TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION D. 435 
among fish occurred. They were thrown up alive on the beach, and their remains 
a few months afterwards formed a pile five to six feet high. 
In December of the year 1886 a similar occurrence took place at Cape Recife, 
and here, as in the previous cases, the fish were of all sorts, including species of 
Dentex, Pagrus, Hoplognathus, and large sharks. Towards the end of the year 1903 
the trawler at Mossel Bay procured in the net quantities of dead fish in an 
advanced state of decomposition. Dead fish were also seen floating about in the 
water. In September 1904 many fish were cast up on the beach alive or in a 
stupefied condition. The sea-temperature observations on this occasion indicated 
great diversity. On the trawling ground near East London the water was remark- 
ably warm, while at East London the observations were normal, with the sudden 
drop from 56° to 50° between the 9th and 10th of the month, 
Cases of mortality among marine animals in the tidal rivers of the east coast 
are not infrequent on the occurrence of great floods. 
On August 3, just before the meeting of the British Association, an occurrence 
resembling those above took place near Cape Town, at a place on the west coast of 
the peninsula near Hout Bay, and is being inquired into. 
The author suggested that these occurrences might be due to a peculiar feature 
of the Cape seas, viz., the great difference in temperature and salinity and contents 
of the warm Agulhas stream and the Antarctic Drift Current, and expressed a 
hope that his notes might be of some use in directing attention to this problem 
and securing additional evidence in connection therewith. 
A number of samples of deep-sea deposits found off the South African coast 
were shown, and attention was drawn to the suggestion that the extensive 
occurrence of phosphate of lime in these deposits, together with organic remains, 
such as sharks’ teeth, earbones of whales, &c., might be associated causally with 
such occurrences as those enumerated above. 
2. Recent Discoveries in the South African Deep Sea. 
By J. D. F. Gincnrist, .A., Ph.D., B.Se. 
The author gave a demonstration of the more interesting forms in a collection 
of deep-sea animals shown in the Museum of the South African College, and 
special attention was devoted to certain questions, such as methods of reproduction 
of deep-sea fish, the significance of luminous organs, and parasitism. A large 
viviparous deep-sea fish (Cataety2’) and its embryos were shown, as also the eggs 
of Macrurus fasciatus, secured from the ripe female and also by tow-netting at a 
depth of about 100 fathoms, some of the latter containing embryos. It was 
shown that the luminous organs were, in the case of a species of Scopelus, sexual, 
and that deep-sea fish were much more liable to be infested with parasitic copepods 
than shallow-water forms, 
3. The Ostrich and its Allies. By A. H. Evans, M.A. 
This paper, being of the nature of a technical introduction to that of the Hon. 
Arthur Douglass on ostrich farming, was chiefly concerned with the relation of 
the Ratite to the Carinate birds. The degeneration of birds in general was dis- 
cussed, as also the loss of the power of flight in the ‘Struthious’ group. This led 
naturally to Merrem’s division of the class Aves into Ratite and Carinate, and 
the slow though sure recognition which his views obtained. The Ratite are 
divided into six orders, and the orders into families. These families were dis- 
cussed in some detail as regards the species they contain, while the range of each 
species was defined. 
4. On Ostrich Farming. By the Hon, Arruur Dovetass. 
This paper dealt with the commencement of ostrich farming in 1867, and its 
growth up to tke present time.—The best climate, and general conditicns for the 
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