Sept. 25, 1884] 



NA TURE 



5i3 



tion how the migratory, instinct became established in certain 

 members of the family, when it appears not to be physiologically 

 indispensable to them. At the period of migration, when the 

 smolts are fit to go to the sea, they evince, I believe, the ut- 

 most restlessness (like all migratory animals), and frequently 

 leap out of the fresh water in which they are confined, and die 

 on the banks. This has taken place year after year in the 

 nursery ponds on the Plenty River, Tasmania, where it was 

 first placed beyond question that a migratory salmonid could 

 remain and breed perfectly freely year after year in fresh water. 

 On January 20, 1866, Mr. J. A. Youl, C.M.G., sent out to 

 Tasmania a consignment of salmon, salmon-trout, and brown 

 trout (S.fario Ansonii). On June 25, 1869, several parrs of the 

 salmon-trout, then weighing in some instances more than a 

 pound, were busy nesting, the result being that many thousands 

 of fry from their ova were subsequently sent to stock other 

 rivers. The imprisoned salmon-trout have continued to breed 

 for several years in succession, but there has been noticed in 

 them a tendency to become sterile as they grow older. There is 

 also some reason to believe that Salmo salar has bred in the 

 ponds on the Plenty. Two young specimens which, from cer- 

 tain circumstances, the Commissioners believed to be true 

 salmon, were sent to Dr. Giinther for examination, with full 

 information as to their origin and history ; and he, while ex- 

 pressing his reluctance to give a decided opinion, stated that 

 they "presented all the anatomical characters of S. salar." 

 Full details of the breeding in fresh water of ^. trutta will be 

 found in "The Acclimatisation of the Salmonidx at the Anti- 

 podes— its History and Results." Arthur Nicols 



A Sea Monster 



A friend of mine, Capt. W. Hopkins, of the schooner Mary 

 Ogilvie, who has just returned from a voyage all round Australia, 

 has given me the following information, which I forward you 

 for publication, not so much because of its interesting character, 

 but in order that other travellers may throw some light upon the 

 character of the animal, which, if an Octopus, must be of much 

 larger dimensions than those usually met with. On June 15, 

 when in S. lat. 21° 37' and E. long. 113" 49', about five miles 

 off the Exmouth Gulf on the western coast of the continent, he 

 saw an immense creature which he took to be a species of 

 Octopus. His attention was drawn to it by a perfect cloud of 

 sea birds, and at first he naturally thought it must be a dead 

 carcass. On approaching it, however, he found it was alive, 

 and sluggishly disporting itself. In shape it was like a violin, 

 but of immense size, with some six feelers about the greater 

 diameters of the violin. It lay almost flat upon the water, was 

 of a dark gray above and lighter gray below, and was continually 

 elevating one of its feelers, apparently twice the thickness of a 

 man s arm, to a height of from six to eight feet. It appeared 

 to be vomiting, and as the birds were evidently feeding, that 

 accounted for their presence in such numbers. Its size was so 

 great that, had it grasped the vessel, it could easily have cap- 

 sized it. The captain therefore got out of the way as quickly 

 as possible, and without making definite measurements ; but a 

 large whale in the vicinity looked quite diminutive. It is a pity 

 that something more exact as to size is not available, but I think 

 the description is sufficient to convey an idea of the nature of 

 the monster. All along the northern and western coasts of the 

 continent vast shoals of pumice, in portions varying in size from 

 ordinary gravel to about a foot in diameter, and completely 

 covered with barnacles, were passed through. 



Sydney, N.S.W., August 4 Alfred Morris 



\\ ILL any of your readers kindly oblige me with particulars 

 of the formation of a hailstone, and the effect produced upon it 

 by falling through the air. How does it become frozen ? increase 

 in size ? and what are the conditions for its increase ? up to what 

 point in its passage does it increase ? what effect has temperature 

 upon it in its downward career? after a certain point in its fall 

 should it not theoretically decrease in size ? does it do so actually ? 

 how is it that larger stones generally fall in tropical or hot 

 climates during thunderstorms than we witness during our 

 Enghsh winters ? Does a raindrop increase in size as it nears 

 the earth ? If so, please give reasons. A. D. 



