THE

RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

VOL. II.

LONDON :

Printed by SPOTTISWOODE & Co.
New-street Square.

THE

RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST

ON THE

COASTS OF FRANCE, SPAIN, AND SICILY.

BY

A. DE QUATREFAGES,

MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE,

PROFESSOR OF ETHNOLOGY AT THE MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

AT THE JARDIN DBS PLANTES,

ETC. ETC.

TRANSLATED

(with the Author's sanction and co-operation)
BY

E. C. OTTE,

HONORARY MEMBER OF THE LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL
SOCIETY OF ST. ANDREWS.

IN TWO VOLUMES.

VOL. II.

LONDON:

LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, LONGMANS, & ROBERTS.

1857.

CONTENTS

OF

THE SECOND VOLUME.

CHAPTER V.

THE COASTS OF SICILY.
MILAZZO, STROMBOLI, GIARDINI.

Zoological poverty of the western coasts of Sicily. — Journey by
land from Trapani to Cephalu. — Milazzo. — Sedimentary rocks
of contemporaneous formation. — Milne Edwards's submarine
excursions. — Stromboli. — Excursion to the volcano. — Phospho-
rescence of the sea. — Messina. — Giardini. — Difference between
the natural method and classifications. — Embryological studies of
Milne Edwards ; progressive characterisation of animal species.
— Blanchard's investigations on the nervous system. — Organic
complication of some of the lower animals. — Degradation of
superior types ; the Amphioxus. — Simultaneous appearance of
different animal types in ancient geological epochs - Page 1

CHAP. VI.

THE COASTS OF SICILY.
ETNA.

Aspect and nature of the coast from Giardini to Catania. — Cata-
nia ; its harbour ; its soil. — Etna. — Excursion to the volcano. —
Nicolosi; the Casa Gemellaro; a night passed at the foot of the
cone; the great crater; the crater of 1843. — Eruption of 1669 ;

VI CONTENTS OF

its traces as far as the town of Catania. — Elie de Beaumont's
theory of Etna. — Observations made in the crater of Vesuvius. —
Examples of the slight degree of solidity of the earth's crust. —
Approximate calculation of volcanic forces Page 7 1

CHAP. VII.

THE BAY OF BISCAY.
BIARRITZ. — GUETTARY. — SAINT -JEAN-DE-LUZ.

Departure for the Bay of Biscay. — Bayonne. — The bar of the
Adour. — Biarritz. — La chambre d' 'amour. — Geological problems
relating to the age of neighbouring rocks. — Guettary. — Saint-
Jean-de-Luz. — Encroachment of the sea. — Wearing away of the
coast; the ground swell. — Hermellas. — Extreme variability in
the type of the Annelids. — The Polyophthalmians j organic com-
plication. — Realisation of some of the fables of mythology. —
Independence of the nervous centres in certain of the lower
animals ; transposition of the ordinary seat of certain sensations

135

CHAP. VIII.

THE BAY OF BISCAY.
SAINT SEBASTIAN.

The road leading from Saint-Jean-de-Luz to Saint Sebastian ; the
Bidassoa ; the Isle of Pheasants. — Saint Sebastian. — The Basques :
their claims as a race ; their probable origin ; their fueros ; their
ethnological characters. — The Teredo ; its mode of reproduction ;
means of preserving wood from its attacks. — Embryological
studies ; nature of germs ; theories of evolution, of accolement and
of epigeuesis ; distinct life of germs. — Development of the Her-
mella and the Teredo. — Metamorphoses. — General idea of life

185

CHAP. IX.

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE.
LA ROCHELLE.

Journey from Paris to La Rochelle. — Historical notice of that town ;
its origin ; its constitution ; its sieges. — Decay of La Rochelle. —
Poverty of the coast ; reciprocal dependence of the kingdoms of

THE SECOND VOLUME. Vll

nature. — The Branchellion ; its external characters ; its lym-
phatic respiration. — The natural method ; insufficiency of the
principle of dominant characters in the study of the lower animals

Page 251

CHAP. X.

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE.
CHATELAILLON ; ESNANDES.

The evident marks of great changes in the coast of Saintonge ;
encroachment of the sea; destruction of Montmeillan, and of
Chatelaillon ; accumulations due to marine action ; salt marshes.
— The former gulf of Poitou; elevation of Saint-Michel-en-
1'Henn ; Esnandes. — Walton the Irishman ; his introduction of a
new breed of sheep ; his nets ; the aeon and bouchot; Mussel-beds. —
Excursions to Esnandes ; shrimp-fishing. — The Termites; ancient
fables regarding them ; habits of the Termes bellicosus ; the
buildings erected by these insects ; fecundity of the queen ; the
ravages occasioned by them. — French Termites; their recent
appearance in Europe ; the Rochelle Termites ; the destruction
they have effected in the Prefecture of that city. — Observations
made on Termites in confinement; means of destroying these
insects. — The recent observations of M. Lespes. — The moral
and spiritual influences of zoological studies - 294

APPENDIX - .... 355

RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST,

CHAPTER V.

THE COASTS OF SICILY.
MILAZZO, STROMBOLI, JARDINI.

7" Zoological poverty of the western coasts of Sicily. — Journey by
land from Trapani to Cephalu. — Milazzo. — Sedimentary rocks
of contemporaneous formation. — Milne Edwards's submarine
excursions. — Stromboli. — Excursion to the volcano. — Phospho-
rescence of the sea. — Messina. — Jardini. — Difference between
the natural method and classifications. — Embryological studies of
Milne Edwards ; progressive characterisation of animal species.
— Blanchard's investigations on the nervous system. — Organic
complication of some of the lower animals. — Degradation of
superior types; the Amphioxus. — Simultaneous appearance of
different animal types in ancient geological epochs.

IT had been our intention, when we first arrived in
Sicily, to make the entire circuit of the island, but
the information which we obtained in the course
of our wanderings, gradually modified our original
plans. Our men had now begun to comprehend
the object of our voyage, and had learned, day by
day, better to appreciate the conditions necessary
to the success of our researches. Artese and Cannel,

VOL. II. B

2 RAMBLES OF A NATUKALIST.

who, from their perfect knowledge of the coasts,
might have served as pilots, expressed strong doubts
as to the utility of an exploration of the west coast,
where, as they told us, we should find nothing but
pestilential marshes, or shingle and sand. On con-
sulting our maps, and considering the geological
conformation of the district, we found that their
statements were well grounded. Indeed, Sicily
everywhere bears traces of those violent forces,
which, by their action on the solid crust of our
globe, have elevated this island above the waves.
Amid the thousand irregularities which mark the
contour of the land, and are the inevitable result
of this mode of formation, we could perceive how
differently these forces had acted at different points.
To the west, east, and south-east, the low chains
of mountains gradually slope towards the sea, and
either terminate in undulating hills or merge into
extended plains and low tracts of shore covered with
salt marshes. A few isolated peaks, which, in some
cases, are of an entirely volcanic origin, like Monte-
Bosso, rise above the others, although few attain
a height of more than 2000 feet ; Monte-Caramata
is, indeed, an exception to this rule, for its calcareous
rocks, which command the town of Orte, rise to an
elevation of 4000 feet. In the centre of the island
the mountains are higher, and several of them have
an altitude of more than 3000 feet ; still, the true
mountainous region of Sicily lies in the north and
north-east of the island. Here the subterranean
forces, acting with their whole intensity, have pro-
truded huge masses of gneiss and granite through

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 3

the strata of limestone, of sandstone and argillace-
ous schist formations. The Pelorian and Madonian
chains * exhibit numerous summits, which rise up-
wards of 4000 feet above the level of the sea; some
even exceed 5000 feet; and one of them, the Pizzo
di Palermo, attains an altitude of nearly 6000 feet.

These high mountain-chains, which extend like a
wall from Palermo to Messina, are broken here and
there by the intervention of a cape or a small penin-
sula, whose deeply indented shores seemed to promise
us an abundant harvest. After much deliberation,
it was decided that these should form the scene of
our next explorations on leaving Favignana. In
order to lose no time by this retrograde move-
ment, we resolved once more to leave our boat ; and
having given Perone orders to await our arrival at
Cephalu, we set forth, accompanied only by the
faithful Carmel, and, guided by the muleteers on
whose mules we were to make the journey, tra-
versed a part of Sicily which is very rarely visited
by strangers.

Here, as at Trapani, we everywhere observed
mournful traces of deficient civilisation, associated
with the remains of the splendour of a bygone age.
The church of Castelvetrano, in which lie the re-

* The Pelores mountains, formerly known as the Neptunian
chain, border the whole north coast of Sicily from east to west,
and seldom devjate far from the coast line. The Madonian chain,
which was designated by the ancients under the name of the
Nembrodes, is situated to the south of the preceding range, extend-
ing in the same direction. Numerous less elevated branches join
these two larger chains, intersecting the district of Sicily in every
direction.

B 2

4 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

mains of the conqueror of Lepanto*, is crumbling
to ruins, with all its treasures, unheeded ; while, at
a distance of six miles, lie the colossal ruins of
Selinontef, the ancient rival of Carthage and of
Syracuse. At Salerni and at Calatafimi, the old
Saracenic and Norman castles have opened their dis-
mantled keeps to a ragged population, in whom our
presence seemed to excite the most indescribable
astonishment. At Alcamo, a town containing 20,000
inhabitants, and having broad well-paved streets,
which is situated on the only high road of Sicily,
and is one of the principal places of resort of the
Palermo grandees when they do chance to travel,
we were obliged, as everywhere else, to lend the
landlord of the hotel money to buy our dinner.
Through the whole of our journeyings, along unbeaten
tracts as well as in the high road, every traveller
we met had a loaded carbine slung across his saddle

* Amongst the other curiosities contained in this church I may
instance, in addition to the tomb of Don John of Austria, the four
Sibyls, which are placed side by side with the four Evangelists in the
Choir.

f The town of Selinonte, which was almost always at enmity
with Segeste, and often in alliance with Syracuse, continued for a
long time to prosper in its wars. It succumbed for the first time to
Hannibal ; but the inhabitants, having been brought back to the
charge by Hermocrates, re-took the town. Although Selinonte was
almost always a tributary of the Carthaginians, it promptly revived,
until, being successively besieged by the Syracusans and the
Carthaginians, it called the Romans to its aid, and soon fell to rise
no more. No ancient city in Sicily affords so high an idea of the
religious feeling and of the wealth of its inhabitants, as Selinonte
Accumulated in a vast solitude, bounded by distant mountains and
the neighbouring sea, these colossal ruins and memorable sanctuaries
strike the imagination with astonishment.

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 5

— a precaution which either betrayed an adherence
to the manners of a bygone age, or the necessity
of being prepared for the chance of existing danger.
To crown all, the cultivation of the potato* had not

* Botanists call this plant the Solanum tuberosum. We would
observe here that the tubers, or tubercles, which we eat, are not the
roots of the plant, as is generally supposed, but true subterranean
stems or branches, which are enlarged at different parts, and which
owe their nutritive properties to the great quantity of amylaceous
matter or starch which they contain. We will extract from M.
Duchartre's work, the following historical details in reference to
the origin and the progress of the cultivation of the potato in
Europe : —

" The potatoe was known from time immemorial in Peru, where
the inhabitants designated it by the name of papas, but the true
place of its origin has not yet been precisely determined. It was
introduced into Europe about three centuries ago, for it would
appear that Captain John Hawkins first brought it to Ireland in
1565, having procured a few roots at Santa Fe de Bogota. These
plants were, however, entirely neglected ; but the celebrated navigator,
Francis Drake, who had been the companion of Hawkins, fully
comprehending the importance which this acquisition might prove
to Europe, carried some of these plants to Virginia, from whence he
afterwards conveyed them to London in 1586, and this circumstance
has led to the belief that the potatoe was a native of Virginia.
Drake gave his specimens to his own gardener, and amongst others
to the botanist Clusius, who was the first to recognise the botanical
character of the plant. The new plant was, however, entirely
forgotten, until Sir Walter Raleigh, finding it again in Virginia,
brought a large number back with him to England in the beginning
of the seventeenth century, and this time the introduction of the
plant proved definitely successful.

" Still the cultivation of the potatoe made very slow progress, and
a convincing proof of its scarcity is shown by the fact, that in 1616
a dish of these vegetables appeared at the table of the King of
France as a rarity of high price. It did not penetrate into Germany
till 1G50, and until the close of the eighteenth century was only
cultivated in limited districts. It was through the efforts of Par-
mentier that it became generally diffused in France ; and probably

B 3

6 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

yet penetrated to this region — a fact which, perhaps,
more than any other, illustrates the stationary con-
dition of this part of Sicily; indeed, during the
whole time in which we were stationed west of
Palermo, we were never able to procure these vege-
tables, which everywhere else constitute an almost
unfailing resource to the poor.

The road which we had taken led us back to Pa-
lermo. We once more passed through this town,
after having admired, for the last time, the strange
and magnificent church of Morreale ; we took a
hasty survey of the castle of La Bagaria, which
stands in the midst of its princely villas like a king
surrounded by his court; we next reached the ancient
Himera which, under the modern name of Termini,
yearly attracts a vast crowd of persons who come
to seek health at the warm springs for which this
place is celebrated. This part of our journey af-
forded us the greatest possible enjoyment, for the
weather, which had previously been cold and rainy,
had become fine and settled within the preceding
few days, whilst the land displayed in every part
a most exuberant vegetation. Our road followed
the irregularities of the coast, skirting from time to
time at the foot of mountains, and was sometimes
bordered with rose-laurels in full blossom*, and

his attempts would have proved ineffectual, had not the famine which
followed the first wars of the revolution compelled men to submit
their prejudices to the pressure of necessity, and in a few years' time
the potatoe spread to the smallest villages of France."

* The shrub which is designated by this name, belongs, in
reality, neither to the genus or family of the Laurels, but to the
genus Nerion, and to the family of the Apocynacece. The species to

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 7

sometimes by tall, shrub-like Solanaceae*, in the
midst of which rose the smooth stems of the gigantic
Agavef, which were often upwards of twenty feet
in height. Long-tendrilled vines encircled, with
their indented leaves, the trunks of the flowering
Cactus, and blended their light and graceful garlands
with the strangely twisted branches of these un-

which we here refer is the one generally cultivated in our gardens.
It grows wild along the brooks and streams of almost all the
districts skirting the Mediterranean, and hence its abundant
occurrence on the shores of the Eurotas was not an exceptional
case. Botanists designate the shrub under the name of Nerium
oleander.

* The family of the Solanacece is very remarkable on account of
its including plants, some of which are thoroughly impregnated
with the most deadly poisons, whilst others, on the contrary, yield
substances which are alike nutrient and agreeable to the taste.
Among the former, we may instance Belladonna (Atropa belladonna),
the Mandragora (Atropa. mandragora), Henbane (Hyoscyamus
niger), Stramonium (Datura stramonium), Common Night-shade
(Solanum nigrum), Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum). All these plants
owe their poisonous properties to special principles, which che-
mists have succeeded in isolating, and which they have ^called, in
accordance with their various sources of origin, Atropine, Hyoscy-
amine, Daturine, Solanine, Nicotine, &c. Among the edible plants
of this family we may mention the Pimento (Capsicum annuum),
the Tomato (Li/coper sicum esculentum), the Egg-apple (Solanum
melonyena), and more especially the Potato (Solanum tuberosum),
whose history we have already briefly sketched in a preceding
note.

f This species, which is incorrectly designated under the name of
Aloe, belongs to another genus, and is the Agave americana, a
native of South America. This Agave was imported into Europe
in 1561, and is thoroughly naturalised in most of the countries
bordering on the Mediterranean. In Sicily it grows wild among
the rocks, and it is planted round fields to form hedges, which are
rendered absolutely impenetrable by its enormous leaves, bristling
with thorns.

B 4

8 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

wieldy plants. Woods of Olive trees, and groves
of Orange, Citron, and Carob trees, gave variety to
the landscape. Sometimes we caught a glimpse to
our right of some small valley, lying within the
recesses of the mountains whose sides were clothed
with verdure enlivened here and there by patches of
thickly clustering rose bushes, which were covered
with a thousand small red or white blossoms, whilst
to our left the sea stretched its bright blue horizon
as far as the eye could reach, bounded by its pictu-
resque and deeply indented shores, and by the lofty
promontories, whose summits were often crowned
with the rich tufts and expanded leaves of the tall
date tree.

On approaching Cephalu, the experienced eye of
Carmel had recognised the Santa Rosalia with her
sails spread, hastening towards our place of rendez-
vous. Our bark and our mules arrived at the same
time, and in a few moments we were steering to-
wards the peninsula of Milazzo. For the first hour
the shore along which we were sailing was as rich
and beautiful as the one we had just left ; but after
a time the mountains increased in height as they
approached the shore, and seemed, with their sharp
and clear outlines, as if they had just emerged from
the sea ; but still they were green and richly varied.
The scene was very different from that desolate
region, and those arid and rugged rocks which had
oppressed our sight westward of Palermo ; here,
everything betrayed the presence of man, and of a
more active state of civilisation. Numerous vil-
lages appeared in the distance, their white houses

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 9

and turreted steeples rising from the midst of fields
and rich clumps of trees, whilst almost every bay
along the shore had its own group of habitations
clustered around some protecting tower or fortress,
whose services were fortunately no longer needed,,
since the conquest of Algiers. When we turned
away from this picturesque landscape, which lay
to the right of our boat, we saw before us the island
of Lipari, which seemed gradually to rise from the
bosom of the waves, its sister islets, Alicuri, Fili-
curi, and Saline forming at our left a vast semi-
circle, while behind us the sun, like a reddened ball,
sunk beyond the arched promontory of Cephalu,
bathing land, sky, and sea in a glowing tint of the
richest ochre.

At the break of day, we were opposite to Mi-
lazzo*, and a few hours afterwards we had taken
possession of most comfortable quarters, admirably
situated for our researches. Through the kind
intervention of the French Charge d' Affaires, M. le
Baron Lucifero had generously given us the use
of his country-house, which was situated at the
extreme point of the peninsula, and only at a few
minutes' distance from either coast. Our tables
were soon arranged and supplied with all the
apparatus necessary for our work, and without
further delay we began to explore our new domain.

Similar in this respect to the islands of Favignana,

* Milazzo is the ancient Milas, -where the consul Duilius gained
the first naval victory over the Carthaginians, 260 years before the
Christian era. To perpetuate the memory of this triumph, the
Romans erected a rostral column, which is still in existence.

10 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

Milazzo is never -visited by the few strangers whom
the love of travelling leads to Sicily. This little
town, which entirely occupies the narrow isthmus on
which it is built, is surrounded on the one side by the
peninsula which bears its name, and on the other by
a small plain which is partially enclosed by the semi-
circular chain of the Pelorias mountains, behind which
may be seen the distant summit of Mount Etna.
Narrow paths, which are only practicable for the
mules of the country, communicate with the high
roads of Messina and Palermo.

The inhabitants of Milazzo, who are thus isolated
from the rest of the island, appeared to us to exhibit
much more energy and activity than the rest of their
countrymen. We had nowhere met with so good a
mode of cultivation, for not an inch of ground is lost
either on the plain or the peninsula. Vines and
Olives almost everywhere supply the place of the
Cactus or the Agave, and descending to the
very water's edge, they afford shade to the simply
but elegantly built country-houses, whose terraces
overhang the sea. A small harbour, which is well
sheltered against the west and north winds, is fa-
vourable to the export of the different products
of the soil, and this trade is sufficient to keep the
population in a condition of ease and comfort. The
streets near the harbour are broad and tolerably well
built, but they change into winding lanes, as they as-
cend the steep hill, which, rising perpendicularly on
the west side, is surmounted by a fortress which is
manned by a tolerably large garrison. Milazzo was
for several years the residence of Louis Philippe,

TIJE COASTS OF SICILY. 11

then Duke of Orleans, who, having been banished
from France on account of his name, and not per-
mitted to remain at the court of Naples on account
of his liberal opinions, came to seek an asylum in
this remote corner of the world. It may be, that in
the midst of the splendours and the troubles that
chequered his life while he was king of the French,
he often recalled the humble white cottage which
was pointed out to us by our guides as his former
residence ; and it may be, too, that even without
foreseeing the sorrows of exile, he may often have
regretted the calm and peaceful days he spent at
Milazzo.

The peninsula of Milazzo consists of an irregu-
larly-shaped and somewhat elliptically formed tongue
of land, whose greatest width scarcely measures
a mile and a half, but which extends nearly six miles
into the sea at right angles from the shore. Its geo-
logical constitution is very remarkable ; for the coast,
from which it seems to take its origin, consists of
sandstone for a considerable distance in all directions,
but, as soon as we pass beyond the isthmus, we find
that the rocks are composed of gneiss and mica schists,
both of which are of more ancient origin. These rocks
extend over the greater portion of the territory,
and form in the centre of the peninsula a small
mountain, known as the Monte Venereo. Beyond
this we find strata of the same nature for a short
distance, but these rocks soon disappear under beds
of round pebbles, and sand transformed into sand-
stone rock. Beyond this again, on the borders
of a steep cliff, there is a thin stratum filled with

12 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

fossils, belonging to the Palermo limestone, while the
extremity of the cape consists of compact calcareous
rock, which penetrates to some depth. This locality,
therefore, presents in their order of natural superpo-
sition, specimens, as it were, of almost all the principal
strata, which, either isolated or combined into large
masses, compose more than two-thirds of Sicily.

These calcareous strata, of which we have spoken,
have been worn away by the action of the waves,
and hollowed into recesses and basins, in which grow
thick tufts of Algae and Fuci, which afford asylums
to numerous marine populations. These excavations
constituted so many preserves, which promised us the
most ample success. We had also reckoned upon
finding numerous representatives of different littoral
species under the detached blocks of stone, which are
here scarcely covered by more than a few inches of
water, but we soon saw that an unforeseen circum-
stance would frustrate our hopes. Under the influ-
ence of conditions which are somewhat difficult to
understand, but amongst which a more or less power-
ful evaporation undoubtedly plays an active part, the
water of these seas in some cases dissolves, and in
other cases deposits a certain quantity of the lime
which it has removed from the submerged rocks.
In the latter case, the calcareous matter is deposited
like a sort of varnish on the surface of the stones
and boulders, which it agglutinates to one another,
and thus blocks up the passages, by which Annelids
and Worms of every kind might otherwise penetrate
into the interstices of the stone. This incrusting
matter presented a very great resistance, and the

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 13

united efforts of our men, although they were
provided with powerful levers, were often insuffi-
cient to displace a stone, which, had it been free, any
one of our party could easily have moved with his
unaided hands.

