Before quitting the Mauritius, in August 1838, I had written to the
Secretary of State for the Colonies, reporting my intention to proceed to
the Swan River, and then, as circumstances might guide me, either to
return from thence at once to the north-west coast, or, should that not
be feasible, to await further instructions from England; adding that, in
the latter event, I should attempt in the meantime to pass the range to
the north-east of the Swan, and endeavour to ascertain in what direction
the streams thrown off from this range towards the interior might flow.
I have already stated the incidents that prevented me from following out
the first of these plans, as well as those which led me to adopt the
project of the voyage to Shark Bay in lieu of an inland journey such as
the second; and now that this last expedition was brought to a close I
had yet to await, for some time, the answer to my communication from the
Mauritius, which was to guide my future proceedings. The interval between
my return to Perth and the period at which a reply might be expected
appeared too short to allow of my carrying out any comprehensive plan of
exploration, and I therefore resolved to employ it in endeavouring to
extend my knowledge of the native character and language, as well as of
the general position and prospects of the colony.
At this time, the death of Sir Robert Spencer, the Government Resident at
King George's Sound, having caused a vacancy in that appointment, I was
induced, at the offer of Mr. Hutt, to assume the temporary duties, with a
two-fold desire of rendering what public services I could during my
unavoidable period of inaction in the country, as well as of enlarging my
opportunities of observation on the aboriginal race.
In these occupations I remained, until the receipt of a reply from the
Secretary of State, which, after speaking in terms of flattering
approbation of my past exertions, notified that, for the present, Her
Majesty's Ministers did not think it desirable that the researches in the
north-west should be prosecuted further.
PREPARE TO RETURN TO ENGLAND.
On the receipt of this I made preparations for returning to England, but,
no favourable opportunity offering from the western settlements, as soon
as I was relieved from my duties as Resident, I embarked for South
Australia in the hope of obtaining from thence a more speedy passage than
the other colony seemed likely to afford.
After a short stay at Adelaide I finally sailed for England on the 11th
April 1840, and reached this country in September following.
NATURAL HISTORY.
The leisure of the voyage afforded me the means of making some additions
to my former observations on the Natural History of the seas we
traversed, the chief results of which will be briefly given in this
chapter, together with some casual observations which I was enabled to
make on the Geology of St. Helena in consequence of the vessel touching
there.
June 2 1840. At sea: south latitude 20 degrees 0 minutes; east longitude
58 degrees 47 minutes 15 seconds.
I caught a species of shrimp (Penaeus) of a delicate prussian blue
colour, which was more brilliant at the extremities, and gradually paled
towards the centre of the animal. There was not the slightest shade of
any other colour about it, but it turned pink in some places directly it
was put into spirits; it had four anterior and four posterior legs on
each side.
Total length 1.45 inches.
Length of apparatus on head 0.17 inches.
Length of tail 0.25 inches.
Head and connected apparatus 0.52 inches.
Tail and body to commencement of first ring 0.48 inches.
June 13. South latitude 27 degrees 4 minutes; east longitude 47 degrees
38 minutes 15 seconds.
A species of animal (Alima hyalina ?) was caught resembling a scorpion,
having six legs, three on each side; the first pair of legs were provided
with claws, like a lobster; its tail exactly resembled that of a
scorpion; the sac or bag near the extremity of the tail was of a light
red colour, and it tried to strike with its tail, as if for the purpose
of stinging. Eyes pale blue, and prominent; body nearly diaphanous, with
pale red spots.
Total length 0.33 inches.
Length of body 0.20 inches.
Breadth across from eye to eye 0.13 inches.
Breadth of body 0.14 inches.
Several of the animals which I supposed to be the Velella of Lamarck, and
some of which had been caught on the 11th of November 1837 were also
found today. Caught also a species of animal which I had found on October
22 1837, in south latitude 37 degrees 44; east longitude 38 minutes; and
again on November 12 1837, in south latitude 30 degrees 11 minutes; east
longitude 100 degrees 31 minutes 30 seconds. It resembles in shape and
size a large grape.
Extreme length 0.5 inches.
Breadth 0.45 inches.
Total circumference round broadest part 1.30 inches.
Colour brownish blue; but there were round it twenty very narrow brownish
yellow stripes, equidistant from each other, and not quite reaching
either extremity of the animal.
June 16. South latitude 28 degrees 46 minutes; east longitude 42 degrees
3 minutes.
We caught an animal this afternoon somewhat resembling a shrimp
(Erichthus vitreus)* covered with a shield: we had caught a similar one
on the 12th of November 1837. From measurements taken from the living
animal the dimensions were:
Length from tip of tail to tip of spine, in front of head 1.15 inches.
Ditto of spine 0.23 inches.
Ditto from tip of tail to bottom of last scale 0.2 inches.
Ditto from tip of spear to end of shield 0.7 inches.
The temperature of the water at 6 P.M. was 71 degrees Fahrenheit; of the
air 74 degrees.
(*Footnote. See Illustration 8 volume 1.)
The shield was perfectly air-coloured and diaphanous, and extended for
some distance beyond the head and the upper parts of the body; the body
itself was of a pale delicate blue, and it threw a very light bluish
tinge upon the shield; the eyes were jet black, and placed at the end of
a tube like those of the lobster; the tip of the spear was of a light red
colour. Caught also this day the lower portion of a species of Diphyes,
the same I had found on the 13th of November 1837 in south latitude 30
degrees 7; east longitude 100 degrees 50 minutes 10 seconds. The total
length of this was 0.5 inches.
Caught also two minute animals resembling a species of shrimp (Penaeus);
colour of both pale blue. The tail of the largest when examined in a
microscope precisely resembled in appearance the fin of a fish. I did not
examine the smaller one. Dimensions of the largest:
Total length 0.2 inches.
Length of feelers 0.15 inches.
Of smallest:
Total length 0.13 inches.
When put into eau-de-cologne these animals changed to a pink colour.
June 17. South latitude 29 degrees 19 minutes; east longitude 40 degrees
19 minutes.
Caught a specimen of Glaucus.
Total length 0.35 inches.
