46 



anemones, worms, shell-fish, b^ches-de-mer, and bright- 

 coloured encrusting sponges. And the Madras beach may, 

 allowing for differences of species, be taken as fairly represen- 

 tative of the coast of the Presidency with the exception of 

 the coral-fringed shores of the islands which skirt the coast 

 of the Gulf of Manaar, which I have visited on several 

 occasions in the months of July and August. These months, 

 though warm, proved very favorable, owing to the absence 

 of rain, for carrying out investigations, and for the drying 

 of specimens, e.g., stuffed fishes, big sponges, and corals, such 

 as are not suitable for preservation in alcohol or other fluid 

 medium. Even, however, under the most favorable climatic 

 conditions, the work of a marine zoologist beneath a tropical 

 sun is, apart from the personal discomfort caused by the sun 

 and glare on the water, except in the early morning and 

 towards sunset, attended by many diflSculties, which are 

 graphically described by Haeckel, who says,' speaking of 

 surface-netting with a gauze tow-net : — 



* ' The wealth of varieties of marine creatures to be found in 

 the Bay of Belligam was evident even on my first expedition. 

 The glass vessels, into which I turned the floating inhabitants 

 of the ocean out of the gauze net, were quite full in a few 

 hours. Elegant Medusce, and beautiful Siphonophora were swim- 

 ming among thousands of little crabs and Salpce ; numbers of 

 larvae of mollusca were rushing about, mingled with fluttering 

 Myaleadce and other pteropoda, while swarms of the larvse of 

 worms, Crustacea, and corals, fell a helpless prey to greedy Sa- 

 gittm. Almost all the creatures are colourless, and as perfectly 

 transparent as the sea- water in which they carry on their hard 

 struggle for existence, which, indeed, on the Darwinian prin- 

 ciple of selection, has given rise to the transparency of these 

 pelagic creatures. But I soon discovered to my grief that, 

 within a very short time after being captured, at most half an 

 hour and often not more than a quarter, most of the fragile 

 creatures died ; their hyaline bodies grew opaque, and, even 

 before we could reach the land, I perceived the characteristic 

 odour exhaled by the soft and rapidly decomposing bodies." 



Haeckel's experience is, unfortunately, not an uncommon 

 one, and, while staying at Pdmban, I frequently had the 

 mortification of finding, on my return from a surface- 

 netting expedition to my improvised laboratory at the 

 zemindary bungalow, instead of a crowd of living creatures, 



I Vinit to Ceylon. Transl. by Clara Bell, 1883. 



