Sketches of the Natural History of Ceylon Part 36

Strange to say, though the Gulf of Manaar abounds with these hideous creatures, not more than one well authenticated accident[1] is known to have occurred from this source during any pearl fishery since the British have had possession of Ceylon. In all probability the reason is that the sharks are alarmed by the unusual number of boats, the mult.i.tude of divers, the noise of the crews, the incessant plunging of the sinking stones, and the descent and ascent of the baskets filled with sh.e.l.ls. The dark colour of the divers themselves may also be a protection; whiter skins might not experience an equal impunity.

Ma.s.soudi relates that the divers of the Persian Gulf were so conscious of this advantage of colour, that they were accustomed to blacken their limbs, in order to baffle the sea monsters.[2]

[Footnote 1: CORDINER'S _Ceylon_, vol. ii p. 52.]

[Footnote 2: "Ils s'enduisaient les pieds et les jambes d'une substance noiratre, atin de faire peur aux monstres marins, que, sans cela, seraient tentes de les devorer."--_Moroudj-al-Dzekeb,_ REINAUD, _Mem.

sur l'Inde_, p. 228.]

The result of our examination of the pearl banks, on this occasion, was such as to discourage the hope of an early fishery. The oysters in point of number were abundant, but in size they were little more than "spat,"

the largest being barely a fourth of an inch in diameter. As at least seven years are required to furnish the growth at which pearls may be sought with advantage[1], the inspection served only to suggest the prospect (which has since been realised) that in time the income from this source might be expected to revive;--and, forced to content ourselves with this antic.i.p.ation, we weighed anchor from Condatchy, on the 30th March, and arrived on the following day at Colombo.

[Footnote 1: Along with this two plates are given from drawings made for the Official Inspector, and exhibiting the ascertained size of the pearl oyster at every period of its growth, from the "spat" to the mature sh.e.l.l. The young "brood" are shown at Nos. 1 and 2. The sh.e.l.l at four months old, No. 3, No. 4. six months, No. 5. one year, No. 6, two years.

The second plate exhibits the sh.e.l.l at its full growth.]

The banks of Aripo are not the only localities, nor is the _acicula_ the only mollusc, by which pearls are furnished. The Bay of Tamblegam, connected with the magnificent harbour of Trincomalie, is the seat of another pearl fishery, and the sh.e.l.l which produces them is the thin transparent oyster (_Placuna placenta_). whose clear white sh.e.l.ls are used, in China and elsewhere, as a subst.i.tute for window gla.s.s. They are also collected annually for the sake of the diminutive pearls contained in them. These are exported to the coast of India, to be calcined for lime, which the luxurious affect to chew with their betel. These pearls are also burned in the mouths of the dead. So prolific are the mollusca of the _Placuna_, that the quant.i.ty of sh.e.l.ls taken by the licensed renter in the three years prior to 1858, could not have been less than eighteen millions.[1] They delight in brackish water, and on more than one recent occasion, an excess of either salt water or fresh has proved fatal to great numbers of them.

[Footnote 1: _Report of_ Dr. KELAART, Oct. 1857.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PEARL OYSTER.

1, 2. The young brood or spat.

3. Four months old.

4. Six months old.

5. One year old.

6. Two years old.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE PEARL OYSTER. Full Growth.]

On the occasion of a visit which I made to Batticaloa. in September, 1848, I made some inquiries relative to a story which had reached me of musical sounds, said to be often heard issuing from the bottom of the lake, at several places, both above and below the ferry opposite the old Dutch Fort; and which the natives suppose to proceed from some fish peculiar to the locality. The report was confirmed in all its particulars, and one of the spots whence the sounds proceed was pointed out between the pier and a rock that intersects the channel, two or three hundred yards to the eastward. They were said to be heard at night, and most distinctly when the moon was nearest the full, and they were described as resembling the faint sweet notes of an aeolian harp. I sent for some of the fishermen, who said they were perfectly aware of the fact, and that their fathers had always known of the existence of the musical sounds, heard, they said, at the spot alluded to, but only during the dry season, as they cease when the lake is swollen by the freshes after the rain. They believed them to proceed not from a fish, but from a sh.e.l.l, which is known by the Tamil name of (_oorie cooleeroo cradoo_, or) the "crying sh.e.l.l," a name in which the sound seems to have been adopted as an echo to the sense. I sent them in search of the sh.e.l.l, and they returned bringing me some living specimens of different sh.e.l.ls, chiefly _littorina_ and _cerithium._[1]

[Ill.u.s.tration: CERITHIUM PAl.u.s.tRE.]