Colour down the back deep indigo blue; stomach bluish white; sides bluish
white (silvery) like a frog; tail tapering to a point; its head resembled
that of a frog, and when out of the water it sat on its tentaculae, and
raised its head and the fore part of its body, moving its head (a) from
side to side; the tentaculae were all so delicate that they fell off, it
had apparently eight on each extremity; it belonged to the same family as
the animal I caught on the 14th of November 1837, in south latitude 29
degrees 26 minutes; east longitude 101 degrees 32 minutes.*
(*Footnote. See Illustration 10 volume 1.)
June 23. South latitude 32 degrees 53 minutes; east longitude 29 degrees
45 minutes 15 seconds.
We for the first time saw Cape Pigeons and the Albatross.
June 27. ) South latitude 35 degrees 41 minutes; east longitude 25
degrees 13 minutes 20.
June 28. ) South latitude 35 degrees 15 minutes; east longitude 23
degrees 26 minutes.
Upon these two days we were in a rapid current, which we entered on the
morning of the 27th, and on neither could we see the slightest signs of
any of the acalepha class; but on the 29th, on which day we experienced
no current, we found the greatest abundance of these animals; it appeared
as if they had collected in large quantities at the edges of the current;
and on the western side of it we found many animals which I had not seen
on the opposite one.
June 29. South latitude 35 degrees 31 minutes; east longitude 22 degrees
20 minutes 30 seconds.
The specimens caught were a minute fish, 0.35 inch in length; colour,
back and upper half of sides, deep indigo; belly and lower half of sides,
silver colour. Also two sorts of barnacles (Anatifa) which I got near the
side of the vessel.
We caught today a great number of the animals (Glaucus) I have mentioned
above as having been taken on the 17th of June, as well as on other
occasions. I observed these animals in the water, and found that their
long silk-like antennae had, when uninjured, a length of five or six
inches; they swim with the rounded part first, and the long antennae
trailing after them like tails; the progressive motion is produced by
introducing water into certain sacs, or cavities, and expelling it by a
contraction of the muscles with great violence. I observed their motions
from a boat at first, and afterwards when they were in a glass of water.
I counted the number of times they expelled water in a given time when
swimming, and found the mean of several observations by a chronometer to
give ten strokes in twelve and a half seconds.
We caught again many little animals which I had found on the 15th of
October 1837; south latitude 37 degrees 28 minutes, east longitude 21
degrees 19 minutes; they were shaped like an octagonal crystal,
terminating in a point, containing a brilliant blue colouring matter,
they were about 0.4 inches in length, and were, when undisturbed,
arranged in long strings, only the length of a single animal in
thickness, and of the breadth of two of them abreast; they swam with the
blue-pointed ends downwards, which then looked at a distance like the
legs of a caterpillar, and the long string somewhat resembled a long
gelatinous band in appearance as it passed through the water; but
directly it was touched the animals separated themselves from one
another. These strings were sometimes seen several feet in length.
We caught large quantities of these animals at one time, and found:
The temperature of the water 65 degrees Fahrenheit.
The temperature of the air 75 degrees Fahrenheit.
The temperature of the animals 66 degrees Fahrenheit.
We caught also a fish (Orthogariscus) which the seamen called a
devil-fish.
The length of it was 6 feet 2 inches.
Breadth from fin to fin 3 feet 6 inches.
Length from tip of nose to pectoral fin 2 feet.
Thickness through the breast 1 foot 6 inches.
This fish was infested about its nose with a kind of parasite (Lernaea)
having two long thin tails. The sailors stated that these animals
frequently cause large sores about the nose of the fish, and that when
suffering from this, it will allow the sea-birds to sit on it, and peck
away at the affected part. The habit of the fish is to swim during calms
with one of the hind fins out of water, and it is then harpooned from a
boat. I have myself seen petrels perched upon them; and directly one of
these fish was hoisted on board the sailors looked for the parasites and
found them. Their dimensions were:
Total length 1.0 inch.
Length of tails 0.57 inches.
Ditto of fore part of body 0.25 inches.
Ditto of hind part of body 0.15 inches.
Breadth across body 0.25 inches.
They were covered with a transparent shell, marked with grey spots and
lines; the hind part of the body, near the tail, being darker than the
fore part, as though the intestines were seated there. These little
creatures adhered strongly to any substance that they were laid on, and
caused an irritating feeling to the skin if placed on it; they swam with
great rapidity when put into seawater, and in their movements in swimming
much resembled a tadpole; their tails were merely long transparent
fibres.
We caught also several transparent bodies, shaped like a balloon (Beroe
?) These consisted merely of a sac. At the flat end of the spheroid was a
small ring of a pink colour, from which ran lines forming the ribs, which
supported the sides of the animal. There were eight of these: they
possessed great irritability, and if the animal was at all injured, a
rapid and continued motion was propagated all along them. Some of these
animals were between two and three inches in length, but they were so
delicate that it was impossible to examine them, for they fell to pieces
directly they were touched. Only one of these ribs was, at times,
affected at the same moment, so that they appeared each to be capable of
an independent movement.
We caught also many small insects, and some shrimp-like animals.
The sea was full of some things resembling hairs, but which broke the
moment they were touched.
On this evening we placed a large number of acalepha in a bucket, and on
agitating the water it became a mass of phosphorescent light. It is
strange that these animals should never emit this light without being
irritated.
July 1. South latitude 35 degrees 51 minutes; east longitude 18 degrees
56 minutes; average temperature of water, 65 degrees.
This day many specimens of different kinds were taken; and amongst them a
shellfish (Hyalea) the same as that caught on the 13th November 1837, in
south latitude 30 degrees 7 minutes; east longitude 100 degrees 50
minutes 10 seconds. This fish today put out the apparatus with which it
swam. It consisted of two broad transparent wings, shaped like the first
pair of wings of a butterfly, and which it moved in a precisely similar
manner. Its shell was of a delicate pale transparent brown colour, with a
jet black spot in the centre. (See Illustration 6 volume 1 Figure 1.) We
also caught an animal of a precisely similar form and colour with this,
but which was not provided with a shell.
The other specimens were:
1. A shell (Janthina)* the same as was caught on November 14 1837, and on
several other occasions, with its swimming apparatus attached.
