A Dredging Excursion. 73 



natives spoke of another and finer black species with longer 

 pinnies, but Mr. Wallace, after many inquiries and much fruit- 

 less exertion, was obliged to leave without ever seeing a 

 specimen. 



The following is extracted from a paper recently read by 

 Mr. Wallace at a meeting of the Zoological Society of London : 



" Nature seems to have taken every precaution that these, her 

 choicest treasures, may not lose value by being too easily obtained. 

 First we find an open, harbourless, inhospitable coast, exposed to 

 the full swell of the Pacific Ocean ; next a rugged and mountainous 

 country, covered with dense forests, offering, in its swamps, pre- 

 cipices, and serrated ridges, an almost impassable barrier to the 

 central regions ; and, lastly, a race of the most savage and ruthless 

 character in the very lowest stage of civilization. In such a country 

 and among such a people are found these wonderful productions of 

 nature. In those trackless wilds do they display that exquisite 

 beauty and that marvellous development of plumage, calculated to 

 excite admiration and astonishment among the most civilized and 

 most intellectual races of man. A feather is itself a wonderful 

 and beautiful thing. A bird clothed with feathers is almost neces- 

 sarily a beautiful creature. How much then must we wonder at 

 and admire the modification of simple feathers into the rigid, 

 polished, wavy ribbands which adorn P. Rubra, the mass of airy 

 plumes in P. apoda, the tufts and wires of Seleucides alba, or 

 the golden buds borne upon airy stems that spring from the tail 

 of Cicinnurus regia, while gems and polished metals can alone 

 compare with the tints that adorn the breast of P. sexsetacea and 

 Astrapia nigra and the immensely developed shoulder plumes of 

 Epimachus magnus." 



A DREDGING EXCURSION. 



BY D. WALKEE, M.D., E.L.S., COKE. MEM. Z.S., ETC. 



Living on a sandy seaboard where there are few rocks and 

 little shingle, I have often been disappointed in my search 

 along the shore for specimens of marine natural history. Many 

 fruitless hours have been spent with such meagre results, that I 

 have frequently returned home murmuring at the circumstances 

 which placed me in a locality so destitute of a luxurious marine 

 fauna. My opportunities for dredging are few and scattered ; 

 all however are eagerly taken advantage of, and with a hope that 

 some readers similarly situated may follow my example, and 

 receive some pleasure from the perusal of a few reminiscences 

 of my last dredging excursion, I jot them down, adding, as 

 they occur to me, such practical hints and details — needful, but 

 not dry — as may enable others most advantageously to pursue 

 this healthful and fascinating study. 



