NOTE.
TRITONIA ARBORESCENS.
The following is the letter of Dr. Grant, referred to at page 385:—
Sir,—I have perused, with much interest, your remarkable communication received yesterday, respecting the musical sounds which you heard proceeding from under water, on the east coast of Ceylon. I cannot parallel the phenomenon you witnessed at Batticaloa, as produced by marine animals, with anything with which my past experience has made me acquainted in marine zoology. Excepting the faint clink of the Tritonia arborescens, repeated only once every minute or two, and apparently produced by the mouth armed with two dense horny laminæ, I am not aware of any sounds produced in the sea by branchiated invertebrata. It is to be regretted that in the memorandum you have not mentioned your observations on the living specimens brought you by the sailors as the animals which produced the sounds. Your authentication of the hitherto unknown fact, would probably lead to the discovery of the same phenomenon in other common accessible paludinæ, and other allied branchiated animals, and to the solution of a problem, which is still to me a mystery, even regarding the tritonia.
My two living tritonia, contained in a large clear colourless glass cylinder, filled with pure sea water, and placed on the central table of the Wernerian Natural History Society of Edinburgh, around which many members were sitting, continued to clink audibly within the distance of twelve feet during the whole meeting. These small animals were individually not half the size of the last joint of my little finger. What effect the mellow sounds of millions of these, covering the shallow bottom of a tranquil estuary, in the silence of night, might produce, I can scarcely conjecture.
In the absence of your authentication, and of all geological explanation of the continuous sounds, and of all source of fallacy from the hum and buzz of living creatures in the air or on the land, or swimming on the waters, I must say that I should be inclined to seek for the source of sounds so audible as those you describe rather among the pulmonated vertebrata, which swarm in the depths of these seas—as fishes, serpents (of which my friend Dr. Cantor has described about twelve species he found in the Bay of Bengal), turtles, palmated birds, pinnipedous and cetaceous mammalia, &c.
The publication of your memorandum in its present form, though not quite satisfactory, will, I think, be eminently calculated to excite useful inquiry into a neglected and curious part of the economy of nature.
I remain, Sir,
Yours most respectfully,
ROBERT E. GRANT.
Sir J. Emerson Tennent, &c. &c.
Footnote 3691: [(return)]
Cypræa Argus.
Footnote 3701: [(return)]
In one of these beautiful little bays near Catchavelly, between Trincomalie and Batticaloa, I found the sand within the wash of the sea literally covered with mollusca and shells, and amongst others a species of Bullia (B. vittata, I think), the inhabitant of which, has the faculty of mooring itself firmly by sending down its membranous foot into the wet sand, where, imbibing the water, this organ expands horizontally into a broad, fleshy disc, by which the animal anchors itself, and thus secured, collects its food in the ripple of the waves. On the slightest alarm, the water is discharged, the disc collapses into its original dimensions, and the shell and its inhabitant disappear together beneath the sand.
Footnote 3702: [(return)]
Ianthina communis, Krause and I. prolongata, Blainv.
Footnote 3711: [(return)]
COSMAS INDICO-PLEUSTES, in Thevenot's ed. t i. p. 21.
Footnote 3712: [(return)]
At Kottiar, near Trincomalie, I was struck with the prodigious size of the edible oysters, which were brought to us at the rest-house. The shell of one of these measured a little more than eleven inches in length, by half as many broad: thus unexpectedly attesting the correctness of one of the stories related by the historians of Alexander's expedition, that in India they had found oysters a foot long. PLINY says: "In Indico mari Alexandri rerum auctores pedalia inveniri prodidere."—Nat. Hist. lib. xxxii. ch. 31. DARWIN says, that amongst the fossils of Patagonia, he found "a massive gigantic oyster, sometimes even a foot in diameter."—Nat. Voy., ch. viii.
Footnote 3713: [(return)]
—ABOUZEYD, Voyages Arabes, &c., t. i. p. 6; REINAUD, Mémoire sur l'Inde, &c p. 222.
Footnote 3721: [(return)]
See also the Asiatic Journal for 1827, p. 469.