(*Footnote. The corresponding figure, Illustration 9 volume 1, should
have been inverted.)
2. Several of the small shells which resemble belemnites (Creseis) which
were first taken on the 14th November 1837. I this day preserved one of
these with its swimming apparatus expanded.
3. An animal without a shell, which had a sort of transparent horny
covering, and when alarmed and not in motion folded itself up.
4. A tube 3.2 inches in length, perfectly transparent, and swelling out
to a little knob at each extremity; but these knobs were of the same
colour as the body.
5. Some delicate white shells (Atalanta) or very hard gelatinous animals,
0.2 inches in length, 0.2 wide, and 0.15 thick; they had three ridges of
short spines on them, one down each edge, and one ridge running down the
centre of the shell or back.
6. Some perfectly spherical transparent bodies, 0.18 inches in diameter;
these neither moved nor showed any signs of life when placed in salt
water, but another animal, exactly resembling them in shape and colour,
with the exception of having some light brown spots on it, unrolled
itself like a wood-louse, and then swam nimbly about. They all turned as
white as eggs soon after they were put into spirits.
We caught also several species of an animal with two tentaculae, which
had been also taken on the 17th June, some of these were very large and
beautiful, being of the most delicate amber colour.
Also many different sorts of medusa, particularly tubes of about 0.5
inches in length, with an apparatus shaped like a proboscis at one
extremity of it. These I have not attempted to describe. In general the
animals we caught this day differed altogether from those we had hitherto
found during this voyage. Some few were the same, but the great majority
were new.
Many of the medusae and small gelatinous animals must be endowed with
very acute sensibilities and perceptions, for they evinced extreme
timidity if any substance approached them, and when plunged alive into
spirits, their rapid movements and violent contortions repeatedly
indicated acute pain; indeed so clearly that on this point there could be
no mistake.
A mass of gelatinous animals, caught this day, gave out a slight electric
shock. Some of them were shaped like the portions of an orange, and they
evidently were formed to fit into one another in the manner in which they
were found, although they separated directly they were touched.
July 2. South latitude 35 degrees 58 minutes; east longitude 17 degrees
54 minutes.
This day the ship went so fast that we could not catch anything. The
acalephae were not so numerous as they had been further to the north, but
we saw more and larger medusae than I had ever before remarked. It indeed
appeared as if the acalephae diminished and the medusae increased in
number after passing the 36th degree of south latitude.
July 12. ) South latitude 23 degrees 2 minutes; east longitude 0 degrees
26 minutes 45 seconds.
July 13. ) South latitude 21 degrees 55 minutes; west longitude 0 degrees
44 minutes.
The vessel went slowly through the water, but although the net was kept
towing we could catch nothing, and there was no appearance of anything
being in the sea.
July 14. South latitude 20 degrees 52 minutes; west longitude 1 degree 49
minutes.
This day we caught a Velella of the following dimensions:
Length of interior cartilage 1.1 inches.
Breadth of interior cartilage 0.5 inches.
Total length of blue base 1.7 inches.
Breadth of blue base 1.0 inches.
Height of centre of crest 0.5 inches.
Rim round crest, in breadth 0.55 inches.
This animal differed from those caught on the 11th November 1837, in the
following particulars: It was much larger. The base of the animal
consisted of two parts. The centre portion was an elliptically-formed
cartilage, elevated in the centre, and marked with eighteen concentric
striae, which became thinner and thinner as they approached the centre.
No striae were visible on the elevated crest with which the animal swims,
but this crest was furnished or fringed with a thin moveable flap, 0.55
inches in breadth, which ran quite round it. The animal has the power of
flapping this to and fro constantly, as a fish does its tail.
The outer portion of the base was of a pale prussian blue colour,
increasing in depth of shade both to the outer and inner edges. Many
minute black spots were dotted all over this. The underside of the outer
base was of a very dark prussian blue colour, and its lower interior edge
was furnished with rows of blue tentaculae, which the animal uses as an
elephant does its trunk. The whole interior surface of the oval cartilage
is furnished with successive rows of white tentaculae, and in the centre
is a long thin white tube, apparently its mouth.
These animals always swim in company. You see a number together, varying
from four or five to twenty or thirty; these are all within a few feet of
one another, and you may then pass over several miles and not see any
more.
They produce countless numbers of little eggs, of a pale brown colour;
these are apparently deposited from the interior white tentaculae, and
cannot be estimated they are so numerous.
We also caught a minute fish, 0.6 inches in length; a minute species of
nautilus, blue, marked with striae, or grooved, and thus different from
what we caught on the 15th; a shrimp-like species of animal 0.5 inches in
length; the lower part of a species of Diphyes, which had been caught on
the 12th and 13th of November 1837; some minute animals, appearing to be
the young of the larger species of Velella which we had taken; they were,
like this animal, at first blue, but turned red soon after being put into
spirits; also a very minute pale blue species of nautilus, I think the
young of the kind we caught on the 15th July.
Caught a number of gelatinous animals, differing however apparently in
species from any we had found before. Some were of the family of
crystal-shaped animals with blue spots, so often mentioned in this
journal; also several animals of the family figured June 17th, but which
differed from them in the colour of their spots. We caught today a
Portuguese man of war (Physalis) of a very different species from those
which we had taken in the Indian ocean. This one had a much larger sac,
or float, than the others, and the float was furnished with a crest.
July 15. South latitude 20 degrees 20 minutes; west longitude 2 degrees
17 minutes.
The same animals mentioned in the last paragraph of July 14th were again
caught this day. A great number of the Velella were also taken.
Caught a small fish:
Length 1.2 inches.
Breadth over roundest part 0.48 inches.
For a particular description, and figure of a finer specimen, see below.
The mouth and eyes of this fish were placed in a curious manner. Its food
appeared to be the same as that of the other fish taken this day.
Caught two curious little crabs (Nautilograpsus) one pale blue, and the
other of a pale pink colour: also, another little pale blue crab:
Length of antennae 0.15 inches.
Length of body 0.34 inches.
Breadth of ditto 0.12 inches.