[Footnote 1: _Littorina laevis. Cerithium pal.u.s.tre._ Of the latter the specimens brought to me were dwarfed and solid, exhibiting in this particular the usual peculiarities that distinguish (1) sh.e.l.ls inhabiting a rocky locality from (2) their congeners in a sandy bottom.

Their longitudinal development was less, with greater breadth, and increased strength and weight.]

In the evening when the moon rose, I took a boat and accompanied the fishermen to the spot. We rowed about two hundred yards north-east of the jetty by the fort gate; there was not a breath of wind, nor a ripple except those caused by the dip of our oars. On coming to the point mentioned, I distinctly heard the sounds in question. They came up from the water like the gentle thrills of a musical chord, or the faint vibrations of a wine-gla.s.s when its rim is rubbed by a moistened finger.

It was not one sustained note, but a mult.i.tude of tiny, sounds, each clear and distinct in itself; the sweetest treble mingling with the lowest ba.s.s. On applying the ear to the woodwork of the boat, the vibration was greatly increased in volume. The sounds varied considerably at different points, as we moved across the lake, as if the number of the animals from which they proceeded was greatest in particular spots; and occasionally we rowed out of hearing of them altogether, until on returning to the original locality the sounds were at once renewed.

This fact seems to indicate that the causes of the sounds, whatever they may be, are stationary at several points; and this agrees with the statement of the natives, that they are produced by mollusca, and not by fish. They came evidently and sensibly from the depth of the lake, and there was nothing in the surrounding circ.u.mstances to support the conjecture that they could be the reverberation of noises made by insects on the sh.o.r.e conveyed along the surface of the water; for they were loudest and most distinct at points where the nature of the land, and the intervention of the fort and its buildings, forbade the possibility of this kind of conduction.

Sounds somewhat similar are heard under water at some places on the western coast of India, especially in the harbour of Bombay.[1] At Caldera, in Chili, musical cadences are stated to issue from the sea near the landing-place; they are described as rising and falling fully four notes, resembling the tones of harp strings, and mingling like those at Batticaloa, till they produce a musical discord of great delicacy and sweetness. The same interesting phenomenon has been observed at the mouth of the Pascagoula, in the State of Mississippi, and of another river called the "Bayou coq del Inde," on the northern sh.o.r.e of the Gulf of Mexico. The animals from which they proceed have not been identified at either of these places, and the mystery remains unsolved, whether the sounds at Batticaloa are given forth by fishes or by molluscs.

[Footnote 1: These sounds are thus described by Dr. BUIST in the _Bombay Times_ of January 1847: "A party lately crossing from the promontory in Salsette called the 'Neat's Tongue,' to near Sewree, were, about sunset, struck by hearing long distinct sounds like the protracted booming of a distant bell, the dying cadence of an aeolian harp, the note of a pitchpipe or pitch-fork, or any other long-drawn-out musical note. It was, at first, supposed to be music from Parell floating at intervals on the breeze; then it was perceived to come from all directions, almost in equal strength, and to arise from the surface of the water all around the vessel. The boatmen at once intimated that the sounds were produced by fish, abounding in the muddy creeks and shoals around Bombay and Salsette; they were perfectly well known, and very often heard.

Accordingly, on inclining the ear towards the surface of the water; or, better still, by placing it close to the planks of the vessel, the notes appeared loud and distinct, and followed each other in constant succession. The boatmen next day produced specimens of the fish--a creature closely resembling, in size and shape the fresh-water perch of the north of Europe--and spoke of them as plentiful and perfectly well known. It is hoped they may be procured alive, and the means afforded of determining how the musical sounds are produced and emitted, with other particulars of interest supposed new in Ichthyology. We shall be thankful to receive from our readers any information they can give us in regard to a phenomenon which does not appear to have been heretofore noticed, and which cannot fail to attract the attention of the naturalist. Of the perfect accuracy with which the singular facts above related have been given, no doubt will be entertained when it is mentioned that the writer was one of a party of five intelligent persons, by all of whom they were most carefully observed, and the impressions of all of whom in regard to them were uniform. It is supposed that the fish are confined to particular localities--shallows, estuaries, and muddy creeks, rarely visited by Europeans; and that this is the reason why hitherto no mention, so far as we know, has been made of the peculiarity in any work on Natural History."