Footnote 3722: [(return)]
DARWIN, in his Naturalist's Voyage, mentions a parallel instance of the localised propagation of colours amoungst the cattle which range the pasturage of East Falkland Island: "Round Mount Osborne about half of some of the herds were mouse-coloured, a tint no common anywhere else,—near Mount Pleasant dark-brown prevailed; whereas south of Choiseul Sound white beasts with black heads and feet were common."—Ch. ix. p. 192.
Footnote 3731: [(return)]
It is almost unnecessary to say that the shell fish which produces the true Oriental pearls is not an oyster, but belongs to the genus Avicula, or more correctly, Meleagrina. It is the Meleagrina Margaritifera of Lamarck.
Footnote 3732: [(return)]
Cajan is the local term for the plaited fronds of a coco-nut.
Footnote 3751: [(return)]
This suspension was in some degree attributable to disputes with the Nabob of Arcot and other chiefs, and the proprietors of temples on the opposite coast of India, who claimed, a right to participate in the fisheries of the Gulf of Manaar.
Footnote 3752: [(return)]
"Il y avait autrefois dans le Golfe de Serendyb, une pêcherie de perles qui s'est épuiseé de notre temps. D'un autre côté il s'est formé une pêcherie de Sofala dans le pays des Zends, là ou il n'en existait pas auparavant—on dit que c'est la pêcherie de Serendyb qui s'est transportée à Sofala."—ALBYROUNI, in RENAUD'S Fragmens Arabes, &c, p. 125; see also REINAUD'S Mémoire sur l'Inde, p. 228.
Footnote 3761: [(return)]
STEUART'S Pearl Fisheries of Ceylon, p. 27: CORDINER'S Ceylon, &c, vol. ii. p. 45.
Footnote 3762: [(return)]
See Dr. KELAART'S Report on the Pearl Oyster in the Ceylon Calendar for 1858—Appendix, p. 14.
Footnote 3763: [(return)]
Rapport de M. COSTE, Professeur d'Embryogénie, &c., Paris, 1858.
Footnote 3771: [(return)]
Detailed accounts of the pearl fishery of Ceylon and the conduct of the divers, will be found in PERCIVAL's Ceylon, ch. iii.: and in CORDINER'S Ceylon, vol. ii. ch. xvi. There is also a valuable paper on the same subject by Mr. LE BECK, in the Asiatic Researches, vol. v. p. 993; but by far the most able and intelligent description is contained in the Account of the Pearl Fisheries of Ceylon, by JAMES STEUART, Esq., Inspector of the Pearl Banks, 4to. Colombo, 1843.
Footnote 3772: [(return)]
MASSOUDI says that the Persian divers, as they could not breathe through their nostrils, cleft the root of the ear for that purpose: "Ils se fendaient la racine de l'oreille pour respirer; en effet, ils ne peuvent se servir pour cet objet des narines, vu qu'ils se les bouchent avec des morceaux d'écailles de tortue marine on bien avec des morceaux de corne ayant la forme d'un fer de lance. En même temps ils se mettent dans l'oreille du coton trempé dans de l'huile."—Moroudj-al-Dzeheb, &c., REINAUD, Mémoire sur l'Inde, p. 228.
Footnote 3773: [(return)]
Colonel WILSON says they compress the nose with horn, and close the ears with beeswax. See Memorandum on the Pearl Fisheries in Persian Gulf.—Journ. Geogr. Soc. 1833, vol. iii. p. 283.
Footnote 3781: [(return)]
RIBEYRO says that a diver could remain below whilst two credos were being repeated: "Il s'y tient l'espace de deux credo."—Lib. i. ch. xxii. p. 169. PERCIVAL says the usual time for them to be under water was two minutes, but that some divers stayed four or five, and one six minutes,—Ceylon p. 91; LE BECK says that in 1797 he saw a Caffre boy from Karical remain down for the space of seven minutes.—Asiat. Res vol. v. p. 402.
Footnote 3791: [(return)]
CORDINER'S Ceylon, vol. ii p. 52.
Footnote 3792: [(return)]
"Ils s'enduisaient les pieds et les jambes d'une substance noirâtre, atin de faire peur aux monstres marins, que, sans cela, seraient tentés de les dévorer."—Moroudj-al-Dzekeb, REINAUD, Mém. sur l'Inde, p. 228.
