CHAPTEE IV. 



FORMOSA {contimied)~T Ail-SVY. 



Towing Ket in Formosa Channel — Pterosoma — |^rola—Sagitta— Atlanta — 

 Glaucus — Alima — Phyllosoma, or glass-crab— Cerapus — Hyalsea — West 

 Coast of Formosa— Fort Zeelaudia-Notonects— Arrive at Tam-suy — The 

 Harbour —Boulder Clay — Chinese Graves- Eice-paper Plant— Bamboo — 

 The Town— People— Rice Embargo— Visit to Mbangka— Camphor Mono- 

 poly—Visit the Chief Mandarin— Return Visit— Queen's 'Birthday. 



At daybreak on May 15 we weighed and stood out of the 

 harbour of Makung, first directing our course towards a sup- 

 posed shoal, marked doubtful on the chart, which we did 

 not, however, succeed in discovering. But the appearances 

 were quite sufl&cient to deceive the inexperienced — such as 

 long hnes of ripple caused by the rapid north and south tide 

 of the channel, and drift dust in the distance looking like 

 breakers. The mast-head man also reported shoal water ; 

 but it proved to be a fallacious appearance caused by the 

 tide rips, which ran so strong that the towing-net could not 

 be kept out except at slack water. 



And here I may refer to several singular marine animals, 

 discovered by the towing-net in the Formosa channel, which 

 proved a rich locality for strange and rare forms. Among 

 them was the Pterosoma (Pt. plana), a transparent, delicately- 

 tinted winged animal, thick and gelatinous, and almost in- 

 visible in the water. It belongs to a class of moUusks 

 known to naturalists as Heteropods, oceanic animals of 