Caught a small animal shaped like a wood-louse (Cymothoa) having nine
rings apparent on the back, and I think seven legs on each side, also, a
tail-like fin on each side, which, when closed under its belly, formed a
sort of shield for the lower part of the abdomen. Antennae, transparent
with pale brown tips, and a few pale brown spots in them, colour pale
blue down centre of the back, dark prussian blue on each side. It had the
power of rolling itself up nearly double; in the same manner as a
wood-louse, but not quite so close; eyes distinct and prominent. It lived
a long time out of water, and appeared to me exactly like an animal I
caught on the 21st November 1837, in south latitude 24 degrees 19
minutes; east longitude 107 degrees 8 minutes.
We also this day caught a Janthina. They have a little valve for the
purpose of taking in air, with which to expand their float. These animals
go in company. They emit when touched a brilliant scarlet dye. A similar
animal caught on the 20th November 1837, in south latitude 25 degrees 12
minutes; east longitude 106 degrees 49 minutes, emitted a violet-coloured
dye. The emission of this evidently depends upon their being irritated,
as I found by many experiments.
The method in which this animal fills its float is curious, it throws it
back, and gradually lifts the lip of the valve out of water, until the
valve stands vertical, it then closes the valve tightly round a globule
of air, around which it folds, by means of the most complex and delicate
machinery. The valve is then bent over until it touches the edge of the
float nearest the head, and when it is in this position, the portion of
it which is inflated with air looks like a bladder, the air gradually is
expelled into the float, and as this process takes place the bladder in
the valve diminishes, and the valve becomes by degrees like a lip pushed
forwards until it lies flat on the float. The valve is composed of two
portions, a cup and a lip. The time occupied from first removing the
valve from the float, until the inflation, and the expulsion of air into
the float being completed, so that the valve begins to move again, is 61
seconds, from the mean of several experiments.
These animals have also the power of compressing the valve into a hollow
tube, which they elevate above the water like a funnel, and draw down air
through it.
The colouring matter which they emit has no stinging, electric or
deleterious properties whatever, that I could discover. I found that when
this colouring matter was mixed with water, it became of a deep blue. In
those which I caught in November 1837, I may have been deceived, and the
colouring matter might also possibly have been scarlet directly it was
emitted. It is difficult to conceive what use this liquid can be to the
fish against its foes, yet it certainly uses it as a means of defence.
To one of these shells, the fish in which was alive and well, we found
attached a number of barnacles, some of which were of large size.
This sort of Janthina was very abundant; today we caught eight, and saw
great numbers of them: yesterday we caught a smaller one of a different
species. (Janthina exigua.)
This kind of Janthina is attached to its float by a sort of peduncle,
which it has the power of elongating, so that the fish itself sinks, with
its shell, and yet remains attached to the float, which continues at the
surface. In one instance, I saw this peduncle elongated to a length of
0.9 inches. It may, of course, have the power of sinking itself much
lower than I have seen it do. When it is in this state, the apparatus
with which it fills the float remains behind the peduncle in a state of
perfect quiescence.
The scarlet fluid emitted by this animal is of such a consistency that it
can be drawn away from it out of the water, like a glutinous thread.
A part of the animal requires attention, it is composed of an outer cup,
or circular lip, which it has the power of contracting or expanding in
the same manner as the valve; and when opened out like a cup, an orifice
can be seen at the bottom of it. It can also expand, and make broad the
arm; and it then appears to use them as sails.
This species of Janthina, I afterwards found, has the power of in some
manner taking in by suction a quantity of water, which it can suddenly
expel again with great violence, sending it out as if from a squirt.
We caught, also, an extraordinary fish this day. Its mouth has the
appearance of being situated on its back; a fin, 0.4 inches in length,
projected directly out from one side of the fish, and there was every
appearance of a perfectly similar one having been torn from the other
side; a hard horny membrane projected from underneath the stomach of the
animal, being apparently a sort of fin.
Its colour was of a silvery metallic lustre, having in parts a burnished
appearance, except where it is shaded (see Illustration 5 and below) and
then it was of a dark green colour; the tail was perfectly transparent,
except just where it joined the body, and there, where the shaded line
is, it was dark green.
This fish was swimming about, apparently preying on the tentaculae of the
barnacles, of which there were numbers round the ship attached to the
dead Velella, some of which I had caught yesterday; it appears therefore
probable that its mouth was placed in so extraordinary a position to
enable it to seize this pendant prey.
We caught this day a number of Velella, which are furnished with crests;
some of them were dead, and nearly always when such was the case we found
a species of barnacle attached in great numbers to them. When these
animals had only recently died, so that the whole of their blue base had
not been detached from them, the barnacles were generally very minute, so
that the naked eye could only just detect them, and there were no large
barnacles on the same fish: now, how did the minute ones get there? As
the barnacles grew larger, the remains of the velella changed into large
excrescences, half the size of a walnut.
We caught also several little animals, all of the same species, which
swam about on the surface of the water with the greatest rapidity,
performing the same kind of evolutions that we see in a little black and
white insect (Gyrinus) which swims on the top of tranquil pools in
England.
July 16.
This day a curious animal was caught, perfectly diaphanous; total length
0.8 inch; length of third leg, 0.4 inch; this was provided with a claw
like a crab; head shaped like a grasshopper, 0.2 inch in length, and
placed like the head of a grasshopper, at right angles to the body; eyes
black and prominent, apparently four, two on each side; first and second
legs of nearly the same length; the third leg nearly double the length of
either of the others; five on each side. The top of the head is divided
into two prominent knobs, one on each side, which, viewed through a
microscope, appear to be minutely reticulated.
The animal may be considered as consisting of four portions: the head;
the upper part of the body, 0.18 inch in length, and divided into five
rings; the lower part, consisting of one shield-like portion, 0.12 inch
in length, the body at the lower portions of this decreases almost to the
thickness of a thread; the tail, 0.3 inch in length, and divided into
three shield-like pieces, laid one over the other as in the shrimp
(imbricated); at the lower extremity of each of these scales there is on
each side a fin-like leg, in addition to those above-mentioned. Breadth
of the animal across its head, 0.2 inch, and this was the broadest part
of it. It lived for some time out of water, and even when put into
spirits, it swam in an extraordinary manner, falling head over heels
every time, which motion it accomplished by swimming on its back and
making rapid strokes with the fin-like legs with which it is provided
behind.
