Wild Life in Southern Seas. 
13 6 
To the above account which originally 
appeared in The Field , the editor of that 
journal added the following :—It is not with¬ 
out interest to supplement the above account 
with a note on two points that have been 
overlooked, and well deserve mention. The 
first is the singular modification of structure 
which this species of an aquatic family has 
undergone to fit it for a prolonged existence on 
land. Professor Semper has pointed out in his 
admirable work, “ The Natural Conditions of 
Existence as they affect Animal Life ” (Inter¬ 
national Science Series, Vol. xxxi.), that following 
on its change of habit a portion of the gill cavities 
have become modified into an organ for breath¬ 
ing air, namely a lung. This is described and 
figured on pp. 5 and 185 in the work referred 
to. The other point is the use to which the fat 
is put by sagacious travellers. Mr. H. O. 
Forbes, in his “ Naturalist’s Wanderings in the 
Eastern Archipelago,” writes : “ It accumulates 
beneath its tail a store of fat which dissolves by 
heat into a rich yellow oil, of which a large 
specimen will often yield as much as two pints. 
Thickened in the sun, it forms an excellent 
ubstitute for butter in all its uses. I discovered 
