136 ANOTHER VISIT TO THE ANDAMANS 



somewhat the appearance of a Hlliputian ship seen 

 by night, with a row of port-holes along either side 

 lit up. In allusion to this row of lights, we called it 

 Lamprogr animus, or 'Mine of radiance." 



We reached the Coco Islands on the 8th November, 

 and stayed there two days to cut in some points and 

 land a boat-party, and then we went on to Port Blair 

 for news of the world. The sea off Little Coco was 

 swarming with sharks : so many were there, that all 

 the big sea-perches that we caught on our fishing- 

 lines were bitten short off at the head before we 

 could haul them in. As we ran down the east coast 

 of the Andamans, we dredged twice, in 683 and 922 

 fathoms, on a bottom of rather foul blue mud of a 

 temperature of 42°.9 and 41°. 2 Fahr., and got a few 

 fishes, crustaceans, mollusks, echinoderms, worms, and 

 sponges. Among them were a fish, Bathygadus 

 longifilis, and a starfish, Porcellanaster ccertUeus, which 

 are also found in the North Atlantic. At the 922- 

 fathom station we also obtained a gigantic crab-spider 

 {Colossendeis gigas), the span of whose lanky legs was 

 nearly 20 inches : the creature, as it lay on its back, 

 shone like a star, all its legs being lit along their 

 ventral surface with a strange greenish-blue radiance. 

 What use this bright light can be to a perfectly 

 blind animal, that appears to feed, like an earthworm, 

 on mud, it is difficult to conjecture, unless, as Sir 

 John Murray suggests, it is useful to scare enemies. 