We also caught today several little crabs and barnacles. I kept one
specimen, to show old and young barnacles attached to the same Velella.
The sea was, this morning, covered in places with fleets of the Velella
of Lamarck; also with great numbers of the species of Janthina which I
described yesterday; to both of these kinds of animals large clusters of
barnacles were frequently attached. These barnacles preyed on the
different gelatinous animals which were swimming about. It was curious to
see them seize on these with their hooked tentaculae and draw them in,
whilst the acalepha, or gelatinous animal, contracted and dilated itself
with all its might and main, endeavouring to escape. We saw two or three
times very large shoals of porpoises ahead of us, and when we reached the
spot where they had been we found the sea quite cleared of the animals
with which it was covered in other places, so that we imagined the
porpoises must have been feeding on them. We saw also a whale and a shark
today.
Although these little floating animals were so numerous there were but
very few of the gelatinous species to be seen, and they were chiefly of
the larger sorts. I saw one of the species (Glaucus) of which I have
given a sketch, on the 17th of June. Like all the animals of this species
which we caught to the westward of the Cape it had a red intestinal spot
in it; but excepting in its great size it differed in no respect from the
others which I had seen: this one was at least a foot in length.
A number of black minute animals were caught, which, at a rapid glance,
looked not unlike fleas with long feelers or antennae.
We caught also this day an animal (Salpa) which consisted of a gelatinous
transparent bag, having an orifice provided with a valve that opened and
closed the orifice at pleasure; there was no other opening to the sac
that I could discover; I passed the end of a pencil down it, but although
it passed readily through the valve it could not at first pass through
the bottom of the gelatinous sac; but I afterwards found that this was an
error, and that the pencil could be passed right through the body of the
animal, which was provided with a valve at each end. I found also that
the united animals had the power of swimming with either end foremost.
There was an intestinal tube in the animal of a dark reddish brown
colour. This animal appeared to exist very badly alone, fourteen of them
were always found united together by a plane; they then formed a mass
shaped like half an orange and having a cup at its upper surface; the
intestinal canals, when they are in this position, are all brought near
to one another, and the whole mass looks not unlike a flower; they are
united to one another by so thick a fluid that it is very difficult to
separate them. If one or more are torn away from the mass the outside
ones immediately join together and form a united mass again, of the
original shape. They open the orifices at different times: that is, two
or three open theirs at the moment that some of the others are closing,
so that no regular or simultaneous movement takes place between the
different animals. This irregular movement of the animals gives to the
whole body an irregular rotatory motion; but when one is separated from
the others it can only drive itself round and round upon its own centre,
and has not the faculty of propelling itself as the other acalepha have.
They also swim with either end foremost, in the manner the other acalepha
do.
We saw also some animals of this class, and nearly as large as the ones I
have just described, but they differed in their form and mode of
attachment, and joined themselves in long strings, two deep, so as to
look like gelatinous snakes. I have before described animals of this
class with blue spots. I think that a good mode of classifying these
animals would be from their form of arrangement when united.
July 17. South latitude 19 degrees 47 minutes; west longitude 3 degrees 5
minutes 30 seconds.
Found a small animal (Cymothoa) like a wood-louse, similar to the one we
caught on the 15th of this month and to another taken on the 21st of
November 1837. It had seven legs on each side, besides the five which
when taken out of the water it folded over its abdomen; the colour the
same as before described.
Length 0.52 inch.
Width over broadest part 0.2 inch.
Length of antennae 0.2 inch.
Illustration 4, exactly the size of life, gives a good idea of it. It
lived out of the water for two or three hours and did not die until put
into spirits; it ran about on the table as well as it swam in the water,
so that it was evidently amphibious. It swam about from a dead shell of
the Velella, to a nautilus, and from that again to some barnacles; each
shell that it reached it climbed up, and folding up its fins ran all over
it, so that it appeared like a little navigator which was roving from
island to island in the ocean, seeking food and nourishment from all of
them. Are not the ways of nature very wonderful? This little animal was
at least 500 miles from any land, as we term it, yet it was surrounded by
sunny islands, teeming for it with the most delicious food, and where it
either basked in the warm daylight, or shaded itself in some oozy recess,
as seemed most pleasant to it.
When walking on these substances it used its antennae exactly as insects
do, and showed an extraordinary degree of susceptibility when touched. I
do not know that I have ever seen an animal which more decidedly evinced
an acute sense of feeling and dread of pain.
The animal here described belongs equally to the Indian and Atlantic
Oceans, and appears, as far as my experience goes, never to venture to
the south of 25 degrees south latitude. This is now the third species of
animals which I have found to be common to the Atlantic and Indian
Oceans, and which never venture beyond the warmer latitudes.
The question is how they got round the Cape of Good Hope, or Cape Horn?
Might we not hence infer that there was a time when the continent of
Africa did not exist? and might not this argument be much extended? It
could be combated by none of those causes which are advanced relative to
the distribution of species on land; for,
1. The temperature of the water in southern latitudes is very cold at all
seasons of the year.
2. These animals are extremely susceptible of all changes of temperature.
3. They have no means of warming themselves by exercise or motion.
4. The species of food which they subsist on is confined to the latitudes
in which they themselves live.
5. They would have to traverse great distances in ungenial climes, and
contend against adverse winds, the children of placid seas and genial
suns hurried into giant waves and chilling storms.
6. It is not probable that they are swept along in currents, from the
circumstance that in the one which flows along the coast to the eastward
of the Cape we could find none of them, whilst upon its very edge they
were in abundance.
Could however their eggs be swept along by a current, and after having
been wave-tossed for months or years, be at last borne into waters
sufficiently warm to hatch them, and the animals, finding themselves in a
genial climate, have increased and multiplied?
The numerous little animals of the species which I have always considered
to be the Velella of Lamarck went sailing merrily by us today; the least
breath of wind made them turn round and round; and this was their mode of
progression, the animal moved its little sail which I have before
mentioned, and worked its tentaculae so vigorously as to make ripples in
the water, in the midst of which it went buoyantly floating along.
