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favourable to our researches in natural history; and during these 
days of alarms we were enriched by a crowd of species of marine 
animals which were previously unknown to us. Sea-snakes especi- 
ally astonished us by their prodigious number: we noticed some of 
every colour and of many sizes; some were as thick as an arm and 
not less than 5 or 6 feet long. But what more particularly attracted 
our attention was a kind of grey powder which covered the sea for a 
space of more than 20 leagues from east to west. This extraordinary 
phenomenon had been previously observed by Banks and Solander 
near New Guinea. These two illustrious travellers state that the 
English sailors called it sea-sawdust. There is certainly a rough re- 
semblance between the two substances; but on examining this sup- 
posed sea-sawdust under the microscope we recognised in each of the 
atoms which compose it such a regular and constant form that we 
could not fail to regard it as so .many little organic bodies. They 
were fairly similar to the glumes or balls of oats; their very small 
size, with the absence of any kind of sensible movement, led us to 
consider them as true eggs of some species of marine animal. 
The prodigious multiplication which such a quantity of eggs 
supposes is not without parallel in nature: it will suffice to recall 
in this respect those “seas of blood” of which several celebrated 
navigators speak, which owe their colour to a single species of 
microscopic crustacean. 
On 25t,h April they fell in with a fleet of Malay prows. From 
these they learnt “that all this coast was fringed with great sand 
banks which were partly dry at low water; that they were then 
covered by an enormous quantity of different animals, particularly 
by the Holothurians or Trepan g of which the cargoes of the Malays 
are composed; that green turtles, 1 and even the tortoiseshell- 
turtle, 2 occur in very considerable numbers round these banks, 
and furnish to the fishermen an abundant and healthy food; that 
all these coasts were excessively plentiful in fish.” 
The name of Holothuria Banks was given to this region. “Those 
of our people who had been on Cassini Island brought back a fairly 
large number of shells which all belonged, with some differences in 
colour and size, to species which we had previously collected at 
Timor; on the other hand, there was not one of the species of the 
south of New Holland or of Van Diemen’s Land. This curious 
result is equally applicable to all branches of the animal kingdom.” 
On the 30th they once more left the coast for Timor, from which 
they returned to take up the work where they had left it on 12th 
J line. 
An extensive sand bank “was named Medusa Bank on account 
of the great number of animals of this genus which our naturalists 
found in this neighbourhood.” 
1 Chelonia mydas, Linn. 
2 Chelonia imbricata, Linn. 