While this gradual deposition goes on, the sedi-
mentary rock retains and encloses in the mass small
isolated pebbles, and sometimes even the remains of
human industry. This remarkable fact, combined
with others of the same nature, at once explains and
refutes the opinions of some geologists, who have at-
tempted to refer the appearance of man on the
surface of the globe to a very remote period. The
sedimentary rock of Milazzo is of a very compact
structure, and as it fully equals in hardness the
primary limestone which it covers, it would be easy
at first sight to confound the two. The discovery in
rocks of recent formation of fragments of brick and
earthenware might, therefore, lead to the inference
that these remains were contemporaneous with the
rock itself, if one did not bear in mind that a similar
phenomenon is daily taking place before our eyes.
The incrustation of the rocks of Milazzo is a fact
analogous to those which have been observed on the
shores of some of the islands of the Archipelago, and
which are exhibited on a larger scale along the rocky
heights of Guadaloupe. Here the sea has incrusted
and united immense masses of sand and fragments
of shells, converting them into a sort of breccia. In
these breccias, human bones have been discovered,
intermixed with a few traces of a rude stage of civi-
lisation; but there were also found in the same deposits

14 KAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

different remains of European vessels that had been
shipwrecked within the last few years. It is, there-
fore, evident that the formation of these marine
rocks of Guadaloupe is proceeding with great rapi-
dity, for their whole mass, although of considerable
extent, belongs exclusively to the present geological
epoch. The bones and debris of every kind which
are found there cannot, therefore, be regarded as
fossils, since this expression is limited to those or-
ganic remains which are contemporaneous with pre-
ceding geological epochs ; and hence it may be said
that in our day, no less than in the time of Cuvier, a
true fossil man is a discovery that still remains to
be made.

Notwithstanding the unexpected difficulty which
the agglutination of the stones threw in the way of
our researches, our sojourn in the peninsula of
Milazzo was productive of much enjoyment to all of
us. The daily increasing heat seemed to give rise to a
marvellous development of life, both on the land and
on the sea. Thousands of insects, many of which
had never found a place in our zoological catalogues,
were swarming over the fields and woods, and
M. Blanchard found no difficulty in filling several
cases with numerous and curious specimens. Some
living reptiles, too, were caught and added to our col-
lections, and they still constitute a portion of the spe-
cial menagerie which was established at the museum
by MM. Dumeril and Bibron. We collected, amongst
others, two large black snakes, which were perfectly
harmless, notwithstanding their formidable appear-
ance ; and some fine specimens of the Guecko, an ani-

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 15

mal which is somewhat similar to a lizard, but whose
flat body, short tail, and greyish skin covered with
tubercles, give it a very repulsive appearance.

Like the majority of its congeners, this Gecko,
which is vulgarly known as the Terrentola, is
the terror of the inhabitants of the country, who
regard it as very venomous, and watch with horror
the rapidity with which it runs along the smoothest
walls, on which its claws and the scales that cover
its toes enable it easily to find points of support.
Nothing, however, that we heard in regard to this
animal can compare with the terrific reports that
are made of it by some travellers in the East, and at
the Cape of Good Hope. There the Geckos are
regarded as accursed beings, disseminating death
around them, sometimes causing their victims, by a
mere touch, to perish in a few hours, and sometimes
giving rise to an incurable leprosy by a slight bite.

It is not easy to determine how much truth there
is in these evident exaggerations ; but when we re-
member the absurd stories that are commonly circu-
lated and believed in our country districts concerning
the Salamander and the timid Newt, one is led to
think that the Gecko may be a perfectly innocent
animal, and that its nocturnal habits may have
been the principal means of rendering it an object
of terror.

Whilst M. Blanchard was carrying on an active
war against these inhabitants of the land and air,
M. Milne Edwards and myself were directing all our
efforts to the sea ; and to our various means of inves-
tigation we were now going to add another, which

16 K AMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

was more powerful than any which we had hitherto
employed. Instead of merely exploring the acces-
sible parts of the shore, or dredging at hap-hazard, we
were now about to descend to the bottom of the sea ;
and, in the enjoyment of perfect liberty of action, we
were actually going to pursue the marine animals
into their most hidden retreats within the recesses
of those rocks, which were so deeply buried beneath
the waves as to appear to defy all our efforts.

The execution of this project, the idea of which
originated with Milne Edwards, demanded some
precautions. First, it was necessary to be well as-
sured of the working condition of our apparatus, and
so to combine and arrange its different parts, as to
foresee all possible accidents, and to secure the means
of remedying them, should they occur. In the course
of a few days, everything was arranged, and after
some preliminary trials, M. Milne Edwards made his
first submarine excursion within the harbour of Mi-
lazzo. For more than half an hour, he remained at
the bottom of the sea, which he traversed in all
directions, turning over the stones, examining frond
by frond the tufts of Algas, and collecting together
and observing on the spot the different zoophytes
which live at a depth of from ten to thirteen feet
below the surface of the water. After this first
attempt, M. Edwards descended to much greater
depths ; and in the Bay of Taormine and elsewhere,
we saw him, at a depth of upwards of twenty-five
feet below the surface of the water, working for
more than three-quarters of an hour to detach with
a pickaxe some of those large Panopeas of the Me-

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 17

diterranean, which had been known only by their
large bivalve shells.

The apparatus employed by M. Milne Edwards
in these submarine explorations was that which had
been invented by Colonel Paulin, a former Com-
mandant of the Fire Brigade of Paris, to be used
in case of fires in cellars. A metallic helmet, pro-
vided with a glass visor, encircled the head of the
diver, and was fastened round the neck by means
of a leather frame supported by a padded collar.
This helmet, which was in truth a miniature diving-
bell, communicated by a flexible tube with the air-
pump, which was worked by two of our men, whilst
two others stood ready to replace their companions.
The rest of the crew, under the orders of Perone,
held the end of a rope which, passing through a
pulley that was attached to the yard, was fixed to a
sort of harness by which we were enabled quickly
to draw up and embark the diver, who had been
drawn to the bottom of the water by means of heavy
lead soles, which were kept in their places by strong
straps. M. Blanchard took charge of the air-tube,
and watched that it did not become twisted by the
different movements made by M. Edwards or by the
swaying to and fro of our boat, while I retained in
my hand the rope by which the diver was to
make his signals, and God only knows with what
anxiety I watched its faintest motion. This will
be readily understood on considering that the slight-
est mistake might have proved fatal to M. Milne
Edwards. Notwithstanding all our care, the means
of safety at our disposal were very imperfect; for it

VOL. II. C

18 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

required fully two minutes to draw the diver from
the water and loose his helmet. On one occasion
the yard cracked, and threatened to break at the
very moment when I had given orders to haul in
the rope under the impression that I had received
a signal of distress; our men instantly sprang
towards the water, and they would soon have
brought M. Edwards to the surface, but more than
five minutes elapsed between the moment when I
thought I felt the cord move, and that in which M.
Edwards was able to breathe the air freely ; and
this length of time would have been more than suf-
ficient to determine a fatal condition of asphyxia.
Happily, however, I had been deceived by an in-
voluntary motion imparted to the telegraphic line ;
but one may easily perceive that researches of this
nature were not devoid of danger, and it certainly
requires an amount of zeal very uncommon among
naturalists of our day to risk so perilous an under-
taking.

M. Edwards, however, reaped an ample harvest as
the reward of his labours ; for each time that he
returned from the bottom of the sea, his box was
richly laden with Molluscs and Zoophytes. The
most precious, however, of all the treasures which
he collected from these submarine depths, was an
immense quantity of the ova of Molluscs and An-
nelids. After being deposited in small basins, to
which the waves entered merely by penetrating
through the walls of dry stones which had been
raised around them, these eggs continued to be de-
veloped, and thus enabled M. Edwards to study

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 19

at his leisure every phase of their curious evolution.
I for my part found in the grottoes of the Cape
a large number of Annelids, Nemertes, Planarias,
and Phlebenterous Molluscs, and I also discovered
a new species of Gasteropodous Mollusc allied to
those Tritonias, whose organisation was first made
known to us by Cuvier. The Sicilian species,
although of smaller size, is much more remarkable
than the one which inhabits the coasts of France.
Figure to yourself a little slug of a somewhat elon-
gated shape, bearing on its sides a row of branchiae,
looking like so many exquisitely delicate living
tufts. In the place of the smooth and opaque ten-
tacles of our snails, imagine two large crystal horns,
from each of which escapes a tuft of rosy branches,
intermingled with violet-coloured blossoms ; and
lastly stretch over the front part of its head a
spangled veil of the finest gauze, and you will have
some idea, although a very imperfect one, of this
lovely little creature, which is one of the most mar-
vellously beautiful living gems that I have ever
seen.

Although the localities adapted for our researches
on the isthmus of Milazzo were rich in animal
species, they were of limited extent, and three weeks
sufficed to exhaust them : this circumstance, together
with the advanced season of the year, combined
to make us think of hastening our departure. From
the terraces of the Villa Lucifero, we could perceive
a black cone rising abruptly from the sea, which
was almost always encircled by a light cloud of
smoke. This was the island of Stromboli, whose

c 2

20 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

volcano being in a state of incessant activity, serves
as a natural beacon light to vessels passing from
Naples to Messina. After having visited the gra-
nitic, schistose, and calcareous rocks, and after
having studied the populations belonging to each of
them, we wished now to compare them with the
coasts and fauna belonging to volcanic districts.
We therefore set sail for Stromboli, and the evening
of our departure was followed by one of those
glorious nights which seem to appertain especially
to the favoured climes of the South. The sun had
disappeared in the west in a bed of gold and purple,
the stars had risen in the east and spread over the
entire vault of heaven, while the thousand rays of
their phosphorescent and quivering light threw so
bright a gleam over land and sea that we were now
able to distinguish, as through a thin and filmy veil,
the distant chain of the Pelorian mountains, and the
summit of Mount Etna. The wind was blowing
gently from the south, at one time swelling our
lateen sail, and at another letting it flap loosely
against the mast, so that our sailors were obliged
to have recourse to their oars. One of our men
would then begin a monotonous song, while the
oars, rising and falling in cadence with the voice of
the singer, seemed to harmonise with the rhythm of
his wild and sonorous chant. Each stroke of the
oar was followed by a tremulous phosphorescence
which, vanishing almost as soon as it was perceived,
revealed to us the presence of those minute animal-
cules which produce light as the torpedo engenders
electricity. When the breeze again sprang up, the

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 21

chant ceased^ and the oars were drawn in and laid
along the side of the boat, while our men, stretched
upon their benches, resumed their interrupted slum-
bers, and the light splash of the water round our
prow was the only sound that broke upon the si-
lence of the sea, which is at all times deeper than
that on land. We continued for a long time to
admire this scene, whose grandeur was due to its
calm simplicity, and then stretching ourselves upon
our mattresses, which were screened by a slight
awning, we too fell asleep, soothed to rest by the
scarcely perceptible oscillations of our boat.

By break of day we were all again on the alert.
The Cape of Milazzo was very far behind us, and
yet Stromboli seemed to be scarcely any nearer. In
these warm regions the extreme transparency of the
air for a long time deceives the northern traveller as
to the actual length of distances. We had thought
when we left Milazzo that we were not more
than twelve or fifteen miles from Stromboli, instead
of which these two points are in reality separated by
about forty miles. We had scarcely made half the
distance since the preceding evening, but at this
moment the wind freshened, and the dark moun-
tain seemed to grow before our eyes as we ra-
pidly approached it, and we were soon able to distin-
guish its rugged sides, its lava and trachyte beds, its
strangely twisted rocks with its beach of fine sand,
which was black like the rest of the island, excepting
where the waves as they broke seemed to leave a line
of milky foam in their wake.

Stromboli, properly speaking, is only a volcanic
c 3

22 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

cone, measuring about nine miles in circumference,
and rising to a height of about 2000 feet above the
level of the sea. To the south the declivity, which is
composed of old scorias, becomes a little less steep,
and forms a narrow and inclined plane, over which
are scattered about thirty houses, the materials
of which have all been supplied by the lava. A few
other habitations are clustered together in the north
of the island in a somewhat similar locality, and here
a little white- washed church forms a striking object
by its contrast to the dark rocks around it. In the
midst of the lava and scoriaB which have been
decomposed by the slow and gradual action of suc-
ceeding ages, a few garden vegetables and some
vines are cultivated, but the produce of these plants
would be insufficient for the maintenance of the
population, if they did not find lucrative employment
in the coral fishery.

The mode of collecting the coral, which we had an
opportunity of observing, remains at the present
day the same as it was a century and a half ago,
when it was fully described by Marsigli.* Each
boat includes at least three men, who are provided
with a cross, to whose equal arms are attached strong
hempen nets. A large stone, which is placed in the
centre of the apparatus, draws it rapidly to the
bottom of the water, and not unfrequently to a depth
of two or three hundred feet. While one of the

Marsigli, who was born at Bologna of a noble family, died in
1730. He was distinguished as a soldier and as a man of science.
His principal work on natural history is entitled " A Physical Essay
on the History of the Sea."

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 23

fishermen is alternately raising and lowering the
machine, the remaining two or three men are engaged
in gently rowing the boat, so as to sweep over a
certain space ; after a time the whole is drawn in,
and the fragments of coral which have been torn up
and retained by the meshes of the net, are carefully
removed.

A rapid survey sufficed to show us that our zoo-
logical researches would not be extended by a pro-
longed sojourn at Stromboli ; animal life seeming to
shun these calcined rocks, which are as sterile under
water as they are in the open air ; but before quitting
this district, we were anxious to visit the volcano.
The receiver of customs, who had provided us with safe
guides, agreed to accompany us, and each of us being
provided with a stout stick or pole, we soon began the
ascent. A very steep path in the midst of the
moving sand led us, after three quarters of an hour's
walking, beyond the zone of the vineyards. Here
our difficulties increased; for the ground, which
was more and more inclined, became less firm as we
advanced, and was, moreover, covered with large
thistles, whose sharp prickles penetrated at every
step through our thin clothing. We very soon,
however, passed beyond the limit of these prickly
plants ; for now every trace of vegetation disappeared,
and we saw nothing around us but the old beds of
lava, which in one place had been accumulated to-
gether like enormous scoriae, whilst in another they
were entirely concealed beneath the black and hot
ashes which we could feel sliding from under our
feet at every step we endeavoured to take in advance.

c 4

24 KAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

This part of our expedition was very arduous, and
we were more than an hour in reaching the eastern
summit of the island. Here we found a narrow
ledge like the angle of a roof, the two sides of
which sloped each in its own direction ; the left-
hand declivity led to the part of the mountain
which we had just quitted, whilst the right-hand slope,
whose inclination was precisely that which would be
assumed by moving substances obeying the laws of
gravity, presented a perfectly smooth surface, which
was terminated by a rock, lying about 1500 feet
below us, and overhanging a vertical precipice. We
crossed rapidly over this edge, and reached the
summit of the old cone, which is more than 600 feet
above the present crater, which opens on its crumbled
sides. As if to celebrate our arrival, the volcano
saluted us by an eruption. We saw the abyss
kindling at our feet, whilst a magnificent jet of fire
rose towards us with a noise resembling the repeated
discharge of artillery.

Standing immediately above the crater, and
unable to advance far over this moving soil, we were
impeded in our observations by the mountain itself;
whilst we were moreover almost constantly sur-
rounded by clouds impregnated with stifling gases.
To avoid these inconveniences, we descended to a
lateral ridge, where we were able at our leisure to
contemplate the desolate scene displayed before our
eyes. Three concentric ridges, of which the two
outer ones are partially destroyed, encompass the
volcanic crater. Behind us steep declivities stretched
down to the cultivated regions, which we had found

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 25

it so arduous to traverse, but which appeared, when
seen from our elevated position, to be a mere plain.
To the left our eyes rested on the highest peak of the
island, which was once a portion of the most ancient
and the outermost of the three concentric ridges,
and which was separated from us by a deep ravine.
To the right was the small elevation from which we
had just descended ; whilst in front of us the ridge
on which we were standing curved in a semicircle
towards a mass of lava suspended over a precipice,
and at the same time enclosed a steeply inclined
mass of cinders and scoria3 abruptly cut by the
edges of the abyss, into which the existing crater
opens.

This crater encloses within its walls six distinct
mouths. Two of these secondary craters eject that
smoke, impregnated with hydrochloric and sulphur-
ous acid gases, which is at all times being emitted
from the summit of the mountain. The third mouth,
which is situated to the right, also throws out a
thick and whitish smoke, in the midst of which red
fiery stones flash like sparks as they incessantly rise
and fall in the midst of a strange noise, resembling
the heavy surf driven on a storm-beaten coast, and
making one involuntarily think of the mythical caves
of the demons. To the left lie the three mouths which
exhibit only intermittent eruptions ; two of these
evidently belong to the same focus, for they always
kindle and become extinguished simultaneously.
The third, whose eruptions are much less frequent
than the others, is nearest to the spectator. The
most formidable detonations proceed from this crater,

26 KAMBLES OF A NATUKALIST.

which, moreover, throws up the highest jets of
burning cinders and rocks.

As we had arrived in broad daylight, we had been
enabled thoroughly to examine all these rocks of
lava, and at our leisure to contemplate the steep
ridges, the declivities of ashes, and all that singular
scene whose uniform blackness was only broken in
a few places by masses of sombre red scoria? ; but
the sun had now set, and the short twilight of
these southern latitudes was rapidly giving place
to night. In proportion as the light became extin-
guished in the sky, it seemed to revive within the
depths of the abyss. The smoke assumed a redder
tint, becoming . gradually more and more fiery, the
showers of sparks increased, while the concentrated
light within the crater itself enabled us better to
follow each varying phase of the eruption. The
explosions of the two smaller mouths recurred every
seven or eight minutes, whilst ten or twelve minutes
intervened between the eruptions of the large crater.
The phenomenon was always effected in the same
manner; thus, for instance, at the moment when
the volcano began to exhibit signs of activity, the
smoke which issued from the openings to the right,
rapidly assumed a bright and vivid red colour, while
more and more quickly recurring detonations pre-
ceded every jet of burning matter. These jets were
thrown up in diverging directions, and almost with-
out any smoke, from one of the two sister-craters,
whilst from the other they darted upwards, as if im-
pelled by the current of violet- coloured vapour
that escaped from the mountain with a loud whistling

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 27

sound. The principal crater ejected a broad and
expanded jet of incandescent rocks and lava, which
nearly reached the platform on which we were
standing, and fell with a loud noise, one portion being
carried into the sea, and the remainder thrown back
into the abyss from whence it had been ejected,
whilst the wind blew over us clouds of the black and
fine sand and ashes.

The night had long since closed around us, and
our guides were urgent that we should make the
descent ; we were therefore compelled to yield to
their request, and prepare for our return; but before
we made our final retreat, we waited to see another
eruption, and this fortunately proved to be most
magnificent. The three mouths were playing si-
multaneously, and reflecting the reddish brightness
of the lava, whilst the triple enclosure of the crater
revealed itself once more to our eyes. After we
had sufficiently admired this grand spectacle, we
took one of the paths to the right, which being
entirely formed of fine sand, facilitated our return
quite as much as it aggravated the difficulties of our
ascent. Our guide had assured us that on this side
of the mountain there was not a single stone to be
met with, and on the strength of this assertion, M.
Edwards and myself set off at full speed, and soon
left our more circumspect companions far behind us.
There was something very singular in this descent.
The blackness of the soil absorbed the faint rays of
the stars, while the night was so dark that I could
scarcely see the white jacket of our guide at three
paces in front of me. Impelled by my own impetus,

28 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

and by the declivity of the mountain, I advanced
without fatigue, but with no direct aim and as if I
were moving in a dream, in the midst of thick dark-
ness, over ground which slid away from my feet.
In ten minutes' time, we had passed beyond the
limits to which the ashes and cinders extended, and
here it became necessary to proceed with the greatest
caution, as we had literally to feel our way for the
rest of the descent. Our hands were touching the

O

edges of steep declivities which we could not see,
and the extremities of rocks which we were obliged
to descend step by step. At length, however, we
reached the shore without accident, where in about
half an hour we were joined by the rest of our party.
Without loss of time, we at once returned to our
boat in order that we might observe the volcano
from the sea ; the view, however, was not nearly so
striking as on the mountain itself, the crater being
too distant from the spectator. We may indeed dis-
tinguish the jet of burning matters which are thrown
up from the volcano, but the scene has none of that
magnificent grandeur which it possesses when it is
viewed from the mountain top, where the incandescent
smoke rises in eddying clouds round the old and half-
crumbled cones which are illuminated by the tempo-
rary flashes of the eruptions.

This slight disappointment, however, did not make
us regret our nocturnal expedition ; for the sea, as
if by way of atonement, exhibited to us in all its
splendour the glorious phenomena of its phospho-
rescence. For more than an hour, the waters around
us seemed to be kindled into a blaze of light, as if

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 2\)

they had borrowed some of the hidden fires of Strom-
boli. The waves as they broke along the reeky
shore encircled it with a glowing band of light,
whilst every projecting cliff was circled with a wreath
of fire. Our boat seemed as if it were opening for
itself a passage through some glowing and fused
liquid, whilst in its wake it left a long track of light,
each stroke of the oar brightening the bosom of the
waves with a broad silver gleam. The water that
was taken up in a bucket presented the appearance of
molten lead, as we slowly poured it back into the sea.
Everywhere over this brilliant surface of calm light,
myriads of dazzling green sparks and globes of fire
were flashing, quivering and dying amid the undula-
tions of the waves, and these sparks and globes
of fire were so many living beings — animals belong-
ing to the Crustaceans, Annelids and Medusae. At
certain times of the year, and probably at the period
in which the accomplishment of the reproductive
functions requires a superabundant manifestation of
vital activity, these microscopical beings acquire the
property of emitting light at each muscular con-
traction; and hence every movement in these
animalcules is made apparent by a luminous flash.