Footnote 3793: [(return)]
Along with this two plates are given from drawings made for the Official Inspector, and exhibiting the ascertained size of the pearl oyster at every period of its growth, from the "spat" to the mature shell. The young "brood" are shown at Nos. 1 and 2. The shell at four months old, No. 3, No. 4. six months, No. 5. one year, No. 6, two years. The second plate exhibits the shell at its full growth.
Footnote 3801: [(return)]
Report of Dr. KELAART, Oct. 1857.
Footnote 3811: [(return)]
Littorina lævis. Cerithium palustre. Of the latter the specimens brought to me were dwarfed and solid, exhibiting in this particular the usual peculiarities that distinguish (1) shells inhabiting a rocky locality from (2) their congeners in a sandy bottom. Their longitudinal development was less, with greater breadth, and increased strength and weight.
Footnote 3831: [(return)]
These sounds are thus described by Dr. BUIST in the Bombay Times of January 1847: "A party lately crossing from the promontory in Salsette called the 'Neat's Tongue,' to near Sewree, were, about sunset, struck by hearing long distinct sounds like the protracted booming of a distant bell, the dying cadence of an Æolian harp, the note of a pitchpipe or pitch-fork, or any other long-drawn-out musical note. It was, at first, supposed to be music from Parell floating at intervals on the breeze; then it was perceived to come from all directions, almost in equal strength, and to arise from the surface of the water all around the vessel. The boatmen at once intimated that the sounds were produced by fish, abounding in the muddy creeks and shoals around Bombay and Salsette; they were perfectly well known, and very often heard. Accordingly, on inclining the ear towards the surface of the water; or, better still, by placing it close to the planks of the vessel, the notes appeared loud and distinct, and followed each other in constant succession. The boatmen next day produced specimens of the fish—a creature closely resembling, in size and shape the fresh-water perch of the north of Europe—and spoke of them as plentiful and perfectly well known. It is hoped they may be procured alive, and the means afforded of determining how the musical sounds are produced and emitted, with other particulars of interest supposed new in Ichthyology. We shall be thankful to receive from our readers any information they can give us in regard to a phenomenon which does not appear to have been heretofore noticed, and which cannot fail to attract the attention of the naturalist. Of the perfect accuracy with which the singular facts above related have been given, no doubt will be entertained when it is mentioned that the writer was one of a party of five intelligent persons, by all of whom they were most carefully observed, and the impressions of all of whom in regard to them were uniform. It is supposed that the fish are confined to particular localities—shallows, estuaries, and muddy creeks, rarely visited by Europeans; and that this is the reason why hitherto no mention, so far as we know, has been made of the peculiarity in any work on Natural History."
This communication elicited one from Vizagapatam, relative to "musical sounds like the prolonged notes on the harp" heard to proceed from under water at that station. It appeared in the Bombay Times of Feb. 13, 1849.
Footnote 3841: [(return)]
The Cuckoo Gurnard (Triglia cuculus) and the maigre (Sciæna aquila) utter sounds when taken out of the water (YARRELL, vol. i. p. 44, 107); and herrings when the net has just been drawn have been observed to do the same. This effect has been attributed to the escape of air from the air bladder, but no air bladder has been found in the Cottus, which makes a similar noise.
Footnote 3842: [(return)]
The fishermen assert that a fish about five inches in length, found in the lake at Colombo, and called by them "magoora," makes a grunt when disturbed under water. PALLEGOIX, in his account of Siam, speaks of a fish resembling a sole, but of brilliant colouring with black spots, which the natives call the "dog's tongue," that attaches itself to the bottom of a boat, "et fait entendre un bruit très-sonore et même harmonieux."—Tom. i. p. 194. A Silurus, found in the Rio Parana, and called the "armado," is remarkable for making a harsh grating noise when caught by hook or line, which can be distinctly heard when the fish is beneath the water. DARWIN, Nat. Journ. ch. vii. Aristotle and Ælian were aware of the existence of this faculty in some of the fishes of the Mediterranean. ARISTOTLE, De Anim., lib. iv. ch. ix.; ÆLIAN, De Nat. Anim., lib. x. ch. xi.; see also PLINY, lib. ix. ch. vii.. lib. xi. ch. cxiii.; ATHENÆUS, lib. vii. ch. iii. vi. I have heard of sounds produced under water at Baltimore, and supposed to be produced by the "cat-fish;" and at Swan River in Australia, where they are ascribed to the "trumpeter." A similar noise heard in the Tagus is attributed by the Lisbon fishermen to the "Corvina"—but what fish is meant by that name, I am unable to tell.
