43 



HARDWICKS'S SCIEN CE -GO SS I P. 



his celebrated classification of Fishes. Recently he 

 has been engaged in deep-sea explorations along the 

 American coast, and the last object of his attention 

 was the establishment of a large aquarium, on the 

 same principle as that of Dr. Dohrn, at Naples. 



Gigantic Cuttle-fishes.— The Rev. Mr. Harvey 

 has just made a communication to tlie Natural 

 History Society of Montreal, respecting the occur- 

 rence of a huge cuttle-fish a few miles from St. 

 John's, Nowfoundland. It was seen by two fisher- 

 men, on October 26th, floating on the surface of the 

 sea, and by them was supposed at first to be a por- 

 tion of some wreck. On reaching it, one of the 

 men struck it with his "gaff," when immediately it 

 showed signs of life, reared a parrot-like beak, with 

 which it struck the bottom of the boat violently. 

 It then shot out from about its head two huge livid 

 arms and began to twine them round the boat. One 

 of the men seized a small axe and severed both 

 arms as they lay over the gunwale of the boat; 

 whereupon tbe fish moved off and ejected an im- 

 mense quantity of inky fluid, which darkened the 

 water for two or three hundred yards. The men 

 saw it for a short time afterwards, and observed its 

 tail in the air, which they declare was ten feet across. 

 They estimate the body to have been sixty feet in 

 length, five feet in diameter, of the same shape and 

 colour as the common squid ; and they observed 

 that it moved in the same way as the squid, both 

 backwards and forwards. One of the arms which 

 they brought.ashore was unfortunately destroyed, as 

 they were ignorant of its importance ; but the 

 clergyman of the village assured Mr. Harvey it was 

 ten inches in diameter and six feet in length. The 

 other arm was brouglit to St. John's, but not before 

 six feet of it was destroyed. Mr. Harvey heard of 

 it, and took measures to have it preserved. It 

 measured nineteen feet, is of a pale pink colour, 

 entirely cartilaginous, tough and pliant as leather, 

 and very strong. It is but three inclies and a half 

 in circumference, except towards the extremity 

 where it broadens like an oar to six inches in cir- 

 cumference, and then tapers to a pretty fine point. 

 The under surface of the extremity is covered with 

 suckers to tlie very point. At the extreme end 

 there is a clustre of small suckers, with fine sharp 

 teeth round their edges, and having a membrane 

 stretched across each. Of these there are about 70. 

 Then come two rows of very large suckers, the 

 movable disk of each an inch and a quarter 

 in diameter, the cartilaginous ring not being 

 denticulated. These are twenty-four in number. 

 After tiiese there is another group of suckers, with 

 denticulated edges (similar to the first), and about 

 fifty in number. Along the under surface about 

 forty more small suckers are distributed at intervals, 

 making in all about 180 suckers on the arm. The 

 men estimated that they left about ten feet of the 



arm attached to the body of the fish, so that its 

 original length must have been thirty-five feet. A 

 clergyman assured Mr. Harvey that when he resided 

 at Lamaline, on the Southern coast, in the winter of 

 1870, the bodies of two cuttles were cast ashore, 

 measuring 40 and 45 feet respectively. 



Cak Animals commit Suicide ?— Some time 

 ago this question was raised in the pages of Science- 

 Gossip, and the following paragraph would seem to 

 favour the idea that animals really do sometimes 

 put an end to their own lives. — " A cattle disease of 

 so disagreeable a nature that it causes the animals 

 affected by it to commit suicide, has broken out on 

 the Asiatic shore of the Bosphorus, and has been 

 officially reported at Constantinople. Is is charac- 

 terized by frothing at the mouth, running from 

 the eyes and nose, a total loss of appetite, great 

 heat, and a thirst so insupportable that some of 

 the beasts attacked by the illness cast themselves 

 headlong into adjacent rivers and streams, and are 

 drowned. The disease, it is stated, has been in 

 existence for upwards of a month in several villages 

 between Eeicos, on the Upper Bosphorus, and 

 Scutari. It attacks bullocks and cows exclusively, 

 and is believed to have been introduced from Ada- 

 Baza, beyond Ismidt." 



Stenocepiialus agilis.— Replying to the re- 

 marks of Mr. E. C. Rye in Science-Gossip for 

 January, the words in my paper were upon refer- 

 ence to several, not all, published works on "Ento- 

 mology," for at that time I was fully aware of the 

 valuable one of Messrs. Douglas and Scott on 

 " British Hemiptera." Unfortunately microscopists 

 and naturalists in the country have not that facility 

 of book reference as those residing in the Metro- 

 polis. In whatever light Mr. R, may tiiink or 

 fancied I have erred, my simple aim has been 

 accomplished by bringing before the readers of 

 SciENCE-GossiP the structure of "ovipositors" in 

 general: the numerous applications for mounted 

 slides of these organs fully justify my inference.— 

 /. 0. Harper, Norwich. 



BoAPv-nsii {Zeus aper).—Th\?, fish was not long 

 since supposed to be very rare, and the occurrence 

 of a single specimen worthy of note. The ichthy- 

 ologist placed it among the elite of his museum. 

 Now they present themselves by thousands occa- 

 sionally, as this note will show. Is this owing to 

 emigration to " fresh scenes and pastures new," 

 found necessary in the sea as on our earth, or to 

 the growing interest taken by us in the observation 

 and study of natural objects ? " All nature is so 

 full," says Gilbert "White, "that that district pro- 

 duces the greatest variety which is most examined." 

 If this fish is stationary on our coasts it is gregarious, 

 and very local in its habits. In December, 1873, 

 thousands of fishes were washed on shore at St. 