Caught another fish (Stenopteryx Illustration 5) of the same species as
that found on the 15th of July. The accompanying figure is drawn from
minute measurements. The length of this specimen was 2.5 inches, its
thickness through the thickest part 0.38.
What I had before imagined to be either a spine or fin turned out to be a
pectoral fin.
It thus has two pectoral, one dorsal, and one ventral fin, properly
speaking; but the greater part of the body is surrounded by some
cartilaginous substance which it probably uses as a fin; under the line b
c there is a curved portion of this matter, and above and attached to the
fish is a line of round white silvery scales, about ten in number.
Between a and b there is another curved mass of transparent cartilaginous
substance, along the bottom of which runs a spine to which is attached a
fringe-like fin. There is a spine upon the back; the eye is very
prominent and bright; upon the back, between the eye and the spine, there
are successive stripes of purple and burnished gold, so that this little
animal is one of the most gorgeously coloured denizens of the ocean. It
swims about amongst the purple barnacles and pink nautili, seeking on the
shores of these shining islands its prey, the curious formation of its
mouth being admirably adapted to enable it, whilst swimming under these
painted floating islands, to crop off what it lists.
There were scarcely any gelatinous animals in the sea this day; but many
Janthina shells and Velella were round the ship, to which were attached
barnacles of different species; amongst this group of islands numerous
crabs were swimming about and running over them. Animals resembling a
wood-louse were also in the sea, swimming and running about the floating
shells and barnacles.
We caught also a new species of Janthina, the float of which, instead of
being nearly round and extending over the shell on each side, was spread
like a spiral fold from the shell; the breadth of this fold was 0.45
inch, close to the mouth of the shell, and it gradually tapered off to a
point, its length being 3.6 inches. This float being curved round like
the tail of an animal, the whole thing bore the appearance of being a
sort of snake, of which the shell was the head; the sailors called them
caterpillars before I had examined them. The float was composed of two
parts, one of which was only froth and the other was apparently some
extraneous substance attached to the froth. The shell is very different
from those of the other nautili in being much more deeply indented with
circular striae.
July 18. South latitude 19 degrees 49 minutes; west longitude 3 degrees
10 minutes 15 seconds.
We have lately caught several specimens of Creseis. Each consists of a
cylindrical tube, increasing in size from its broadest extremity to the
centre where it is thickest, and decreasing from the centre to its other
extremity, where it becomes a fine point. It is throughout its extent
gelatinous, transparent, and of strong consistency.
There is apparently a valve at its broadest extremity.
Length 1.1 inch.
Breadth in centre 0.1 inch.
Breadth at mouth of wide extremity 0.08 inch.
We have several times caught a triangular, transparent, gelatinous
animal; it is 0.18 inch in thickness, and in the outer pulpy gelatinous
mass there is an interior sac, and strong muscular bands are marked
across this. The sac is composed of three lobes, two of which have
apparently no external opening, whilst at the end of the main lobe there
is one which closes with a valve; through this I have seen them take in
little animals, which reached no farther than the centre, from which the
lobes radiate, when the sac became violently agitated, and made strong
efforts to expel the foreign substance. This animal was very sensitive,
more particularly about the opening of the entrance.
We caught today the lower part of the species of Diphyes which we had
found on the 13th November 1837, in 30 degrees 7 minutes south latitude,
in the Indian Ocean. This animal is thus distributed over a wide range.
We also found a very minute species of the animal similar to one which we
caught on July 1st 1840. Those we caught today were scarcely 0.05 inches
in diameter. They unfolded little wings and flew with them in precisely
the way those did which I described on that day.
Nothing I have seen is more remarkable than the flight of these little
animals; their wings are milk white and very large for their body, and as
they fly, the ends, from their pliancy, bend over, which imparts to the
motion a very graceful appearance; these wings are composed of a very
fine membrane like that forming the wings of a bat. At one time these
little animals hovered over a single spot like a bird of prey in the air,
flapping their wings in just the same manner. At another time they darted
forward with great rapidity, and the vibration of their wings was so
rapid that I could not count them. When folded up they look like very
minute gelatinous animals with a black internal spot, but when touched
their shell can be felt. We saw a shoal of whales today.
We have caught lately a great many small animals, of which the following
is the description; they swim about from one floating substance to
another and are eaten by the little crabs which are numerous in these
seas.
Length of body 0.18 inch.
Length of anterior part of body 0.1 inch.
Length of posterior part of body 0.08 inch.
Length of tail 0.08 inch.
Breadth across back 0.05 inch.
Depth from back to bottom of breast 0.06 inch.
Head and eyes, deep brilliant prussian blue; body brilliant prussian blue
with a bluish green stripe on each side; tail white. Seen through a
microscope these animals appear to be a beautiful dark burnished blue
mottled with silver. The head is remarkably round and regular.
The body is divided into two portions. The anterior portion is made up of
six rings or shields, which lap over one another, and it is furnished
with three legs on each side which terminate in a hooked claw; the
posterior part is covered by three shields, and there was only one leg on
each side. I could not make out any tentaculae or antennae.
I was much struck by a curious circumstance today. As we caught a great
many gelatinous animals I thought this a good opportunity of taking their
temperature, which, after an observation so carefully made that no error
could occur, was found to be 66 degrees 5 Fahrenheit, the temperature of
the air at the same time being 74 degrees. The temperature of the water
was now taken and was found to be 2 degrees 5 minutes more than that of
the animals; thus giving these animals a temperature lower than that of
the fluid in which they were immersed. I conceived that some error must
have been made in the temperature of the water, it was therefore taken
again and found to be 69 degrees as before; this appeared to me so
remarkable that I drew up a table of all the experiments which had been
made on this subject, the result of which is that the mean temperature of
these kinds of animals appears to be 64 degrees 9 minutes Fahrenheit; and
that the greatest variation in excess is 1 degree 7 minutes; and in
defect 2 degrees 9 minutes Fahrenheit. Is it possible, then, that an
animal can live in a fluid, the temperature of which is constantly
varying, and preserve nearly a mean heat?
