328 EDIBLE BIRDS' NESTS. 



Pryer describes in connection with the Borneo caves, and which, 

 through the kindness of Mr. George Murray, I had the opportunity 

 of seeing: at the British Museum. On tlie faces of the coral lirae- 

 stone cliffs of some islands, such as on the east coast of Santa Anna, 

 a like growth occurs in considerable quantity. In its freshest 

 condition, it may be described as a reddish-yellow, gum-like sub- 

 stance forming a layer ^ to |- of an inch in thickness. Wliere it 

 incrusts the overhanging face of a clitf, it is more fluid in consistence 

 and sometimes hangs in little pendulous masses, one to two inches 

 in length, the extremities of which are often distended with water. 

 This alga decomposes the hard coral limestone, making the surface 

 of the rock soft and powdery. All stages in the growth of this 

 substance may be observed. The older portions are very dark in 

 colour and liave a tough consistence ; and in the final stas^e it occurs 

 as a black powder covering the rock surface. On examining this 

 alga with the microscope, I found it to be formed almost entirely of 

 granular matter apparently resulting from the death of the cells • 

 whilst the presence of a few cellular bodies alone gave me an indica- 

 tion of its true nature. 



From my observations relating to the subject of the edible bird's 

 nest, it may be therefore inferred that in the Solomon Islands, as in 

 Borneo, the occurrence of these nests is associated with the presence 

 of a protophytic alga, which incrusts the rocks of the locality as a 

 gelatinous or gum-like substance. Whether or not the birds em- 

 ploy this material in forjning their nests, is a question which would 

 appear to have been already answered in the negative ; but it seems 

 to me that those who hold that this material is used for this pur- 

 pose might justly claim that the final judgment sliould be suspended, 

 until a chemical examination of this veixetable substance has been 

 made with the object of determining whether it might not yield a 

 material closely resembling mucin. Amongst the nitrogenous 

 constituents of plants occurs the so-called vegetable alhimen, which 

 in its chemical composition and in its behaviour with re-agents 

 does not differ materially from the hlood-alhumen of the animal 

 organism, of which in fact it is the source. In suggesting, there- 

 fore, that a vegetable mucin may be found in this low plant-growth, 

 1 do not pass beyond the bounds of probability.^ 



Small scorpions came under my notice in Faro Island. They 

 are not usually more than l^^ in length and occur in narrow clefts of 



^ Vide a letter by the writer in "Nature," .Juno orJ, 18SG. 



