IN TOUCH WITH NATURE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19200, 17 June 1924, Page 2

IN TOUCH WITH NATURE

By J Drummond, F.L.S., F.Z.S.

THE STUDY OF MOLLUSCS.

A correspondent last year wrote asking the meaning of malacology. The reply is that it is the study of molluscs; literally, nf soft-bodied animals. It has developed out of conchology, the study of shells. Conchology has boon described as a childish toy, but it is something more than that. A more faithful description is “the science of collecting shells.” A conchologist may collect shells scientifically, and may have a valuable collection, but know nothing of the habits and developments of the creatures that Jive in the shells. A malacologist seeks that knowledge. One hundred am] fifty years ago conchology was as a peculiar branch of natural history. Today, malacology is recognised as in no ways peculiar, and as one of the most fascinating studies Nature otters. It has devotees in all parts of the world. Some o f them do hardly anything else except study and classify molluscs. r lhey find that their particular work has no bounds, and that there cannot bo an end to it, fresh fields opening up, sometimes unexpectedly, in all directions. Dr C. E. R. Bucknill, Tauranga, who has fallen under the spell of malacology, has experienced the thrill of finding rare molluscs in New Zealand. Amongst these is a very beautiful one, Chromoclori* amoena which he found on two occasions at Mount Muanganui. Bay of Plenty. Mr T. F. Cheeseman, for a long time curator of And land iviuseum, was the happy first discoverer of the species. “The colour id this individual,” Dr Bucknill writes, “is particularly brilliant; to quote Eliot, refer ring to the genus, it is ‘clazzlingly gorgeous.’ Its elongated body is about 2in long and three-quarters of an inch wide, and la a delicate lilac, with two lateral rows of large, irregular spots of orangi vermilion. The mantle is somewhat wavy at the margin, and has a narrow edging of opaque chrome yellow; and at the head end there is a pair of retractile tentacles, brilliant majenta. Towards the other end of the body there is a ring of about 1] filaments of similar colour; these, which also are retractile, are the gills. It is impossible to preserve specimens with any chance of retaining the colours, but they may be kept alive for some time if they are supplied with fresh sea-water.” Dr Bucknill explains that the brilliant Interna incerta, recorded by Mr A. W. B. Powell at Cape Colville and Mount Maunganui, and described in this column a few weeks ago, beongs, like Chromodoris, to the Nudibranchs, which a/e soft-bodied, naked, slug-like .creatures. He expresses a hope that, when an aquarium is established in Auckland, species of Nudibranchs will be shown in it, “as they will make a most instructive and delightful exhibit ”

A wood pigeon in a largo city is an unusual incident in the natural history of this dominion, whose native pigeons strictly are forest-dwellers. Mr J. J. S. Comes, a member of the staff of the Christchurch Training College, reports that one anpeared in Holly road, St. Albans, on May 18. It stayed almost motionless for an heur on a tall walnut tree. On the following Saturday, May 24, it appeared again, and circled with domestic pigeons kept there It perched on a chimney, and, in the afternoon, fed from the ground with domestic pigeons and fowls, but it took no wheat. Its white breast was somewhat sullied, but Mr Cornea describes it as a large and beautiful bird. Early in the morning of May 27, during an easterly storm, Mr Comes found a ling washed up on the beach about two miles north of North New Brighton, • In its fnouti which gaped widely a large sole wa« wdged sideways. The gluttonous ling evi dontly hod tried to swallow the solo whole, head first, but after the chrushed head had gone about four iflches down the ling’s gullet, the rest of the solo had stuck fast, and its fins prevented the ling from disgorging it. “So tv>-' y^ht., 1 ” Mi - Comes concludes, “the ling died and was washed ashore. It weighed about 161 b: the sole was four inches long and six inches broad.”

A few years ago, Mr W. Townson. Thames, sent a note on a remarkable fish ho found floating in the break of the surf on a stretch of beach between Cape Foulwind and Westport. . An account in this column of the opah, moon fish, having been . washed ashore on the Chatham Islands has recalled the incident to Mr Townson, and he now states that ho is convinced that the fish he saw was an individual of that species, probably the most brilliant in the world. Its brilliant colours—blue body and crimson fins and tip of tail—attracted his attention. It almost was dead, and he waded out and dragged it on to the beach. It weighed at least 401 b. As he was far from home he could not carry it to town, but made a hurried sketch and noted its colours. These ho sent to Mr E. R. Waite, tnen curator of the Canterbury Museum, who stated that he believed the specimen to be the opah, its colours and the shane of its tail suggesting its identity. Mr Townson later saw a description and drawing of the opah. and he now states that the identity of his specimen is beyond doubt. He ha s read that the opah is found mostly in the Atlantic, and that it sometimes attains a weight of 1001 b. The genus to which it belongs is Lampris, that is, brightness.

Captain Oswald Schulze, Wells street, Auckland, who has had a wide experience in the Pacific Ocean, and is a keen observer, and has accumulated much interesting knowledge, has added his views to the methods of flying fishes to those of Dr Casey Wood and others. He states that flying fishes certainly do not use their fins as birds use their wings, and that they sail or poise like albatrosses, giving to their bodies a slight poise first on one side and then on the other. He believes that they rise into the air only when they are pursued in the water by other fishes. He has sailed tropical seas for days without seeing any flying fishes; then, when the vessel was going rapidly, one or two flying fishes arose at the hows. They were in the -water all the time, hut wore unmolested. He has not seen them go further in the air than 30 yards. On one occasion he hung bright riding lights very low in the Ice rigging As a fair number of flying fishes were found next morning, he believes that the light attracts them. Natives of South Sea Islands, he states, catch flying fishes by the use of torches, and in no other way. One fisherman holds a big torch, the other a hand net. and the fish is caught before if touches the flame. About 50 torches on the outer edges of a reef he describes as a pretty sight.

The tropic bird, or bosun bird, is" described bv Captain Schulze as a mystery and a miracle to sailors. It is a miracle because it seems always to be on the wing, day and night, and a mystery because it never seems to sleep. He has seen it 800 miles from the nearest land, and he never has seen it alight on the water or swim like other sea birds. At night he has heard its harsh notes overhead, but not from the surface of the water. He has seen it close to his vessel, devouring flying fishes in the air, He describes it as a clumsy flier, not by anv means swift. Both the species of tropic birds, the red-tailed and the white-’ tailed have been observed by Captain Schulze, who adds that in the nesting season they assemble in thousands on uninhabited islands, and are robbed by visiting natives of their beautiful tail feathers. On a piece of ground tthed as a huhbish dump close to Thames, there are giant puffballs. One taken to Mr Townson was 3ft in circumference, and weighed between 51 h and 61b. A larger one w;us shown to him. He asks if puffballs that size are unusual.