EXTRACTS FROM TOURS ALONG THE MALABAR COAST. 221 



museum record of the nature and distribution of the littoral fauna of Southern 

 India (with which alone I am concerned) is to be acquired. 



For the great mass of visitors to museums in India, who come under the 

 heading of sight-seers, and who regard museums as tamasJia or wonder houses, 

 it matters but little what exhibits are displayed, or how they are displayed, 

 provided only that they are attractive. I am myself repeatedly amused by 

 seeing visitors to the Madras museum pass hurriedly and silently through the 

 arranged galleries, and linger long and noisily over a heterogeneous collection 

 of native figures, toys, painted models of fruits, &c. But, in addition to the 

 sight-seers, those have to be considered who regard museums in the light of 

 institutions where they should be able to acquire solid information ; and our 

 Indian museums would be fulfilling a very useful function if, in the capital 

 city of each province, collections were brought together and properly exhibited 

 illustrating and forming a classified index to the natural history, ethnology, 

 arts, archeology, economic resources, &c, of the province concerned. 



To return, however, to Calicut. Not only do many of the delicate mollusca 

 washed on shore belong to different genera to those at Cochin, but very con- 

 spicuous by their abundance were the siphonophora Velella and Physalia 

 (Portuguese man-of-war) ; the shells of an edible mollusc (Mytilus viridis) ; 

 the young of the cirrhiped Balanus tintinnabulum, the carapaces of the crusta- 

 cean Matuta miersii;- the burrowing crustacean Hippa asiatica, swarms of which 

 are destroyed by fishermen with each cast of their shore nets and heaped upon 

 shore ; sharks' vertebrae, teeth, and egg-cases attached to drift coir fibre ; 

 worn madreporarian coral fragments, doubtless carried across by currents from 

 the Laccadive Islands ; and a pennatulid (Cavernularia malabarica, sp. n., 

 Fowler). This pennatulid was being cast ashore in large numbers at the time 

 of a visit to Calicut during the south-west monsoon, 1893, with the object of 

 ascertaining whether Calicut could serve as a source of supply of cowry shells 

 (Cyprcea moneta) for the Belgian Congo State.f 



The crustacean Hippa asiatica, which lies buried between tide-marks on the 

 Calicut beach, is collected by digging with the hands, roasted with medicinal 

 herbs purchased in the bazaar, and applied as a fomentation to sore legs. 



Aiter some days spent in dredging at Calicut, the journey was continued by 

 road to Tellicherry, one of the most delightful drives in the plains of South- 

 ern India. Conspicuous by their abundance were the cocoanut and betel 

 palm (Areca catechu) ; the deciduous silk-cotton tree (Bombax malalaricum) 

 in full flower ; black pepper vines {Piper nigram) twining up the trunks, 

 and sheltered by the branches of the coral tree {Erythrina indicd) ; the cashew 

 {Anacardium occidentale) laden with ripening nuts ; and jack-fruit trees 

 (Artocarpus integrifolid) with the young fruits protected by wicker baskets 

 from the attacks of predatory birds. 



* J. E. Henderson, Journ., Mad. Lit. Soc, 1887. 



f The supply was eventually arrangsd for by a Bombay firm. 



