MORGAN—ON EUPLECTELLA ASPERGILLUM. 203 
JANUARY 7, 1869. 
W. Anvrews, Esq., M. R. I. A., Vice-President, in the Chair. 
Tue Minutes of the previous Meeting were read and confirmed. 
S. R. Graves, Esq., M.P., read the following Paper :— 
Notes on THE DrscovEry oF EvUPLECTELLA ASPERGILLUM (OWEN), by 
Captain Morean, of the ‘‘ Robin Hood” :— 
Tus only place where Regaderas are to be found is about three miles 
from the shore, in front of the small village of Talisay, which is about 
five miles south of the town of Cebu, Isle of Cebu, Philippine Islands. 
The mode of catching them is very ingenious, and is as follows :— 
When the tide is about its full, the natives go out in very small canoes 
to the bed in which they are found, and which is about one mile in cir- 
cumference, and from 130 to 135 fathoms deep. The native, when he 
considers he has come to about the extremity of the bed, then lets drop 
his fishing tackle, composed, as in the rough sketch given herewith, of 
a piece of iron of the shape ofa T, to the two extremities of which are 
attached two flexible pieces of bamboo, armed with hooks. This sinks 
to the bottom, and the native sits perfectly still in his tiny canoe, which 
is then gradually drifted by the tide or current over the ground on which 
are found the Regaderas. So soon as he feels that his trawling appa- 
ratus has caught something, he begins to haul his lines gently in, and 
generally finds two or three Regaderas impaled on the hooks. When 
taken out of the water, the Regaderas are dirty and yellow; but after 
being put in fresh water or exposed to the rain, and then dried in the 
sun, they become perfectly white. 
The bottom of the sea where the Regaderas are found is composed 
of soft mud and sand. The root of the Regadera is imbedded in this, 
and the top or broad part always looks, as the natives say, to the set- 
ting sun (a donde se pone el sol). In the Regadera, when fished up, are 
generally found from one to three small animals (4ichos) of the crab 
species, of about the size of very small shrimps. [In the annexed 
sketch one is drawn of the size of life.]| These are supposed to make 
these Regaderas, which are at first very small—say about an inch long, 
and generally expand about a foot in length. These crabs or animals 
can burrow into the sand out of their pretty home, and re-enter it at will. 
The hooks, of course, frequently catch Regaderas without bringing them 
VOL. V. 2E 