The numerous observations which I made on the
coasts of Brittany and Normandy, led me long ago
to this conclusion, which has been further confirmed
by new researches. Professor Ehrenberg, on the
other hand, is of opinion that some Annelids possess,
like Glow-worms *, a special organ whose function is

* The name of Glow-worm has been given to different species,

30 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

to produce light. Fishermen are well aware of the
fact that a substance exudes from the bodies of some
Molluscs which shines in the dark like decayed wood
or putrid fish, and in these animals the phenomenon
no doubt depends on a slow combustion. Neverthe-
less, an observation made by MM. Audouin and
Milne Edwards seems to throw some doubt on this
explanation ; for these naturalists saw the phospho-
rescent liquid of the Pholades flow in a stream along
the bottom of a vessel filled with spirit, and com-
bine into one mass, where it formed a luminous
stratum without losing any of its intensity. It is
evident, therefore, that phenomena of a very differ-
ent nature have been confounded under the common

and even to different genera of the Coleoptera. Those which are
met -with in France, more particularly in the neighbourhood of
Paris, belong to two species of the genus Lampyris ; the commoner
of the two is the Lampyris spkndidula, the other is the L. hemiptera.
In these two species the female alone possesses the faculty of
producing light. Unprovided with wings, and unable to leave the
tufts of grass or the thick bushes which conceal her, she would fail to
be discovered by the male insect, if nature had not provided her
with a species of torch, which she can light or extinguish almost at
will. The luminous organ occupies the three last segments of the
abdomen, and is formed by a tissue of a somewhat fatty appearance,
in which we discover a large number of trachea?. This abundance
of vessels, destined to convey the air into the phosphorescent portion
of the body, leads to the supposition that the production of light may
here be due to a sort of slow combustion, analogous, for example,
to that of phosphorus. The experiments of Macaire, and more
recently still those of M. Matteucci, have placed the reality of this
explanation beyond doubt. The light of the Lampyris is ex-
tinguished in all gases unable to support combustion, while it is
rekindled in oxygen, and carbonic acid is evolved. Hence, in this
respect, these insects present the same chemical relations as burning
charcoal.

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 31

denomination of phosphorescence, and that this curious
question is by no means settled.

After having passed the rest of the night at anchor
opposite to Stromboli, we set sail the next morning
for Messina. This passage of nearly sixty miles was
not entirely lost as far as our researches were con-
cerned ; for Milne Edwards and myself had become
such good sailors, that as long as the weather con-
tinued calm, we were under no apprehensions of sea-
sickness. Therefore, while M. Blanchard was ar-
ranging his cases, and fixing and labelling the insects
which he had found at Milazzo and on Stromboli, we
were busy in dropping our bags and nets to arrest in
its passage every living creature that chanced to
come within reach of our snares. In this manner
we procured various remarkable larvae belonging to
Annelids and Crustaceans, together with several
curious specimens of the Medusidae ; amongst others,
the Velella *, a lovely little zoophyte, which possesses
more than one claim to our notice. Its dark blue
umbrella, which is provided on its lower surface with
numerous suckers, is strengthened above by cartilagi-
nous plates, enclosing a certain quantity of air, whilst
a layer of the same nature, which is placed vertically
upon the others, crosses the back of the animal in an
oblique direction. Supported on the surface of the
water by means of the air with which they are

* The Velellas, which were placed by Cuvier among the ordinary
Acalephse, have in recent times been classed with the hydrostatic
Acalephac or Siphonophora, of which we have already spoken in
the first volume. (See the Memoir of Yogt, entitled Siphunophorcs
dc la Mer de Nice.)

32 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

ballasted, and urged onwards by the wind which
strikes their vertical plates like so many sails, the
Velellas often float in large numbers on the waves.
We did not, it is true, meet with any of these living
flotillas, but we saw several isolated individuals.
We also collected some specimens of the lanthina, a
charming little Gasteropodous Mollusc, whose body,
enclosed in a pale violet-coloured shell, is suspended
to a spongy mass looking like consolidated soap
froth, which prevents the animal from sinking to the
bottom. These various captures enabled us patiently
to support the wearisomeness of our voyage, which at
one time was interrupted by calms, and at another
by contrary winds. At length, after a second night
on the sea, which we passed within a mile and a half
of the lighthouse of Messina *, we entered the narrow
channel, which separates Sicily from Italy, and in
another hour we were standing on the quay at the
moment when the sun, rising behind the Calabrian

* Messina is one of the most ancient cities of Sicily. It is
believed to have been founded about ten centuries before our era,
when it bore the name of Zancle, and subsequently that of Messana.
The position of Messina, its vicinity to the continent, and the
beauty of its situation and excellence of its harbour, have made it
play a considerable part in the history of Sicily. It has always been
regarded as the key of the island, and from this very importance it
has suffered greatly. Again and again taken and retaken, re-
peatedly destroyed, and as often rebuilt, it has resisted alike the
attacks of man and the convulsions of nature. The earthquake of
1783, amongst others, destroyed it almost entirely, and hence it
contains none of those ancient edifices which one might expect to
meet with in a city whose origin dates back nearly three thousand
years.

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 33

heights, was gilding the summits of the Pelores,
whose chain of mountains stretches as far as the
straits, and commands the town. To naturalists,
who, like ourselves, had not had any society for nearly
four months beyond that of their boat's crew, Messina
possessed a special attraction. We even met with
persons here to whom we could speak on scien-
tific matters, and at the hotel of La Vittoria, we en-
countered the celebrated German traveller Riippel,
who, after two years' travelling in Abyssinia and on
the borders of the Red Sea, had come to Sicily to
study the fishes of the Mediterranean. While we
remained at Messina, our labours were daily shared
by several distinguished men, whose acquaintance
we were fortunate enough to make during our stay ;
amongst these, we may mention M. Tardi, a young
mathematician already known by several interesting
publications ; Dr. Cocco, a naturalist who struggles
courageously against the indifference of an ignorant
public and the bad will of a suspicious government ;
and Dr. Cupari, whose rare talents have led him to
be called to the University of Pisa; and, thanks to
this pleasant intercourse, our labours seemed at once
more easy and more productive of valuable results.
However, it was time soon to return to our wander-
ing life, for ten days had sufficed to explore the
harbour of Messina and the sand thrown up by the
whirlpool of Charybdis. The Santa Rosalia was
therefore again put to sea, and skirting along the
rugged coast, which borders this portion of Sicily,
we entered the little harbour of Jardini at the foot

VOL. II. D

34 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

of the mountains on which stands Taormine *, with
its magnificent amphitheatre facing Mount Etna,
whose black lava beds reached nearly to the point
which we occupied. Here we resumed our labours
with increased ardour, and feeling that the close of
the season was now approaching, we directed our
efforts rather to the completion of the studies which
we had already begun than to the attempt of making
new discoveries, and in this respect the Bay of
Taormine was admirably adapted to our purpose.
Indeed, notwithstanding the oppressive heat, which
daily raised the thermometer to the height of 112° F.,

* On reaching Taormine «from the south coast, the road follows
the sinuosities of the sea-shore, skirting along the side of a tolerably
well cultivated coast, till it reaches the point of Castel-Sciso, which
forms the commencement of a bay, which is bounded by Mount
Taurus. It was at the base of this little gulf, that the ancient city
rose on different plateaux of the mountain. Owing to its difficulty
of access, it was almost always the last place taken by the conquerors
of Sicily. The Saracens did not definitely become masters of it
until the year 961, and their possession of it retarded for a long
time their final expulsion from the country by the Normans. The
ancient Tauromenium, which was formerly one of the most splendid
cities of ancient Sicily, is now a very unimportant place, but its
situation is magnificent, and its ancient ruins, which date from
various epochs, offer a variety of aspects, presenting a degree of
incomparable beauty. Among its many splendid remains, there is
none that can be compared to the amphitheatre. Elevated upon
one of the heights, which command the plateau of Mount Taurus*
and partly cut out of the rock, this edifice, by its situation, is one
of the most picturesque that it is possible to imagine. Its form
and its principal arrangement testify to its Greek origin, while
Roman splendour is ostentatiously apparent in the traces of
thorough re-construction which this theatre seems to have under-
gone under Augustus. It was adapted to hold from eleven to
twelve thousand spectators.

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 35

we completed some of the labours which we had begun
at Torre dell' Isola and the other stations which we
had subsequently made the scene of our researches.

In the course of our various expeditions, Milne
Edwards had completed his researches on the
Acalephae, and had terminated those observations on
the circulation to which we have already referred,
and which were subsequently destined to acquire a
character of more general application from the eluci-
dation afforded by the various collections of M. Va-
lenciennes*, who enriched M. Edwards's Memoir with

* M. Valenciennes, who is a member of the Institute and a
professor at the Jardin des Plantes, occupies in science a position
which is very rarely attained, for he is accepted as the chief of a
very important section of Zoology, even by those who are opposed
to him on special points, and in the estimation of his colleagues he
undoubtedly ranks as the first ichthyologist of the age. First as the
pupil, and afterwards as the assistant and collaborateur of Cuvier,
he commenced with him the work, entitled Histoire Naturelle des
Poissons, the first two volumes of which were published in 1828.
Six other volumes appeared before the death of Cuvier. In these
first eight volumes, the parts contributed by M. Valenciennes are
clearly defined by the signatures, which each of these two authors
subscribed to his own work. The portions of the work which have
appeared subsequently to that period are entirely due to M. Valen-
ciennes. It is to be hoped that the difficulties which have so long
retarded the completion of this great work, may soon be overcome.
Having been admitted from early youth to the intimate acquain-
tance of Cuvier and of Humboldt, and being consequently brought
into immediate contact with the great founders of modern science,
M. Valenciennes was not likely to limit his studies to the external
forms of animals. Both in his great work, as well as in all his
Memoirs, we find that the anatomical history, is always conjoined
to the external description of the animal. Several researches on the
incubation of serpents, on the respiration of fishes, and on the
minute structure of the tissues, &c., have moreover amply shown

D 2

36 KAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

many valuable remarks. Many curious facts, although
possessed of less intrinsic value, were now added to
these important results. But since the discovery of
the method of descending to the bottom of the sea
had enabled us to collect an abundant supply of the
eggs of a great number of the Molluscs and Annelids,
Milne Edwards had devoted his attention almost
exclusively to the study of embryology.

Facts that relate to the development of living
beings have at all times possessed extreme interest ;
and in our own day they have acquired an additional
importance. There can scarcely be a more attractive
spectacle presented to the true philosopher of nature

that this naturalist has comprehended and shares the physiological
tendencies of our age.

Few men have rendered more signal services to the Museum of
the Jardin des Plantes than M. Valenciennes. Independently of
his labours while assistant to Cuvier, he has arranged two collections
in the Museum, which were not represented before his time — viz.,
that of Intestinal Worms and that of existing Molluscs — and he has
completely restored the collection of the Sponges, Echinoderms and
Polyparies, while he has thoroughly remodelled the collection of
Shells. Unfortunately the result of these very long and arduous
labours, in which he has been ably seconded by his assistant
M. Rousseau, can only be appreciated by those who have seen the
full extent of his work ; for, in consequence of want of space, the
greater part of these objects cannot be exhibited to the general
public. We ought to observe, however, that no one could be more
liberal than M. Valenciennes in throwing open these collections for
the inspection of those who are anxious to consult them for the
purposes of science. Thus, for instance, M. Valenciennes unre-
servedly placed them, together with his own valuable notes, at the free
disposal of MM. Milne Edwards and Jules Haime for their Histoire
des Polypiers, of MM. Blanchard and Dujardin for their researches
on the Intestinal Worms, and of M. Agassiz for his researches on
Echinodermata.

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 37

than that of seeing life progressively manifested
before his eyes in a body which had hitherto been
apparently inert, and of watching a seed or an egg
becoming transformed into a plant or an animal. The
development of a germ realises in its phenomena
of evolution the strangest metamorphoses that the
imagination of poets had ever conceived, and by its
phenomena of epigenesis we are enabled to take part
as it were in creations of a still more incomprehen-
sible character. All these mysteries, which are accom-
plished beneath the eye of the observer, were long
regarded as marvellous but isolated facts, which were
not investigated beyond the point necessary for their
confirmation. At the present day, however, we turn
to these facts for a solution of the highest problems
of natural philosophy. And here the first question
which presents itself is : Where are the termination
and commencement of the vegetable and the animal
kingdoms ? What are the common attributes of the
representatives of these two fundamental types of
animated creation ? What are the links that associate
the offspring with its progenitors, constituting that
ideal being which we term a species ? Deeply in-
teresting are questions such as these, which it is
perhaps reserved for embryology to answer, now that'
naturalists have ceased to limit their studies to a few
representatives of the highest types, and have ex-
tended their researches to the last links of the great
series in the scale of being.

Among the most difficult problems that naturalists
have proposed to themselves for solution, there is
one, perhaps, which they will never definitely solve,

D 3

38 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

although they are incessantly approximating to the
goal of their inquiries, somewhat in the same
manner as in geometry, where certain curves only
come in contact at an infinite distance with the
straight line which forms their limit. The problem
we refer to is that of the natural method, which we
must be careful not to confound with classification.

By this natural method we are enabled to appre-
ciate the different relations which connect with one
another the elements of a group and the groups
themselves ; by classification we endeavour to re-
present these relations; but this latter method is
necessarily inefficient. Being obliged in our books
and delineations to describe and illustrate one by one
the objects of our researches, we are enabled to
represent each of them in immediate connexion with
the object which precedes it and with that which
follows it. From hence arise innumerable errors on
the part of those, and they are unhappily too nume-
rous, who, confounding these two very distinct things,
mistake the means for the end and the classification
for the method. Let us here refer to the words of
a master, who after thirty years' labours and medita-
tions appears to have foreseen and protested against
the theories, which various false disciples have endea-
voured to disseminate in his name. In that Histoire
des Poissons, which the illustrious successor of
Linnaeus began, and which M. Valenciennes is at
this moment completing, Cuvier thus expressed
himself : f< The further we advance in the study of
nature, the more thoroughly shall we recognise the
necessity of considering each being and each group

THE COASTS OP SICILY. 39

of beings independently, and in accordance with the
character which they represent by their properties
and organisation. We shall also see how necessary
it is not to abstract any one of these relations, or
any one of the links, which unite it either to the
most nearly allied beings, or to others. If we once
assume this point of view, the difficulties of the
question will vanish, and everything will present
itself simply and readily to the observation of the
naturalist. Our systematic methods of classification
only take into account the most proximate relations ;
they simply place a being between two other beings,
and hence they are constantly at fault. The true
natural method regards every organised being as if
it were placed in the midst of all the others, it indi-
cates all the radiations by which it is more or less
closely connected with the meshes of that immense
network which constitutes organised nature, and it
is only by this method that we can attain to elevated,
true, and grand ideas of nature worthy of herself
and of the Creator. Indeed, ten or twenty links
would often be insufficient to express these innumer-
able relations." *

What then is that Ariadne's clue, which, guiding
the naturalist through the labyrinth, will enable him
to see and comprehend, in the case of each of the
beings which he is studying, these ten or twenty
links of which Cuvier speaks ? This great man

* Cuvier has often been reproached for having made classi-
fication the aim and object of zoology, but the passage which I have
literally transcribed will sljow how unfounded is such an accusation.
See the introduction to VHistoire Naturelle des Poissons, tome ler.

D 4

40 KAMBLES OP A NATURALIST.

thought that they were to be sought exclusively in
the organisation of adult animals, and more especially
in the nervous system, and in this respect he departed
from the principle that had been established by the
genius of Jussieu, who sought in the embryo itself
the primordial divisions of the vegetable kingdom.
Zoology is only now beginning to enter upon that
course of inquiry which- has been so long and
steadily pursued by botany, and it at length turns
to embryology, which has already furnished it with
more than one satisfactory reply both in respect to
the present and the future.

Milne Edwards was one of the first to enter upon
this new line of investigation *, and, as early as
1833, on presenting to the Academy a memoir re-
lating to the changes of form experienced by
different crustaceans, he showed that these metamor-
phoses always tend to impress upon the animal a
more and more special character, and that they suc-
ceed one another in a determinate order, the most
important being those which are the earliest mani-
fested. Thus, for instance, in the Isopods, a family
to which belongs the "Woodlouse (Oniscus), with
which every one is well acquainted, the young animal
first presents the peculiar characters of the family,
next it acquires those which determine the genus,
and lastly those which enable us to distinguish the
species. About the same time the celebrated German

* We here only speak of the application of Embryology to the
improvement of the zoological method. We will postpone to a
future occasion a consideration of its anatomical and physiological
applications.

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 41

physiologist Baer * developed analogous principles,
and since that date these researches have been con-
siderably multiplied ; and if we would here cite all
the authors who have furnished proofs in support of
this general fact, we should be compelled to give the
names of almost all modern embryologists.

The most various researches, undertaken and con-
cluded by men whose doctrines often differ in respect
to many points, have nevertheless led to this one
general and identical result, that every germ in the
course of development is characterised from the
first as a vegetable or animal. In animals the pri-
mordial type is distinguished from the very earliest
time; next appear the characters essential to the
secondary types ; while, at a later stage, those of an
inferior zoological importance make their appearance,
and so on, until each part of the organism has
acquired the proportions, forms and colours, which
characterise the species.

We thus see that the different phases of develop-

* Baer, the author of a great number of works on zoology and
physiology, has connected his name with one of the most curious
discoveries of the present day. He was the first who saw and
studied the ovum of the Mammalia, hut in these observations, which
were made in 1827, he compared it to the germinative vesicle, which
Purkinje had discovered in the bird's egg. This conclusion led
him to draw a fundamental distinction between the elements of
reproduction in these two classes. It was not till 1834 that M.
Coste demonstrated in the ovule of Baer the existence of a distinct
germinative vesicle, and thus completed the discovery of the
German physiologist, or rather he assigned to it its true value, by
proving that the Mammalia, and Man himself, are propagated by
true ova or eggs, which may be compared, in all respects, to those of
birds.

42 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

ment correspond to more and more closely restricted
zoological groups. The embryo acquires first the
characters of the sub-division to which it belongs,
then successively those of the class, family, tribe,
genus, sub-genus, and species. Consequently two
embryos which could not at first be distinguished in
any way from one another, cease to resemble each
other as they continue to grow, if they belong to
remote groups, but they continue to be like one
another for a longer time, if there exist greater
affinities between the two species to which they
appertain. Both follow one common road, if we may
so express ourselves, until having reached a certain
point they take divergent paths, and each assumes
its own peculiar and distinctive characters.

If these facts be true, and if the consequences that
we have deduced from them be correct, animals
belonging to one fundamental group and to one and
the same great sub-division of the animal kingdom
will continue to be like one another during a certain
period of their embryonic life ; subsequently they
will differ from one another, but they will at no
period assume the characters essential to one of the
other sub-divisions. The Articulata, for instance,
can never assimilate to the Mollusca, nor the Verte-
brata to the Radiata. The immense majority of
facts which have been collected in reference to this
subject, fully justify this conclusion. Nevertheless
Loven *, a naturalist of distinguished merit, de-

* A Swedish naturalist who has published, among other works,
some very important researches on the development of the Cam-
panularias and Syncorynes, and who shares with Milne Edwards

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 43

scribed a larva which, according to his statement,
had undergone the most singular metamorphoses,
and which he believed to belong to a family of the
Annelids, viz., the Nereids. These animals belong
to the Articulata, but the larva was said to possess
at one time the characters peculiar to Polypes, which
constitute a section of the sub-division of the
Radiata. In this case, facts and theory were com-
pletely at variance, and many persons in Milne
Edwards's place would have treated with contempt
an objection borrowed from a small worm who plays
but an insignificant part in the animal scale ; but from
his familiarity with the study of the inferior animals
this naturalist was led to adopt a different course,
and from the very first day of our arrival in Sicily,
the embryology of the Annelids constituted the spe-
cial subject of his studies. From the very com-
mencement of his researches, his own views were
confirmed in all respects by the clearest and most
definite facts, while the apparent exception that had
been recorded by Loven disappeared when it was
tested by an investigation fully as profound as that
of the learned Swede. Milne Edwards ascertained,
however, at the same time that Annelids are sub-
jected, before they assume their definite form, to
metamorphoses, which may, up to a certain point, be
compared with those of insects.

We will take, by way of illustration, one of those
sedentary species, which from their size and their

the honour of having discovered the gastro- vascular system of that
group of Gasteropodous Molluscs, which I have proposed to desig-
nate under the name of the PMebenterata. (See Vol. I. p. 348.)

44 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

accurately defined characters are admirably adapted
for observation. We will follow through all the
phases of its existence that large Terebella ( Tere-
bella nelmlosa), whose body, which is of a brown
colour spotted with red and white, sometimes mea-
sures from six to seven inches in length. On its
sides are arranged small flattened protuberances, each
of which carries a bundle of simple cirrhi, slightly
curved, whilst below there is a row of hooked cir-
rhi, whose shape somewhat resembles the cock of a
gun. On its back, near the head, are six pairs of
ramified branchiae, which being incessantly agitated
by the blood, alternately present an amber tint or a
deep coral red, according as the liquid leaves their
branches or flows through their ultimate divisions.
From the head escapes a tuft of a hundred to a
hundred and fifty white extensile and contractile
filaments, which are ever in motion. These are so
many living cables, which the animal is able to ex-
tend in every direction to the distance of more than
a foot, and which serve it in the place of arms.
When fixed by their extremities, they enable the
Terebella to raise itself along the most highly
polished surfaces, as for instance, along the sides of
a glass vessel ; at other times, seizing from a distance
grains of sand or fragments of shell, they bring
them close to the Annelid, and arrange them round
the body in the necessary order to enable the animal
to take up these substances, and, by cementing
them together with a viscid humour, to form a
tube or gallery, often of very considerable length,
within which it lives in security.

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 45

At the period of reproduction, the entire body of
the female Terebella becomes filled with eggs, which
by a mechanism which is not yet fully explained
are all thrown off simultaneously, and which being
retained by a sort of transparent jelly, form at the
entrance of the tube a very nearly spherical mass
of considerable size. Analogous phenomena occur
in the male Terebella, but the fecundating liquid
which is expelled by the latter diffuses itself freely
in the water, and flowing in all directions conveys
life to the germs, which are vivified by contact with
it. Here, as in fishes, nature seems to trust to
chance to secure the perpetuation of the species, yet
nevertheless everything is so arranged, that this great
end cannot fail to be fully accomplished. Among
the numerous masses of eggs that we had collected
in our glasses not a single one proved to be sterile,
the strongest evidence that all must have been brought
In contact with the vivifying liquid.

