fungia agariciformis, 182. 
 
 ,, echinata, 184. 
 Fungia echinata, 182. 
 
 ,, patella, 183. 
 Fîisus colus, 461. 
 
 ,, page dus, 461. 
 
 ,, proboscidiferus, 461. 
 Fusus proboscidiferus, F. pagodus, and 
 
 F. colus, 462. 
 
 Gadidse, 613. 
 
 Galeolaria aurantiaca, 128. 
 
 Ganoidea, 533, 552. 
 
 Generation, Spontaneous, 95. 
 
 Geographical distribution of Oysters, 378. 
 
 Gigantic Cephalopod stranded on the 
 
 coast of Jutland, 486. 
 Globe-fish, 559. 
 Globe-fish, the, 559. 
 Gold-fish Dorada, teeth of, 532, 
 Gorgonia flabellum, 220,221. 
 
 ,, verticellata, 222, 223. 
 Gorgonia flabellum, G. verticellata, 223. 
 Gorgonidse, 220. 
 Gulf of Mexico, 8. 
 
 ,, Stream, 28, 
 Gurnard, the flying, 628. 
 
 ,, the redf 627. 
 Gurnards (Trigla), 627. 
 Gymnotus, its electrical properties, 572. 
 
 Effect of its shock, 572. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 051 
 
 Haddock (Morrhua seglefinus), 620. 
 Haliomma, 86. 
 Haliomma hexacanthum, 86. 
 Hammerhead Shark (Zygaena malleus), 
 
 551- 
 Oyster, 362. 
 Hammerhead, the, 551. 
 Harpaarticidaris, 459. 
 
 ,, wiperialis^ 458. 
 
 „ ventricosa, 458. 
 Harpa imperialis, H. articularis, H. 
 
 ventricosa, 458. 
 Harpooning Holothuria, 293. 
 Helix aspersa^ 423, 424. 
 
 ,, citrina, 426. 
 
 ,, Mackenzii, 425. 
 
 ,, pomatia, 424. 
 
 ,, Stuartia, 426. 
 
 „ iranslucida, 425. 
 
 ,, undulata, 425. 
 
 ,, Walfoiti, 425. 
 Helix citrina and H. Stuartia, 426. 
 Hermit Crab, 517. 
 Herring, the, 588. Habits, 590. Scotch 
 
 fisheries, zA Dutch fisheries, 591. A 
 
 night at the herring fishery, 595. 
 
 Norwegian fisheries, 597. 
 Herring, the, 589. 
 Holibut, 609. 
 Halibut, the, 610. 
 Holothuria lutea, 288. 
 
 ,, fishery, 290, 
 
 Holothuria hitea, 288. 
 Homarus, 522. 
 Humboldt's researches, 572. 
 Hyalea gibbosa and H. longirostris, 468. 
 Hyalea gibbosa, 468 
 
 ,, longirostris, 468. 
 Hydra vulgaris, 1 14. 
 
 ,, viridis, 115. 
 Hydra vulgaris, 113. H. viridis, 141. 
 
 Trembley, experiments on, 116. 
 Hydridse, 113. 
 Hydrozoa, 108, no. 
 
 lanthina communis, 431. 
 
 fmperator Stella, 436. 
 
 Indian Ocean, 2. 
 
 Inequalities of the sea-basin, 8. 
 
 Infusoria, 88. Their numbers, ib. In 
 the Ganges, ib. Species, ib. In 
 blocks of ice, 16. Reproduction, 94. 
 
 Infusorial parasites, 97. 
 Infusorians, propagation of, 94- 
 Isis hippuris, 12.^. 
 Isis hippuris, 225. 
 
 Jan May en's Island, 41. 
 
 Kane's, Dr., discoveries, 45. 
 Kondolostoviata patens, 104. 
 Kraken, marvellous stories concerning, 
 486. 
 
 Labridse, 569. 
 
 Labrus communis, 569. 
 
 Labrus communis, 570. 
 
 La7?iprey, the, 534. 
 
 Land and Water, I. 
 
 Legend of the first mussel-fisher, 356. 
 
 ,, Sea-urchin, 274. 
 
