124 Prof. J. V. Barboza du Bocage on Hyalonema lusitanicum. 



which informs me that the specimen of Hyalonema sent to M. 

 Ehrenberg has ah-eady returned into your possession. 



At the same time with your letter^ I have received another 

 from Professor Ehrenberg. He persists in believing me the 

 victim of a mystification, and in regarding the Hyalouemas as 

 artificial products manufactured by the Japanese. I will here 

 transcribe for you a portion of his letter, in order that you may 

 judge of the arguments upon which he supports his opinion. It 

 is Professor Ehrenberg who speaks : — 



" I am convinced that the officer of customs who procured you 

 these specimens has been deceived by some dealer in objects 

 of natural history, or by travellers coming from Japan, and who 

 have invented the fishery of these bodies near Setubal. It has 

 been possible to place beyond doubt the presence of cotton threads 

 for the attachment of the different pieces ; there are also on the 

 surface fibres of wool coloured red and green, certainly belonging 

 to some old sailor's garment. The resemblance of this specimen 

 to one of Brandt's figures is so striking, that it is impossible for 

 me to believe that bodies so alike in all their parts can occur 

 both in the Sea of Japan and in that of Portugal, or that these 

 forms could be constructed in a manner so identical in the midst 

 of circumstances so widely separated." 



Such are the arguments which lead Professor Ehrenberg to 

 maintain : — 1. That the Hyalonemas are artificial products. 

 2. That the specimens that I possess have been manufactured in 

 and brought from Japan. 3. That they have been sold to my 

 correspondents by natural- history dealers (who do not exist in 

 Portugal) , or by sailors returning from Japan to Setubal, which 

 has never, in the memory of man, seen a ship from China or 

 Japan enter its little port ! 



I have just replied to M. Ehrenberg : — 1. That the seven 

 specimens which I possess have been sent to me from Setubal by 

 three persons, all belonging to the well-to-do classes of society, 

 and all well known as perfectly honourable. 2. That these per- 

 sons have received the Hyalonemas at different periods (1863, 

 1864, and 1865) from well-known fishermen, who brought them 

 precisely in the season of the shark-fishery. 3. That these 

 fishermen had no interest in deceiving, as they could not know 

 the scientific interest of these captures. 4. That these fisher- 

 men were always contented with a very modest gratuity (two or 

 three francs) as a remuneration for having brought them. 5. That 

 if the fishermen had the intention of demanding a higher price, 

 instead of announcing them as derived from our coasts, they 

 would not have failed to say that they had bought them from 

 strangers, that this had cost them very dear, &c. Here, as 

 everywhere, exotic products generally pay much better. 



