450 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
fresh-water lagoons lying [immediately within the sea beach, 'towards the 
second chain of lagoons about a hundred yards distant inland. The fish 
were in groups of from three to seven, and were pursuing their way in a 
direct line towards a second chain of lagoons at the rate of nearly a mile 
an hour. When disturbed, they turned round, and endeavoured to make 
their way back to the lagoon they had left, but were caught by the Malay 
accompanying the observer. Upwards of twenty were taken during a 
walk of about half a mile. The ground these fish were traversing was 
nearly level, and only scantily clothed with grass and creeping salsolaceous 
plants, which offered very slight obstruction to their progress. 
Immense Shoals of Flounders. — Illustrating the proverbial teeming life 
in the sea, a person writing from Gothenburg states that “ there have 
been caught after the late storms on the coast of Denmark a quantity of 
flounders, estimated at two millions and a half in number, and they say 
the sea is literally full of them. They do not know what to do with any 
more they may take, though there is a salting establishment in full work 
already. Five hundred men were employed night and day for three 
weeks in catching these fish.” 
New Silk Moth. — The Revue de Zoologie says that the Minister of 
Agriculture in France has received from Japan living eggs of the oak 
silkworm, or Bomhyx Yama-Mai , which it is hoped may be cultivated in 
the Jardin d’Acclimatation. Up to this time no European had been able 
to obtain this precious silkworm, all attempts having been hitherto met 
with a flat refusal, on the ground that the exportation of them was for- 
bidden on pain of death. Young oaks in the South of France, Italy, and 
Algeria are in process of being forced in order to afford food to the precious 
insects, which it is expected will soon be excluded from the eggs. 
Acclimatation of Sponges. — M. L’Amiral, who has been to the coast of 
Syria with a view to obtain sponges for transplantation, has returned, and 
presented a detailed report to the Socie'te d’Acclimatation. He distinguishes 
three kinds of sponge for which there is a demand, — a fine soft sponge, a 
fine hard kind, and the common sort. These sponges are found in the 
Levant, between Alexandretta and Saida. When first gathered at the 
bottom of the sea, the sponge is covered with a black but transparent 
gelatinous substance, resembling vegetable granulations, among which 
microscopic white and oviform bodies may be distinguished, which are the 
larvae. When arrived at maturity they are washed out by the sea water 
which incessantly flows through the sponge, and then swim along by the 
aid of cilia, until they attach themselves upon some rock and commence 
a new life. This emigration of larvae occurs about the end of June and 
beginning of July. The fine qualities of sponge are chiefly found at a 
depth of fifteen fathoms, and the common sponges lie between twenty and 
thirty fathoms. At Tripoli (in Syria), divers were engaged and collected 
sponges, which were placed in boxes, through which a stream of sea water 
was made constantly to flow. These arrived at Marseilles on June 17th 
and thence they were taken to Toulon and the islands of Hyeres, where 
stone troughs, with five sponges in each, were sunk in different places. 
The success of the experiment will not, of course, be known till next 
season. 