 Leptocardia, 533. 
 Life in the ocean, 55. 
 Limax rufus, 418. 
 Limax rufus, 468. 
 Limncza stagna lis ^ 416. 
 Limnea stagnalis, 415. 
 Limneans, 415. Their habits, ib. 
 Limpets, 428. 
 Limulus, 510. 
 Lingula, 407. 
 Lobosa, 76. 
 Lobsters, 511. 
 Loligo Gahi, 484, 
 
 ,, vtilgaris, 484. 
 Loligo vulgaris and L, Gahi, 4S4. 
 Lophius piscatorius, 643, 
 Lophius piscatorius, 644. 
 Lophobranchii, 562. 
 Luidia fragillissima, 262. 
 Lump-fish (Cyclopterus), 642. 
 Lump-fish, the, 642. 
 Lunar tides, 32. 
 
 Mackerel, the, 634. 
 
 Mackerel, 634. Do they migrate ? 635. 
 
 M'Clintock's discoveries, 44. 
 
 M'Clure's discoveries, 45. 
 
 Madrague, a combination of nets, 633. 
 
 Madrepora plantaginea, 187. 
 
 Madrepora plantagiiua, 187. 
 
 Madreporidae, 173 
 
 Maelstrom whirlpool, 39. 
 
 Malacopterygii, 565. 
 
652 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 Malleus alba, 362. M. vulgaris, ib. 
 Malleus alba, 362. 
 
 ,, vzdgaris, 363. 
 Mantle in Molluscs, its uses, 318. 
 Marennes Oysters, 395. 
 Mean depth of the sea, 1-3. 
 Meandrina cerebriformis, 184. 
 Meandrina cerebriformis, 181. 
 Mediterranean Sea, 6. 
 Medusidae, 156. 
 Meleagrina margaritifera, 364. 
 Meleagrina fnargaritifera, 364, 365, 
 Merlangus vulgaris (Whiting), 621. 
 Millepora alcicoj'nis, 189. 
 Millepora alcicornis, 190. 
 Minyadidge, 216. 
 Minyas cœrulea, 217. 
 Mitra episcopalis and M. papalis, 445. 
 Mitra episcopalis, 446. 
 
 ,, papcUis, 446. 
 Molluscoida, 302. Organisation, 303, 
 Mollusca, 300. 
 
 Mollusca, 316. Their characteristics, z7^ 
 Monad twilight, 100. 
 Monas lens, 10 1. 
 Monodonta atistralis, 435. 
 
 ,, labia, 436. 
 
 Monodonta australis and M. labia, 435. 
 Monsoons, 30. 
 
 Montfort, Denis de, on the Kraken, 485. 
 Moon-fish (Orthagoriscus mola), 559. 
 Morrhua vulgaris (Cod), 614. 
 Morrhua vulgaris, 615. 
 Mounts Erebus and Terror, 50. 
 Mounts Erebus and Terror, 51. 
 Mullet (Mullus), 622. A Roman luxury, 
 
 623. 
 Muraena, 576. 
 
 ,, ponds, a passion with Roman 
 
 patricians, 577. 
 Murex erinaceus, 460. 
 
 ,, haustellum, 459. 
 
 ,, Scorpio, 460. 
 
 ,, tenuispina, 459. 
 Murex scorpio and M. erinaceus, M. 
 
 tenuispina and M. haustellum, 458. 
 Muschelkalk rocks, 264. 
 Mussels, 354. Organisation of, 355. 
 
 Habits, ib. 
 Mussels of Aiguillon Bay, 361. 
 Mussels, piles covered with spawn ^359. 
 ,, piles covered with, 2i^o. 
 
 Mytilus bysstis, mantle and oviduct of, 
 
 356. 
 Mytilus edulis, 354. 
 Mytilus edulis, 354. 
 
 Natitihis pompilius,\1\, 472, 473 
 Nautilus pompilius, 472. 
 Nephthya, 246. 
 Nephrops norvégiens, 523. 
 Nephrops, 524. 
 Noctiluca miliaris, 87. 
 Noctiluca miliaris, 87. 
 Nummulina perforata, 84. 
 Nummulites, 80. 
 Nummulites Rouaulti, 81. 
 
 Octopus brevipes and O. horridus, 490. 
 
 Macropus vulgaris, 491. 
 Octopus brevipes, 491. 
 ,, horridus, 491. 
 ,, macropus, 491. 
 ,, vulgaris, 490. 
 Oculina flabelliformis, 178. 
 Oculina virginea, 1 78. 
 Olaûs Magnus on the Kraken, 4S5. 
 Oliva erythrostoma, 450. 
 ,, irisans, 450. 
 ,, pericviana, 450. 
 ,, porphyria, \^o. 
 Oliva erythrostoma, O. porphyria, O. 
 
 irisans, and O. peruviana, 453. 
 Operculina, 85. 
 Ophiocoma Riisei, 271, 
 Ophiocoma Riisei, 271. 
 Ophiurad^e, 269. 
 Orbulina universa, 84, 
 Organisation of Foraminifera, 79. 
 ,, Infusoria, 91. 
 
