VOYAGE FEOM INDIA TO SIAM AND MALACCA. Ill 



of these Medusas was a little more than two inches in width and 

 had one inch in diameter. 



16. — To-day the Medusa porphita had entirely disappeared, 

 but the slimy crystalline Medusa appeared still in great quantity ; 

 some of them I caug-ht. Among them was also the oblong obtuse 

 angled one with the eight purplish stripes, which I described in the 

 Strait of Malacca. What caug^ht my attention most, was a great 

 quantity of little phosphorescent bodies, which floated in the 

 water at one and two feet depth. Their size when seen in the 

 water seemed to be that of a small pea, and they varied in colour. 

 Some were g-olden-yellow, others green, but most of them were 

 blue. I caught some with my met ; to all appearance they were 

 a kind of Scylla, and consisted of a very fragile crystalline sub- 

 stance. They were oblong', had four projecting lobes, and round- 

 ed fmTOws on the upper part, some phosphorescent lines were 

 marked across them. In front they had a long conical trunk, 

 which was longer than the four lobes ; along the middle of this 

 trunk there was also a deliate green phosphorescent stripe. The 

 real phosphorescent part was in the middle of the body ; it was 

 oblong, flat, a little convex on one side, about two lines long and 

 one line wide. It retained its phosphorescent quality even after 

 it has been been removed from off the animal. The whole animal 

 was one inch long', the lobes projecting' about | of an inch. 



I made a peculiar observation. Among the Medusa which 

 I had caught, there was a small fish (Ostracion) about half an 

 inch long. I put it among' the Medusas and at first it was very 

 lively, but by degrees the slime of these animals enveloped it, 

 and in about one hour its skin, otherwise so hard, had quite 

 dissolved and the fish began to be transparent, more like 

 the Medusas. It seems therefore that this acid slime has 

 been given to them by nature to conform their food to their 

 digestive capacities, because they have no special organs for this 

 purpose. It is just this slime which so easily produces an inflam- 

 mation on the human hand. The slime of the blue ones has this 

 faculty in particular. 



Since we have entered the Chinese sea, we are continually 

 sounding with the plummet, especially since three days the water 

 has not been deeper than fourteen fathoms ; and the sounding 

 consisted nearly always of sand mixed with mud. Towards 

 evening some red sea-perch were caught and a large amount of 