Footnote 3851: [(return)]
AGASSIZ, Comparative Physiology, sec. ii. 158.
Footnote 3852: [(return)]
It consists of two round vesicles containing fluid, and crystalline or elliptical calcareous particles or otolites, remarkable for their oscillatory action in the living or recently killed animal. OWEN'S Lectures on the Comparative Anatomy and Physiology of the Invertebrate Animals, 1855, p. 511-552.
Footnote 3853: [(return)]
I am informed that Professor M&ÜLLER read a paper on "Musical fishes" before the Academy of Berlin, in 1856. It will probably be found in the volume of M&ÜLLER'S Archiv. für Physiologie for that year; but I have not had an opportunity of reading it.
Footnote 3854: [(return)]
Edinburgh Philosophical Journ., vol. xiv. p. 188. See also the Appendix to this chapter.
Footnote 3861: [(return)]
The letter which I received from Dr. Grant on this subject, I have placed in a note to the present chapter, in the hope that it may stimulate some other inquirer in Ceylon to prosecute the investigation which I was unable to carry out successfully.
Footnote 3881: [(return)]
Below will be found a general reference to the Works or Papers in which are given descriptive notices of the shells contained in the following list; the names of the authors (in full or abbreviated) being, as usual, annexed to each species.
ADAMS, Proceed. Zool. Soc. 1853, 54, 56; Thesaur. Conch. ALBERS, Zeitsch. Malakoz. 1853. ANTON, Wiegm. Arch. Nat. 1837; Verzeichn. Conch. BECK in Pfeiffer, Symbol. Helic. BENSON, Ann. Nat. Hist. vii. 1851; xii. 1853, xviii, 1856. BLAINVILLE, Dict. Sc. Nat.; Nouv. Ann. Mus. His. Nat. i. BOLTEN, Mus. BORN, Test. Mus. Cæcs. Vind. BRODERIP, Zool. Journ. i. iii. BRUGUIERE, Encyc. Méthod. Vers. CARPENTER, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1856. CHEMNITZ, Conch. Cab. CHENU, Illus. Conch. DESHAYES. Encyc. Méth. Vers.; Mag. Zool. 1831; Voy. Belanger; Edit. Lam. An. s. Vert.; Proceed. Zool. Soc. 1853, 54, 55. DILLWYN. Deser. Cat. Shells. DOHRN, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1857, 58; Malak. Blätter; Land and Fluviatile Shells of Ceylon. DUCLOS, Monog. of Oliva. FABRICIUS, in Pfeiffer Monog. Helic.; in Dohrn's MSS. FÉRUSSAC, Hist. Mollusques. FORSKAL, Anim. Orient. GMELIN, Syst. Nat. GRAY, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1834, 52; Index Testaceologicus Suppl.; Spicilegia Zool.; Zool. Journ. i.; Zool. Beechey Voy. GRATELOUP, Act. Linn. Bordeaux, xi. GUERIN, Rev. Zool. 1847. HANLEY, Thesaur. Conch, i.; Recent Bivalves; Proc. Zool. Soc. 1858. HINDS, Zool. Voy. Sulphur; Proc. Zool. Soc. HUTTON, Journ. As. Soc. KARSTEN, Mus. Lesk. KIENER, Coquilles Vivantes. KRAUSS, Sud-Afrik Mollusk. LAMARCK, An. sans Vertéb. LAYARD, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1854. LEA, Proceed. Zool. Soc. 1850. LINNÆUS, Syst. Nat. MARTINI, Conch. Cab. MAWE. Introd. Linn. Conch.; Index Test. Suppl. MEUSCHEN, in Gronor. Zoophylac. MENKE, Synop. Mollus. MULLER, Hist. Verm. Terrest. PETIT, Pro. Zool. Soc. 1842. PFEIFFER, Monog. Helic.: Monog. Pneumon.; Proceed. Zool. Soc. 1852, 53, 54, 55. 