Mr. T. J. Moore on the Habitat of the Regadera. 197 



(George Mackenzie, Esq.) resident in the neighbourhood, and 

 fond of natural-history pursuits. Capt. Morgan had not ac- 

 tually been out with the natives, but had seen them from his 

 ship engaged in the Regadera-fishing. 



Soon after the arrival of sjjecimens of Euplectella the island 

 of Cebu. was stated to be the place they were brought from. 

 As an explanation of the sudden influx of what was previously 

 known only from a unique specimen, I was told that Cebu 

 had just previously been made a free port, and a large exten- 

 sion of commerce was the result. Instead of this having been 

 the case, I am now informed that the sugar which Cebu largely 

 produces was till lately transported to Manilla, to be there re- 

 shipped for Europe. This expense is now saved by the 

 European vessels shipping the sugar direct from Cebii itself, 

 which, after all, had a suitable though neglected harbour of 

 its own ; and hence the increase of trade with this previously 

 little-known island. That the influx of specimens, though 

 doubtless largely promoted by this increase of direct commu- 

 nication with Em-ope, is not caused thereby, will be evident 

 on reference to the paper by Herr C. Semper (" On Euplectella 

 and its Inhabitants"), translated in the 'Annals' for July 

 1868, p. 26. In this paper Dr. Semper bears personal testi- 

 mony to their extreme rarity up to 1864. That communica- 

 tion also contains the nearest approach that I have seen to the 

 habitat given by Capt. Morgan ; but at the place indicated by 

 the fishermen of S. Nicolas, in 120 fathoms water, Dr. Semper 

 states he dredged in vain, and concluded that he had been 

 purposely deceived. 



I send herewith Capt. Morgan's paper just as received, and, 

 in conclusion, only add that he told me, in reply to my ques- 

 tion why the Regaderas were said to point one way, that 

 when the natives draw their fishing-apparatus in one direction, 

 they catch the specimens, and when they draw it in the oppo- 

 site direction, they don't catch them. I should think the 

 statement that the crustaceans within the Regaderas can travel 

 in and out (by burrowing downwards) is due to the same lively 

 imagination as the previously known statement that they are 

 the architects of the abode in which they are found. 

 Liverpool, Dec. 23, 1868. T. J. MOORE. 



" The only place where Regaderas are to be found is about 

 three miles from the shore in front of the small village of 

 Talisay, which is about five or six miles south of the town of 

 Cebu, Isle of Cebu, Philippine Islands. 



" The mode of catching them is very ingenious, and is as 

 follows : — When the tide is about its full, the natives go out 

 in very small canoes to the bed in which they are found, and 



