Vol. XV. No. 360. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



63 



little demand for lime oil, but towards the end of the month 

 some sales were effected for West Lidian distilled, at from 

 6s. 3d. to 6s. 6d. per lb., and at the last auction it had 

 dropped to os. 6d. to 6s. There was a slack demand for 

 lime juice at the beginning of the month, but about the 

 middle, good bright .Jamaica was to be obtained at from 

 2s. 6d. to 2s. 9(i. per gallon. There was no demand for 

 West Indian concentrated juice. Kola nuts were in abun- 

 dant supply at the first drug auction on December 2, 

 as many as 122 packages being offered, 46 only finding 

 buyers. They were from various countries, thus a package 

 of fair St. Lucia fetched 4f(/. per ft)., while a bag of sound 

 African quarters realized 6\d. per lb., and mouldy African, 

 part of which was wormy, were disposed of at from 2|(f. to 

 3rf. per lb. One bag of small .Java sold at 3rf. per Bb., and 

 1 package of dull Ceylon halves at ihd. Seven packages 

 of West Indian kola were again brur.ght forward at auction 

 on the 9th, and disposed of at from -l^d. to .")|r/. per &. At 

 the auction on the 16th of the month, the large quantity of 

 154 packages of cashew nuts from Bombay were .sold 

 ■without reserve, at from 37.«. to 46s. for slightly sea-damaged; 

 for slightly wormy, 32s. to 3.5s. Qd. was paid. The 

 •quotation for West Indian tamarinds during the month has 

 been ISs. 9rf. per cwt., Barbados being specialiti'd at 2(Js.-, 

 • duty paiil. The quotations for pimento towards ihe end of the 

 month were '2ld. to 2|cf. for fair to good, and for ordinary to 

 middling 2§d. to '2^d.; for St. Mncent Arrowroot '2^\d. 

 to 3f^ per lb. 



THE FEATHERS OF THE FLYING FISH. 



Ilr. \V. T. Caiman, of the British Aluseum (Xatural 

 History), contributes to the current issue of the West 

 Indian Bulletin, a note de.scribing a para.site of the 

 flying fish, popularly called bj' the name of 'feathers'. The 

 specimens, which formed a fine .series, were collected and 

 preserved by ilr. W. Xowell, Mycologist to this Department, 

 and were forwarded to Dr. Caiman by the Imperial Commis- 

 sioner. 



The parasite belongs to a family known under the 

 .biological name of^Lernaeidae, which includes some of the 



a crow qiull, ending in a brush of tine filaments. To this 

 brush-like termination is due, not only the popular name of 

 feathers by which these parasites are known to fishermen 

 and others, but also the scientific name, Pennella, given by 

 Oken a century ago to the genus to which they belong. As 

 a matter of fact, only about one-half of the length of the 

 parasite is visible outside the fish. If followed by dissection, 

 it will be found to penetrate the Hesh for a considerable dis- 

 tance, and to end often, if not always, near one of the great 

 blood vessels in a globular head provided with large 

 branched processes. Like the roots of the plants, these pro- 

 cesses have the function, not only of fi.xing the parasite in 

 place, but possibly also of helping to absorb nourishment 

 from the blood of the host. Whether this be so or not, the 

 parasite is not dependent (as are some o*-,her Crustacean 

 parasites) on this vegetable-like method of getting its food, 

 for it has a mouth and a spacious gut, and on the head are 

 some microscopic vestiges of the limbs that were jiresent ia 

 the larva. 



Dr. Caiman furnishes a certain nmount of information 

 concerning the life-history and reproduction of this curious 

 parasite. While the life-history has not been fully followed 

 out, it is thought probable, by analogy, that this form begins 

 life as a free-swimming larva, which only late in life settles 

 down to a parasitic existence. E.xactly where or how it thus 

 settles down we do not know, nor whether the flying fish is 

 the first host it .=eeks Dr. Caiman considers it very likely 

 that there is a temporary stage on another host, just as the 

 Lernaea of the haddock and whiting pas.ses through a stage 

 in which it lives on the gills of the plaice, and the more 

 nearly related Pennella of the dolphin (Coryphaena) is 

 parasitic as a larva on the gills of cuttle fish. 



As regards reproduction, no certain knowledge is as yet 

 available. In most species other than the present one, impregna- 

 tion takes place in the free-swimming stage, and the males do 

 not develop any further, and only the females become fixed to 

 a final host to complete their development and produce their 

 eggs. In certain forms of the present genus, however, 

 microscopic individuals have been found attached to the 

 parasitic females in situ. Dr. Caiman points out that this 

 may occur in the present species. 



Flyini; Fish with Copepod Pap-.^site in iitu. 



most highly modified of all the fish lice, the adults having 

 lost — so far as naked-eye appearances go — every trace of cray- 

 fish-like or Crustacean structure, and resembling in form the 

 worms with which they were classed by the older naturalists. 

 In the case of the flying fish, the parasite may be attached to 

 . almost any part of the body, and appears as a dark-coloured 

 ■worm-like object about ii inches long, and as thick as 



In conclusion it will be acknowledged that, in spite of 

 the u.seful information recorded in the foregoing note, much 

 yet remains to be found out concerning this parasite, in 

 common with many other marine objects of economic impor- 

 tance in West Indian waters. 



The specimens described in the above note are identified 

 as Pennella erocoeti, and the flying fish as Exoeoetus specuhger. 