56; Zeitschr. Malacoz. 1853. PHILIPPI, Zeitsch. Mal. 1846, 47: Abbild. Neuer Conch. POTIEZ et MICHAUD. Galeric Douai. RANG, Mag. Zool. ser. i. p. 100. RÉCLUZ, Proceed. Zool. Soc. 1845; Revue Zool. Cur. 1841: Mag. Conch. REEVE, Conch. Icon.; Proc. Zool. Soc: 1842, 52. SCHUMACHER. Syst. SHUTTLEWORTH. SOLANDER. in Dillwyn's Desc. Cat. Shells; SOWERBY, Genera Shells; Species Conch.; Conch. Misc.; Thesaur. Conch.; Conch. Illus.; Proc. Zool. Soc.; App. to Tankerrille Cat. SPENGLER, Skrivt. Nat. Selsk. Kiobenhav. 1792. SWAINSON, Zool. Illust. ser. ii. TEMPLETON, Ann. Nat. Hist. 1858. TROSCHEL, in Pfeiffer, Mon. Pneum; Zeitschr. Malak. 1847; Wiegm. Arch. Nat. 1837. WOOD, General Conch.
Footnote 3891: [(return)]
A. dichotomum, Chenu.
Footnote 3892: [(return)]
Fistulana gregata, Lam.
Footnote 3893: [(return)]
Blainvillea, Hupé.
Footnote 3894: [(return)]
Latraria tellinoides, Lam.
Footnote 3895: [(return)]
I have also seen M. hians of Philippi in a Ceylon collection.
Footnote 3896: [(return)]
M. Taprobanensis, Index Test. Suppl.
Footnote 3897: [(return)]
Psammotella Skinneri, Reeve.
Footnote 3901: [(return)]
P. cærulesens, Lam.
Footnote 3902: [(return)]
Sanguinolaria rugosa, Lam.
Footnote 3903: [(return)]
T. striatula of Lamarck is also supposed to be indigenous to Ceylon.
Footnote 3904: [(return)]
T. rostrata, Lam.
Footnote 3905: [(return)]
L. divaricata is found, also, in mixed Ceylon collections.
Footnote 3906: [(return)]
C. dispar of Chemnitz is occasionally found in Ceylon collections.
Footnote 3907: [(return)]
C. impudica. Lam.
Footnote 3908: [(return)]
As Donax.
Footnote 3909: [(return)]
V. corbis, Lam.
Footnote 39010: [(return)]
As Tapes.
Footnote 39011: [(return)]
V. textile, Lam.
Footnote 39012: [(return)]
?Arca Helblingii, Chemn.
Footnote 39013: [(return)]
Mr. Cuming informs me that he has forwarded no less than six distinct Uniones from Ceylon to Isaac Lea, of Philadelphia, for determination or description.
Footnote 39014: [(return)]
M. smaragdinus, Chemn.
Footnote 39015: [(return)]
As Avicula.
Footnote 39016: [(return)]
The specimens are not in a fitting state for positive determination. They are strong, extremely narrow, with the beak of the lower valve much produced, and the inner edge of the upper valve denticulated throughout. The muscular impressions are dusky brown.
Footnote 3911: [(return)]
As Anomia.
Footnote 3912: [(return)]
The fissurata of Humphreys and Dacosta, pl. 4.—E. rubra, Lamarck.
Footnote 3913: [(return)]
B. Ceylanica, Brug.
Footnote 3914: [(return)]
P. Tennentii. "Greyish brown, with longitudinal rows of rufous spots, forming interrupted bands along the sides. A singularly handsome species, having similar habits to Limax. Found in the valleys of the Kalany Ganga, near Ruanwellé."—Templeton MSS.
Footnote 3915: [(return)]
Not far from bistrialis and Ceylanica. The manuscript species of Mr. Dohrn will shortly appear in his intended work upon the land and fluviatile shells of Ceylon.
Footnote 3916: [(return)]
As Ellobium.
Footnote 3917: [(return)]
As Melampus.
Footnote 3918: [(return)]
As Ophicardelis.
