712 SPAWN OF CEPHALOPODA. 



brilliant orange hue but more especially on account of the remarkable fragmentation of 

 the dorsal tubercle (orifice of the subneural gland into the branchial sac) which appears 

 as a large number of irregularly placed apertures occupying a triangular area. This very 

 curious species is the Ascidia aurata of Quoy and Gaimard, who gave a coloured figure 

 of it in their work on the zoology of the Astrolabe 1 . 



My enthusiasm for the Ascidians resulted in temporary disablement for the best 

 part of a week, owing to the combined action of the sea-water and the heat of the 

 sun, which so blistered my back that I experienced a complete ecdysis of the dorsal 

 integument. 



On May 6th, 1895, I took over by purchase a stout, cutter-rigged sailing-boat built 

 by Ah Tam, the enterprising Chinaman of Matupi, with whom I had been negotiating 

 for some time. I was delighted with the new sails and the bamboo-boom and with the 

 prospect of being able to trawl at will 2 . 



There was, however, ground for considerable anxiety as there was more or less 

 constant danger of the boat being stolen by deserting labour-recruits. One such theft 

 occurred about that time with disastrous consequences, involving the death from exposure 

 of the owner who went in pursuit. 



Among my various devices designed to secure the eggs and young of Nautilus 

 I employed a tangle-drag, a bar of iron with long hempen tangles hanging from it, 

 which was sunk in deep water in places frequented by Nautilus and left for a varying 

 number of days with a buoy at the surface. I obtained the spawn of other Cephalopods 

 by this means, but not that of Nautilus. 



Another obvious method of dealing with this intractable creature was to bait and 

 sink fish-baskets in the usual way, and to leave them down for several days instead 

 of raising them at the customary time. This method was based upon the principle that, 

 while it began to seem hopeless to think of acquiring the eggs in any other way than 

 by inducing Nautilus to breed in confinement, it was not necessary to look at the captive 

 specimens at once. In this way I sought to avoid the shock of bringing them to the 

 surface before they could have a chance to settle down to the work of oviposition. 

 Previous experience had led me to anticipate that the provisioning of the cages after the 

 exhaustion of the bait would be accomplished automatically by the entrance of Crustacea 

 and soft-shelled Echinids. Nautilus duly entered the traps, but in spite of sanguine 

 hopes the experiment did not succeed, owing probably in part at least to various 

 hindrances, such as the fragile construction of the cages, the inroads of conger-eels and 

 the buffetings of other large fishes in the depths. 



A further hostile element which has to be reckoned with when operating in deep 

 water is the periodical visitation of gales of wind or half-gales, especially during the 

 north-west season. These will often mercilessly dispel all one's hopes and contrivances. 



1 Quoy et Gaimard, " Voj'age de l'Astrolabe," Zoo!. T. in. 1834, p. 604. Atlas (Mollusques, etc.) PI. 91, 

 fig. 3. Dr Sluiter (Tunicaten in Semon's Farschungsreisen, Bd. v., 1895) has described this species under the 

 name Styela [Polycarpa) pneiimoiiodes and was the first to note the peculiar condition of the dorsal tubercle 

 (cf. Sluiter, op. ait., Atlas Taf. x. figs. 1 — 3). 



- I procured more material with a small beam-trawl, which I took out with me from Plymouth at the 

 recommendation of Mr J. T. Cunningham, than with the dredges, among my prizes being two very fine 

 Polychaet worms belonging to the genera Psammolyce and Palmyra. 



