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240
NOTES
ON
ASAPPHIEINAANDA
SALPA
CAUGHT
OFF
THE
CAPE OF
GOOD
HOPE.
By
John McCance,
F.R.A.S.[Rexd August llih, 1884.]
In offering the following notes to the Royal Society of Tasmania, I
must
apologise forthe paucity of original obser-vationwhich will be apparent, and plead asmy
excusemy
hope that theymay
arouse a little interest in the less con-spicuous forms of oceanic life, of which I believe the seas round Tasmania contain anumber
of interesting species.When
I captured these animals I was a passenger on board the ship Invercargill, CaptainJohn
Muir, then on a vovage fromLondon
to Port Chalmers, N.Z.At
noon on January 26, 1883, the ship's position was40° 38' S., and 17°30' E., and from the following day'srun and position,I
calcu-late
we
were in 40° 40' S., and17° 35' E., at the timewhen
Iobtainedthese specimens.
The
day was dull, but not cold,andthe temperature of the sea, as taken by the mate, was higher than on preceding days. Unfortunately, I did not
make
a noteof the exact temperature,butI imaginewe
were passingthrough one of those patches ofwarmer
waterwhich have been remarked to the southwardof the Cape ofGood
Hope. Nothing unusual was noticed in the appearance of thesea,which was calm, until the afternoon,
when
thewaterwasfilledwith brilliant blue stars, floating past the ship in
greatnumbers.
With
a small canvas bag I succeeded infishino-
up
several of the blue stars, which were a speciesof Sapphirina, and two or three other animals, non-luminous, oneofwhich wasa Salpa democratica. 1keptthem
inaglass ofsea watertillthe 29th,when
an unfortunate accidentkilled them,andhaving only a small magnifyingglass, Iwas pre-ventedfrom making a full examination of all. I preservedthe sketches Iwas able to make, and throughthe kindness of
Mr.
Morton, of the Eoyal Society'sMuseum,
I latelyre-ceivedfrom Mr. Haswell, of Sydney, information as to the species andconstruction of the animals depicted.
The
two small crustaceans correspond so closely with the descriptions and drawings of the male and femaleof Sapphi-rina gemma,asgivenby
J. D.Dana
("Crustacea," Part II.,pp. 1252-3; Atlas, Plate88,figs. 1and2),thatI
am
very con-fident thatthey are individuals of thatspecies. Dana's
speci-mens
werecaughtonthe Agulhas Bank, Southof theCape ofGood
Hope, in 1842, April 11 and 12, andhe notes that a Sapphirinaofprobably the same specieswas caught 12 miles N.E. ofNew
Zealand.He
speciallynotes the brilliantblue reflections of the male, the water on the AgulhasBank
being spangled withthem
for several hours.241
aninch broad, and its body is composed of ten segments, the last being almost absorbed in the ninth, which again
is
much
smallerthan the eighth. Its activitywas remarkable, anditsmotion sinuous, like that of the Sole.The
female isaboutiofan inchlong, and £%of aninchbroad; its
cephalo-thorax hasfive joints, and its
abdomen
six.On
either side of the abdomen, and springing from the junction ofabdomen
andthoraxisabagof very
numerous
small eggs, aboutJ
¥ of aninchlong,and^
of an inch broad, of an elongated egg-shape.The
female,like the male, was extremely nimbleandactive, and
swam
swiftly round and round the glass.The
eggsacs,while the animalwas in motion,were
made
to rapidly approach and recede from one another, thus appearingmore
likeorgans of locomotion. Both sexes appeared to
me
tohave a finely granulated exterior, and a uniform dull lavender colour. Inthehead of each were apair of elongated bronze red specks,the eyes accordingto Dana.The
otheranimal which Iexamined was one of those very curious Tunicates, the Salpae democraticae. This Salpa,Mr.
Haswell writes me, "develops no sexual glands, but give origin
by
buddingto a chainofyoung
"—
Salpaemucronatae
—
each differing considerably from Salpa democratica. These remain,throughlife, united ina chain, and"eachwhen
adult develops a single egg from which a Salpa democratica isdeveloped."
The
solitary Salpawhich I hadthe good fortune tocapture, contained,when
caught, a chain ofyoung
which were distinctly visible through the transparent body of the Salpa, curled round at the posterior end of the internalcavity.
Next
morning,when
daylight permitted a morede-tailedexamination. Ifoundthe chain of 80-90 minuteS. micro-nataejustescapingfromthe S. democratica, thelastpairofthe chain becomingdetached afew
moments
afterI gotthem
under observation. This chain consisted of a double row ofanimals, sosmallthatwithmy
inferiormagnifierIcould onlyseethem
as egg-shaped transparent masses, about ¥x¥ofaninchlong, with apurpleknobat one end anda purple streak in the interior.
The chainwasaboutIfofan inch long, and floatedwith the purple knobs uppermost, in a curved shape, whichvariedas theindividuals performed their occasional simultaneous
con-tractions.
The Salpa democratica wasabout |an inchlong, orfof an
inch, ifthe taperingconicalprocesses at the posteriorendare included. Itsbreadth was about \ of an inch, andits shape thatof abarrel, orsquare-endedegg.