 ,, Sponges, 66. 
 
 ,, Star-fishes, 254. 
 
 Orthagoriscus mola, 558. 
 Ostracion, 561. 
 Ostreadse (the Oyster), 372. 
 Ovulufn cornea 445. 
 ,, oviformis, 445. 
 ,, volva, 445. 
 Oyster (Ostrea), 372. Its organisation, 
 ib. Reproduction, 375. Incubation, 
 ib. 
 Oysters, group of yj"], 
 O'vulum oviformis, O. cornea, O. volva, 
 445- 
 
INDEX. 
 
 653 
 
 Oyster beds of France, 378. 
 
 ,, beds on Lake Fusaro, 388. 
 ,, claires of Marennes, 394. 
 ,, cultivation, 16. 
 „ farms at Whitstable, 396. 
 Oyster fisheries, di-edge employed in, 387, 
 ,, bank, artificial, in Lake Fusaro, 
 388, 391. 
 Oysters, yoiutg, with locomotive organs, 
 376. 
 
 Pacific Ocean, 3. 
 
 Pagurus Bernhardus, 517. 
 
 Pagurus Bernhardus, 518. 
 
 Palaemon, 525. 
 
 PalinuiTis vulgaris, 511. 
 
 Palinurtis vulgaris, 512, 
 
 Paramecium aurelia and its parasites, 
 
 97. 
 Paramecium aurelia and its parasites, 
 
 102. 
 Parr, or young Salmon, 581. 
 Parry's discoveries, 42. 
 Patella barbata, 430. 
 
 ,, cœrulea, 430. 
 ,, granatina, 430. 
 
 ,, longicosta, 431. 
 
 ,, umbella, 430. 
 Patella caerulea, P. umbella, 429. 
 Pearl fisheries, 366. Value of, 367. 
 
 ,, Oyster, 364. 
 Pearly Nautilus, 472. 
 Pecten glaber, P. japonica, P. opercu- 
 
 laris, P. plica, P. pseudamussium, 308. 
 Pecten glaber, 401. 
 
 ,, japonica, 405. 
 
 ,, opcrcularis, 402. 
 
 ,, plica, 405. 
 
 ,, pseuda??iussiîim, 401. 
 Pectenidse, 308. 
 Pectunculus aureflua, Delessertii, P. 
 
 pectiniformis, P. scriptus, 353, 
 Pectunculus aiireflua, 352. 
 ,, Delessertii, 352 
 
 pecteniformis, 353. 
 „ scriptus, 353. 
 
 Pennatula phosphorea, 241. 
 
 ,, spinosa, 241. 
 
 Pe7tnatula spinosa, 242. 
 Pennatulidse, 240. 
 Pentacrinus, 265. 
 
 „ caput Medusae, 261;. 
 
 Pentacrinus, europaeus, 269, 
 
 ,, fasciculosus, 264. 
 
 Pentacrinus caput Medusœ, 265. 
 
 ,, europcBus, 266. 
 
 Perch {common), skeleton of, 528. 
 Perforated madrepores, 184. 
 Petromyzon, 534. 
 Peyssonnel's discoveries, 225. 
 Phallusia grossularia, 310. 
 Pholades, or borers, 326. 
 Pholas crispata, P. papyracea, and P. 
 
 melanoura, 326. 
 Pholas crispata, 327. 
 
 ,, dactylus, 325, 326. 
 
 ,, melanoura, 328. 
 
 ,, papyracea, 328. 
 Phorus conchyliophorus, 433. 
 Phosphorescence of the sea, 88. Causes 
 
 of, 313- 
 
 Phosphorescent chain of Salpae^, 313. 
 
 Phyllactis prsetexta, 215. 
 
 Phyllactis prœtexia, 216. 
 
 Physa castanea, 416. 
 
 Physa castanea, 417. 
 
 Physalia, 140. Its poisonous proper- 
 ties, 143. _ 
 
 Physalia ictriculus, 148. 
 
 Physophora hydrostatica, 136. 
 
 Physophora hydrostatica, 137, 139, 141. 
 
 Picked dog-fish, the, 550. 
 