As soon as fecundation is accomplished, the egg
of the Annelid becomes the seat of mysterious move-
ments, analogous to those which MM. Prevost and
Dumas * were the first to discover in the egg of the

* M. Dumas, a member of the Institute, and professor in the
Faculty of Sciences and in the School of Medicine at Paris, owes
the high position which he occupies entirely to his own exertions.
He was scarcely apprenticed as an articled pupil to a pharmacien
of Geneva, when he became known for the perfection of his pre-
parations of iodine, and being soon afterwards associated with
Prevost, he undertook, in conjunction with that learned physician,
a series of researches on generation in general, on the embryology
of the Batrachians, &c. Being attracted to Paris by that secret
instinct which always draws to the largest theatre those who are

46 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

frog. The elements of the yolk or Vitellus group
themselves in different manners, and finally present
four distinct masses thrust into the centre of the
egg by a whitish and granular substance. The
process of development goes on rapidly, and we
soon have before us a sort of spherical sac, whose
interior is entirely occupied by the remainder of the
Vitellus. No organ is as yet visible; we merely
observe two small coloured spots, which indicate
the place of the eyes. In this state of extreme im-
perfection, the young Terebella bursts through the
membrane of the egg; at this period the body is
rounded, and bristling in all parts with vibratile
cilia. In this condition it resembles certain of the
Infusoria, or perhaps still more those reproductive

best able to play their part in it, M. Dumas was appointed chemical
demonstrator at the Ecole Polytechnique, and the final direction of
his studies was thus determined. We need scarcely here refer to the
eminent part which he has played as a chemist, both independently,
by his own researches, and through the numerous pupils who have
accepted him as their leader, nor will it be necessary here to show
how the ideas which he advocated have progressively replaced the
electro-chemical theory of the illustrious Berzelius. But we ought
to observe, that in the midst of his various successes and engage-
ments, M. Dumas has never entirely forgotten the science which
constituted the object of his early studies. For the last twelve or
fifteen years his labours have been directed towards physiology, and
especially to the application of chemistry to that science. By
the influence which he has exerted in this direction, he must be
considered as the actual leader of physiological chemistry, appearing
in this respect, as the successor of Van Helmont, Sylvius, and
Fourcroy. The present is not the place in which to discuss these
doctrines, but I shall undoubtedly some day have occasion to revert
to the subject, when I shall consider the labours and views of M.
Dumas in relation to organised beings.

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 47

bodies in the lower plants, which M. Thuret has
made known to us, and which for some hours present
the characters of animality.

It is not possible, however, long to remain in doubt,
for the embryo unfolds itself, becomes elongated, and
throws out at its anterior part a minute smooth
tubercle, bearing on its surface and on each side of
it a round eye-point. From this moment its nature
is definitely fixed. The observer cannot yet, it is
true, recognise the class, family and genus to which
the nascent being which he is observing belongs;
but he may boldly affirm that when it has reached
its perfect state, this being will be an articulate
animal, for it already possesses all the fundamental
characters of this great sub-division. Its body is
composed of two symmetrical lateral halves, its dorsal
and ventral surfaces may be clearly distinguished, its
digestive canal stretches from the front to the pos-
terior part of its body. Everything still seems to be
homogeneous in this microscopical embryo ; we dis-
cover no muscle, and yet it contracts in every direc-
tion, rolls itself into a ball, or flattens itself into a
disc, and in these extreme movements it exhibits
temporarily those forms which deceived the skilful
Swedish naturalist.

At this epoch it is still impossible to recognise a
priori if the embryo will become an Annelid, or if,
stopping at the last series of the sub-division, it may
belong to the groups of smooth worms, as, for instance,
to the Nemertes. Our uncertainty is here of short du-
ration, for rings appear upon the body and are rapidly
multiplied, being always formed successively from

48 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

before backwards, each succeeding the last formed
one. We see, therefore, that the embryo will be an
articulate animal with its body divided into segments.
In this state it reminds us by its external form of
the leech, but cirrhi soon appear upon the sides. We
now ask whether the young animal is allied to the
earthworm or the Nais*, which exhibit distinct rings

* Every one is familiar with the earthworm, which is known in
zoology as the Lumbricus. The Nais resembles it in many par-
ticulars, but instead of living exclusively in the humid earth, it lives
in the water, at one time making for itself a passage or tunnel
within the mud, and at another time attaching itself to the branches
of aquatic plants. "We will here mention a curious result connected
with those great questions of general harmony which fall so essen-
tially within the province of modern science. The Lumbricus and
the Nais had at all times been classed in the same group with
Marine Annelids. But these first two genera have both sexes
reunited in one individual, whilst my own observations, confirmed
by a great number of zoologists, have demonstrated that in the
Annelids the sexes are separate ; hence it is necessary to place
these animals in a different group. On the other hand, the resem-
blances which had caused them to be united with the Annelids are un-
deniable, and I have therefore been led to regard these resemblances
as being indications not of direct, but of collateral affinities, or analogies.
On examining the entire group of Worms from this point of view, we
find that they may be separated into two series which I have
designated as that of Les Vers Monoiques, and that of Les Vers
Dioiques, of which I have given a table in the first note in the
Appendix of Volume I.

Here a very remarkable general fact presents itself to our notice.
All the Lumbricidse comprising Nais, inhabit fresh water, whilst
all the Annelids, whether they belong to the wandering or the
tubicolous groups, live in salt water. The former inhabit lakes,
rivers, and brooks, whilst the latter are only found in the sea. The
older authors have indeed spoken of Marine Naides and Marine
Lumbricidae, but in examining the species which are thus designated
I have always found that they were either true Annelids or special
genera allied to that class, like the Echiuri and the Polyophthalmia.

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 49

and are provided with cirrhi, but have no feet. This
cannot be the case, for here are protuberances which
appear upon the sides of each segment, and hence
the embryo belongs to the group of Annelids, pro-
perly so called. It remains to be decided whether
it will traverse its native sands under the form of a
wandering Annelid, or whether it will be confined in
a narrow tube, and lead the retired life of a tubicolous
worm. This last doubt soon vanishes, for a small
tubercle now appears in front of the head, which
lengthens and begins to play the part assigned to the
extensible filaments of which we have spoken. Other
similar appendages soon appear by the side of the
former, and from that moment the animal, being
provided with the organs necessary to secure its
relations with the external world, surrounds itself
with a tube and begins to lead the life of a recluse.

We see, therefore, that at each phase of its deve-
lopment, the special nature of the Terebella becomes
more distinctly characterised. We have recognised
successively how the embryo belonged to the great
division of the Articulata, then to that sub-division
of it in which the body is divided into segments, then
that it is a true Annelid, and finally that it is a tubi-
colous worm. Investigate it a little longer, and we
shall be able to recognise its genus and its species.
This is very much the same, as if being interested in

Thus the type of the Lumbricus and the type of the Annelid
mutually replace one another according to the nature of the waters
in which they live. These animals constitute corresponding terms
to one another in nature as well as in our classifications ; they are
the Geographical Analogues of each other.
VOL. II. E

50 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

obtaining detailed information concerning some indi-
vidual, we were first to learn that he was born in the
old continent, next that he was a European, and
then successively that he was a Frenchman and a
Parisian, and that he lived in such a street, at such
a number, and, lastly, that he bore such or such a
name. From these and many other similar facts,
we surely have the right to conclude that the dif-
ferent degrees of zoological relationship or affinity
stand in direct connection with the duration of the
primordial resemblances, exhibited by the embryos.
Or to express the same idea differently, may we not
admit that the apparent identity between two germs
in the course of development will persist for a longer
or shorter period according as these germs belong to
animals, more or less resembling one another in their
nature ?

We have purposely employed the words apparent
identity, for it is often difficult to ascertain whether
the identity is real or only apparent. Two Tere-
bellas of different species cannot be distinguished
from one another until their development is com-
plete. Does this imply that the germs were really
identical up to this one definite epoch ? We do not
think so : and we concur with M. Chevreul in be-
lieving that the manifestation of differences under
the influence of similar circumstances, in beings
which hitherto might have been confounded, implies
the existence of corresponding differences in an
anterior state of organisation.* These differences

* Considerations sur la Philosophic de V Anatomic. (Journal des
Savants, 1840.)

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 51

do not the less exist, because they are inappreciable
to our senses, and it is from the want of duly recog-
nising this distinction, that men of high reputation
have suffered themselves, more especially in Ger-
many, to be led away by hazardous speculations,
giving rise to abstract theories, which, although
decorated with the name of the philosophy of nature,
have for many years retarded the true progress of
the natural sciences.

Whilst these different labours occupied M. Milne
Edwards, his companions did not remain idle.
M. Blanchard had ably fulfilled the task that had
been entrusted to him by the directors of the Jardin
des Plantes. More than 2000 species of insects,
represented by at least 8000 individuals, were
collected in his cases. About 500 of these species
were wanting in the galleries of the museum, and
fully 300 were altogether new to science ; our
companion therefore had given active proofs of his
industry. But while he acquitted himself of the
duties imposed upon him in his capacity of assistant
naturalist and collector of specimens, M. Blanchard
had by no means neglected labours of a higher
order, and he might well look with pride and satis-
faction at his collection of drawings and notes.
Amongst other things, he had drawn up a highly
interesting memoir on the nervous system of the
Gasteropodous Molluscs; for, notwithstanding the
magnificent labours of Cuvier, much still remained
to be done in reference to these animals. Tfieir
nervous system especially was but little known.
Cuvier had only distinguished a very small number

£2

52 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

of ganglia or central masses, from whence are given
off the branches which convey both sensibility and
motion to every part of the body. M. Blanchard,
however, discovered in this apparatus a most un-
expected degree of complication, and he showed that
in certain species these ganglia are very numerous,
and that instead of the five or six hitherto observed,
there existed nearly thirty of these masses.

This first memoir by M. Blanchard on the
nervous system of the Invertebrata was the means
of leading this naturalist to other highly important
results. Endowed with a singular steadiness of hand,
and an extreme clearness of sight which enabled him to
distinguish, without the aid of instruments, the most
delicate nervous filaments, he entered upon researches
of a similar nature on the nervous system of insects —
a class of investigations which present such extreme
difficulty, that few naturalists have grappled with them.
And fortunately his labours were recompensed by
the discovery of a complete nervous system, especially
distributed to the organs of circulation and respira-
tion. This is a very remarkable example of the di-
vision of physiological labour, and at the same time
a new proof that the more closely we examine these
too much neglected beings, the more fully we shall
recognise that they possess, in the eyes of the Creator,
as high a degree of importance as animals of the
largest size. The observations of Lyonnet on the
goat-moth, and those of Strauss-Durckheim on the
cockchafer *, have shown that the organism is fully

* M. Strauss-Durckheim, a French zoologist, was one of the
first who fully comprehended the importance of Monographs. He

THE COASTS OP SICILY. 53

as complicated, if not more so, in insects, as in the
largest animals, such as the elephant ; and M. Blan-
chard, by adding many important facts to those
which had been discovered by his predecessors, has
further confirmed this general result.

Encouraged by his first success, M. Blanchard
extended his investigations on the nervous system to
those singular beings, whose existence and mode of

O G ^

propagation continued to within a few months of the
present time (1854) to constitute one of the most
curious problems of zoology.* We here refer to the
Helminthess or intestinal worms — animals which are
sometimes developed in the very midst of the living
tissues, in the muscular substance, in the brain, and
in the ball of the eye, and therefore in parts which
to all appearance are the best protected from any
external influences. Lamarck and Cuvier almost
absolutely denied them the possession of a nervous
system. Many naturalists shared in this opinion,
and if any isolated observation appeared to justify

accordingly resolved to give a history of the leading groups, by taking
as a terra of comparison one of the principal species, -whose anatomy
had been pursued to its utmost limits. It was thus that he chose
the Cockchafer as the type of articulate animals, and Cuvier con-
sidered this work as the only one which could be compared with
that of Lyonnet. In making his delicate preparations, M. Strauss-
Durckheim had recourse to several ingenious inventions, and
amongst others we owe to him the discovery of a very simple
method of making extremely fine injection tubes. His labours
have unhappily been suspended by premature infirmity, for, like
Geoffroy and Savigny he has almost entirely lost his sight.

* I have elsewhere stated (see Vol. I. p. 345), that the researches
of Van Beneden and Kuchenmeister have almost entirely solved
the problem of the reproduction of the intestinal worms.
E 3

54 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

the philosophical doubts of the majority of inquirers,
nothing authorised the admission in any general
manner, that these animals were characterised by a
well-defined nervous apparatus ; nevertheless M.
Blanchard has shown that such is the case, and he
has confirmed or rectified by numerous examples the
facts which had been obtained in reference to the
Distomata and the Nematoides* by Bojanusf, MehlisJ,
Laurer §, Cloquet ||, &c. He has shown that the
Taenias IF present a most singular arrangement, which

* The Distomata are a group of intestinal worms comprising the
Liver-fluke, which is so common in sheep, together with all the
worms which are allied to that form. The group of the Nemato'ides
is composed of the Ascarides, and all the genera which are allied to
that type.

f Bojanus, who is. one of the most distinguished anatomists of
Germany, commenced in 1817 a series of anatomical observations on
intestinal worms, which had before that time been studied only in
reference to their external characters. He was the first to discover
the Sporocysts, and to recognise the nature of the Cercarese. We
moreover owe to him several important works, amongst others a
magnificent anatomical memoir on the European Tortoise.

J Mehlis was one of the first who noticed the nervous system
of the Trematoda, in an anatomical description of the Distoma
hepaticum and D. lanceolatum.

§ We owe to Laurer, amongst other works, some highly interest-
ing researches on the anatomy of the Amphistoma.

|| M. Cloquet has published, on the anatomy of the Ascaris
lumbricoides, a memoir which has long been the best on the subject.

^[ The Tsenia, which is vulgarly regarded as a solitary worm,
does not by any means merit this appellation, for even in man
several of these animals are often simultaneously present, and
certain species occur in large numbers, more especially in fishes,
many individuals being present in the same intestinal tube. We
would here remark that in accordance with Van Beneden's view
each Tsenia is not an individual, but an aggregation of many indi-
viduals, which being at first united, become successively isolated,

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 55

constitutes another exceptional character in these al-
ready remarkable worms. All these facts, illustrated
and confirmed by extremely delicate preparations,
were submitted to the most competent judges, and
the consequences deduced from them are highly im-
portant. They have led us to recognise the fact that
very different animals have hitherto been confounded
under one common denomination, and they have
enabled us to appreciate the relations which connect
these different types with already established groups,
and finally they have removed an extremely nume-
rous class from the animals which we regard as al-
together devoid of a nervous system.

This is a very important result. The nervous
system, says the illustrious author of the Regne
Animal, represents, so to speak, the whole animal.
We are far from accepting this doctrine uncondition-
ally, but at the same time we cannot deny extreme
importance to that system, which appears in the
highest living beings to distribute life to every part
of the organism.* The absence of this system is in

and lead an independent life as soon as their organisation is com-
pleted. We ought to add that these ideas, startling as they may
appear, very probably express the truth.

* It is well known that in order to remove from a limb every
trace of sensibility and motion, it is sufficient to cut, or simply to
compress, the nerve which supplies it. The limb itself, however,
does not die, inasmuch as the circulation and the nutrition are
carried on very nearly in the same way as before the operation, and
we might, therefore, be led to believe that the words of the text
convey a very great exaggeration, but it is well known that there
exist in the superior animals, and even amongst a certain number
E 4

56 KAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

itself sufficient to set aside in a distinct category, as
it were, all those animals in which such a deficiency-
is definitely established, but the number of these
animals is very limited. In proportion as we care-
fully study the most apparently degraded animals, we
discover more and more traces of the existence of
this system in the greater number of them. Cuvier
had admitted its presence in the animals which were
classed by him in his first three divisions of the
animal kingdom, but he denied its existence, or re-
garded it as present in mere traces, in all the Ra-
diata. It is now some years since MM. Tiedemann *,

of the Invertebrata, two distinct nervous systems. One of these
systems has for its centre the brain and the spinal cord, and the
nerves which issue from it are called nerves of animal life, which
exclusively preside over the functions of sensibility and voluntary
motion. The other nervous system, which is called the system of
the great sympathetic, has for its centres ganglia, varying in number
and size, which in all the Vertebrata are situated in the abdomen.
The nerves which emanate from hence are called the nerves of
vegetative life, and they preside over the involuntary movements
which occur throughout the whole body, and do not communicate any
sensibility to the organs. These nerves, which are very numerous,
and much ramified, everywhere accompany the vessels, and it is
probable that it is under their influence that the phenomena of
nutrition are accomplished.

* Professor Tiedemann, who is a foreign associate of the Institute,
is one of the most illustrious representatives of science in Germany.
He for a long time occupied a Professor's chair at Heidelberg, where
his reputation attracted a crowd of students from all countries, and
he now lives in retirement at Frankfort. We owe to him a large
number of anatomical and physiological works, among which we
shall more especially mention his different Monographs on the
Brain of Man, the Apes, and certain other Mammals, his treatises
on Zoology and Physiology, his Anatomy of the Echinodermata,
which received the prize awarded by the Institute, &c.

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 57

Costa *, and Krohn f have demonstrated its existence
in the Echinoderms to which belong the star-fishes,
while MM. Ehrenberg, Grant, Milne Edwards and
Agassiz have described it in the Acalephas, while
we ourselves have discovered it in the Nemertes and
the Planarias, animals which are very nearly allied to
certain intestinal worms, although they live in water.
Fully half of the Radiata and all the Worms, there-
fore, possess nerves as distinct as the higher animals.

A most interesting question is connected with
that of the existence or absence of the nervous
system. What relations exist between the external
world and these lowest representatives of the animal
creation ? Do Annelids, Star- fishes, and Medusa?
possess the senses of sight and hearing ? Lamarck,
influenced by theoretical ideas, denied them all
sensation, and designated the majority of the inferior
animals by the denomination of animaux apathiques,
and, without being equally explicit, Cuvier seems to

* Dr. Costa, a physician and naturalist at Naples, has published a
great number of very interesting memoirs, which bear principally
upon the marine animals of his native country. He was one of the
first who studied with care the anatomy of the Amphioxus, a very
remarkable fish, to which I have referred in a subsequent part of the
present chapter.

f The naturalist Krohn has also specially devoted his attention
to the marine animals. Amongst other works, we are indebted to
him for a very interesting memoir on the mode of reproduction of the
Salpae, in which he has confirmed, and at the same time more
fully developed, the facts announced by Chamisso, which had long
been treated as fabulous. He has shown that the mode of genera-
tion of these Molluscs, compels us to include them among those
animals in which Steenstrup's theory of alternate generations is
exhibited. See VoL I. p. 219.

58 EAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

have inclined to the same view, which is maintained
even at the present day by some eminent naturalists.
Experience and observation appear to us to be
opposed to these theories ; for not only do a large
number of the inferior animals possess sensorial
organs by which they must consequently perceive
sensations, but these organs are even in some cases
much more multiplied than in Mammals or Birds.
Thus for instance several of them realise the fable of
Argus, or the strange conception of Fourier in
relation to the fifth member which is to complete
the human being, when the globe will be covered
with phalansteries. Certain Star-fishes have a well
characterised eye at the extremity of each of their
rays, while the Nemertes and the Planarias are often
provided on the lower and upper surface of their
heads with fifty or sixty, and sometimes even a
larger number of -distinct eyes. Ehrenberg has
made known to us a small Annelid, which is furnished
with two eyes in its head, and two others at the ex-
tremity of its tail ; and I found both in our seas of
Brittany and during my stay in Sicily, three totally
distinct species, presenting the same peculiarity.
Yet the tufts of Corallina at Favignana and Milazzo
nourished thousands of little worms, which are even
more remarkable in this respect. These worms, which
I have named Poly ophthalmia, and to which I shall
have occasion presently to revert, are provided in
front with three double or triple eyes, while a series
of the same organs are placed along the entire length
of the body, passing from the head to the tail.*
* See Chapter VIII. on Guettary.

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 59

We see, therefore, how much we have advanced
since the period when Reaumur called the Medusae
masses of living jelly, and when Cuvier believed with
other naturalists in the existence of Parenchyma-
tous Worms. In proportion as zoologists have more
thoroughly investigated the mysteries of the inferior
world, organisation seems to have grown more com-
plicated, and to have assumed the most unexpected
forms. Let us beware, however, of falling into an
opposite extreme. After having admitted without
sufficient proof; and by a sort of a priori reasoning,
the organic simplicity of the lower animals, we must
not conclude from a few already known facts, that
they all present an equal degree of complication. At
the lowest point of the zoological scale, there exist
beings in which all the vital acts are accomplished,
simultaneously and in the same manner, over all por-
tions of the body, and whose organs appear to be
fused together into one homogeneous structure. I
will here give a few examples by way of illustration.

In the living sponge, a sort of semi-fluid varnish
covers with a thin stratum that horny and more or
less solid skeleton, which is so familiar to all of us.
This varnish is the actual animal, the structure which
we commonly term sponge, being, in fact, its skeleton.
The Amoeba, which is still more simple, appears to
be nothing more than a drop of this living varnish
endowed with locomotion, but not having even a
determinate form. The eye when aided by the micro-
scope may see these animals flow together into a
mass, as drops of oil would flow over the slide, while
they present the most diversified and irregular forms.

60 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

Finally, M. Dujardin has shown us that the Khizo-
pods are animals covered with a shell, but whose
body is without any definite organisation. A Gromia
and a Milliola, before they climb up the polished side
of a glass vessel, form for themselves on the instant,
and at the cost of the substance which composes
them, a sort of foot, which stretches out, and becom-
ing elongated, affords them a point of support ; as
soon as they no longer need this assistance, this
temporary organ returns into the common mass, and
becomes confounded with it just in the same manner
as a thread of viscid matter returns to the substance
from which it had been drawn out. Between these
extreme points of the animal scale and the creatures
of which we have just now spoken, there no doubt
exist many intermediate forms ; for, as Linnaeus has
said, nature does not make any sudden bounds, and
always proceeds by insensible gradations. Here,
perhaps, more than elsewhere, experience and observ-
ation ought to precede all theoretical conceptions.