This communication elicited one from Vizagapatam, relative to "musical sounds like the prolonged notes on the harp" heard to proceed from under water at that station. It appeared in the _Bombay Times_ of Feb. 13, 1849.]

Certain fishes are known to utter sounds when removed from the water[1], and some are capable of making noises when under it[2]; but all the circ.u.mstances connected with the sounds which I heard at Batticaloa are unfavourable to the conjecture that they were produced by either.

[Footnote 1: The Cuckoo Gurnard (_Triglia cuculus_) and the maigre (_Sciaena aquila_) utter sounds when taken out of the water (YARRELL, vol. i. p. 44, 107); and herrings when the net has just been drawn have been observed to do the same. This effect has been attributed to the escape of air from the air bladder, but no air bladder has been found in the _Cottus_, which makes a similar noise.]

[Footnote 2: The fishermen a.s.sert that a fish about five inches in length, found in the lake at Colombo, and called by them "_magoora_,"

makes a grunt when disturbed under water. PALLEGOIX, in his account of Siam, speaks of a fish resembling a sole, but of brilliant colouring with black spots, which the natives call the "dog's tongue," that attaches itself to the bottom of a boat, "et fait entendre un bruit tres-sonore et meme harmonieux."--Tom. i. p. 194. A _Silurus_, found in the Rio Parana, and called the "armado," is remarkable for making a harsh grating noise when caught by hook or line, which can be distinctly heard when the fish is beneath the water. DARWIN, _Nat. Journ._ ch. vii.

Aristotle and aelian were aware of the existence of this faculty in some of the fishes of the Mediterranean. ARISTOTLE, _De Anim_., lib. iv. ch.

ix.; aeLIAN, _De Nat. Anim._, lib. x. ch. xi.; see also PLINY, lib. ix.

ch. vii.. lib. xi. ch. cxiii.; ATHENaeUS, lib. vii. ch. iii. vi. I have heard of sounds produced under water at Baltimore, and supposed to be produced by the "cat-fish;" and at Swan River in Australia, where they are ascribed to the "trumpeter." A similar noise heard in the Tagus is attributed by the Lisbon fishermen to the "_Corvina_"--but what fish is meant by that name, I am unable to tell.]

Organs of hearing have been clearly ascertained to exist, mot only in fishes[1], but in mollusca. In the oyster the presence of an acoustic apparatus of the simplest possible construction has been established by the discoveries of Siebold[2], and from our knowledge of the reciprocal relations existing between the faculties of hearing and of producing sounds, the ascertained existence of the one affords legitimate grounds for inferring the coexistence of the other in animals of the same cla.s.s.[3]

[Footnote 1: AGa.s.sIZ, _Comparative Physiology_, sec. ii. 158.]

[Footnote 2: It consists of two round vesicles containing fluid, and crystalline or elliptical calcareous particles or otolites, remarkable for their oscillatory action in the living or recently killed animal.

OWEN'S _Lectures on the Comparative Anatomy and Physiology of the Invertebrate Animals_, 1855, p. 511-552.]

[Footnote 3: I am informed that Professor MuLLER read a paper on "Musical fishes" before the Academy of Berlin, in 1856. It will probably be found in the volume of MuLLER'S _Archiv. fur Physiologie_ for that year; but I have not had an opportunity of reading it.]

Besides, it has been clearly established, that one at least of the gasteropoda is furnished with the power of producing sounds. Dr. Grant, in 1826, communicated to the Edinburgh Philosophical Society the fact, that on placing some specimens of the _Tritonia arborescens_ in a gla.s.s vessel filled with sea water, his attention was attracted by a noise which he ascertained to proceed from these mollusca. It resembled the "clink" of a steel wire on the side of the jar, one stroke only being given at a time, and repeated at short intervals.[1]

[Footnote 1: _Edinburgh Philosophical Journ_., vol. xiv. p. 188. See also the Appendix to this chapter.]

The affinity of structure between the _Tritonia_ and the mollusca inhabiting the sh.e.l.ls brought to me at Batticaloa, might justify the belief of the natives of Ceylon, that the latter are the authors of the sounds I heard; and the description of those emitted by the former as given by Dr. Grant, so nearly resemble them, that I have always regretted my inability, on the occasion of my visits to Batticaloa, to investigate the subject more narrowly. At subsequent periods I have since renewed my efforts, but without success, to obtain specimens or observations of the habits of the living mollusca.

