PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. xciii. 



shining black, which are often found abundantly on the under- 

 sides of stones and elsewhere. An instance is recorded 

 from China of a sparrow flying into and becoming hope- 

 lessly entangled in the web of a large spider, though it 

 struggled violently and was not interfered with by the spider. 

 The Fish Gallery of the British Museum (Natural History) 

 has again been opened to the public in a much improved state 

 as regards the quality and arrangement of the specimens. I 

 alluded in my last address to some discoveries in the early 

 life history of eels. Since then the knowledge of the cycle 

 has been made fairly complete. The parent eels leave the 

 rivers for deep water of 500 fathoms, where they spawn, the 

 young larvae eating for a time when they are in the stage called 

 Leptocephalus, very unlike their parents and more the shape of ail 

 ordinary fish. They then eat nothing for about a year, and 

 gradually assume the eel-like form and migrate towards their 

 parent rivers, growing there to their full size. The remarkable 

 fauna of the African lake Tanganyika has been further 

 investigated, showing a very large proportion of fish and 

 crustaceans not found elsewhere, whilst the general similarity 

 of the fish-fauna in tropical Africa and America is striking. 

 The capture of an unusually abnormal turbot is worth recording, 

 as such specimens may throw some more light on the 

 extraordinary development of flat fish. In this the right side 

 was white and contained both the eyes, and the fish 

 consequently rested with its white side uppermost instead of 

 its coloured side. Last, but not least, among the fish records 

 (if fish it be) comes the account of a sea-serpent, seen on 

 December yth, 1905, off the coast of Para by two gentlemen 

 trained in natural history observation. The head, resembling 

 a turtle's, the neck about six feet long, and a dorsal fin were 

 seen, the total length being perhaps about 25 feet. In the face 

 of this and similar reliable observations it seems impossible 

 to doubt the existence of some large unknown marine 

 animal, possibly a Saurian, the nature of which will probably 

 only be fully understood on its capture being effected. 