It is, moreover, by following these two infallible
guides that modern zoology has arrived at a result
which seems to be the counterpart of those we have
indicated. At the same time that it discovered in
these last animal series (the worms) a most unexpected
organic complication, it also recognised the fact, that
the superior groups themselves comprise degraded
species, which appear to have lost almost all the
essential characters of their fundamental type ; and
there are certain points of view from which we are
justified in asserting that there exist inferior mammals,
birds and reptiles. This proposition is most abso-

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 61

lutely true for the class of the Fishes ; for the group
of the Myxinoides, Lampreys, and more especially
the Amphioxus, can leave no doubt on this subject.
The Ainphioxus is a small fish which lives in the
sands of the sea, where it conceals itself and moves
about with incredible rapidity. Its body, which is
perfectly transparent, terminates in a point at both
extremities, a circumstance from which it has derived
its name. The Amphioxus has been found on the
coasts of Cornwall, in the Baltic, at Naples, and at
Messina, where I caught a- great number at the
distance of a few yards from the whirlpool of Cha-
rybdis. It has been investigated successively by
Goodsir* in Great Britain, by Costa in Italy, by
Retzius, Rathke f> and more especially by Miiller,

* John Goodsir, one of the most distinguished physiologists of
Great Britain, is Professor of Anatomy in the University of Edin-
burgh, and has published several important memoirs. He was one of
the first who announced, in relation to the mechanism of secretions, a
doctrine which seems to be more and more thoroughly confirmed by
facts. According to this distinguished physiologist, the secreted fluids
do not exude directly from the membranes which yield them, but
they first accumulate in the epithelial cells, which always cover the
secreting surfaces. These cells are, therefore, the fundamental
element of every secreting system. The facts discovered by
Goodsir in reference to the digestion of fatty matters, and the
conclusions which he has deduced from them, afford the most
probable explanation that has been offered in reference to this very
obscure point, notwithstanding the many attempts that have been
made to elucidate it.

f Rathke is one of the most distinguished anatomists and natu-
ralists of Germany, and his researches have been extended to
almost every department of the animal kingdom. He has specially
occupied himself with embryology, and amongst other works we.
owe to him some highly interesting researches on the formation of

62 RAMBLES OF A NATUKALIST.

in Germany. I have myself made this fish the
subject of a most careful investigation, and at the
present day we may consider its organisation as per-
fectly known. Yet while we have no difficulty in
asserting most definitely that it belongs neither to
the Mollusca, the Articulata, nor the Kadiata, it
scarcely merits the name of a Vertebrate. It has
hitherto been admitted that the essential characters
of this sub-division of the animal kingdom are the
presence of a vertebral column, a brain, a heart and
red blood, yet the Amphioxus possesses neither heart
nor brain, properly so called, nor any distinct vertebral
column, and its blood is entirely colourless. The
impulse necessary to make the nutrient fluid pass
through the circulatory circle is communicated to it
by large vascular trunks. The blood resembles that
of the Molluscs. The vertebral column is repre-
sented by a cartilaginous stem, entirely composed of
cells, and extending from the head to the tail. The
brain, which is not protected by the slightest appear-
ance of a cranium, is only distinguished from the
spinal cord by the direction of the nerves which
issue from it. The eye is entirely enclosed in the
interior of the tissues, but owing to their perfect
transparency, it is probable that the functions of
the organ of sight are not the less perfectly accom-
plished. This diaphanous character of the Amphi-
oxus enables us, moreover, to ascertain that it pos-
sesses a mouth, which belongs rather to the Mollusc

the venous system, and on the manner in which the circulation of
the adult gradually succeeds that of the foetus. His Embryology of
the Cray Fish—AstacusJluviatilis — is also a very remarkable work.

THE COASTS OP SICILY. 63

than the Fish, together with a circulating apparatus
and a mode of digestion which remind us of similar
organs in the Annelids, &c.

The attentive study of the Amphioxus has led to
consequences of the highest importance both to
zoology and physiology. Confirming in this respect
the embryological results to which we have already
referred, it shows us in this degradation of an animal,
a permanent condition which recalls in certain
respects the transitory condition of the most perfect
animals belonging to the same type. Thus during
the first periods of its development, the embryo of
an ordinary fish, as for instance a Salmon, possesses
peculiarities of organisation which remind us of those
which we observe in the Amphioxus, but whilst
these peculiarities are persistent throughout the
whole life of the latter animal, they are soon effaced
in the young salmon to give place to other definite
characters. The embryology of the Annelids ex-'
hibits precisely similar facts ; thus, for instance, in
the early period of its existence, the larva of the
Terebella closely resembles a Nemertes, and thus the
results which have been furnished by the anatomy
and embryology of Fishes and Annelids are perfectly
in accordance with one another, notwithstanding the
great distance which separates these two groups.*

By the very fact of its degradation, the Amphi-
oxus departs from the Vertebrata to approximate

* Let us once more remind our readers that we speak here of
partial resemblances and not of identity. A young Terebella is at
no time an adult Nemertes, nor can a Salmon ever have been an
Amphioxus.

64 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

more nearly to the lower divisions. Nevertheless the
new affinities which are thus manifested do not
connect it with those animals which occupy the
highest places in these divisions. The Amphioxus
by its organic structure never reminds us of the
Cephalopods, or the Insects, or the Crustaceans,
but it rather approximates to the Acephalous
Molluscs, as, for instance, the Oyster, and to the
Annelids ; or, in other words, to the lowest repre-
sentatives of the Molluscous or Articulate type.

Here, also, we find a manifest accordance between
the results furnished by anatomy, and those which
have been obtained from embryology. All germs
resemble one another in the first period of their
development, and they successively differ from each
other in proportion to the advanced condition of
their development, and consequently the beings
which are evolved from these germs deviate from
one another, in proportion to the degree in which
they may be considered as representatives of their
type. Consequently, also, the series resulting from
these successive phases of development will be
widely separated at their summits, but will approxi-
mate at their bases ; and hence the relations borne
by one series to another will be exhibited by the
inferior but not by the superior animals.

In order to elucidate the more abstract features
of the preceding ideas we shall have recourse to a
homely comparison, which will easily be understood.
Thus, for instance, we may represent the course pur-
sued by the germs in the process of their development,
as a high road covered with travellers. From this
highway, which at first gives off no branches,

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 65

numerous roads after a time turn off to the right and
left, diverging more and more from the central route.
It is evident that those travellers who have entered
upon these branch roads will deviate more and more
from one another, in proportion as they advance.
Here, then, in those who have reached the greatest
distance from the general starting-point, we have a
representation, in some measure, of the superior
animals; whilst those who have only advanced a
short distance from the main road, represent the
inferior animals. The Salmon, to which we lately
referred, the Cephalopods, the Insects, and Crusta-
ceans correspond to the active travellers, and these
manifest scarcely any points of resemblance to one
another ; while the Amphioxus and the Annelids cor-
respond to the sluggish pedestrians, and amongst
these we discover many points in common. In the
same manner the two sub-kingdoms of the Vertebrata
and the Invertebrata, which appear very dissimilar to
one another when they are studied in their higher
representatives, are very nearly brought into contact
through these lower species, which may be regarded
as degraded representatives.

We see how thoroughly in the Amphioxus every-
thing appears to have been created as if for the pur-
pose of affording the most complete refutation of
those doctrines which have been advanced by
naturalists, who, either through adherence to an
antiquated science, or perhaps from the fear of in-
curring labour and fatigue, look with contempt upon
the study of the lower animals, and rejecting the
consequences which may be deduced from it, appeal

VOL. II. F

66 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

solely and incessantly to the Vertebrata. In the
presence of the facts which this fish has taught us
they may, perhaps, be more ready in future to admit
the value of observations made in reference to
animals so low in the scale of being as worms and
zoophytes. Unless we actually deny the evidence
of facts, we are compelled at the present day to
admit that the representatives of the same type often
differ very widely from one anr ,\er, and that their
organisation may present very different degrees of
perfection and degradation. We must, moreover, here
remember what are the facts which anatomy, in ac-
cordance with embryology, has taught us in reference
to the existence of distinct fundamental types, which
are modified in a thousand different ways to engender
secondary and tertiary types * ; for by a consideration
of these facts we shall find that those systematic
conceptions will speedily vanish which have been
the means of giving at once so abnormal and false an
idea of animated nature. Living beings will then
no longer appear to us to be circumscribed within
narrow series, which to whatever extent we may
suppose them to be multiplied, will still invariably
possess the inconvenience of reminding us of a

Jr o

straight line. The surface of our globe, like the
immensity of the heavens, exhibits to us the creative
power under a very different aspect ; for we see it
giving development to plants and animals in the same
manner as it has produced the stars, distributing
them into natural groups as it has reunited the

* See Chapter II. in Volume I. on the Archipelago of Brehat.

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 67

different constellations, and finally binding together
their thousand families by simple and multiplied links,
in the same manner as it has rendered the worlds
which people space dependent one upon the other.

The doctrines that we here advocate, received,
some years since, a brilliant confirmation, which
utterly excludes all doubt. Palaeontology, that
science which dates from Cuvier as its founder, but
whose progress has been at once sure and rapid, has
arrived by an independent course of investigation at
absolutely similar results, deduced from the study of
the order of succession of animals from the most
ancient geological periods to our own day.

In truth, life has not glided along the surface of the
globe by gradual and, as it were, concealed steps, by
the intervention of beings, which at first were of the
simplest structure, and gradually became more per-
fected, until they, in their turn, gave birth to still
more perfect animals. The animal kingdom does
not present one sole and progressive mode of deve-
lopment, as has been conjectured by the naturalists
whose views we oppose. On the contrary, from
the very beginning, we find that there must have
been simultaneously present the four fundamental
groups which, even at the present day, include the
entire mass of created animals ; for we find that the
Vertebrata, Articulata, Mollusca, and Radiata, are
buried side by side in the ancient fossil beds of the
earlier world.

Even more than this, the three inferior sub-divi-
sions possessed at that remote period representatives
of almost all existing classes ; and if it is otherwise

F 2

68 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

in respect to the Vertebrata — if Keptiles, Birds, and
Mammals are wanting in these primitive faunas — a
simple explanation of their absence would be fur-
nished on the supposition of the external conditions
being incompatible with their mode of life.

Moreover, in proportion as we rise to the more
modern geological strata, we find these types modi-
fied ; in some cases making a gradual advance towards
perfection, up to the appearance of Man upon the
globe, much in the same manner as we observed the
progressive advancement of the young Terebella as
it passed through each successive phase of its ex-
istence ; while at another time the most perfect
species seem lost, remaining to us only in their in-
ferior forms, and thus giving rise to recurrent series,
as we still see at the present day in certain animals,
as, for instance, in the Lernea, which seems to re-
trograde by the very progress of its development.*

* The Lerneas are Crustaceans, which are extremely curious, on
account of the metamorphoses which they undergo, the result of
which, more especially in the females, is to induce a progressive
degradation. These animals in their early age bear a considerable de-
gree of resemblance to the Cyclops, a small Crustacean which occurs
in great abundance in our fresh waters. They are at this period
provided with a well-characterised frontal eye, whilst their natatory
legs enable them to swim freely ; but after having undergone several
moults, they finally affix themselves upon another animal, at whose
expense they subsist for the rest of their lives. The females attach
themselves by some means to the body of this animal, whilst the
males have their bodies attached to those of the females. The eyes
and the limbs become gradually atrophied and disappear, while the
different portions of the mouth become converted into a simple
sucker. The changes experienced by the males are less marked, but
the females become so completely degraded, that their nature was

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 69

Is there not something almost marvellous in this
accordance ? M. Agassiz * in his great work on
the Fossil Fishes and Echinoderms, has especially in-
fer a long time misunderstood, and Cuvier placed them amongst the
intestinal worms.

* M. Agassiz, a corresponding member of the Institute, is a
native of Switzerland. This naturalist has followed, with the
greatest ardour, the paths of inquiry first opened by Cuvier, and it
may be said that he has done for Fossil Fishes what the founder of
Palaeontology had done for the Mammalia, and hence his work on this
subject will always be regarded as a standard authority in this
department of science. M. Agassiz has, moreover, not limited
himself to extinct species, but he has undertaken a great work on
the Fishes of Europe, in which their anatomy and embryology
occupy a considerable place. His palseontological studies have
extended to the Echinodermata, and he has published, in relation
to this subject, the extremely important memoir to which I have
alluded in the text, Resume d'un Travail d' ensemble sur F Organisa-
tion, la Classification, et le Developpement propressif des Echino-
dcrmes dans la Serie des Terrains.

Led by the direction of his zoological studies to devote his
attention to geology, M. Agassiz has advanced certain views in
relation to the former extension of the glaciers, and the actions
which they have exerted on the earth's crust; and these views, which
were at first much opposed, now find many supporters. In order to
confirm these statements by prolonged observations, M. Agassiz
spent several successive summers on the most elevated parts of the
Swiss Alps. With a view of completing these great works, M.
Agassiz collected around him a band of eminent collaborateurs ;
amongst whom we may instance Professor Vogt, who contributed
th^ einbryological details in relation to the salmon in the volume ou
the Salmonidse ; Valentin, to whom we owe a very detailed ana-
tomical monograph on the genus Echinus ; and M. Desor, who has
published a volume on the History of the Glaciers. M. Agassiz,
who has been residing for several years in the United States, appears
recently to have given a somewhat different direction to his studies ;
for he now devotes himself more especially to the study of the
inferior animals, and in his anatomical researches on the Medusae,
he has discovered some very curious and highly important facts.

F 3

70 EAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

sisted upon these important considerations; nor has
he scrupled to express in the following terms the
consequences to which he was led by the result of
his remarkable investigations. " The most natural
zoological arrangement is the most general expres-
sion of geological order, and vice versa, the order of
succession of beings is the most certain indication of
true natural affinities." In glancing in the preceding
pages at some of the leading problems which zoolo-
gists of the present day are endeavouring to solve*
we have expounded the doctrines of that physio-
logical school to which we are proud to belong. In
order to arrive at the solution of these problems, we
have successively interrogated the anatomy of adult
animals, embryological phenomena, and geological
facts, and everywhere the reply has been one and
the same. We may, therefore, confidently assert
that the past and the present of our globe agree in
sanctioning the fundamental ideas which lead us to
the ultimate aim of all our inquiries — truth.

71

CHAP. VI.

TIIE COASTS OF SICILY.
ETNA.

Aspect and nature of the coasts from Giardini to Catania. — Catania ;
its harbour ; its soil. — Etna. — Excursion to the volcano. —
Nicolosi, the Casa Gemellaro ; a night passed at the foot of the
cone ; the great crater ; the crater of 1843. — Eruption of 1669 ;
its traces as far as the town of Catania. — Elie de Beaumont's
theory of Etna. — Observations made in the crater of Vesuvius. —
Examples of the slight degree of solidity of the earth's crust. —
Approximate calculation of volcanic forces.

SINCE our departure from Milazzo we had scarcely
lost sight of the summit of Mount Etna, which was
still smoking from the eruption of 1843. At Giar-
dini we had obtained a view of the whole eastern
side of the volcano, and here we saw the first bed of
lava, the same which, 396 years before the Christian
era*, was poured forth for a distance of nearly twenty
miles from the crater, where it formed Point Schiso.
We had often during the night watched the smoke
which, escaping from the cone, reflected the reddish
tint of the subterranean fires over all the neighbour-
ing district ; and often, too, a hollow rumbling sound,

* Historical and Topographical Map of the Eruptions of Etna from
the Era of the Sicani to the Present Time (1824), by Joseph Gemellaro.
This map is accompanied with a description in English and Italian.

F 4

72 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

but one that indicated inconceivable power, had fallen
upon our ears either as a threat or a distant warning.
As we skirted along the coast, which stretches for
thirty miles between Taormine and Catania, we
had everywhere recognised the action of volcanic
forces ; indeed, the whole of this coast, the rocks,
mud, and sands, all owe their origin to the volcano.
At every point the tufa of Etna is poured down
into the sea, and is in all cases the result of eruptions
which belong to the present geological period. A
few beds of recent lava-streams also extend to the
shore, and contrast by their black colour with the
greyish tinge of the rest of the rock. Occasionally,
too, these beds are superposed one upon another, as
at Aci Eeale, where the Scalazza is formed of seven
distinct strata. Sometimes, also, eruptive rocks,
whose origin goes back to the most remote geo-
logical ages, attracted our attention. The basaltic
rocks of Cape Mulini, those of Castello d'Aci, of
Fariglioni, and the Cyclopean islands, attest that in
all ages this part of Sicily has been the theatre
of the most formidable phenomena. Catania is,
indeed, worthy of being the capital of a district that
has been so fatally endowed ; for, although it is
separated from the great crater which is the centre
of action of the subterranean fires, by a distance of
nearly twenty five miles as the crow flies, this town
appears to be a direct product of the volcano. En-
closed within four lava beds of different ages, the
materials for its houses and the pavement for its
streets have been alike derived from this source ;
while it is only through the lava that the inhabitants

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 73

can reach the springs that supply them with water.
The liquid fire has filled up its harbours, consumed
its gardens, broken down its walls, and buried entire
districts. Earthquakes, moreover, have destroyed
what the lava had spared, and yet Catania has ever
risen from the midst of her ruins, and after each
new destruction has laid down wider streets, erected
loftier palaces, and founded more splendid convents
and churches. Yet she has not been able wholly to
efface the traces of these catastrophes ; and standing
upon this soil, which has been so often upheaved,
we everywhere found ample materials on which to
begin those geological observations which, for a
few days, were to supersede our ordinary zoological
studies.

The little inlet of the sea which at the present
day forms the harbour of Catania, bears no resem-
blance to that magnificent port which was cele-
brated by the poets of antiquity, who inform us that
it reached more than three miles inland, penetrating
to the very hills of Licatia, and everywhere secur-
ing to ships a safe anchorage, protected by an
island.* The harbour in which Ulysses found

* " Portus ab accessu ventorum immotus et ingens
Ipse, sed horrificis juxta tonat JEtna ruinis."

VIRGIL.

We still daily meet with proofs of the existence of this ancient
strand. In the eastern portions of Catania the wells traverse a
thick stratum of lava until they reach a bed of clay or sand, which
is occasionally intermixed with boulders and rounded pebbles ; and
here may be found a large number of shells, belonging to the same
Molluscs which in the present day live within the harbour and along
the neighbouring coasts. Fragments of wood have also been found
in the same locality.

74 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

shelter has ceased to exist for many centuries. A
hundred and twenty-four years before our era, a
current of lava, bursting forth about six miles from
the town, inundated the whole country lying to
the east of Catania, blocked up the harbour, and
passing over the banks changed the strand, which
was once so easy and safe of access, into an unap-
proachable rocky height. Fifteen hundred years
afterwards — namely, in 1381 — another stream fol-
lowed nearly the same direction, destroying the rich
plantations of olive trees which had shot up on the
old lava, and terminating its havoc by almost blocking
up the little harbour of Ognina at about three miles'
distance from Catania; while two other streams,
very nearly parallel to the preceding one, enclosed
the town to the west and north. One of these
streams is referred back to the year 527 before
our era; but this stream is of inconsiderable extent,
and terminates within the harbour. The other
stream dates no further back than the year 1669,
an epoch which is well known to every Sicilian,
and which recalls one of the most formidable erup-
tions of which we have any record. After having
broken down a large extent of wall, it penetrated
into the town, throwing into the very midst of the
most populous districts vast masses of lava, which
are worked in the present day as quarries.

Catania is situated at the southern extremity of
the mountain side in whose centre lies the cone of
the crater, and which almost entirely occupies a vast
and nearly circular plain, bordered to the east by
the sea, and to the south by the plain of Catania,

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 75

and to the west and north by high mountains of
sandstone and calcareous rocks. A spur of this
latter chain advances towards Etna, where it is soon
lost beneath the volcanic tufa. From this point
two small streams proceed — the Onobola and the
Simete — which encircle the base of the mountain,
marking almost exactly its limits, and transforming
this burning focus into a veritable isthmus.

Isolated in the midst of its well-defined domain,
Mount Etna rises in a pyramidal form to a height
of nearly 11,000 feet*, and measures at its base
from thirty to forty miles in diameter. This vast
extent of surface, and the facility with which the
eye can embrace every part of the mountain range,
give to Etna a very different aspect from that
which one might have expected. There is nothing
menacing or abrupt in its appearance; and as the
eye follows its broad and finely developed outline,
which seems to rise in gentle slopes to the culminat-

* The absolute height of Etna varies with that of the cone which
terminates it, and as the latter is modified by every eruption, new
measurements are frequently required. Two distinguished English-
men have obtained, by very different methods, results differing only
by one unit, for the elevation of the highest summit before 1835.
Admiral Smyth obtained his result by trigonometrical operations,
according to which, the height of the mountain was 10,874 feet
Sir John Herschel by the use of barometrical observations obtained
10,872£ feet. We see therefore that the mean of these two results
would be about 10,873 feet; but the summit which yielded these
results no longer exists, and it would appear that the actual height
scarcely equals that of another point of the crater, which was found
by the same observers to be forty-three feet lower than the former.
The height of Etna at the time of our ascent must therefore have
been about 10,830 feet

76 RAMBLES OP A NATUEALIST.

ing point, one is led to ask if this can in truth be
the outline of that Etna which Pindar called the
column of the heavens. We are apt, on looking at
the mountain, to regard the narratives of preceding
travellers as fabulous ; we flatter ourselves that we
can attain without fatigue the summit, which appears
to be so slightly elevated above the horizon; and
nothing short of actual experience can rectify this
error.*

The declivities of which we have spoken are
moreover variable, and the contour resulting from
them consequently presents interruptions which may
be easily perceived even by the naked eye. M. Elie
de Beaumont f was the first to direct the attention
of geologists to this important fact in connection
with the formation of Mount Etna. The outline
of the volcano forms an irregular circle of consi-
derably more than 100 miles in extent, a more or
less prominent range of heights separating it at

* The actual angle of inclination almost always differs consider-
ably from the estimate that is formed of it, even by a practised eye.
We always exaggerate the inclination of the slopes which -we have to
ascend. M. de Beaumont has made this very apparent in his memoir,
by means of a table containing a large number of the exact measure-
ments of different inclines. We shall here quote only a few examples,
in order to afford the reader some idea of these results. The street of
the Montagne-Sainte-Genevieve, which is perhaps the steepest in all
Paris, has nowhere an incline of more than six degrees ; and roads
which have an inclination of ten degrees and a half are impracticable
for carts. Loaded mules cannot ascend an incline of more than
twenty-nine degrees. Sheep cannot reach grass that grows on an

ncline of fifty degrees, and a slope of fifty-five degrees is absolutely

naccessible.
•f [A brief sketch of the labours of M. Elie de Beaumout is

given in the Appendix, Note I.]