In the following tables I have entered every experiment but one which was
made on the 17th of June, and in which I believe the animals to have been
kept too long out of water.
(Experiments to determine the temperature of gelatinous animals which
inhabit the sea:
Experiments to determine the temperature of shellfish inhabiting the open
ocean:)
This last experiment was made from a sickly specimen which had been kept
for some time in the water: the temperature of water above given is for
that in which this animal was kept.
We caught again today many animals of the same family (Glaucus) as those
of which a description is given in the journal for the 17th of June.
Also many shrimp-like animals (Alima) the bodies of which were divided
distinctly into an interior and posterior portion; all the shrimp-like
animals which we have caught whose bodies are thus divided swim by
doubling up the posterior part close to the anterior, and then giving a
stroke with great rapidity outwards. These little animals are very
susceptible, and when they have been in the least injured their limbs
remain in so constant a state of tremor that the motion communicated by
them resembles that which would be caused by the passage of a rapid
succession of electric shocks, rather than any other I am acquainted
with.
GEOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS AT ST. HELENA.
July 21.
After visiting Longwood and Napoleon's tomb we rode to Flagstaff Hill to
search for fossil shells. The whole soil that I saw was composed of
decomposed old volcanic rocks; but I saw no rock but basalt in different
stages of decomposition; sometimes it assumed the form of porphyry. I
also saw veins of quartz, gypsum, and jasper. On a part of Flagstaff Hill
there was a thin stratum of calcareous earth, in which shells are found.
My hip was so painful that I could not climb to the point where these
were, but an artillery soldier ascended and brought down some, and of
these I had several specimens given me; they are found associated with
bones which are apparently those of birds. None of these bones were given
to me but I saw and examined several specimens. The shells are very
numerous at this point.
On returning into town I found several specimens of dead land shells,
apparently recent; these lay on the sides of the hills, partly buried in
the soil, and bore the appearance of having been washed into this
position by the heavy rains.
July 22.
Rode over in the morning to Longwood, and then proceeded to Gregory's
Valley, lying between Longwood and The Barn. This valley, nearly 1700
feet in depth, appears at one period to have been the scene of great
volcanic disturbances. The lowest rock I saw was a compact porphyritic
one. The upper strata of basalt were in a state of rapid decomposition;
but the whole of the valley was traversed by basaltic dykes in every
direction; these crossed one another in such a way that it was easy to
tell their relative ages; for instance several of them were in the form
of:
So that one had been forced from its position by another long
subsequently to its formation.
The general form of Gregory's Valley is a large basin bounded by a lofty
precipitous mountain on one side called The Barn, and having a very
narrow opening seaward, through which a small stream has cut its way. A
remarkable circumstance connected with the basaltic dykes is that they
are composed of a more compact basaltic rock than the basalt which they
penetrate, so that whilst the rock has mouldered away these basaltic
dykes have remained standing; and, as in the progress of their decay they
split up, they present the appearances of walls built by human hands,
with regular layers of stones, and which traverse the ravines of the
island in all directions.
As might be expected, I found regular basaltic crystals in this valley,
and also a variety of quartz ore, and other crystals, in the veins
traversing the basalt. I also found the following remarkable section:
This was in a side valley or ravine leading from Gregory's Valley in a
southerly direction.
On going down to the sea I found many species of starfish. I brought away
three species of these with me. Two Species Pentagonal; one species
Quadrilateral.
First species Pentagonal length of side 0.55 inch.
Second species Pentagonal length of side 0.50 inch.
Quadrilateral length of side 0.55 inch.
I found a sort of worm in the coral which had the power of extending its
head like an English worm; its body then appeared to be composed of two
portions, the fore part being much slighter than the other. Its
dimensions were:
Length of fore part of body 0.4 inch.
Length of hind part 0.6 inch.
Breadth, or diameter of cylinder 0.1 inch.
In the coral there was also another insect, not unlike a centipede.
Length 0.9 inch.
Breadth at head 0.08 inch.
In the inmost recesses of the coral there was a minute bivalve shell and
also a very minute species of crab.
One remarkable circumstance relating to St. Helena is that it is of a
basaltic formation exactly resembling that of the Isle of France and the
North-west of New Holland; and that, although so widely separated in
longitude, these places lie in nearly the same latitude.
When you quit the sandstone ranges of the North-west of Australia
reptiles which have been before very numerous at once become scarce. I
never saw a snake in this great basaltic district although there were
plenty in the sandstone. This however is only negative evidence. Brookes,
in his History of St. Helena (second edition page 24) says: "There are
neither frogs, toads, nor snakes in the island." In the Isle of Bourbon
there are neither toads nor snakes. In the Mauritius likewise there are
neither toads nor snakes, and only one species of frog, whilst the bones
of the land tortoise (Testudo indica) are only found in a fossil state.
Also, the highest land in St. Helena is 2800 feet; in the Mauritius about
2900 feet (scarcely); and in the volcanic district of North-west
Australia about the same height.
July 26. At sea.
We caught a great variety of shrimp-like animals; these little things
when disturbed emitted a brilliant phosphorescent light. We saw scarcely
any gelatinous animals.
July 29.
Caught two small crabs (Nautilograpsus); these species have the power of
swimming by means of the fringe-like fins with which their legs are
provided. Several other crabs were also caught; some with their eggs
attached, and two varieties of shrimp-like animals with eggs. Where these
were abundant the sea was very luminous. Four or five of these were of a
brilliant prussian blue colour, with silver-coloured spots on the back;
others were of a very delicate pink colour; the tentaculae of both of
them were of a delicate prussian blue colour.
We also caught a species of small Janthina, nearly resembling those we
had found before, but they were larger; moreover the species of barnacle
attached to them was totally different from any we had before found, as
if each species of nautilus had its own kind of parasite. This is worthy
of attention.
August 8.
We found a species of Halobates which swam rapidly with the short legs
foremost, and the foremost legs appeared to be furnished with a fringe to
give them that power. The colour of the legs, dark prussian blue; body of
a silver colour in front, with a prussian blue colour behind; under part
of the body, near the tail, three consecutive striae of a silver colour,
separated from one another by a line of prussian blue. I have never seen
this animal before.