 Pilchards, Cornwall, 599. "Huers,"z'^. 
 The pilchard fishery, 601. 
 
 Pilchard, the, 600. 
 
 Pinna bullata, P. nobilis, 371. 
 
 Pinna bullata, 372. 
 ,, nicrina, 371. 
 ,, nobilis, 372. 
 ,, rudis, 371. 
 
 Pinnoctopus cordiiformis, 493. 
 
 Piitnoctopus cordiiformis, 493. 
 
 Pipe-fish (Syngnathus), 562. 
 
 Pipe-fish, the, 563, 622. 
 
 Pisa tetraodon, 507. 
 
 Pisa tetraodon, 507. 
 
 Plaice {common), the, 608. 
 
 Plaice (Platessa vulgaris), 608. 
 
 Planorbis corn eus, 416. 
 
 Planorbis corneus, 416. 
 
 Pleurobrachia, 250. 
 
 Pleuronectidse, 605. 
 
 Plumatella cristallina, 305. 
 
 Plumatella cristallina, 306. 
 
654 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 Point du RaZf coast of Brittany, 37. 
 Polar seas, 40. Expeditions to, ib. 
 Polypidom and Polypi defined, 107. 
 Polypiferous crust in Gorgons, 220. 
 Polyzoa, 302. Structure, 303. 
 Porites furcata, 188, 
 Porites furcata, 189. 
 Porpita pacifica, 155. 
 Porpita pacific a, 155. 
 Portunus variegatus, 413. 
 Portumis variegatus, 513. 
 Poulpe : Marvellous stories of the 
 ancients concerning, 486. Mandi- 
 bles preserved in the College of 
 Surgeons, 485. 
 Praya diphys, 126. 
 Pray a diphys, J 27. 
 Pristis, 551. 
 Propagation of Infusoria, 94. 
 
 ,, of Sea-urchins, 275. 
 
 Protozoa, 62. 
 
 Pteroceras scorpio, P. millipeda, 465. 
 Pteroceras chiragra, 465. 
 
 ,, lambis, 465. 
 
 „ millipeda, 464. 
 
 „ scorpio, 464. 
 Pteropoda, 466. Organisation, ib. 
 Pulmonary Gasteropods, 414, 
 Punt, or Pirogue of the Marsh, 359. 
 Pupa uva, 426. 
 Pupa tiva, 427. 
 Purpura, its reputation with the ancients, 
 
 456. 
 
 ,, consul, P. lapillus, 455. 
 Purpura consul 457. 
 
 „ lapilhis, 456. 
 
 ,, patula, 456. 
 Pyrosoma, 311. 
 
 Radiolaria, 76, 87. 
 
 Raiadse, 536. 
 
 Rataria, 154. 
 
 Ravages of the Teredo, 322. 
 
 Ray-fish, 537. 
 
 Recuperative powers of Holothuria, 
 
 288. 
 Red Coral Polyps, 228. 
 Red Sea Corals, 236. 
 Reticulosa, 79. Classification of, 
 
 D'Orbigny's, 83. Carpenters, 85. 
 Rhizopods, 76. 
 Rhizostoma Aldrovandi, 164. 
 
 Rhizostoma Cuvierii, 165. 
 Rhizostoma Aldrovandi, 165. 
 
 „ Cuvierii, 164. 
 
 Ross's (Sir James) discoveries, 47, 50. 
 Rotalia, 86. 
 
 Rotella zealandica, 435. 
 Rotella zealandica, 435. 
 Rugous madrepores, 190, 
 
 Sagartia bellis, 204. 
 Salmonidœ, 579. 
 
 Salmon leaps, 583. Falls of Kilmo- 
 rack, 584. Anecdote of Lord Lov^t, 
 ib. 
 Salmon or Parr, a year old, 580. 
 ,, adult, 579. 
 ,, yoimg, 580. 
 ,, leap at Kilmorack, 583. 
 Salpa maxima, 313. 
 Salpa maxima, 313. 
 Salpas on the surface of the sea, 314 
 Saltness of the sea, 15. Its source, 19. 
 Salt water at the Poles, 17. At the 
 
 Equator, ib. 
 Salt-water lakes, 18. 
 Sand-eel, the, 605. 
 Sargasso Sea, 29. 
 Saw-fish, 551. 
 Scallop-shell, 308. ' 
 Scomberesocidse, 565- 
 Scoresby's account of the Polar seas, 51. 
 Scottish pearls, 351. 
 Scylla and Charybdis, 39. 
 Sea Anemone, 203. Organisation, ib. 
 
