NA TURE 



[August 24, 1882 



stomach. Once a bear had eaten a large piece of greasy 

 canvas which had been thrown away and had been blown 

 some 200 or 300 yards from the house. He then came 

 up to the house and commenced to eat our blubber, but 

 was immediately s'lot. ( n F'ebruary 20 a bear was seen 

 about 350 feet above the hill at the back of the house. 

 Some hands went up with a rifle and found that the bear 

 had a hole there, out of which they could not get it 

 —fortunately for them, as they had only one rifle 

 with them, and that would not go off, the lock having 

 been frozen. We never siw any young bear with it. The 

 last time the bear was seen at its hole was on March I. 

 No track of a bear could be traced up the hill, but the 

 foot-marks of an old bear and a cub were seen on the low 

 land, about 300 yards to the eastward of the house. No 

 old she-bears with young cubs were seen before we left 

 the land in June. In July, 1S81, on nearing Cape 

 Crowther, walrus were seen hing on loose pieces of ice in 

 great numbers. Sometimes twenty or more were counted 

 huddled up in a heap on a small piece of ice. By going 

 quietly in a boat you could get within twenty or thirty 

 yards of them before they took much notice of you, but 

 after the first shot was fired they tumbled into the water, 

 and would go swimming about and barking round the 

 boat, but never attacked us. In September they were 

 very numerous on the loose ice round Bell Island, and 

 also in the water off Cape Flora. On October 28 five 

 were shot lying on the ice edge. When the daylight re- 

 turned in February, walrus were constantly seen swimming 

 about in the water. A land floe began to form in March, 

 and no water remained \vi f hin seven or eight miles of the 

 land, but frequently on looking with the glass from the 

 hill, walrus could be seen in the water, and on June 13 

 the land ice broke away, and on June 15 the five walrus 

 were shot. A boat that went over to Bell Island reported 

 that walrus were lying in scores on the loose ice round 

 about Hell Island. Mr. Leigh Smith thinks that the 

 walrus leave the country during the winter, but seem to 

 remain in the water, especially if it is shallow. They 

 never saw any signs of their taking the land and lying up 

 for the winter. White whales and narwhal were seen in 

 great numbers in September and October travelling to 

 the south-east, and in June one or two large shoals were 

 seen travelling west and west-north-west." 



PROFESSOR HAECKEL IN CEYLON' 

 IV. 

 "DROF. HAECKEL, in describing his first impression of 

 *■ Galle, does not fail to mention as one of its principal 

 features the long lines of shady Suriya trees and flowering 

 Hibiscus, planted by the Dutch, and giving the streets 

 the appearance of a garden. He says nothing, however, 

 of a plague produced by the Suriya, and noted by other 

 travellers, namely, the hairy green caterpillar, which 

 frequents it in great numbers. At a certain stage of its 

 growth it drops to the ground, and there hides in order to 

 pass through its metamorphosis. When, as often happens, 

 it alights on some passer-by, it inflicts a sting more 

 severe and far more lasting than that of a nettle or star- 

 fish. 



The professor found himself, as might have been 

 expected, a welcome guest to all the cultivated and 

 wealthy merchants of Galle. The few days of his stay 

 there were passed at Queens-House, formerly the official 

 residence of the Governor, now the property of Messrs. 

 Clark, Spenceand Co., by whose present head, Mr. Henry 

 Scott, Prof. Haeckel was hospitably entertained, every 

 facility being afforded him for the prosecution of his 

 studies. Among the English residents to whom Prof. 

 Haeckel brought letters, and who vied with each other in 

 making his visit to Galle both profitable and agreeable, he 

 makes special mention of Capt. Blyth and Capt. Bayley. 



1 Continued from page 377. 



The Villa Marina of the latter gentleman is one of the 

 most charming spots in the neighbouihood of Galle. 

 Built upon a rock jutting far out into the sea, but thickly 

 grown with screw pines, it commands a lovely view of 

 the town and harbour, with a picturesque foreground ot 

 rugged black rocks, which serve to enhance the beauty of 

 the fairy-like tropical garden immediately surrounding the 

 Villa. 



"Among the many charms of this garden I was parti- 

 cularly interested to find several beautiful examples of the 

 Egyptian Dhum-palm {Hyphane thebaica). The stem of 

 this palm does not, like others of the same family, consist 

 of a slender column, but has forked branches, like the 

 Dragon trees, or Dracaena?; ea:h limb carries a crown 

 of feather-shaded leaves. I had first seen this remark- 

 able palm in the Arabian village of Tur, at the foot of 

 Mount Sinai, and I gave a description of it in my work 

 on ' Arabian Corals.' Great, therefore, was my surprise 

 at finding it here in so altered a dress that I should 

 scarcely have recognised it. The process of adaptation 

 to its altered conditions of existence had completely 

 transformed the tree. The stem was at least twice as 

 large and strong as that of the Egyptian Dhum Palm ; 

 the forked branches were more numerous, shorter, and 

 closer together ; the huge, feathery leaves were much 

 larger, more luxuriant, and thicker, and the flowers and 

 fruit appeared, as far as my memory served, to have 

 gained in size and beauty. 



" In fact every part of the tree had been so modified by 

 the forcing climate of Ceylon that its inherited charac- 

 teristics seemed in great measure to have disappeared. 

 This magnificent tree had been sown from Egyptian 

 seed, and in twenty years had reached a height of thirty 

 feet. . . . 



" Capt. Bajley's charming villa, the Miramare of Galle, 

 is as interesting to the zoologist as to the botanical 

 student. A miniature menagerie constructed in the 

 court-) ard contains many curious mammalia and bird-, 

 as for example, an ostrich from New Holland, several 

 owls and parrots, and a native ant-eater {Munis). This 

 last, together with some curious fish, Capt. Bayley was >■■ 

 kind as to present to me ; and later on, at Belligemma, he 

 sent me a Christmas present of a pair of interesting Loris 

 [Stenops), 



" But more attractive to me than even these curious 

 animals was the splendid coral which covered the sur- 

 i rounding rocks; even the little harbour in which the 

 Captain moored his boat and the stone jetty which formed 

 the landing-place were profusely covered with it, and a 

 few hours sufficed to secure valuable additions to my col- 

 lection of corals. A large proportion of the animal life 

 inhabiting the extensive coral banks of Galle is here to 

 be found, as it were, epitomised ; gigantic black sea- 

 urchins and red star-fish, numerous crabs and fishes, 

 bright-coloured snails and mussels, and curious marine 

 reptiles of many kinds swarmed on the coral branches 

 and crept from between their crevices. No better or 

 more convenient spot could be found for the establish- 

 ment of a zoological station than Captain Barley's villa, 

 which, as it so happens, his approaching removal to 

 Colombo renders him willing to dispose of." 



Once landed on a coral reef, Prof. Haeckel finds him- 

 self at the god of his desires, and his account of the sub- 

 marine coral banks which to a great extent block the 

 entrance to the harbour of Galle is too interesting not to 

 be given at length. He regrets at the outset that he 

 could only devote days instead of weeks to their examina- 

 tion. " In this respect, the Viennese artist, Ransonnet, 

 was more fortunate. Possessed of every necessary appli- 

 ance, including a diving-bell, he was able to devote 

 several weeks to the inspection of the coral banks of 

 Galle, and has given a minute description of them in his 

 illustrated work on Ceylon (Braunschweig, Westermann, 

 186S). Four coloured plates, for which he made the 