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 77

almost every point from the surrounding plain.
Above these heights, which mark the actual limits
of the volcano, an arched plateau rises on all sides
towards the mountain by an insensible inclination of
two or three degrees. This kind of pedestal sup-
ports an elliptical cone, which forms the lateral
declivities of Etna, and which has a tolerably regular
inclination of seven or eight degrees. These lateral
slopes abut on the central elevation — the Mongibello
of the Sicilians, whose highest part is terminated by
a small inclined plane, called the Piano del Lago,
which is itself surmounted by the terminal cone in
which lies the great crater. From the Piano del Lago,
there detach themselves, to the east, two narrow and
almost abrupt craters, which form a part of the
central elevation, and enclose with two arms, as it
were, a great valley known under the name of the
Val del Bove* The internal walls of this valley are
often perpendicular, while the external walls present
an inclination of about thirty-two degrees.

Such are the different parts into which modern
writers have divided this great mountainous mass;
but there is another division, which has long been
recognised, and which, as it adapts itself better to the
recital of the journey, we shall consequently follow.
According to this mode of description there are
three zones or concentric regions, which it is very
easy to distinguish. The first comprises the level
ground; this is the fertile region — regione colta, regione
piemontese, which is celebrated for the fertility of the
soil, the clearness of the atmosphere, and the salu-
brity of the climate. From the earliest historic

78 KAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

ages to our own day, numerous and rich cultiva-
tors have occupied this district. And here on this
narrow space there are grouped together sixty-five
townships or villages, which contain a population of
about 300,000.* The second zone is the woody re-
gion— il bosco, regione silvosa-, it owes its name
to the thick forests with which it was formerly
covered, and which still, at different points, give
shade and shelter to this part of Etna. This woody
region comprises the lateral declivities and a great
portion of the central elevation of the mountain.
From this region to the summit, there lies a third
zone, which is known under the name of the desert
region — regione deserta, regione netta, and is in
reality nothing more than a vast wilderness, where
there is an incessant contest between the fire which
smoulders beneath the rocks of the mountain, and
the snow which during nearly the whole year covers
the summit and declivities. f

More than 200 conical eminences, varying in
height, but generally of a very regular form, and
hollowed in their interior into a sort of funnel-like
cavity, are scattered from the extreme limits of

* G. Gemellaro.

f This contrast strikes all those who visit Etna, and it has
furnished poets with several antitheses, which on this occasion at all
events express the truth.

" Scit niuibus servare fidem, pariterque favillis"

CLAUDIAN.

Summo canajugo cohilet, mirabile dictu,
Vietnam flammis glaciem, aternoque rigore
Ar denies horrent scopuli.

SILIUS ITALICUS.

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 79

the cultivated region as far as the Piano del Lago.
These extraneous cones are like so many blow-holes,
through which the subterranean fires have made
their way at different epochs. The origin of the
greater number is lost in the darkness of pre-historic
ages, but all belong to the present geological epoch,
and appear to be exclusively formed of ashes and
scoriae. Most of these are scattered over the woody
region, raising far above the trees their summits,
which are either green or bare according as their
formation is of more or less ancient date. These
secondary volcanos diminish in proportion as we
ascend the mountain ; and a very small number only
are to be met with near the summit.

The mode of distribution of these extraneous
cones is in complete accordance with the observa-
tions which have been made during the eruptions.
It is of rare occurrence to find that the great crater
is alone in a state of activity. In rising towards
the mouth of this gigantic furnace, the lava acts
upon the sides of the mountain precisely in the
same manner as a hydraulic press, and in general
the earth is broken and opened by the action of
this enormous force. The burning torrent escapes
through this opening at the same time that it carries
away with it gaseous emanations, and throws into
the air the debris of the soil, which, falling back
around the recent volcano, soon invests it with a
ne\v cone, the eternal monument of its transitory
existence. Of the eighty eruptions whose date
is more or less well attested, only twenty-two
are looked upon as belonging to the great crater.

80 KAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

And, indeed, in the majority of cases, the moun-
tain has at these times ejected only cinders and
stones.

After having explored Catania and its immediate
vicinity, and after having collected numerous facts
to which we shall have further occasion to revert,
we resolved on an expedition to the volcano itself.
The Signor Abate, our host, who is a treasure to
those travellers who are anxious to make the ascent,
undertook to provide all things necessary for our
excursion. Accordingly the three mules which were
destined to carry us, were laden with a large assort-
ment of travelling cloaks and ample provisions — pre-
cautions which, although they seemed to us extremely
unnecessary before we began our excursion, were
found to be far from useless. It may be said that
the ascent of Vesuvius is a mere walk, that of
Stromboli a fatiguing excursion, and that of Etna
a short, but an invariably arduous journey, which
is not unfrequently beset with dangers. On these
elevated slopes, where the ice is scarcely ever en-
tirely melted, violent tempests and sudden gusts of
hail and snow frequently beset the traveller who
has begun the ascent under a serene and cloudless
sky. Moreover, in quitting Catania to reach the
summit of Mount Etna, the variations in the tem-
perature and in the atmospheric pressure are very
considerable. The thermometer, which during the
day and in the plain has stood at 104° F. in the
shade, or at about 140° F. in the sun, often falls
below the freezing point during the night which the
traveller is obliged to spend at the foot of the cone.

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 81

In consequence of the weight of the atmosphere, a
man of medium height supports at the level of the
sea a pressure of about 22,775 Ibs., but when he
reaches the margin of the crater this pressure will
not exceed 15,258 Ibs. ; thus during this double jour-
ney, which generally occupies a space of forty-eight
hours, the traveller is twice obliged to support a
variation of temperature of at least 72°, and a varia-
tion of pressure of 7517 Ibs.

We left Catania at break of day, and crossed the
cultivated zone by a carriage road. These first
gentle acclivities of Mount Etna present an appear-
ance which is at once cheering and depressing. At
every step we advance, we tread upon a soil covered
by rich crops of corn and olive groves. We pass
through villages, in which everything announces
ease and competency, and we find on the road side
charming cottages, or small and comfortable farm-
steads, whose white-washed walls are half hidden
beneath the luxuriant tendrils of the vine or the
foliage of richly laden fruit trees. But the earth
we tread upon is a bed of volcanic cinders ; the
waving crops, the richly laden cherry orchards, the
pomegranate trees, the flowering orange, have all
sprung up on lava, which has scarcely been pulve-
rised by the slow action of time. The lovely villages
through which we passed, the charming country
houses which we stopped to admire, are built of lava
and cemented with pozzolane. Not unfrequently,
indeed, the very verge of an ancient crater has
served for the site of some smiling cottage, whose
beauty had attracted our attention. At every step

VOL. II. G

82 EAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

we take, we are traversing or skirting along some
more recent lava bed whose arid and upheaved
cheire* covers fields which were once as fertile as
those which it now intersects in the form of a huge
black dyke. Everywhere, by the side of present
happiness and wealth, we see the phantom of past
desolation and misery, making us tremble for the
future.

We more especially experience this feeling when
after having passed beyond the little hamlet of
Mass-annonziata, we see rising behind the houses of
Nicolosi, the double summit of Monti-Rossi. This
is the crater which in 1669 buried under a shower
of ashes all the neighbouring country, and even
threatened Catania with complete destruction, al-
though it was situated at more than twelve miles'
distance from it. Excavated by the violence of the
eruption which produced it, it has preserved the
form of two cones in juxta-position to one another,
and both rising to a height of nearly a thousand feet,
the dark red colour of their scorise contrasting in the
most striking manner with the surrounding objects.
A stream of gigantic scoriee issues from the base of
this mountain, and bending in a southerly direction,
falls into the sea to the southwest of Catania, being
more than three miles wide in several parts of its
course. The whole of this tract is covered with
an arid and bare cheire, and among the enormous

* Cheire or schiarra, in the Sicilian patois, is the name given to
the surface of a lava bed, which has cooled on slightly inclined
slopes in such a manner as to become charged with more or less
considerable blocks of the same substance.

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 83

blocks which have been cooled for more than two
hundred years there is scarcely one which exhibits
any traces of the action of time. All are of a deep
black colour, and their edges and angles are as sharply
cut as if they had been cooled and broken up only
the day before. Not a blade of grass grows on these
rocks, which seem to repulse every form of vegeta-
tion, excepting here and there, where a few lichens,
in thin and irregular patches, appear to struggle for
their very existence.*

On our arrival at Nicolosi, we were received by
Doctor Mario Gemellaro, one of those three brothers
who, not satisfied with having consecrated their lives
to the observation of the phenomena of Etna, have
endeavoured by every means in their power to faci-
litate to travellers the study of their cherished
mountain.f Before their time, the tourist who
visited Etna was obliged to sleep under an ancient
lava bank, where a poor shelter was furnished by a
recess in the rock, known as the Grotta delle Capre ;
and in order to reach the summit of the cone before

* In his letters on Sicily, Von Borch pretends that the lava of
1669 has been covered with one inch of soil. This is an error of
observation -which it is very difficult to explain, and which has
already been noticed by Spallanzani. See his Viaggi alle due Sicilie.
Even in our day the cheire of 1669 possesses no other soil but
that which has been transported to it

•f The family of Gemellaro numbers amongst its members three
brothers, who have all attained to distinction ; one of them, Giuseppi
Gemellaro, the author of a plan of Etna, died several years ago. A
second brother, Carlo Gemellaro, is still a professor at the University
of Catania. Mario Gemellaro, a physician at Nicolosi and a learned
naturalist, has published several highly interesting memoirs on the
meteorology, botany, and geology of Etna.

c 2

84 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

sunrise, it was necessary to climb during the greater
part of the night the steepest and most dangerous
declivities of the mountain. In 1804, the brothers
Gemellaro caused a small cottage to be erected at
their own expense on the borders of the Piano del
Lago, and having furnished it, the key was given in
charge to Dr. Gemellaro. This first cottage, or
casing was destroyed in 1806, but its place was
soon supplied by a second, which was known as the
Casino, Gratissima. Five years afterwards, in 1811,
a portion of this building was thrown down by an
earthquake, and the furniture destroyed. Without
suffering themselves to be discouraged by this disaster,
the three brothers resolved to erect a larger building
in which travellers might find shelter for their mules
as well as for themselves. They chose as the site
of the new casino, a small hill, covered with lapilli *9
not far from La Gratissima, and sheltered on the
side of the volcano by the perpendicular walls of
the lava beds of 1754. With the exception of the
stone, all the materials had to be carried on the
backs of mules for a considerable distance, and as
the expense of the undertaking would have far ex-
ceeded the limited means of the three brothers, they
requested some assistance from Lord Forbes, who
was in command of the English troops which at that
time occupied Sicily. A subscription was opened,

* The term lapilli is applied to fragments of light scoriae, whose
average size is about that of a walnut. The same substance, when re-
duced to the volume of grains of sand, or when finely pulverised, con-
stitutes, properly speaking, the volcanic cinders or ashes, which in no
way resemble those of our fires, or even those to be met with in forges.

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 85

and under the direction of Doctor Mario Gemellaro
a substantial house was soon erected, which has
hitherto been spared by the volcano.

Nevertheless the perseverance of the brothers
Gemellaro was doomed to suffer many other trials.
As soon as the house was completed, they supplied
it with furniture and an adequate provision of fire-
wood. Attracted by these treasures, the herdsmen
of Mount Etna broke open the door, and carried
away all the furniture, and this damage which was
soon repaired, was more than once repeated. At
length, in 1820, at the period of the Austrian occu-
pation, some of the officers who were garrisoned at
Catania, resolved to visit the volcano. As natives
of the north, they thought they might dispense with
every precaution, and therefore did not condescend
to ask for the keys of the Casa Gemellaro. On
reaching the summit of the mountain, however, they
began to suffer from the intensity of the cold, and
breaking open the doors of the house, burnt the
furniture as firewood. After this, the brothers
yielded to their destiny, and remaining satisfied with
having secured a shelter for travellers, they pro-
vided the casa with furniture not likely to tempt
the cupidity of the mountaineers, and whose low
price would enable them to replace it in case of future
accidents.

We have designated this house under the name
of the Casa Gemellaro, which we think it only an act
of simple justice to bestow upon it. It is very
generally known, however, under the name of the
English house, La Casa Inglese* The following

o 3

86 K AMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

words are inscribed above the entrance:
perlustrantibus has cedes Britanni in Sicilia, anno
salutis 1811. Not a word is here said of those who
took the initiative, who erected the first casine,
and who at the present day consecrate their fortune
to the maintenance of the casa. It would seem as
if Lord Forbes and his officers considered that
the merit of having supplied the funds necessary for
the completion of the edifice, gave them the right
of monopolising to themselves the entire credit of
the construction, and the undivided gratitude of tra-
vellers.

After having received all necessary instructions
from Doctor Gemellaro, and having come to an un-
derstanding with the guide whom he had engaged
for us, we resumed our course. Nicolosi marks the
limit of the cultivated region on this side of Etna.
The last houses of the village abut upon a hill of
black and moving sand, where here and there a large
broom, with its pendent branches of golden coloured
corollas, rises from the dark soil around it.* Having
passed these, we traversed a large plateau of entirely

* Notwithstanding their large size, these brooms belong to our
common species (Genista scoparia), which in these southern regions
attains a height of from twenty to twenty-four feet. This shrub,
which has been too much neglected by our horticulturists, might
be made very valuable in a commercial point of view from the
facility with which it thrives even on land which is very ill adapted
for the growth of trees. Its slender and flexible branches furnish
textile fibres, which, although they are no doubt inferior to those
of flax or hemp, or even to those of the Spanish broom (G. junca\
might, if carefully prepared, furnish a very valuable substance for
the manufacture of coarse canvas and linens, and would be found
important from its abundance and cheapness.

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 87

exposed lava, and here began our fatigues. The
sirocco was blowing, and even at Doctor Gemellaro's
house the thermometer had stood at 104° F. in the
shade. Scorched at once by the direct rays of the
sun and by the reflection of these masses of stone,
we endeavoured to hasten the tardy pace of our
mules, that we might the sooner reach the icoody
region, whose sombre verdure seemed to promise
from a distance both shade and coolness. Our dis-
appointment was, however, great, when on reaching
this much desired goal we found only a carpet of
ferns, interspersed here and there with a few ancient
trunks of branchless oaks.

The southern side of Etna presents everywhere
the same spectacle.1 In this vast space, which was
formerly covered with primeval forests, there remains
at the present day scarcely a single tree that has not
suffered from the axe or fire. A lawsuit, which has
been pending for fifteen years between the Prince of
Palermo and the other proprietors, has occasioned all
this devastation, for since the beginning of this
unfortunate process no watch has been kept over
the forest. The mountaineers, profiting by the op-
portunity thus thrown in their way, have hacked the
trees, or set fire to their roots, in order that they
might fall into their hands as dead wood, and owing
to this avaricious improvidence, the forest has very
nearly disappeared.

"We continued to ascend beneath the rays of a
burning sun. The path, becoming more and more
steep, passed along a loose soil which was almost
entirely formed of decomposed lava, and either from

G 4

88 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

time to time traversed some uncovered lava stream,
or wound round the base of some ancient crater,
which is now covered by vegetation, and stands
forth like a pyramid of verdure. The fruitfulness of
the woody region is remarkable, for here the flora of
Etna which is so rich in species, seems at every step
to dispute possession of the ground with the volcano,
which is incessantly threatening it. This struggle
gives rise to the most striking contrasts, for absolute
sterility is often in immediate juxtaposition with the
richest vegetation, as was forcibly exemplified in this
portion of our excursion. For here all the slopes
situated to the left of our road were concealed
beneath a thick covering of green, surmounted here
and there by trees, which looked as if they were
merely balanced on their denuded roots. A few
shepherds, followed by numerous herds, and who
watched us pass with an air of indifferent curiosity,
imparted animation to the scene. The shallow
ground lying to our right presented an equally
smiling aspect, but above us lay, like petrified
torrents and cascades, the enormous lava beds of the
Boccarelle del Fuoco, those twin craters, which
in 1766 destroyed, according to the statement of
Doctor Gemellaro, more than a million of oaks in this
part of the forest.

After two hours' march we reached the border of
the wood and the Casa del Bosco, a small hut which
is built opposite to the Grotta delle Capre. It was
past mid-day, but yet the heat was less intolerable.
We had already reached a height of 6,233 feet above
the point from which we started, and there remained

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 89

only about 3,000 feet more to climb in order to
reach the Casa Gemellaro. This, however, was the
roughest part of the excursion, and in order in some
degree to1 renovate our strength, we resolved upon a
halt. Our basket of provisions was now opened,
and travellers and muleteers sat down together on the
fine and close grass which is peculiar to high moun-
tains, and here after partaking of a meal, which
was seasoned by fatigue, we all fell asleep at the
foot of an oak, covered with a few remains of
foliage.

After a short siesta, we resumed the ascent,
and entered the desert region. Here the vegetation
decreases so suddenly that it seems almost wholly to
disappear. The 477 species of plants, which grow
in the woody region, are here reduced to about
eighty, among which we must include more than
thirty species of lichens *, but not a tree or a shrub
is to be seen in these solitudes. The flora of Etna
is here only represented by a few of the lowest
forms of plants, which are scattered in tufts in the
crevices of the rocks, or upon some of the slopes
formed by the ancient lapilli. Thus it is impos-
sible to conceive anything more desolate than this
part of the mountain. Our eyes were wearied with
gazing on these slopes, which were uniformly covered

* These numbers have been taken from a work, entitled, Chloris
JEtnensis, o le quatro florule dell' ^Etna, by Signer C. S. Rafinesque-
Schmaltz. The author of this treatise, after having resided for a
long time in Sicily, settled in America, and has published amongst
other works the Ichthyology of the Ohio, which is often referred to
by Cuvier.

90 RAMBLES OP A NATUKALIST.

with old lava, or with gray ashes. The path now
became scarcely perceptible, and the mules, notwith-
standing their habitual sure-footedness, stumbled at
every step on this soil, which was at once moveable
and hard. Nevertheless, we continued to ascend,
and the temperature sensibly diminished. At the
foot of Montagnuola, one of the most considerable of
the secondary cones of Etna, the guides showed us
the glaciers of Catania, which consist of vast masses
of snow regularly arranged below a thin stratum of
sand. A little higher up the snow was completely
uncovered*, and here we were obliged to have
recourse to our cloaks and wrappers, but very soon
even this extra clothing proved insufficient to pro-
tect us from the cold, and in order to retain some
slight degree of warmth, we were obliged to leave

* The German geologist Hoffmann, -who visited Etna in 1830,
made some interesting observations on the desert region, -which we
give in the subjoined table.1

Feet.
Limit of the woody region on the road from Nicolosi to

the crater 5470

Extreme limit of vegetation ----- 8628

Limit of the vegetation of the Astragalidse - - 7429
Limit of the vegetation of the Berberidse - - - 7110
Limit of the vegetation of the Pteris aquilina (common

bracken or fern) ------- 5619

Limit of the snow under the Montagnuola, Oct. 19th - 7909

Archiv fur Mineralogie, Geognosie, $r., 1839.

It ought to be observed that several of the plants mentioned by

Hoffmann, rise on Etna to a much greater height than on any other

mountain situated in the same latitude, which is probably owing to

the internal heat of the soil.

1 [The numbers in the above table have not been reduced to
English feet, as it is uncertain whether they represent French or
German measurements.]

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 91

our mules, and to climb on foot up the last portion
of the ascent which separated us from the casa.

At the moment of our arrival, the sun which was
nearly hid behind the western extremity of the
island, cast the shadow of Etna over the Ionian sea,
and gilded with its last rays the plains of Catania
and Aderno. We paused for a moment to observe
this magnificent panorama, which was abruptly inter-
rupted towards the north by the cone of the great
crater, which rose in the centre of the Piano del Lago
to more than a thousand feet above our heads, but the
cold did not allow us to remain till the night closed
in. The thermometer had fallen below the freezing
point, and, as we entered the casa, we showered
blessings on the heads of those three brothers who, on
a plateau rising about 9600 feet above the level of
the sea, have provided travellers with a shelter
against the keen north east wind, that had been
freezing us to the very heart. Less fortunate than
ourselves, our muleteers were obliged to descend to
the foot of the Montagnuola in order to find a grotto
to shelter their mules, as the stable of the casa was
still blocked up by ice and snow. Our guide alone
remained in attendance on us, and in a few seconds
a narrow plate of lava had been converted into a
brasero, on which a charcoal fire was soon blazing,
around which we crowded with feelings of intense
satisfaction. Our lamps were lighted, and our pro-
visions spread on< the coarse, but clean table, and
while we were engaged in partaking of our frugal
meal, our guide was preparing our bed by spreading
a thin paillasse on the somewhat rickety planks

92 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

which served for a bedstead. After having filled the
brasero, and taken every possible precaution for keep-
ing up a good fire, we betook ourselves to our bed,
which was certainly very far preferable to the lava
floor of the Grotta delle Capre. Covered with our
cloaks and wrappers, and huddled close to one another
we soon fell asleep, notwithstanding the cold air
which passed from the frozen ground through the
badly formed frame of our bed.

At two hours after midnight the guide awoke us,
and each of us grasping a stout staff, we set out by the
light of the moon on our road to the crater. We expe-
rienced some difficulty in crossing the stream of lava,
which in 1838 separated into two branches at the
foot of the eminence on which the casa is built. We
next passed over a bank of snow which craunched
under our feet, and finally descended a gentle slope,
covered with scoriae. Here we found ourselves at the
base of the cone, and we now began an ascent which
was fully as arduous as that of Stromboli. The
stones and sand crumbled away at every moment from
under our feet, until by the direction of our guide
we struck upon a lava bed lying somewhat further
west, and here the ascent became less fatiguing. At
last we reached the crater, where we stood motion-
less, wrapt in the contemplation of the spectacle pre-
sented to us.

At our feet yawned the great crater. It was not
here a simple inverted cone or funnel as we had
observed in all the secondary cones, and which is the
case even on the summit of Vesuvius itself, nor did
we see before us that uniform blackness of the rocks

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 03

and ashes which characterises Stromboli. The effects
of the eruption of the preceding year were still ap-
parent, and the crater of Etna at the period of our
visit had the appearance of a deep and irregular
valley beset with points and capes, and formed by
abrupt slopes, bristling with enormous scoriae and
blocks of lava heaped up in masses, or rolled and
twisted in a thousand different ways by the force of
the volcanic action, or the accidental influences to
which they had been subjected in the act of falling.
The blue, green, and white lava, stained here and there
with broad black patches or streaks of dull red made
the livid colour of the surrounding rocks still more
striking. A death-like silence reigned over this
chaos ; long lines of white vapour were noiselessly
escaping from a thousand different fumarolles, and,
trailing slowly along the sides of the crater, car-
ried to the spot where we were standing suffoca-
ting emanations of sulphurous and hydrochloric acids.
The pale light of the moon joined to the rising dawn
was a fit accompaniment to this wild scene, whose
grand and truly supernatural character no language
can adequately express.