 ,, Cucumber, 288. 
 
 „ Eggs, 483. 
 
 „ Hare, 411. 
 
 ,, Horse (Hippocampus), 564, 
 
 „ Lampreys, 534. 
 
 „ Mussels, 354. 
 
 ,, Pen, 240, 
 
 „ Slug, 410. 
 
 ,, Snail (Liparis), 641. 
 
 ,, Urchins, 273. 
 
 ,, Water, its components, 16 
 Sea-eel, the, 577. 
 Sea-horse, the, 564 
 Sea- snail, the, 641. 
 Seine Net, 601. 
 Selachians, 535. 
 Sepia (Cuttle-fish), 470. 
 ,, officinalis, 482. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 655 
 
 Sepia officinalis, 480, 483. 
 ,, tuberculosa, 480. 
 
 Setulariadse, 124. 
 
 Shad, the (Chi pea alosa), 597. 
 
 Shark (Carcharius vulgaris), 543. 
 
 Shark-fishing, 546. 
 
 Shark, the, 544. 
 
 Sliell of the MoIIusca, 316. Is it a 
 a skeleton? 317. How built up, ib. 
 
 Ship-worm and its ravages, 321. Its 
 organisation, 322. Reproduction, 
 323. _ Its boring, 324. 
 
 Siderolites calcitrapoides, 80. 
 
 Silver in the sea, 14, 
 
 Skeleton of the Perch, 528. 
 
 Snails : form and characteristics, 419. 
 Their organisation, 420. Breathing, 
 ib. Circulation, zA Sight, 421. Re- 
 production, 421. Shell, 422. Their 
 reputation with the ancients, ib. 
 
 Solarium perspectivum, and S. varie- 
 gatum, 437. 
 
 Solarium perspectivtwi, 437. 
 ,, variegaium, 437. 
 
 Solar-lunar tides, 33. 
 
 Sole {common), the, 606. 
 
 Soles (Solea vulgaris), 605. 
 
 Spearing Holibut, 613. 
 
 Spirillum, 99. 
 
 Spiroloculina, 85. 
 
 Spirolocidina depressa, 84. 
 
 Spondylus, 402. 
 
 Spoitgia, half the nattiral size, 69. 
 
 Spongida, 65. Organisation, 66. 
 Localities, 73. Varieties of, 74. 
 Classification of, 75. 
 
 Spontaneous division of Infusoria, 94. 
 
 Spring-tides, 32. 
 
 Squalina, 543. 
 
 Star-corals (Astrea), 180. 
 
 Star-fishes, 254. Their metamorphoses, 
 260. Suicidal propensities, 261. 
 
 Stentor Miilleri, 104/ 
 
 Stentor Miilleri, 104. 
 
 Stinging apparatus of Physophora 
 hydrostatica, 141. 
 ,, tentacles of Physalia, 143. 
 
 Stomias boa, 568. 
 
 Stomias boa, 568. 
 
 Strombus cancellatus, 464, 
 ,, galhis, 463. 
 
 gigas, 462, 463. 
 
 Strombus luhuanus, 464. 
 
 ,, thersites, âf(i\. 
 Strombus gigas, 462. 
 Stone lilies, 265, 
 Stormontfield fish-ponds, 581. 
 Sturgeon (Acipenser sturio), 552. 
 
 ,, fishing in the Volga, 554. 
 Sturgeon [common), the, 553. 
 Stylaster Jlabelliformis, 1 79. 
 Stylaster flabelliformis, 180. 
 Submarine currents, 31. 
 Subsidence, theory of coral islands, 
 
 192. 
 Succinea putris, 426. 
 Succinea putris, 427. 
 Sun-fish, the, 559. 
 Swimming bladder of fishes, 528. 
 Sword-fish (Xiphias), 639. Warlike 
 
 habits, 640. Fishing, 641. 
 Sword-fish, the, 639. 
 
 „ fishing fior, 640. 
 
 Synapta duvernea, 296. 
 Syngnathus, 562. 
 
 Tabulate madrepores, 19 J. 
 Teleostea, 533, 558. 
 Tellina, 338. 
 Tellina donacinas, 338. 
 
 „ radiata, 337. 
 