Footnote 3921: [(return)]
M. fasciolata, Olivier.
Footnote 3922: [(return)]
These four species are included on the authority of Mr. Dohrn.
Footnote 3923: [(return)]
N. exuvia, Lam. not Linn.
Footnote 3931: [(return)]
Conch. Cab. f. 1926-7, and N. melanostoma, Lam. in part.
Footnote 3932: [(return)]
Chemn. Conch. Cab. 1892-3.
Footnote 3933: [(return)]
N. glauciua, Lam. not Linn.
Footnote 3934: [(return)]
A species (possibly Javanicus) is known to have been collected. I have not seen it.
Footnote 3935: [(return)]
Not of Lamarck. D. atrata. Reeve.
Footnote 3936: [(return)]
Philippia L.
Footnote 3937: [(return)]
Zeit. Mal. 1846 for T. argyrostoma, Lam. not Linn.
Footnote 3938: [(return)]
Buccinum pyramidatum, Gm. in part: B. sulcatum, var. C. of Brug.
Footnote 3939: [(return)]
Teste Cuming.
Footnote 39310: [(return)]
As Delphinulat.
Footnote 39311: [(return)]
Ed. Lam. Anim. s. Vert.
Footnote 39312: [(return)]
P. papyracea, Lam. In mixed collections I have seen the Chinese P. bezoar of Lamarck as from Ceylon.
Footnote 39313: [(return)]
P. vespertilio, Gm.
Footnote 39314: [(return)]
R. albivaricosa, Reeve.
Footnote 39315: [(return)]
M. anguliferus var. Lam.
Footnote 39316: [(return)]
T. cynocephalus of Lamarck is also met with in Ceylon collections.
Footnote 39317: [(return)]
S. incisus of the Index Testaceologicus (urceus, var. Sow. Thesaur.) is found in mixed Ceylon collections.
Footnote 3941: [(return)]
C. plicaria of Lamarck, and C. coronulata of Sowerby, are also said to be found in Ceylon.
Footnote 3942: [(return)]
As Purpura.
Footnote 3943: [(return)]
N. suturalis, Reeve (as of Lam.), is met with in mixed Ceylon collections.
Footnote 3944: [(return)]
E. areolata, Lam.
Footnote 3945: [(return)]
E. spirata, Lam. not Linn.
Footnote 3946: [(return)]
B. Belangeri, Kiener.
Footnote 3947: [(return)]
As Turricula L.
Footnote 3948: [(return)]
O. utriculus, Dillwyn.
Footnote 3949: [(return)]
C. planorbis, Born; C. vulpinus, Lam.
Footnote 39410: [(return)]
Conus ermineus, Born, in part.
Footnote 3951: [(return)]
Actinia, 9 sp.; Anthea, 4 sp.; Actinodendron, 3 sp.; Dioscosoma, 1 sp.; Peechea, 1 sp.; Zoanthura, 1 sp.
Footnote 3961: [(return)]
Asterias, Linn.
Footnote 3962: [(return)]
Pentaceros?
Footnote 3971: [(return)]
Footnote 1: In DE BRY'S, Collect, vol. i. p. 49.
Footnote 3981: [(return)]
JOHN HUIGHEN VAN LINSCHOTEN his Discours of Voyages into the Easte and West Indies. London, 1599, p, 16.
Footnote 3982: [(return)]
OWEN'S Lectures on the Invertebrata, p. 96.
Footnote 3983: [(return)]
"A curious species, which is of a light brown above, white underneath; very broad and thin, and has a peculiarly shaped tail, half-moon-shaped in fact, like a grocer's cheese knife."
Footnote 3984: [(return)]
Jelly-fish.
Footnote 4001: [(return)]
The late Dr. BUIST, of Bombay, in commenting on this statement, writes to the Athenæum that: "The red colour with which the sea is tinged, round the shores of Ceylon, during a part of the S.W. monsoon is due to the Proto-coccus nivalis, or the Himatta-coccus, which presents different colours at different periods of the year—giving us the seas of milk as well as those of blood. The coloured water at times is to be seen all along the coast north to Kurrachee, and far out, and of a much more intense tint in the Arabian Sea. The frequency of its appearance in the Red Sea has conferred on it its name."