Journal of a Voyage to Central America. 3929 



Short Extracts from a Journal of a Voyage made to Central America 

 in 1852. By Julian Deby.* 



I left Antwerp on board the brig Plantin, bound for La Guayra 

 (Venezuela) and St. Thomas de Guatemala, on the 21st of February, 

 1852. My intention was to have travelled over a great portion of 

 Central America ; but, as I shall further relate, the unsettled state of 

 the country, and severe fever, ultimately drove me home much sooner 

 than I had anticipated. However, being now restored to health, and 

 my spirits unabated, I am determined to recommence my expedition 

 very shortly. 



Believing that a few rough and imperfect notes from my journal, 

 on subjects of Natural History, may be agreeable to the readers of the 

 ' Zoologist' (some of whom will perhaps recollect my name), I forward 

 the following extracts for insertion in that journal, should you deem 

 them worth reading. The present portion treats only of the few ob- 

 servations I made at sea ; in those which are to follow I shall briefly 

 relate my subsequent proceedings on land, which, I believe, will be 

 found more interesting. 



On the 25th of February, in lat. 47° 16' N., long. 9° 22 ' W., hav- 

 ing hung a small net behind the vessel, I caught several Sagittas, and 

 a large number of Noctilucas. The first of these, viewed under the 

 microscope, is a singular hermaphrodite animal, the classification of 

 which is very difficult to establish. I distinctly saw the zoosperms 

 moving briskly in the ovaria. The Noctilucas, which are the princi- 

 pal agents of the phosphorescence of the sea in our temperate regions, 

 are very certainly Infusoria, with a flagelliform articulated swimming- 

 apparatus : the radiated lines seen in them, and which by some natu- 

 ralists have been looked upon as traces of a nervous system, according 

 to my views are nothing else than external elevated lines, which dis- 

 appear on the slightest pressure. These small and delicate animals 

 remain by thousands at the bottom of the net, forming a jelly-like 

 mass, which, on turning the net inside out into a large tumbler full of 

 sea water, immediately swim about slowly (having the appearance of 

 small transparent bubbles, of the size of a pin's head), and may be 

 collected separately for observation under the microscope, by means 



* Hoping some day to publish a complete account of my voyages and travels, I 

 must be excused for not entering here into scientific details of all I observed. — J. D. 

 XI. 2 E 



