Prof. T. R. Jones — Destruction of Marine Animals. 537 



" On tlie long sand-point that, sti'etching far into the bay, shelters 

 the harbour along which we walked in search of Whales' bones and 

 shells, I observed an appearance new to me, and of some geological 

 interest. Shoals of the American Sand-launce (Ammodijtes Ameri- 

 caniis), a little fish three or four inches in length, had entered the bay, 

 and, either seeking a place for spawning or for sheltering themselves 

 from their numerous enemies, had run into the shallow water near 

 the Point, and, according to their usual habit, had in part buried 

 themselves in the sand, which they throw up by means of their long 

 pectoral fins. In this situation countless multitudes had died or been 

 thrown on shore by the surf, and the crows were fattening on them, 

 and the fishermen collecting them in barrels for bait ; acres of them 

 still remaining, whitening the bottom of the shallow water with 

 their bodies. It was impossible not to be reminded by such a 

 spectacle of the beds full of Capelin in the Post-Pliooene Clay of 

 the Ottawa,' and the similar beds filled with fossil fishes in other 

 beds as far back as the Old Red Sandstone. Geologists have often 

 sought to account for such phenomena by supposing sudden changes 

 of level or irruptions of poisonous matter into the water ; but such 

 catastrophes are evidently by no means necessary to produce the 

 effect. Here, in the quiet water of Gaspe Ray, year by year, 

 immense quantities of the remains of the Sand-launce may be 

 imbedded in the sand and mud without even a storm to destroy 

 them. Similar accidents, I am told, happen to the shoals of Capelin; 

 so that there is nothing to prevent the accumulation here of beds 

 equally rich in the remains of Fishes with those deposits of Ichthyo- 

 lites that have excited so much interest and wonder." 



VI. Shoals of Fish are often driven ashore by fishes of prey. 



1. J. B. Jukes noticed in Northern Bay, Newfoundland, on July 1, 

 1839, that live Capelin (Mallotus villosus) were washed on shore by 

 wave-fuls; and on July 5th, at Buonaventura Head, he saw that the 

 Capelin were chased by whales in the offing [Jukes' s Letters, 1871, 

 p. 60)._ 



2. Fishes have been seen to be driven ashore by porpoises and 

 other enemies on the south-eastern coast of Africa [Captain Orr, 

 1874). 



VII. — Among other causes of wide destruction among Fishes and 

 Molluscs are both too much and too little heat in shallow water. 



1. J. Gwyn Jeffreys notes that the Scrohicularia piperata, living 

 in mud, sometimes suffers from its long siphons being dried by too 

 long an exposure of the mud to the summer sun. 



2. We know also that freshwater ponds may be nearly or quite 

 dried up in hot seasons, to the partial or total destruction of their 

 inhabitants. 



3. Some saltwater lakes, covering 26 square miles, did exist (but 

 were to be drained) near Calcutta, which were full of water in 

 September and October, but the waters went off in November and 

 December, leaving the fish to die and putrefy [The Reader, Dec. 2, 

 1865, p. 630). 



1 See Geol. Mag. Vol. I. p. 160. 



