Feb. 24, 1888.] 



SCIENTIFIC NKWS. 



Rabbits Carnivorous. — Colonel Gordon Campbell 

 states in the Field that during snowy weather, at Troup, in 

 Aberdeenshire, scraps of meat, fish, and egg had been 

 thrown out as food for the birds, when some rabbits 

 made their appearance, drove away the birds, and ate up 

 all the scraps. We believe that all rodents are partially 



carnivorous. 



Heron Preying on Birds. — Rev. E. Elmhirst, of 

 Shawell Rectory, writes to the Field that a heron in 

 captivity has been known to lie in wait for sparrows and 

 martins, pierce them with his beak, dip the body in 

 water, and swallow it at a gulp. 



The Muscles of the Mollusca. — M. R. Blanchard 

 has communicated to the Paris Academy of Sciences a 

 memoir in which, in opposition to M. Fol, he maintains 

 that a true transverse striation of the muscles exists in 

 certain mollusca. 



A Parasite of the African Python. — M. P. Megnin 

 gives, in La Nature, an account of a tick, " harvest-bug," 

 or Acarus, belonging to the genus Ixodes, and found upon 

 the body of a Python seba. Like the rest of its tribe this 

 vermin attaches itself to the bodies of various animals, 

 man included, by means of the barbed hooks of its ros- 

 trum and sucks their blood. If it is pulled away the 

 rostrum breaks off, and remains in the flesh, occasioning 

 a troublesome sore. But if, instead, a drop of benzine 

 or oil of turpentine is applied to the enemy it falls off 

 dead, without occasioning any injury. It is remarkable 

 that the female Ixodes attach themselves chiefly to large 

 mammalia — buffaloes, domestic cattle, horses, etc. The 

 males chiefly infest large reptiles and tortoises, whilst 

 the larvas are generally found on rodents and on lizards. 



Kermese Oak. — The Quercus coccifera, on Kermese 

 oak, a common plant upon the shores of the Medi- 

 terranean, has been from the most ancient times celebrated 

 as the source of a very rich crimson dye, obtained from 

 an insect dwelling upon the leaves, which until the 

 discovery of the cochineal insect in America was held in 

 high estimation, and formed an important article of 

 commerce, but is now almost entirely unknown, even in 

 those places where it was formerly collected. 



Discovery of the Anchovy in Australia. — Mr. Saville 

 Kent, the eminent pisciculturist and ichthyologist, has 

 been commissioned by the Colonial Government of 

 Victoria to examine and report on the fisheries and 

 especially on the oyster-beds of that province. In the 

 Gipps Land salt-lakes and at Western Port he has 

 discovered the true anchovy in great abundance. Hence 

 it is probable that Melbourne will be able to do a 

 flourishing export business in anchovy sauce. 



An Extraordinary Lobster. — An enormous lobster, 

 •caught near Roscoff, has been recently exhibited in the 

 window of a fish-shop in the Rue de Sevres, Paris. The 

 animal measured nearly 19 inches in length, and its enor- 

 mous claws were iij inches in length, and stout in pro- 

 portion. It was considered to be very aged, if we may 

 judge from the hairs which covered its antennae and its 

 legs. Its brown carapace was covered with grey concre- 

 tions, and a colony of mussels had taken possession of 

 its face, so as to blind it completely. — La Nature. 



CHARACTERISTICS OF DEEP-SEA 

 FISHES. 



THE twenty-second volume in connection with the 

 Challenger Expedition has just been issued. It 

 contains Dr. Albert Giinther's report on the deep-sea 

 fishes. In his introduction to the details of the 794 

 specimens which were submitted to his charge for 

 examination and description, he makes some very inter- 

 esting remarks about the characteristics of these animals. 

 Occasional specimens of deep-sea fishes have fallen into 

 the hands of zoologists ; but these could not, with the 

 imperfect apparatus, have been taken from their proper 

 habitat, having been captured whilst floating on the 

 surface or near to the coast. Risso was the first (1826) 

 to distinguish a bathybial fish-fauna, assigning to it 

 certain fishes found in the Gulf of Genoa, and stating the 

 depths at which they habitually live. Between 1843 and 

 i860, the Rev. R. T. Lowe, during his numerous and 

 prolonged visits to the Island of Madeira, paid special 

 attention to the wonderful variety of the fishes of the sea 

 surrounding that island. Mr. J. Y. Johnson continued 

 the study of the fishes of Madeira from 1862 to 1S66. 

 Their specimens were deposited in the British Museum, 

 to which Dr. Gunther, as keeper of the department of 

 zoology, had the best access. 



The materials brought home by the Challenger laid a 

 broad and sure foundation for our knowledge of deep-sea 

 fishes. The greatest depth from which the capture of fishes 

 is reported was about 18,000 feet, or 3^ miles. The phy- 

 sical conditions under which fishes live from 600 feet up 

 to that depth affect certain parts of their organisation. 

 In many fishes which permanently live at 480 to 720 feet 

 below the level of the sea, indications of their dwelling- 

 place are observed in the black colouration of their 

 pharynx and in the size of their eye, which is propor- 

 tionally larger than that of surface fishes. 



The enormous pressure which fishes at the depth of 

 three miles require to bear is one of the primary causes 

 affecting their organisation. At the level of the sea the 

 pressure of the air upon the square inch is fifteen pounds, 

 but below the surface of the sea the pressure is increased 

 in proportion to the depth of the water. At the depth 

 of one footthe additional pressure is seven ounces ; at the 

 depth of 100 feet, 43^ lbs.; and at the depth of 3J miles, 

 about 3^ tons. In many of the deep-sea fishes, there- 

 fore, the osseous or muscular systems are, as compared 

 with the same parts of surface fishes, very feebly 

 developed. The bones are fibrous and fissured ; light 

 with scarcely any calcareous matter, so that the point 

 of a needle will easily pierce them. In some the 

 primordial cartilage is persistent in a degree rarely met 

 with in surface fishes ; and when brought to the surface 

 all the bones are most loosely connected with one 

 another. The muscles are thin, the connective tissue is 

 extremely loose and feeble, so that Dr. Gunther 

 experienced great difficulty in handling some to prevent 

 them from breaking into fragments. But it is not, 

 therefore, to be assumed that this loose connection of the 

 osseous and muscular systems obtains whilst those fishes 

 remain under the normal physical conditions of their 

 abyssal abode. 



Dr. Gunther found that all deep-sea fishes are carni- 

 vorous, and some of them are most rapacious creatures, 

 which must be able to execute rapid movements to catch 

 their prey ; their muscular system must, therefore, be 

 very powerful. In coming to the surface, their body 



