CH.V FAUNA OF TALIS SE 105 



tissues in some places turning a bright blue colour. This 

 ■was due to the escaped blood, -which in these animals is 

 white in the Tessels but turns blue when brought into contact 

 ■with the oxygen of the air. Blood of this kind occurs in some 

 Crustacea, MoUusca, scorpions, the king-crab (Limulus), 

 and elsewhere in the animal kingdom ; but it is not gene- 

 rally known that it also occurs in centipedes. Some of 

 the ilyriapoda are known to be phosphorescent, but there 

 is one little creature not uncommonly found in parts of 

 Celebes which is really remarkable in this respect. It is 

 apparently aDied to the genus Siphonophora, and is called 

 by the natives 'Kala moyang.' I found two or three 

 specimens on the mosquito curtains of my bed in Tahsse. 

 It is about an inch in length, and as it progresses leaves 

 a trail of some highly phosphorescent secretion behind. 

 It is reaUy astonishing what a bright blue light this thin 

 streak of matter can give. 



The little pool of water at the Panchuran contained many 

 forms of animal life of considerable interest. The banks 

 were bored by land-crabs belonging to the genus Sesarma, a 

 crab that wanders all over the low-lying districts of the island. 

 My boys caught for me in the pool a few specimens of the 

 large fresh-water prawn {Palcemon ornatus), and sometimes 

 the water was quite black with hundreds of the larvae of 

 dragon-flies and gnats. The MoUusks at the Panchuran 

 were the same as those found in the marshes and swamps. 



I must now leave the subject of the land fauna to 

 consider that of the sea and coasts. I would that I could 

 feel in closing this chapter that I have really done justice 

 to a subject of such vast and varied interest ; but in a 

 country such as this, where the hfe-histories and habits of 

 the animals have not yet been seriously studied by anyone, 

 the field of work which lies before the travelling zoologist is 

 so large that it is quite necessary for him to confine himself 

 within definite limits in order to produce any useful results. 