August 9.
Caught two or three small insects, somewhat resembling a bug, of a dirty
brick colour and several minute species of Diphyes and small jellyfish.
August 19.
Caught a small Janthina nearly resembling those we had formerly seen,
also a small crab, two new species of gelatinous animals, and a Velella.
August 20.
Several fish, resembling an eel in shape, were caught today; they were of
different sizes, and some of them gave a slight shock on being touched.
They were marked across the back with alternate striae of silver, and
various shades of brown and black, though there were scarce two marked
exactly alike. They had a transparent dorsal and two pectoral fins, which
were all I observed, and a long thin snout or beak; the mouth was just at
the end of it, on the top: some of them were thorny on the back; we
caught also some crabs; a very minute blue fish; a black and red insect
resembling a flea; a species of Diphyes; a very small kind of polypus;
and one or two small jellyfish. A land bird flew on board today.
In 26 degrees north latitude we entered a portion of the sea covered with
patches of seaweed, around which swarmed numerous eel-like fish, crabs,
shrimps, and little blue fish; these last swam under those floating
islands, sometimes leaving them for a little distance, but they always
returned or swam to another: the crabs crawled in and out amongst the
seaweed, and other fish of a large size came to these spots to deposit
their spawn, so that we were in an archipelago of floating islands
teeming with busy inhabitants and animal enjoyment.
August 21.
There were a great many crabs of different kinds and sizes caught today;
two kinds of shrimps, one marked across with alternate striae of silver
and dark brown; it had no antennae, and had apparently been hurt, as I
could only see some very short legs; the rest appeared to be of the same
kind as others recently caught, except being of a lighter colour. Some
eel-fish of the same kind as yesterday. There were two other small blue
insects caught; unfortunately none have been preserved as they were put
in the same glass with the shrimps and were instantly eaten by them. The
crabs also ate two small blue fish that were caught. No jellyfish were
seen.
August 24.
Some of the eel-like fish, two or three shrimps, a new species of dypha,
various kinds of crabs, and a large species of Physalis, were caught
today.
August 25.
Caught various kinds of crabs, some minute shells, and a small curious
insect, quite new to me, of a bright blue colour; the shrimps appear to
be very fond of these insects, seizing them the instant they are put into
the glass with them. We caught shrimps of all colours and sizes, many of
them very beautiful; some were of a pale gold colour with bright blue
spots; others with different shades of brown, and blue, white, or red
spots. They all turned a dark red on being put into spirits. The smaller
kinds had a round ball or excrescence on one side just below the head. I
observed today that the eel-fish carries its eggs in a bag under the
belly; the eggs were of a bright red colour. Two barnacles were caught;
also a new and very remarkable fish.
August 28.
Caught today two of the fish of the same kind as the one taken on the
25th. It had a dorsal fin with 14 spines; a ventral fin; a tail, 16
spines; and in addition to these it had four pectoral fins resembling the
claws of a frog, which it used much in the same manner that a lizard uses
its claws. The upper pair of these were divided into two joints, the
lower one of which was a perfect hand, terminating in ten claws, with
which it could seize hold of any object, or expand and use it as a broad
paddle, or fin. At the point where these arms are inserted into the body
and immediately behind them are placed two tubes, one behind each arm.
These form its gills, through which it expels the water taken in at its
mouth; the lower pair of arms have only one apparent joint, and each of
these hands are furnished with five claws; it has two protuberances which
look like horns, one projects immediately between the eyes, and the other
is situated between this and the dorsal fin, these are covered with
little spines and it carries them erect. Its colour is pale yellow with
brown spots and stripes on it; the spots about the head and upper arms
are much darker than the others; about the stomach are little things
resembling the wattles of the wattle-bird, they are of a brilliant white
colour. It feeds on small shrimps, climbs about the weeds like a lizard,
and at times swims like a fish and is very rapid and strong in its
motions. It swells out the membranes about the spot where its gills ought
to be, so as to puff itself out like a toad when it takes water in: its
colour resembles that of the common English frog, and it looks remarkably
like one when it sits on a piece of weed, resting on its claws and
puffing out its cheeks. There are several lines of red stripes at the
bottom of its stomach.
We caught also a great many shrimps and crabs; some of the shrimps were
boiled and proved to be very good eating.
August 30.
At 5 hours 30 minutes P.M. a pine tree passed us, covered with barnacles
and surrounded by fish, which swam about this floating island, eating
such things as fell from it.
No portion of the globe is more thickly inhabited, or affords, in
proportion to its size, a greater amount of animal enjoyment than did
this wave-tossed isle. On it were innumerable barnacles, several species
of teredo, one of which, having its head shaped like a screw split into
two equal portions, I believe to have been quite new. Many varieties of
crab and minute insects shaped like a slug fed on the seaweed growing on
the log.
These last animals were of different lengths. They were shaped like a
caterpillar and composed of fifty-six rings; the stomach could only be
distinguished from the back by a sort of excrescence which grew on the
latter; each ring or division of the body was furnished with two pairs of
legs, one pair pointing downwards from the stomach, the other pair
projecting from the back; these legs were composed of bristles, and by
sticking them into the timber they were able to maintain their hold and
to walk along. In thus progressing they drew into a case the legs of the
rings they were going to move, and pushed them forward by means of the
other legs, and then, letting down the legs they had drawn into the case,
they stuck them into the wood and made good their ground. Their habit was
to lie about amongst the weeds that grew on the tree or to creep into
some large holes that were in it. They did not die when I took them out
of water but lived for sixteen hours, and were then as well and strong as
ever, only dying after they had been put into spirits.
I got also two pieces of stones from the roots of this tree; they were
small, quite angular, and had been carried this distance from the
continent of America without any appearance of being water-worn. This
must often take place when trees are blown down and washed away by
floods, and in this manner angular pieces of stone may be conveyed many
miles from the rock from which they were derived by the agency of water,
and yet not be water-worn.
August 31.
At 11 hours 30 minutes A.M. we found a portion of the timber of a ship on
the water, containing animals similar to those on the pine-tree
yesterday: this was perforated through and through by different species
of teredo.