Curiosities of the Sea Surface. 179 



resided for the last sixteen years in Fiji, and who has spent a 

 great deal of his time in collecting natural history specimens. 

 He very Mndly presented me with some crania, three of natives 

 of Mallicollo, New Hebrides, and two from Merilava in Bank's 

 Group. 



We anchored at Suva for part of a day, in order to fill up 

 with coal, and then proceeded on our voyage to Sydney. 



I made frequent use of the tow-net during this cruise, obtaining 

 thereby a great quantity and variety of surface organisms. Among 

 these were representatives of Thalassicolla, Pyrocystis, Phyllosoma, 

 Sagitta, Eurybia, Atlanta, etc. I obtained one specimen of a 

 curious Annelid. It was two inches in width, had two prominent 

 ruby-coloured eyes, and was marked along its snakelike body by 

 a double row of conspicuous black dots. 



One day, as were lying almost becalmed, a few hundred miles 

 from the Australian coast, we passed into the midst of a great 

 flock of brown petrels, who were sitting on the water grouped in 

 the form of a chain, and apparently feeding. I had the tow-net 

 out, and after dragging it for about half a mile, brought it in, and 

 found it to contain a mass of yellow-coloured cylindrical and 

 oval bodies belonging to the group Thalassicollidce. The cylin- 

 drical bodies were about one inch in long diameter, by \ of an 

 inch in width, and those of an oval shape were about -fa inch in 

 long diameter. They proved to be mere gelatinous sacks, without 

 any appearance of digestive or locomotary organs. The thin 

 membranous wall was dotted over thickly with dark cells of a 

 spherical or oval shape, each of which contained from three to 

 nine light-coloured nuclei. On examining one of the oval bodies 

 under a magnifying power of forty diameters, the clear transparent 

 nature of the interior of the organism allowed the cells on the 

 distal side to be seen out of focus with misty outlines, while the 

 cells on the proximal wall, which was in focus, came out sharp 

 and clear, and vice versa. 