The only species afterwards sent to me were _Cerithia_; but no vigilance sufficed to catch the desired sounds, and I still hesitate to accept the dictum of the fishermen, as the same mollusc abounds in all the other brackish estuaries on the coast; and it would be singular, if true, that the phenomenon of its uttering a musical note should be confined to a single spot in the lagoon of Batticaloa.[1]

[Footnote 1: The letter which I received from Dr. Grant on this subject, I have placed in a note to the present chapter, in the hope that it may stimulate some other inquirer in Ceylon to prosecute the investigation which I was unable to carry out successfully.]

Although naturalists have long been familiar with the marine testacea of Ceylon, no successful attempt has yet been made to form a cla.s.sified catalogue of the species; and I am indebted to the eminent conchologist, Mr. Sylva.n.u.s Hanley, for the list which accompanies this notice.

In drawing it up, Mr. Hanley observes that he found it a task of more difficulty than would at first be surmised, owing to the almost total absence of reliable data from which to construct it. Three sources were available: collections formed by resident naturalists, the contents of the well-known satin-wood boxes prepared at Trincomalie, and the laborious elimination of locality from the habitats ascribed to all the known species in the mult.i.tude of works on conchology in general.

But, unfortunately, the first resource proved fallacious. There is no large collection in this country composed exclusively of Ceylon sh.e.l.ls;--and as the very few cabinets rich in the marine treasures of the island have been filled as much by purchase as by personal exertion, there is an absence of the requisite confidence that all professing to be Singhalese have been actually captured in the island and its waters.

The cabinets arranged by the native dealers, though professing to contain the productions of Ceylon, include sh.e.l.ls which have been obtained from other islands in the Indian seas; and the information contained in books, probably from these very circ.u.mstances, is either obscure or deceptive. The old writers content themselves with a.s.signing to any particular sh.e.l.l the too-comprehensive habitat of "the Indian Ocean," and seldom discriminate between a specimen from Ceylon and one from the Eastern Archipelago or Hindustan. In a very few instances, Ceylon has been indicated with precision as the habitat of particular sh.e.l.ls, but even here the views of specific essentials adopted by modern conchologists, and the subdivisions established in consequence, leave us in doubt for which of the described forms the collective locality should be retained.

Valuable notices of Ceylon sh.e.l.ls are to be found in detached papers, in periodicals, and in the scientific surveys of exploring voyages. The authentic facts embodied in the monographs of REEVE, KUSTER, SOWERBY, and KIENER, have greatly enlarged our knowledge of the marine testacea; and the land and fresh-water mollusca have been similarly ill.u.s.trated by the contributions of BENSON and LAYARD to the _Annals of Natural History_.

The dredge has been used, but only in a few insulated spots along the coasts of Ceylon; European explorers have been rare; and the natives, anxious only to secure the showy and saleable sh.e.l.ls of the sea, have neglected the less attractive ones of the land and the lakes. Hence Mr.

Hanley finds it necessary to premise that the list appended, although the result of infinite labour and research, is less satisfactory than could have been wished. "It is offered," he says, "with diffidence, not pretending to the merit of completeness as a sh.e.l.l-fauna of the island, but rather as a form, which the zeal of other collectors may hereafter elaborate and fill up."

Looking at the little that has yet been done, compared with the vast and almost untried field which invites explorers, an a.s.siduous collector may quadruple the species. .h.i.therto described. The minute sh.e.l.ls especially may be said to be unknown; a vigilant examination of the corals and excrescences upon the spondyli and pearl-oysters would signally increase our knowledge of the Rissoae, Chemnitziae, and other perforating testacea, whilst the dredge from the deep water will astonish the amateur by the wholly new forms it can scarcely fail to display.

_List of Ceylon Sh.e.l.ls._

The arrangement here adopted is a modified Lamarckian one, very similar to that used by Reeve and Sowerby, and by Mr. HANLEY, in his _Ill.u.s.trated Catalogue of Recent Sh.e.l.ls_.[1]

[Footnote 1: Below will be found a general reference to the Works or Papers in which are given descriptive notices of the sh.e.l.ls contained in the following list; the names of the authors (in full or abbreviated) being, as usual, annexed to each species.

ADAMS, _Proceed. Zool. Soc._ 1853, 54, 56; _Thesaur. Conch._ ALBERS, _Zeitsch. Malakoz._ 1853. ANTON, _Wiegm. Arch. Nat._ 1837; _Verzeichn.