The soil on which we were treading was entirely
composed of cinders and scoriae, and was humid and
warm, and covered with a white coating that looked
like hoar frost. This humidity was, however, in fact
the acid emitted from the crater, which moistened
and corroded everything that came in contact with it,
while the silvery film on which a few crystals were
sparkling was a deposit of sulphur sublimated by
the volcano, and of salts formed by the chemical re-

94 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

actions which were incessantly occurring in this for-
midable laboratory.* By following the narrow ridge,
which borders the crater to the south, we reached
the highest point which is situated on its eastern
extremity. Here an indescribable spectacle presented
itself to our gaze. The sky was perfectly pure, the
air was exquisitely transparent, while the horizon,
which from the shortness of the twilight was now
brightly illumined, appeared to have no other limits
than that which resulted from the curvature of the
earth's surface. From our lofty pedestal, we looked
down a depth of four or five thousand feet upon the
highest summits of the Pelorian and Madonian moun-
tains, while the whole of Sicily lay spread before us
as on a map.

To the west the eye wandered along the summits
of Mount Corleone, half hidden by the vapour which
concealed Mount Eryx from our view. Beyond this
limit, the sea spread far and wide on every side,
serving as the frame to this glorious picture of nature.
And here we could trace the route we had followed
for more than four months in circumnavigating the
island in the Santa Rosalia. To the north we saw
the mountains of Palermo, and still more clearly
Milazzo, the islands of Vulcan, and the black and
regular pyramid of Stromboli ; while we could even
distinguish every undulation of the soil, and trace
every indentation of the coast-line along the straits
of Messina on the rocky shores of Calabria. Nearer
still, the massive form of Etna presented its three con-

* These salts are, according to M. Elie de Beaumont, principally
sulphates.

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 95

centric zones, all perfectly well defined, with its sixty-
five villages lying in the midst of rich campagnas,
furrowed and broken up by the lava beds, which
diverge from the centre like so many black radia-
ting lines. To the south the eye embraced in one
glance Augusta, Syracuse, and Cape Passaro, around
which the coast seemed to bend back upon itself, as
it were, disappearing finally amid the mist which
enveloped the coast at Girgenti. Wrapt in mute ad-
miration we cast our eyes from one extremity to the
other of this immense circle, when suddenly the guide
exclaimed, " Eccolo ! ecco il sole," and truly there
was the sun, which, raising its ensanguined orb
before us, bathed, in one universal tinge of purple,
earth, sea, and sky, and projected to the very limits
of the horizon, and across the entire island, the
gigantic shadow of Etna, which, becoming more and
more contracted, grew also more distinct in propor-
tion as the sun rose higher above the Ionian Sea.

Light vapours were now everywhere curling up-
wards from the earth, as it began to be warmed by
the rising sun. First thin and airy, they gradually
thickened, and soon contracted the horizon on every
side. After throwing one last look at the valley of
the crater, we left our place of observation and
descended towards the foot of a Mamelon which
lay to the east. Our guide soon stopped us near a
narrow and steep declivity, which was entirely de-
tached from the rounded margin of the cone, and
abutted upon a precipice which descended to a
depth of several hundred feet. Here we saw him
roll up the sleeve of his jacket and apply it to his

96 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

mouth, a proceeding which he signified by signs
that we must imitate, rushing forward across the
slope as he exclaimed, "Fate presto." Without
hesitation we followed him, and speedily reached
the margin of the mouth which in 1842 had thrown
its lava into the Val del Bove, and which, being
reopened by the eruption of 1843, appeared still
to threaten the neighbouring district. It was from
hence that the smoke issued which we had seen
from Giardini, and it was from the depths of its
abysses that we had from time to time heard rolling
peals of subterranean thunder.

Here all description becomes absolutely impos-
sible. A vast irregularly circular enclosure formed
by perpendicular walls encircled the chasm. To the
left, at the foot of the escarpment, a large blow-hole
had opened from which darted forth eddies of fiery
red smoke. In the centre, to the right, everywhere
lay enormous blocks of lava, that had been shivered,
cracked, and torn, some black, others of a dark red,
but all exhibiting in their crevices, the vivid tints of
the lava from which they had been formed. A
thousand streams of white or gray smoke were
crossing and recrossing each other in all directions,
with a deafening noise and with a whistling sound,
similar to that of a locomotive from which the steam
is escaping. Unfortunately we could do no more
than throw a hasty glance at this strange and ter-
rific scene. The hydrochloric acid entered our
throats and penetrated to the last ramifications of
the bronchial tubes ; and with haste, and almost in-
toxicated, as it were, we regained the protecting

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 97

slope, where we might breathe more at our ease,
and then resting on our staffs, sprang to the edge of
the declivity which was solely composed of move-
able debris, and in five minutes we had reached the
base of the cone, which it had cost us more than an
hour to ascend.

Our mules were waiting for us at the casa, and
no sooner had they received their light load of
wrappers, and cloaks, baskets and panniers, than they
descended by the straight and nearest track, while
we diverged to the left in order to obtain a view of
the Val del Bove. This excursion was perhaps the
most arduous part of our whole journey. The wind
was blowing from the north-east, and in a few
minutes it had grown into a perfect hurricane. Its
icy breath raised clouds of sand and gravel which
pricked and stung our faces and hands as if with
so many needles. We found considerable difficulty
in reaching the Torre del Filosopho, a small and
ancient monument which is now in ruins, but which
according to Sicilian legends was the habitation of
Empedocles. The probability is, however, that this
was once a tomb, most likely dating from a period not
earlier than the time of the Roman Emperors. The
Torre del Filosopho nearly touches the escarpment
of Serre del Solfizio, which bounds the Val del
Bove on the side nearest the volcano. Standing
upon these perpendicular rocks, we admired this
immense circuit, which measures more than six
miles in length and more than three miles in
breadth, and whose walls, which are almost every-
where perpendicular, and formed of masses of lava

VOL. II. H

98 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

older than the human race, often rise to a height
of more than one thousand feet from the base, which
is almost entirely composed of recent cheire super-
posed upon one another. The hurricane, however,
whose violence was now redoubled, soon obliged us
to leave our post, and hastening onwards, we passed
almost without a moment's pause before the Cisterna,
an enormous chasm in shape like an inverted cone,
which has opened in the midst of the Piano del Lago.
"We at length found shelter behind the Montagnuola
where our mules were waiting for us. Three hours
afterwards we reached Nicolosi, and after offering
our thanks to Doctor Gemellaro, we subscribed our
names on his register below the signatures of Leo-
pold von Buch*, Elie de Beaumont, Constant Pre-
vost, and Adrien de Jussieu. That evening we
rested at the house of Abate, and seated round his
table, which is the best provided in Sicily, we forgot
our fatigues, and thought only of the grand spectacle
by which they had been rewarded. After having
visited Etna, we are better able to appreciate the
enormous power of the forces which are brought into
play in this part of the globe, and we no longer
regard as exaggerated the recital of those eruptions

* Leopold von Buch, a foreign associate of the Institute, who
died in 1853, was one of the founders of modern geology. The
theory of upheavals owes to him some of the most conclusive proofs
on which it is based, and he was the first who referred chains of
mountains, which were parallel to one another, to contemporaneous
upheavals. It is well known how much M. Elie de Beaumont has
extended and enlarged these first data. Among the works which
Leopold von Buch has left, we may instance as a model for other
writers^, Physikalische Beschreibung der Canarischen Insefa.

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 99

which from time to time have shaken the whole
island of Sicily, and whose effects have been felt
even at Malta and in Calabria. We will endeavour
to give some idea of these terrible devastations, by
relating the history of the eruption of 1669 as it has
been described by Recupero.* Independently of
the interest which attaches itself to this disastrous
event, we are led to give this narrative with a
view of drawing attention to certain facts that have
been attested by a great number of eye witnesses,
and which have not perhaps been sufficiently re-
garded. In perusing these simple narratives which
have been so naively written by ignorant monks or
village curates, and which have been collected by
Recupero, one is surprised to find that they afford a
refutation, quite involuntarily indeed, of many errors
which have found credence amongst some of our

* Storia naturale e generale delV Etna, del Canonico Giuseppe
jRecupero, arrischita di noltissime interressanti annotazioni dal suo
nepote, tesoriere Agatino Recupero. Catane, 1815. This work, which
is too little known out of Italy, contains a large number of original
documents, which have been principally extracted from the archives
of several towns and convents. The information relating to the
eruption of 1669 has been extracted more particularly from a
manuscript preserved at Nicolosi, which was written by a certain
Don Vincenzo Macri, Chaplain to the Church of Nicolosi. The
author reports at great length, and with an irresistible air of truth-
fulness, the events which he saw, and to which he nearly fell a
victim. Recupero consulted amongst others, the writings of eleven
learned Sicilians, a narrative left by the Earl of Winchelsea, English
ambassador at Constantinople, and another memoir by the cele-
brated Borelli. He has joined his own observation to the testimony
of these writers, all of whom were eye witnesses of the events that
they record. The facts stated in his work appear to us, therefore, to
present every possible guarantee for their accuracy.
H 2

100 KAMBLES OF A NATUKALIST.

most eminent savants, and which have even been
admitted into technical works which are on other
accounts most justly esteemed.

On the eighth of March, 1669, a terrible hurricane
arose suddenly at break of day and continued to rage
for about half an hour, shaking all the houses of
Nicolosi, and thus serving as a precursor to the
disasters which were about to lay waste the country.
The following night was ushered in by an earth-
quake, and the shocks gradually increased in intensity
until the Sunday, when the walls of the houses
began to fall in. The terrified population sought
safety, in the open country, and during the night of
Monday a formidable shock threw down all the
houses of the town. The earthquake now became
more violent from hour to hour. The trees and the
few huts that were still standing, oscillated like so
many pieces of wood floating on the surface of a
troubled sea, and men, unable to keep their footing
on this moving ground, stumbled and fell at every
fresh undulation. At this moment the earth opened
for a length of twelve miles from the Piano di San-
Lio to Monte Frumento, one of the secondary cones
which lie the nearest to the summit of Etna. The
fissure thus made inclined from south-west to north-
east, and was from four to six feet wide, but its
depth could not be sounded, notwithstanding the
frequent attempts that were made to ascertain it.
At length the flames of Etna burst through the soil,
which had been so often broken and rebroken. The
first mouth was opened to the west of Monte Nu-
cilla, and threw into the air a column of sand and

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 101

smoke, which was estimated by the inhabitants of
Catania to have risen to an elevation of more than
1200 feet. In the space of two hours, six other
mouths were opened, all of which were placed
in a longitudinal line, and in the same direc-
tion as the fissure of which we have spoken. A
black and thick smoke issued with a horrible noise
from these blow-holes, new craters were formed in
the course of the day, and on the Tuesday morning
the crater appeared from which arose the Monti
Rossi.

This last opening at first ejected a thick smoke
mixed with burning scoria3, but after the course of a
few hours its mouth gave vent to an immense quan-
tity of lava, which forming a stream nearly three
miles wide and ten feet high, took a southerly direc-
tion and struck against the base of Monpilieri, an
ancient crater which was then covered with trees and
other vegetation. The burning stream penetrated
through this somewhat shallow soil, and forcing itself
a passage across the mountain, it flowed for some
time along this self-made aqueduct, but Monpilieri
having partially broken down, the lava flowed round
it, encircling it like an island of verdure lost in the
midst of flames. Seven secondary mouths opened
at the same time round the principal crater. They
were at first isolated, and threw up into the air an
enormous quantity of burning stones, which struck
each other as they fell back and joined the noise of
their fall to the terrific artillery of the volcano. At
the end of three days they were united into one
vast 'and horrible chasm of fully 2500 feet in

H 3

102 RAMBLES OP A NATURALIST.

circumference, which from the llth of March to the
15th of July never ceased to pour forth its thunder-
ing roar, to eject cinders and scoriae, and to vomit
forth streams of lava.

Up to this moment, the great crater had remained
as completely inactive as if its caverns had no com-
munication with those of the new volcano ; when all
at once, on the 15th of March, towards ten o'clock
at night, the entire mountain seemed to shake.
First a gigantic column of black smoke and fire darted
upwards, and then with a horrible noise the sum-
mit fell piece by piece into the abysses of the volcano.
On the following day four daring mountaineers
ventured to make the ascent. They found the sur-
face of the soil depressed round the crater, and all the
openings which before had surrounded it engulfed
and swallowed up, while the orifice whose circum-
ference had formerly not exceeded three miles, now
measured double that length.*

The torrent of lava which had issued from the
Monti Rossi still continued its course in a southerly
direction. Its different branches reached a length
of nearly four miles. Each day new streams of
liquid fire flowed over the substances that had been
partially solidified since the previous night, thus
widening the beds of the different streams which en-
croached upon the various islands of land that had
been temporarily spared. Already the villages of Bel-
passo, San Pietro, Camporotundo and Misterbianco
had been almost entirely destroyed, while their rich

* The measurements given by Recupero are probably somewhat
exaggerated.

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 103

territories had wholly disappeared beneath these in-
candescent masses. On the 4th of April the lava
came within sight of the walls of Catania, and ex-
tended on to the Campagna of the Albanelli. Here,
as if to show its power, it first lifted up and trans-
ported to a considerable distance an argillaceous hill,
covered with cornfields, and then an entire vine-
yard, which floated for some time on its burning
waves. After having levelled various inequalities
of land, and destroyed several other vineyards, the
lava at length reached a broad and deep valley,
called the Gurna di Niceto. The Catanians now
believed themselves secure from further danger, for
they thought that the volcano would exhaust its
forces before it could fill this enormous valley. What
must then have been their terror, when they dis-
covered that in the short space of six hours the
valley was completely filled, while the lava, flowing
straight towards them, stopped at a stone's throw from
the walls, like an enemy who pitches his camp before
the fortress which he is about to assail.

The 12th of April seemed destined to witness the
ruin of Catania, for a stream of lava nearly a mile
and a half wide, and more than thirty feet high, ad-
vanced in a direct line towards the town. Being
fortunately struck in its course by another current
which was flowing westward, it turned aside, and
running within a pistol shot of the ramparts it passed
beyond the harbour, and finally reached the sea on
the 23rd of April. Then began a contest between
the water and the fire, which even those who were
eye witnesses of these terrible scenes seem to have

H 4

104 KAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

felt the impossibility of describing. The lava, which
was cooled at its base by contact with the water,
presented a perpendicular wall of about 1500
yards in extent, and thirty or forty feet in height.
As it slowly advanced, it carried with it, like so many
blocks of ice, enormous solidified masses, which were
still red-hot. On reaching the extremity of this
moving causeway these blocks fell into the sea, and
gradually drove back the waves in proportion as the
fluid mass advanced. At the point of contact
between the two elements, enormous masses of
water were converted into vapour, which rising with
a horrible whistling sound, hid the sun behind a
thick mass of clouds, and then fell in salt rain over
the neighbouring country. In the course of a few
days the lava had caused the coast line to advance
some 900 feet further into the sea.

New affluents continued to increase the burning
stream, whose current after being incessantly widened,
at last reached the ramparts of Catania. Day by
day the stream rose higher and higher, until it was
even with the top of the walls, which no longer able
to support this enormous pressure, gave way on the
30th of April for a space of about 120 feet, and the
lava at once entered by the breach which had been
thus made.

The part of the town that had been broken in was
the highest, and Catania now seemed doomed to
total destruction, when it was saved by the energy
of three men who ventured to contend with the force
of the volcano. Doctor Saverio Musmeci and the
painter Giacinto Platania, conceived the idea of

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 105

constructing walls of dry stones, which being placed
in an oblique position before the current, were in-
tended to divert its direction. This method was
partially successful, but the Dominican brother,
Diego Pappalardo, devised another which promised
even better success. The beds of lava become en-
cased, as it were, in a sort of solid canal, formed of
blocks of cooled lava cemented together. The
liquid mass protected by this kind of casing, is able
to extend its ravages to a greater distance by pre-
serving its fluidity. Dom. Pappalardo conceived that
by knocking down these natural dykes at some
favourable point, he might open a new channel for
these burning waves, and thus dry up the torrent at
its very source. Followed by about a hundred active
and vigorous men, he made an attack upon the
stream not far from the crater with hammers, clubs,
and sticks. The heat, however, was so intense, that
every man was obliged to fall back to recover his
breath after he had struck only two or three blows.
However, by continued efforts, and by the aid of
iron clamps, they contrived to demolish a portion
of the dyke, and in accordance with Pappalardo's
expectations, the lava diffused itself through this
opening. But the new current turned in the direc-
tion of Paterno, and the inhabitants of this town in
fear of seeing the scourge which had threatened
Catania fall upon themselves, sallied forth armed,
and attacking Pappalardo, obliged him and his brave
companions to retreat.

This proceeding was, however, so far successful,
that the lava was unable to overwhelm the whole

106 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

town, and on the 8th of May it stopped, after having
destroyed 300 houses, several palaces and churches,
and the garden of the Benedictines.* On the 13th
of the same month a small stream flowed over the
rampart to the south of the town near the Church
della Palma, but a wall of dry stones which had been
hastily constructed, sufficed to arrest its further pro-
gress. The Catanians were less fortunate some days
afterwards, when a new current invaded the castle,
filled up its fosses, and speedily reached the level of
the ramparts. A dyke was immediately constructed
to arrest it, but on the llth of June the lava crossed
the wall, and flowed through the town in the direc-
tion of the Convent of the Fathers of the Monte
Santo. Here a new barrier was opposed to it, which
succeeded in arresting it, and thus preserved one of
the finest parts of Catania. From this period the
lava ceased any longer to threaten the city, and flowed
in a direct course into the sea.

The eruption, however, continued for some time
longer, and Lord Winchelsea tells us that the cinders
fell at Catania, and as far as thirty miles out at sea,
with such violence and intensity as to be injurious
and painful to the eyes. Nevertheless the violence
of the volcano was now exhausted. After the 15th
of July, it appears to have been limited merely to
the ejection of cinders, scoriae, and fragments of lava,

* The present garden of the Benedictines has been made up of
earth brought at a great expense from a distance to cover this lava,
which rises in the present day like an irregular rampart within a few
feet of the walls of this monastery, which is undoubtedly the hand-
somest building in Catania.

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 107

which soon filled up the base of the crater and closed
the mouths, which for four months and a half had
hurled forth terror and devastation. Such was this
mournfully celebrated eruption, which covered about
fifty square miles with a stratum of thick lava which
at certain points extended to a depth of 100 feet,
and which after threatening utterly to annihilate
Catania, had destroyed the habitations of 27,000
persons.*

Even at the present day, we can trace on the
surface of the soil the remains of those terrible phe«-
noniena which occurred nearly 200 years ago. We
have endeavoured in the preceding pages to describe
the cheire which issues from the Monti Rossi, and
if time had permitted, we might have found, as
Recupero has done, the fifteen accessory mouths
which mark, over a space of about 1500 yards, the di-
rection of these subterranean forces. We might also
have penetrated into the upper portion of that terrific
fissure, from which was ejected the enormous quan-
tity of sand which covered a space of nearly nine
square miles to a depth of three or four feet, and
thus spread sterility as far as the Calabrian district.
Finally we might have descended into that Grotta
Dfi Palombi, which through the exertions of Doctor
Mario Gemellaro, may in the present day be ex-
plored to a depth of more than 200 feet, where the
traveller may contemplate one of the still yawning
chasms which has been produced by the dislocation of
the ancient strata.

* Narrative of the Earl of Winchelsea as given by Recupero.

108 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

Without, however, having left the district of Ca-
tania we had found ample opportunity of ascertaining
the force of the volcano, and verifying the truth of
the descriptions which we had read of its destructive
action. To the north and to the west of the town
we had beheld the lava beds, which threw down and
crossed the ramparts, and to the south we had been
able to trace the course of those undulating streams
which overtopped the walls that had been con-
structed by Charles Y. We had seen the for-
midable thickness of this destructive stratum on
descending the stairs of the Pozzo di Vela, a sort of
well hollowed out in the direction of the outer side
of this wall, at the base of which Prince Biscari has
found the bed of the river Amenano,* which dis-

* The river Amenanus of the ancients. This part of the town
presents a very curious aspect. The lava, which reached to the
level of the parapet, only flowed over it at a few points ; a circum-
stance which shows us very plainly the mode in which the stream pro-
gressed. The lava did not flow along the wall like a fluid or
viscous liquid, but formed a sort of irregular pyramid, whose base
rested against the wall, and whose lateral slopes exhibited as great
an inclination as a steep flight of stairs. The lava consequently
comported itself very much in the same manner as any mass of solid
matters when thrown down an incline.

These facts do not harmonise with the ideas which are commonly
entertained in reference to the nature of lavas generally, more
especially with respect to their cohesion. Lava streams very rarely
preserve their fluidity for any length of time, for on being brought
into contact with the air, their surfaces harden and offer very great
resistance, even while they are- flowing with considerable rapidity.
M. Blanchard and myself were enabled to confirm these facts within
the crater of Vesuvius. On throwing with all our force several
porous stones upon a current of lava which had burst forth at a few
paces from us, and whose surface appeared perfectly smooth, we

THE COASTS OP SICILY. 109

appeared at that fatal epoch. We had also traversed
the cheire, which had advanced into the sea beyond
the harbour in the form of a promontory, whose
surface resembles that of a river on which the ice is
breaking up, and whose immoveable and dark blocks
frequently present surfaces of several hundred square
feet, and are from fifteen to twenty feet in thick-
ness. In visiting spots like these, the very aspect

saw the stones rebound, and occasionally break in pieces on the
surface of this apparently liquid stream. These facts, however, are
well known to all those who have been eye witnesses of these
terrible phenomena.