The
tunicwas perfectly transparent, and the whole animal colourless, except the main parts of the nervous system,which were of abeautiful purple, and a few spotsof a similar purple,which were, I242
integumentof the body, as viewed from above,below, orone
side, appeared distinctly to be
composed
of several layers, caused, as Mr. Haswell informs me, by the outer covering beingof quite different substance and consistency from therest.
A
series of six narrow ribbons, finely striated longi-tudinally,andlying apparentlyin one of the inner layers of theintegument, formedan efficient muscularsystem.About
oncein five seconds, as far as I recollect, theywere slowly contracted and
more
rapidly expanded, the resulting expul-sionof thewater in the interiorcavityproducing a forwardjump
of about an inch.The
sixth band, or ribbon—
that nearestthe processes atthe posteriorend—
did not completely encircle the body,but was interrupted for a space of about one-sixth of its length, on the dorsal side of the animal—
by
that Imean
the side which was generally uppermostas the Salpafloated, and isopposite to thatfrom which theposterior processesspring.The
fifth and fourthbands touched on the dorsal side ; thefourth,third, and secondsimilarlylay in closejuxtapositiononthe ventralside.
The
waterwhich is ejectedby these muscular bands is ad-mittedbya wide orifice,with projecting thick lips, situated inthemiddle of the anteriorendof theSalpa, andthese lipswerecontinuallyandregularly 'openingandshutting. Iwasable to
make
a sketch of theorifice,butdidnotarrive atan examina-tion ofthe posterior one, which lay somewhere aboutthelong processes. Just behind the anterior orifice, andmaking
anangle of about 45° with the plane dividing the dorsal and ventral halves of the animal, wasa roughly triangularpurple vein or thread, havingin the centre ofthe space enclosed a purple dot, with a few fine radiating purple lines. These, accordingtoMr. Haswell's letter, are the nerve ganglionand eye spot.
From
the centre of the base of the triangular nerve, and runningalong the dorsal side oftheinternal cavity of the Salpais the endostyle,which is purplein colour,and abouty3n ofaninch inlength, orfofthelength of the Salpa's body.From
the apex of the triangular nerve is a similar purple vessel, runningin anirregularcurveback to the pos-teriorendofthe animal. This is the main blood-vessel, and closeto itsfurther endlies the heart.The
heart struckme
as very remarkable, and1 spent
some
time in watching it,andnoticed thatthe
membranes
initflapped for a period, then paused, then flapped differently, then paused, then flapped as before. I did not thenknow
that these Tunicates have a heartwhichfirstdrivestheblood forwardfor a certainnumber
The
twoposterior processes to which I have referred were apparentlyofthe same substance as the outer tunic.They
werebroadly conical at the base,which wasaboutfof their
totallength; the outer \ werevery
much
finerandnarrower,andcovered withminute dots, which, Mr. Haswellsays,were probablyminute spines. In the interior of the baseof each was a very strange mushroom-shaped object, of which Mr. Haswell sayshe does not
know
its precise nature, though heknows
it to be as I describedinmy
letterto him.When
Isketched the process, or horn, I noted themushroom-shaped object as coloured metallic green,butifIrecollect rightitwas
of the same brightpurpleas thenerveganglion,etc.,
when
the animalwas first caught.Ihave not been able to find anydetailed account of the Salpae in the Society's Library, but in the Proceedings of the .Boston Society of Natural History, Vol. XI.,p. 17, is a detailed description, with woodcuts, of SaVpa Cabotti,
by
Alexr. Agassiz. This is found southof Cape Cod,and very closely resembles the one I caught, and the description and investigation into the connectionofthe chain forms arehighly interesting.
CANCER
IN
CATTLE.
[Paperread before thePoyalSocietyofTasmania August11th 1884,
By
H. A.PerkinsM.D., Edin.]The subjectof disease in cattleisonewhich cannotfailto interest
allsections of thecommunity, aswell thestockowner who provides
forthemarketasthe inhabitantsoftownswho consume the meat, andtowhose advantageit must be to obtain the most wholesome supplyoffood. Ata timewhencanceramong
human
beings has *been said tobe ontheincrease, the natureof such disease amongcattlenotonly merits attentionatthehandsofveterinary surgeons, but furnishes materialforspeculationtomedicalmen. Forinthese daysofminuteorganiclife, ofmicrococciandbacilli, ata timewhen
so
many
diseases findadvocatesfortheiroriginand development inthetheory ofcontagiouslivingorganisms, itmight bea fair
deduc-tion todraw that the disease in
man
derived its prevalence and potencyfromlivingspores transmittedfromthe diseasedmeat which we colonists so unsparingly consume. The more especially asspecimensofsuchdisease calledcancerin cattleareneither few nor hardtofind,andthe descriptionofOsteoSarcoma whichI
am
aboutto give,isbased on examplesobtainedinTasmania. "Thetime has
[*Statisticsof last14 yearsshowthatthoughthere hasbeen anincreaseinthenumber
of deathsfromthiscause,yet that the population has increased in nearly the ~~