366 Journal of Travel and Natural History 



it is that those fishes which he routed out from the interior of its 

 gape were languid and easily caught. The process of digestion 

 had begun upon them, but they had not yet been deprived of life. 

 This is our explanation of the circumstance; but there remains the 

 curious fact of the fish hovering like a fascinated bird over the 

 mouth of its devourer, and returning to the spot again and again 

 after being driven ofi" by Dr CoUingwood. The distance at which 

 Dr CoUingwood describes the fish to have been from the tentacles 

 of the anemone, independent of the fish swimming away and re- 

 turning, would seem conclusive against its having been touched by 

 the acontia or cnidae of the zoophyte, which might otherwise have 

 accounted for the stupefaction of the fish. Mr Gosse, in one of 

 his books, mentions an instance in which a little fish swimming 

 about in health and vigour died in a few minutes in great agony 

 through the momentary contact of its lip with one of the emitted 

 acontia of Sagartia parasitica ; and the effects of the acontias of 

 different species may be different, and more especially may be 

 more powerful in larger species from troj^ical seas. 



Dr M'Donnell at one time thought electricity might have some- 

 thing to do with producing the stinging effects of these acontia ; 

 he no doubt subsequently abandoned that hypothesis ; but the 

 probability of that agency being concerned in the matter should 

 still be kept in view. 



Apropos to animal electricity we observe that Dr CoUingwood 

 quotes an instance reported to him of the occurrence of electricity 

 in a snake. 



' ' A circumstance was told me by the colonial chaplain, Rev. J. Moreton, 

 which, although it may seem apocryphal, I am unwilling to pass over altogether 

 in silence. He found on one occasion, outside the verandah, a snake about five 

 feet long, of a reddish colour, but not mottled like a boa. It had had its head 

 crashed, that being the usual way in which the natives destroy snakes, though 

 it is not always immediately fatal to them, for they will crawl after such an in- 

 jury. Mr Moreton told me that he took the snake in question by the tail by 

 his thumb and finger, and instantly felt a strong electric shock, which ran up 

 his arms to both his shoulders, so that he dropped the snake in alarm. Although 

 much surprised at the circumstance, not being a naturalist, he neglected to take 

 any means to preserve the reptile. " (p. 173). 



The nudibranchs of these seas, like the sea anemones, startle the 

 beholder with their gorgeous and bizarre colouring. The annexed 

 plate (fig. 1.) shews the form of some of the most striking of these; 

 but it is unnecessary to say that tJ^eir beauty is entirely lost for 