 „ sulphur ea, 337. 
 virgata, 337. 
 Temperature of the Sea, 25. 
 Teredo navalis, its ravages, 321. 
 Teredo navalis, 322. 
 Testacella haliotoides, 418. 
 Testacella haliotoides, 4 1 9. 
 Tetraodon, 559. 
 Textularia, 85. 
 Texttilaria variabilis, 84. 
 Thalassianthinas, 216, 
 Thermal lines of equal temperature, 20. 
 Thermal lines of sea temperature, 24. 
 Thornback, the, 538. 
 Thynnus pelamys (the Bonita), 634. 
 Tidal wave, 36. 
 Tides, 32. 
 
 Torpedo marmorata, 540. 
 Trachinus communis, 622. 
 Trade- winds, their origin, 27. 
 Trembley's discoveries, 116. 
 Tridacna, 344. 
 Tridacna squamosa, 347. 
 
656 
 
 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
 
 Triton variegatum, T. lotorium, and T. 
 
 anus, 460. 
 Triton anus, 460. 
 
 ,, lotorium, 460. 
 
 „ variegatîijn, 460. 
 Trochus Cookii, 433. 
 
 „ tjnbricatus, 433. 
 
 „ inermis, 433. 
 
 „ niloticus, 433. 
 
 „ stellaris, 436. 
 virgatus, 433. 
 Trochus inermis, T. Cookii, and T. im- 
 
 bricatus, 432 
 Trout, teeth of the, 532. 
 Tru7ik-fish, the, 562. 
 Tubiporidae, 218. 
 Tubipora musica, 219. 
 Tubipora mtisica, 219. 
 Tubularia, 123. 
 Tubulous madrepores, 190. 
 Tunicata, 308. 
 Tunny fish (Thynnus vulgaris), 629. 
 
 ,, fishing, 630. 
 Turbinolia, 174. 
 Turbo, imperialis, margaritaceus, andT. 
 
 argyrostomus, 432. 
 Turbo argyrostomus, 434. 
 
 „ imperialis, 435. 
 
 „ margaritaceits, 434. 
 
 f, marmoratus, 434. 
 
 „ undulatus, 434. 
 Turbot (Rhombus maximus), 6c6. 
 Turbot, the, 607. 
 Turritella angulata, 438. 
 ,. goniostoma, 438. 
 „ repiicata, 438. 
 ,, sanguinea, 438, 
 „ ii'vehiUata, 438. 
 
 Umbellularia groenlandica, 244. 
 Umbellularia groenlandica, 245. 
 Unio littoralis, 348. 
 „ pictormji, 351. 
 Unio Httorahs, and U. pictorum, 351. 
 Uranoscopus vulgaris, 622. 
 UranoscopiLS vulgaris, 624. 
 Uses of salt in the sea, 21. 
 
 Vastness of the oceanic fields of obser- 
 
 tion, 55. 
 Vegetable life, 55. 
 Velella limbosa, 151. 
 Velella spirans, 152. 
 Venus verrucosa, 338. 
 Venus verrucosa, 341. 
 Veretillum cynomorium, 244. 
 Veretillum cyiiomoriutn, 245. 
 Vibrio, 98. 
 Vib7'io, 99. 
 
 Virgularia mirabilis, 243. 
 Virgularia miroMlis, 244. 
 Vitrina fasciata, 427. 
 Vitrina fasciata, 427. 
 Volvox globator, 99. 
 Volvox globator, 99. 
 Vorticellina, 104. 
 
 Walsh's Dr., experiments with the Tor- 
 pedo, 541, 
 
 Water, i. 
 
 Weever-fish, the, 623. 
 
 Weevers (Trachinidae), 621. 
 
 Whence comes the salt of the sea? 
 19. 
 
 Whirlpools, 39. Scylla, ib. Charybdis, 
 ib. 
 
 White Ray (Raia batis), 537. 
 
 White Ray, the, 537 
 
 Whiting (Merlangus vulgaris j, 621. 
 
 Whiting, the, 620. 
 
 Wilke's expedition, 49. 
 
 Willoughby's discoveries, 43. 
 
 Winds, 36. Effect on tides, ib. 
 
 Wrasse (the), Labrus, 570. 
 
 Xiphias gladius (Sword-fish) 639. 
 
 Zoantharia, 109, 171. 
 Zoattthus socialis, 175,, 
 Zoanthus socialis, 175. 
 Zone of Calms, 27. 
 Zoea forms, 505. 
 Zoea tauriis, 506. 
 Zygœna, 550. 
 
 Cassel^, Fetter, Galpik & Co., Belle Sauvage Works, London, E.U- 
 30.582 
 
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