Lisbon, September 1 



[The best account of the formation of hail is given in Ferret's 



•' Meteorological Researches for the Use of the Coast Pilot," 

 Part II. p. 85, a brief risumi of which is given in the " Encyclo- 

 paedia Britannica," article Meteorology, p. 132. — Ed.] 



THE " COMMA-SHAPED BACILLUS? ALLEGED 



TO BE THE CA USE OF CHOLERA l 

 VX/ITH a view of studying the phase which the cholera 

 question has now entered upon, in consequence of 

 the publication of the results of the investigations of the 

 German Cholera Commission in Egypt and India, I 

 availed myself of the opportunity which the present 

 vacation at the Army Medical School afforded of pro- 

 ceeding to Marseilles, where the disease has been preva- 

 lent since the end of June. Sir Joseph Fayrer was so 

 kind as to enlist for me the valuable assistance of Dr. Le 

 Roy de Mericourt, Msjdecin en Chef of the French Navy, 

 who in various ways did his utmost to further my wishes. 

 Dr. Marroin, the Chief of the Sanitary Department in 

 Marseilles, was so good as to introduce me to the 

 authorities of the Pharo Hospital, where the cholera 

 cases are treated, and where, with the permission of the 

 principal medical officer, Dr. Trastour, I was able to 

 renew my acquaintance with the disease, and to collect 

 material for studying afresh the microscopy of the intes- 

 tinal discharges. 



Before, however, referring to the results of my own 

 observations, it will be convenient to epitomise the pub- 

 lished history of the German Commission ; to point out 

 the salient features of the results of their investigations 

 in Egypt and in India ; and to make a few brief com- 

 ments on such of the circumstances and conclusions as 

 appear to call for notice. Shortly after the arrival of the 

 Commission in Egypt, Dr. Robert Koch reported, on 

 behalf of himself and his colleagues, that no special 

 micro-parasites had been discovered in the blood, the 

 lungs, the spleen, the kidneys, or in the liver in cholera, 

 but that the intestinal mucous membrane was permeated 

 by certain Bacilli which nearly resembled in size and form 

 the Bacilli found in glanders. As is well known, these 

 Bacilli are straight, and are, in fact, uncommonly like the 

 ordinary microphytes associated with decay. Dr. Koch 

 also states in connection with this subject that he had, 

 previous to proceeding to Egypt, found' similar Bacilli in 

 the intestinal mucous membrane of four natives of India, 

 but that he had then looked upon them as due to merely 

 post mortem changes. When he came to Egypt, how- 

 ever, and found these same Bacilli in the intestines of 

 perfectly fresh cases, he felt that an important link was 

 furnished towards establishing the identity of the disease 

 in Egypt with Indian cholera. 



It is highly probable that the specimens from India 

 which Dr. Koch had examined were those which were 

 sent, at the request of the Imperial Health Department in 

 Berlin, by the Sanitary Commissioner with the Govern- 

 ment of India. These consisted of numerous dry cover- 

 glass specimens of blood which I had collected from 

 several cholera patients, and of portions of the viscera of 

 four natives who had died of the disease. All these were 

 examined by me before they were despatched, and por- 

 tions of each were reserved for further study. I had 

 heard nothing further of them, but the publication of the 

 remarks above referred to in Dr. Koch's Report of Sep- 

 tember 17, 1883, from Alexandria, recalled them to my 

 mind, and I was glad to infer that my own negative 

 results had been confirmed in Berlin. As already ob- 

 served, no importance had been originally attached to 

 the organisms which were present in the intestinal mu- 

 cosa. During the last six months I have examined 

 hundreds of stained microtome-sections of these four, and 

 of other specimens of cholera intestines in my possession, 

 and have found that, when the mucosa is infiltrated with 



'A Memorandum by Surgeon-Major Timothy Richards Lewis. M.B., 

 As-istnnt Professor o( Pathology. Army Medical School. Communicated by 

 the Director-General. Army Medical Department. 



