1853] 



PROF. AGASSIZ ON EXTRAORDINARY FISHES FROM CALIFORNIA. 



87 



but we are much mistaken if other and more open passages far 

 to the north, across the pole itself will not be found. 



We may take this opportunity to state that one of the bottles 

 picked up near the mouth of the Obi, on the Siberian coast, has 

 lately arrived at the Admiralty. In a former number we stated 

 that several of these bottles had been found in the above locality ; 

 and that the Admiralty had requested the Russian Government 

 to forward one to England. It was, of course, hoped that it 

 might prove to have belonged to Franklin's ships ; but, having 

 personally examined it, — we are sorry to say, that it is evidently 

 of foreign manufacture, and not at all likely to have been fur- 

 nished to Franklin's expedition. It is about the length of a soda 

 water bottle — but more spherical ; and is formed of very dark 

 glass, nearly a quarter of an inch thick. 



We are glad to hear that Commanders M'Clure and Inglefield 

 have been promoted. To the latter we are. indebted for a very 

 clear chart showing Capt. M'Clure's track and discoveries; — from 

 which the reduced map which accompanies this article has been 

 copied. 



The Daisy Anemone*. 



All along this line of lime-stone rock, in almost every tide- 

 pool and hollow that retains the sea-water, from the size of one's 

 hand upward, we may at any time find colonies of the lovely 

 Daisy Anemone, Actinia bellis. In the sunshine of a fair day 

 they expand beautifully, and you may see them studding the 

 face of the rock just beneath the surface, from the size of a shil- 

 ling to that of a crown piece. Nothing seems easier than to secure 

 them, but no sooner do the fingers touch them, than its beauti- 

 fully circular disc begins to curl and pucker its margin, and to 

 incase it in the form of a cup ; if further annoyed, the rim of this 

 cup contracts more and more, until it closes, and the animal 

 becomes globose and much diminished, receding all the time 

 from the assault, and retiring into the rock. Presently you dis- 

 cover that you can no longer touch it at all; it is shrunk to the 

 bottom of its hole ; the sharp irregular edges of which project 

 and furnish a stony defence to the inhabitant. Nothing will do 

 but the chisel, and that is by no means easy of appliance. It is 

 rare that the position of the hole is such as to allow of both arms 

 working with any ease ; the rock is under water, and often, if 

 your chisel is short, it is wholly immersed during the work, when 

 every blow which the hammer strikes upon its head has to fall 

 upon a stratum of water, which splashes forcibly into your eyes 

 and over your clothes ; the rock is very hard, and the chisel 

 makes little impression ; and what is frequently the greatest dis- 

 appointment of all, the powdery debris produced by the bruising 

 of the stone mingles with the water and presently makes it per- 

 fectly opaque, as if a quantity of powdered chalk had been mixed 

 with it, so that you cannot see how to direct the blows, you can- 

 not discern- whether you have uncovered the Actinia or not, and 

 frequently are obliged to give up the attempt when nearly accom- 

 plished, simply because you can neither see hole nor Actinia, and 

 as to feeling . in the pap-like mud that your implement has been 

 making, it is out of the question. Supposing, however, that you 

 have got on pretty well, that by making a current in the pool 

 with your hand you have washed away the clouded water 

 sufficiently to see the whereabouts, and that you perceive that 

 another well-directed blow or two will split off the side of the 

 cavity, — you have now to take care so to proportion the force 

 that at last you may neither crush the animal with the chisel on 

 the one hand, nor on the other drive it off so suddenly that it 

 shall fall with the fragment to the bottom of the pool out of reach. 

 However, we will suppose you have happily detached and secured 



• Extract, from a Naturalist's rambles on the Devonshire Coast. — By 

 Philij? Henry Gosse. 



your Actinia without injury. But how unlike its former self, 

 when you were desirous of making its closer acquaintance, is it 

 now ! A little hard globose knob of flesh, not so big as a school- 

 boy's marble, is the creature that just now expanded to the sun's 

 ra}'s a lovely disk of variegated hues, with a diameter greater than 

 that of a Spanish dollar. It is moreover covered with tenacious 

 white slime, which exudes from it faster than you can clear it 

 away ; and altogether its appearance is any thing but inviting. 

 You throw it into a jar of water, which of course you have with 

 you when collecting living zoophytes; and thus bring it home, 

 when you transfer it to a tumbler or other suitable vessel of clear 

 sea- water freshly drawn. And here let us watch its changes ; — 

 which, however, will not be effected immediately ; for it will not 

 expand itself in all its original beauty until it has taken a fresh 

 attachment for its base, winch will not in all probability be for a 

 day or two at least. The body or stem of Actinia bellis is more 

 or less cylindrical generally ; though subject to some change in 

 this respect, for it is occasionally a little enlarged, as it approaches 

 the disk ; the sucking base is slightly larger than the diameter of 

 the body, which in specimens of an inch and a half expanse, may 

 be about half an inch. The length of the body varies much, 

 according to the depth of the cavity in which the animal lives, 

 for it must expand its disk at the surface. In the open water in 

 a vase, when it appears at home, it may commonly be about an 

 inch from the base to the expansion of the disk, but I have a 

 beautiful specimen before my eye at this moment, which has 

 stretched itself to a height of three inches, expanding at] the 

 extremity as usual : the thickness of the stem is in this case some- 

 what diminished. 



Extraordinary Fishes from California, constituting a New 

 Family, described by L. Agassiz.* 



About fifteen months ago, I received a letter fom A. C. Jack- 

 sou, Esq., soon after his return from San Francisco, California, 

 informing me that while fishing in San Salita Bay, he had caught 

 with the hook and line, a fish of the perch family, containing 

 living young. The statement seemed so extraordinary, that 

 though an outline of the specimen observed was enclosed, I sus- 

 pected some mistake, and requested Mr. Jackson to furnish me 

 further information upon what he had actually seen, and if possi- 

 ble specimens of the fish preserved in alcohol. To this enquiry 

 I received the following answer : 



" I regret much that the information which I sent you avails 

 so little, without the actual specimens of the fish and young; 

 these, however, I have already taken active measures to obtain, 

 and trust before many months, to be able to send you at least 

 specimens of the female, if not of the young. I should at the 

 time I caught the fish have preserved them in alcohol, but at that 

 time I was attached to the IS avy Yard commission, and was with 

 my comrades industriously prosecuting the examination of the 

 vicinity of San Salita, as to its adaptiveness for a navy yard, and 

 could not leave for San Francisco without suspending the work, 

 and the means for preserving the fish could not be otherwise pro- 

 cured. This explains the apparent culpable indifference which 

 allowed me to omit preserving the specimens. I have sent direc- 

 tions to California to have caught for me several of the fish, and 

 if at the present time, (September 16th, 1852,) the females were 

 pregnant (which is not probable) to take from one the bag con- 

 taining the young, and put mother and young into the jar of alco- 

 hol, and to put several other females untouched into the jar also. 

 These specimens will by direction and examination, even if they 

 be not pregnant, and if the jar contains no young, determine the 

 truth and accuracy of the statement I made in my former letter 

 on the subject. This fact, proved by these specimens, it will be 



* Silliaian's J-ournal, November. 



