CHAPTER XIV 



ZOOLOGICAL GLEANINGS ON THE GODAVARI COAST 



Mortal Illness of Commander Hoskyn. The Scenery of the 

 Godavari and Kistna Deltas. Viviparous Sting-rays. The 

 Genealogy of the Bat-ray. Habits of the Red Ocypode Crab : 

 Musical Powers of Ocypode Crabs. The Epic of the Fiddler- 

 crab. More Deep-sea Dredging. L'Envoi. 



From the day that I rejoined the Investigat07', 

 sharpened by five months of pathology and out- 

 patients, I had noticed that our skipper was not 

 himself. Though he did his work as usual, and 

 made no complaint, yet he was pale and pinched, and 

 every day he seemed to get worse, for a small ship in 

 the Laccadive Sea is no place for anybody but a 

 strong man. Unfortunately, you cannot put the captain 

 of one of His Majesty's ships on the sick-list unless 

 he makes the first advances himself, and so all I 

 could do was to get his shore friends informed that 

 I did not like his looks, and thought that he ought 

 not to stay in the ship. This took some time of 

 accomplishment, and it was not until we reached 

 Colombo, on the 15th December, that I learned that 

 my schemes had taken effect, by his asking me to 



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