This special characteristic of the lava explains to us how several
venturesome travellers, and amongst others, Hamilton and the
Marquis Galliani, were able to cross moving lava beds, without
experiencing any inconvenience beyond the sensation of intense
heat in the feet and legs. It ought further to be observed that
stony substances are bad conductors of heat, which will explain on
the one hand how it is that the lava proceeds with so much slowness ;
and on the other, why it requires so long a time before it becomes
completely solidified and cooled. We have already shown that the
burning stream which issued from the Monti Rossi continued its
progress for forty-six days before it reached the borders of the sea,
at a distance of about twelve miles, and nevertheless in this case the
enormous mass of igneous matters that was constantly being ejected
from the volcano accelerated its course. In the eruption which
continued for ten years, viz. from 1614 to 1624, the current of lava
although it was constantly augmented, traversed only a distance of
ten miles. On the other hand, the lava of 1819 advanced at the
rate of a yard a day nine months after the eruption had ceased.
Spallanzani in 1787 saw a walking-stick smoke and catch fire a few
minutes after it had been introduced into a fissure, which was still
glowing from the presence of a stream of lava, that had been
solidified eleven months before. The cheire of the eruption which
we have described, continued to smoke, and to give off a very
sensible amount of heat eight years after the lava had issued from
the Monti Rossi.

110 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

of which produces a profound impression, in thinking
of the terrible scenes of which it has been, and may
again be the theatre, and in reflecting upon the
terrific phenomena of which it is the permanent seat,
the human mind is unable to limit itself to tranquil
and calm observation. Hence endeavours have at
all times been made to explain what is passing
within this formidable mountain, and for many ages,
from the want of better knowledge, recourse was
had to supernatural explanations. Thus, according
to the ancients, Encelades, struck by a thunderbolt,
groans beneath the mountain which is crushing him ;
its devouring flames are the breath which issues
from his chest, while the earthquakes which have
shaken the whole of Sicily, are due to the convul-
sive struggles of the giant. To the Christians of
the middle ages, Etna became one of the mouths of
hell, and even at the present day, many a moun-
taineer hears the hopeless cries of the damned
blending with the howls of demons within the in-
nermost recesses of the mountain. Modern science
has in its turn attempted to solve the problem, and
supported by experimental inquiry and observation,
it now seems very nearly to have attained to its
final solution.

Considering the enormous quantities of lava,
cinders, and scoriae, which are ejected in every
eruption of Mount Etna, men were originally led
to regard its entire mass as derived solely from the
successive accumulation of these materials. This
theory which may be traced as far back as the
Greek philosophers, long held undivided sway, and

THE COASTS OF SICILY. Ill

even in the present day it numbers many distin-
guished geologists among its supporters.

A very partial view of the mountain is of itself
sufficient to raise doubts in reference to the truth
of this explanation. The slopes which have been
formed by the accumulation of moving materials
freely obeying the laws of gravity, all present in
their contours straight and regular lines. The lateral
slopes, the terminal cone of Etna, and the numerous
secondary cones on the flanks of the mountain,
possess in a high degree this character of regularity.
In the most ancient of these cones, and in those
which for ages past have been subjected to the
action of atmospheric agents, more especially of
heavy rains, the declivities may indeed have di-
minished, especially at the base, but they still remain
regular in form, and their contours join the plain on
which they stand by continuous curves.

The essential character of the profile of Etna,
considered as a whole, is, on the contrary, a want of
continuity in its outline. Between the parts which
we have designated under the names of lateral
declivities and central elevation, there exists a very
perceptible break. The same is the case between
the central elevation and the terminal cone. These
facts appear in themselves to refer these different
parts to different origins, and hence M. Elie de
Beaumont has been justly led to observe, that a
profound knowledge of the outline of Etna was
almost a theory in itself.

The examination of the lava beds has led us to
the same result, and here we will briefly mention

112 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

some of the laws which regulate their movements. It
will be easily understood that a liquid or viscous
mass will not comport itself in the same manner
on planes of different inclination. When rapidly
carried along a considerable inclination, such a fluid
is unable to form a layer of the same thickness as
it would attain on an almost horizontal surface.
"Wherever the inclination diminished the lava stream
would be deep, and wherever the inclination was
increased the stream would be shallow. Conse-
quently, in order that a stream of lava should pre-
sent an equal thickness over a considerable extent,
it is necessary that it should flow along a uniform
incline.

When we examine lava beds with whose origin
we are acquainted, we always find that observation
is fully in harmony with theory. On slopes of great
inclination these lava streams only leave a narrow
and thin bed which is almost entirely composed of
scoriae, that is to say, of portions already solidified
by contact with the air, whilst they accumulate on
reaching gently inclined slopes, and here form thick
and compact strata. These very simple facts may
be verified by the modern streams which intersect
the mass of Etna in all directions, and we meet with
very frequent examples of this on the road from
Nicolosi to the crater, and a little above the Casa
del Bosco.

Now when we penetrate into the Val del Bove,
that strange and celebrated valley which bears in-
scribed upon it, in ineffaceable characters, the history
of the formation of the volcano, we verify several facts

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 113

which appear to be in flagrant contradiction to the
laws to which we have just referred. The interior
escarpments of the valley are composed of several
hundred strata, which are alternately formed by
ledges of rocks and beds of fragmentary or pulveru-
lent materials. These substances, which are very
nearly similar at first sight to the lava of the present
geological epoch, exhibit nevertheless a general
tinge of grey, to which the deep black colour of the
modern streams presents a strong contrast. They
are moreover, like the latter, igneous rocks and true
lava. All these strata are perfectly regular, and
from one extremity of the valley to the other, that
is to say, for about a length of six miles, their borders
present the most perfect parallelism, without enlarge-
ment or constriction.

To explain this result, we must necessarily admit
that, in issuing from the earth in a liquid state, these
lava streams have flowed over a plane and nearly
horizontal surface, where they could slowly cool and
solidify. But yet, at the present day, their strata ex-
hibit determined inclinations ; and on the borders of
the Piano del Lagothey begin to dip, burying them-
selves under the tuflfa of Etna, not far from the village
of Milo. Moreover, in this long course they present
various undulations and very great differences of in-
clination. At the Rocca del Solfizio they are almost
horizontal; but below the Montagnuola, they assume
an inclination of seventeen degrees. They again ap-
proach the horizontal line under the flanks of Mount
Zoccolaro, which forms the southern enclosure of the
valley ; and then, after curving suddenly, they take a

VOL. II. I

114 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

strong inclination downwards, near the Porta di
Callana, one of the eastern outlets of the Val del
Bove. At some points this inclination amounts to
as much as twenty-nine or thirty degrees.

If the lava of which they are formed had flowed
over surfaces so much inclined as these, they must
necessarily have presented considerable variations
both in their mode of aggregation and in their thick-
ness ; but, as we have already observed, these strata
are perfectly regular and parallel at all parts. All
these strata rise and fall together, as the leaves of a
book would do, if the whole were folded over one
another in the same direction. We are, therefore,
led to admit that at the epoch of their formation the
soil presented a very different configuration from that
which we now observe.

This conclusion derives confirmation from a still
more striking fact. The walls of the Val del Bove
are not formed exclusively of those long strata of
which we have spoken, for an immense number of
veins or lodes, of variable diameter, intersect them
from below upwards at very different angles. These
veins are composed of the same rock as the strata,
and many of them, by intermingling with and follow-
ing the direction of the latter, clearly show their real
nature. It is evident that they are fissures through
which the lava formerly escaped, and which have re-
mained filled with the same substances which were
ejected from them.

On examining one of these veins, abutting upon a
lava bed on the middle of even a somewhat steep de-
clivity, we find that the stream, without presenting

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 115

the slightest irregularity, is continued both above and
below the point at which the liquid matter found
vent ; and, however numerous these veins may be,
the strata are never thicker in the base of the valley
than at the level of the Serre del Solfizio. It follows
from hence that if, at the epoch of the formation of
these strata, the soil had presented the same inclina-
tion which it now exhibits, the lava, instead of flow-
ing in a mass towards the foot of the volcano, would
in part have ascended towards the summit, contrary
to the laws of gravity. All these facts admit, on the
other hand, of a very natural explanation on the sup-
position which we have already advanced, that at the
moment of the emission of this lava, the surface of
the soil was horizontal, and that consequently these
fused matters were able to distribute themselves
freely in all directions.

We have hitherto only taken into account, in our
consideration of the walls of the Val del Bove, those
matters which formerly existed in a fluid condition.
An examination of the strata which have been
formed by ashes and scoriae, would however, lead to
the same result. If at the moment of their emission
these fragments, which have been thrown into the
air by a single mouth in the same manner as the
modern lapilli, had fallen back upon inclined planes
they would necessarily have comported themselves
in the same manner as a mass of sand and loose stones
falling down a flight of stairs. They would have
smoothed the irregularities of the incline by accu-
mulating upon the lesser slopes, and merely covering
the steeper declivities by a very thin stratum. This

i 2

116 EAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

is precisely what occurs at each eruption on the
great cone, the secondary cones, and the lateral slopes.
These fragments preserve in the Val del Bove the
characteristic parallelism of stratification of which
we have already spoken. This fact would, therefore,
be inexplicable, if we did not admit that they must
have spread in a uniform manner over nearly hori-
zontal surfaces.

Thus, on examining the profile of Etna, we observed
that the regular declivities of the terminal cone and
of the lateral slopes were suddenly interrupted by
those of the central elevation, of which the Yal del
Bove is only a portion. Hence we concluded that
this elevation could not be formed by the same pro-
cess which gave origin to the cone and to the lateral
slopes-. The study of the lava beds leads us to the
same conclusion; while, moreover, this observation
teaches us that the strata of the Val del Bove must
have been solidified on a horizontal surface.

To explain how a mountain of more than 10,000
feet in height has taken the place of a plain,
and how it is that we meet at Piano del Lago with
the same strata which dip below the campagna of
Milo, we must admit that some force has upheaved
this portion of the earth's crust. Such indeed
is the conclusion at which M. de Beaumont has
arrived. According to his opinion, the central
elevation is the primitive nucleus of Etna, and this
nucleus has been formed by upheaval.*

* It will be readily understood that in the brief exposition of the
facts which justify this conclusion, we have merely adduced some
of the most striking. We would, however, refer our readers for

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 117

We may now form to ourselves a tolerably exact
idea of the successive phenomena to which Etna
owes its present shape and proportions. The spot on
which the central elevation now rises was originally a
nearly horizontal plain, whose soil, broken up by the
action of subterranean fires, has at different epochs
given passage to currents of very fluid lava. This
lava has spread into thin and uniform sheets around
these blow-holes, and in solidifying, they have
formed ledges of rocks, whose compactness depended
upon the thickness of the streams. As in the case
of eruptions at the present day, the ejection of these
fused substances was accompanied by a violent libe-
ration of elastic fluids, which carried with them
large quantities of cinders, scorise and lapilli.
These substances, which were extremely solid, issued
from all the fissures, and falling back in a shower
upon the bath of lava, have thus produced these
uniform strata of stony and scoriaceous fragments
which alternate with those composed of rocks.

These phenomena very probably continued to
occur for many ages, but at length a moment arrived
when the internal forces, which had so many times
burst their way through the soil, displayed some ex-
traordinary degree of energy, perhaps on account of
the ever increasing resistance which was opposed to

further particulars to the original memoir of M. Elie de Beaumont.
The maps and drawings which accompany the text will remove all
doubts, and we more especially recommend to them the study of the
plan, which was modelled by that geologist, and of which a copy is
exhibited in the Jardin des Plantes.
I 3

118 KAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

their action by these strata, which had been con-
tinually augmenting in number and solidity. Unable
to break through them, the internal forces upheaved
them, and this violent movement necessarily broke
them, by which a free communication was established
between the bowels of the earth and the atmosphere.
M. de Beaumont is of opinion that before this event
there must have been at this point a multitude of
ephemeral volcanoes, which, since that period, have
been replaced by a permanent volcano.

But we know that in eruptions the ejected matter
is not confined solely to solids and liquids, for
the quantity of gaseous matter which escapes through
the craters very far exceeds the volume of the lava
and scoriae. It is, therefore, easy to comprehend
that the enormous vault formed by the upheaval of
Etna must soon have needed support. Dislocated,
moreover, by the very efforts which had given it
birth, it must in a great measure have fallen back into
the abysses which it had covered, and it is precisely
to such a catastrophe as this, that the Val del Bove
owes its origin. If this origin be once admitted, we
shall be readily able to understand the striking rela-
tionship which exists between the craters that sur-
round this valley, and the crater of the volcano itself.
These craters are evidently continuations of one
another, and collectively they form the circumference
of the ampulla which had been upheaved on the
surface of the soil. The vault, in falling in, exposed
a section of the strata of which the escarpments of
the valley were all equally composed, and which we
again meet with on the Piano del Lago in the inte-

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 119

rior of that partial sinking, which we have referred
to as la Citerna*

There was therefore an epoch in which the primi-
tive nucleus of Etna rose solitary in the midst of the
plain, towering above the whole island of Sicily with
its abrupt and irregular outlines, but this condition of
things was necessarily soon subjected to various modi-
fications. Dating from the present geological epoch,
the eruptions which have occurred upon its sides and
round the central elevation have levelled the base of
the mountain, and given rise to lateral slopes whose
declivities and general aspect plainly reveal their
origin. These lava beds, ashes, and scoria?, were a
sort of modern vesture, beneath which the volcano
concealed its primitive form and veiled its origin.
The winds, rain, and streams, have carried into the
plain an enormous mass of these moveable substances,
and thus gradually formed at different points slight
elevations of the soil. We thus see that these se-
condary causes have incessantly tended to raise the
base, and to level the plains ; and it is to the same

* One is naturally led to ask at what epoch those phenomena
can have occurred, of which we have endeavoured to give some idea
in the preceding remarks. M. de Beaumont regards the upheaval
of Etna, as having immediately preceded our present geological
epoch. He believes that the outpouring of the ancient lava of the
Val del Bove is contemporaneous with the formation of the chains of
Atlas, the whole of which form a line bordered to the west by the
Canaries and the Peak of Teneriffe, and to the east by Sicily and
Etna. These determinations result from the general theory of up-
heavals and from the consequences which M. if lie de Beaumont has
deduced from them as to the relative age of mountain chains. (See
M. de Beaumont's work on Etna, and his article Soulcvements in the
Dictionnaire Universelle d' Histoire Naturelle.)

I 4

120 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

cause that we must more especially attribute that
general character of flatness which is exhibited by
the entire mass of the mountain, notwithstanding its
great height. It may be that, in the course of ages,
the surrounding land may in this manner be so much
raised, that the greater part of Etna may be buried
beneath the products of its own craters.

It is not probable, however, that the primitive
nucleus will ever wholly disappear. The quantity
of matter ejected by the terminal crater is so small,
that it scarcely suffices to cover the slightly inclined
surface of the Piano del Lago ; while on the steeper
declivities this material is only accumulated in the
crevices and ravines, in the same manner as we
observe in the case of a slight layer of snow.

This fact, which at first sight is almost incredible,
and which is so strongly opposed to many commonly
received opinions, admits nevertheless of a very ready
proof. The Torre del Filosopho is only separated
from the terminal cone by a distance of about 100
yards. This monument is more than 2000 years
old, and yet the volcanic products accumulated round
its base had only acquired in 1807 a thickness of nine
feet one inch.* The Piano del Lago, which is situ-
ated immediately at the foot of the great crater, does
not therefore rise each year on an average more than
one twenty-fifth of an inch from the accumulation of
the direct products of the volcano, together with the
materials which atmospheric agents may carry away

* These measurements were taken by Dr. Mario Gemellaro, and
confirmed by Signer Agatino Recupero.

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 121

from the cone and distribute over this nearly hori-
zontal surface. Here a curious comparison presents
itself to our notice. The mud of the Nile every year
raises the soil which it fertilises about one- twentieth
of an inch ; and thus, as M. de Beaumont remarks,
the monuments of Thebes and of Memphis are being
more rapidly buried under the alluvial deposits of
this river, than the Torre del Filosopho is being en-
tombed by the ashes of Etna.

Nevertheless, there is a fact which at first sight
appears to be opposed to the preceding views. The
terminal cone of Etna is formed with tolerable rapi-
dity, for from time to time, as we have already seen,
it sinks into the abysses of the volcano, and a few
eruptions suffice to restore it to nearly its former di-
mensions. In 1702, the Piano del Lago presented
the appearance of a plateau, in the centre of which
there opened a gigantic funnel. This was the crater,
which had been greatly enlarged, and whose orifice
opened on a level with the ground, like that of a
well which is unprotected by any parapet. The
present cone is not more than a century old, yet in
1834 it was ]394 feet in height, while its circum-
ference at the base measured 16,410 feet. Have
the matters which have been ejected from the vol-
cano been the only agents which have contributed to
its elevation ? If such were the case, it would be
extremely difficult to explain why the Piano del
Lago has not been completely overwhelmed by the
cone during the course of nearly twenty centuries ;
and it would be more especially difficult to under-
stand why such abundance of ejected matters should

122 RAMBLES OP A NATURALIST.

only have covered the walls of the Torre del Filosopho
to the depth of merely a few feet.

M. de Beaumont, indeed, admits that the pheno-
mena of upheaval, which formerly gave origin to the
mountain, are being reproduced in our own day,
although with less intensity. He is of opinion that
many of the cones, and more particularly the ter-
minal cone, probably possess a solid nucleus, formed
by upheaval, and that their external shape is due to
a covering which is formed by the ejections of the
crater, which thus disguise and modify the inequa-
lities of the slopes. Finally, according to M. de
Beaumont, Etna has not yet attained its greatest
altitude, and according to his view, each new erup-
tion tending to upheave it, may augment its height
to an appreciable extent.

This mode of considering the eruptions does away
with the apparent contradiction to which we drew
attention, and facts are not wanting to justify this
extension of his theory. In a great number of
eruptions, the fluid lava has reached the very sum-
mit of the orifice, and has flowed over the margins
of the great crater. The lava could not reach this
elevation unless it were upheaved by an enormous
power, whose action could not be limited to the
vertical tube of the crater, but would necessarily
be elsewhere exerted, and perhaps even over the
entire mass of the mountain. Thus fissures have
several times been observed which formed a sort
of radiation along the face of the volcano, the lines
all converging towards the crater. After the erup-
tion had passed, the margins of some of these fis-

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 123

sures were found to exhibit different levels; hence
the soil must either have been raised on one side, or
depressed on the other.

Many other phenomena might be adduced to
prove that even in the highest parts of the volcano,
the internal agents may produce phenomena of up-
heaval, but we will here limit ourselves to a positive
example, which has been taken from the narrative of
an eye-witness. During the eruption of 1688 there
appeared in the highest part of the volcano, accord-
ing to the statement of the Padre Massa, a large
cupola of perfectly white snow, which rivalled in
extent the domes of our largest churches, and in
brilliancy the marbles of Faros and of Carara.
Recupero justly adds, that this cupola must have
resulted from some violent outburst of subterranean
fire, which had raised and curved the superficial
strata of soil that were at the time covered with
snow.* We ought, moreover, to observe that these

* These dome-shaped upheavals, which are the direct result of an
internal action, which, however, was not powerful enough to break
the upheaved strata, were known to the ancients. Strabo and
Pausanias have left us details regarding a phenomenon of this nature,
which happened 282 years before our era, between Troezen and
Epidaurus, and gave rise to the hill of Methone. Baron von
Humboldt, from whom we borrow this fact, cites in his Cosmos, the
verses in which Ovid recorded and explained this event, and he
draws attention to the fact, that modern science fully justifies the
description of the Latin poet. The following is the condensed
abstract which Baron von Humboldt gives of this passage of Ovid: —
" Near Troezen, is a tumulus, steep and devoid of trees, once a
plain, now a mountain. The vapours, enclosed in dark caverns, in
vain seek a passage by which they may escape ; the heaving earth,
inflated by the force of the compressed vapours, expands like a
bladder filled with air, or like a goat's skin. The ground has

124 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

strata must have been of very considerable thick-
ness, since they were able to protect the snow
against the heat of the central fire which had caused
their upheaval.

Without having seen the volcanic forces in all
their intensity, we were able to observe, under cir-
cumstances which permitted us to distinguish their
most minute particulars, the greater number of the
phenomena with regard to which there has been so
much discussion. On our return from Sicily, M.
Blanchard and myself ascended Mount Vesuvius,
and before we had advanced very far on this com-
paratively easy excursion, we were fully able to ap-
preciate the truth of the remark made by Spallanzani,
who observed that, " to those who had seen Etna,
Vesuvius must appear like a mere cabinet volcano."
As if in justification of the words of this celebrated
naturalist, Vesuvius exhibited to us a miniature
eruption, which struck us somewhat in the light
of a laboratory experiment which we could observe
at our leisure in all its various phases and details.

For the last two years the volcano seems to have
been filling up its crater, which is now almost en-
tirely full. Forty or fifty feet below the orifice,
appeared a crust of black and spongy lava, some-
what like a pavement of irregular asphalt, inter-
spersed with large blocks of lava, and enclosed by
the inner sides of the crater, as by a circular wall.
In the middle of this circus, which measured from
500 to 600 feet across, there rose a small cone from

remained thus inflated, and the high projecting eminence has been
solidified by time into a naked rock." (Cosmos, Vol. I.)

THE COASTS OP SICILY. 125

thirty-five to forty feet high, from the mouth of
which eddying clouds of fiery smoke, mixed with
ashes and scoriae, were being incessantly ejected,
accompanied by a noise resembling that of mus-
ketry. Every day some opening was made in this
lava floor, on the surface of which the liquid matter
was freely poured forth, and then solidified. New
strata were consequently formed on the top of the
older ones, which, after being again partially fused,
re-entered into the general mass. At the period of
our visit, the crater of Vesuvius was filled almost to
its margin with fluid lava covered by a solid crust,
the whole resembling a pool of water whose surface
has been frozen, and on which we were able to skate
as on ice. We had not much difficulty in descend-
ing into the interior of the crater, and seated on a
large block of lava, lying at ten feet from the small
cone, we partook at our leisure of a cold fowl and a
bottle of Capri.

On reaching the borders of this enclosure, we
could perceive, notwithstanding the brightness of the
day-light, that the lava in some of the fissures was
tinged with a bright red colour ; and we even per-
ceived that some of the blocks were shaking, as if
they were being moved by the action of an invisible
hand. Occasionally, too, a hollow detonation was
heard within the body of the mountain. During
our dinner the flashes had become more numerous
and vivid towards the eastern edge of the crater, at
about fifty paces from us. It was evident that some
crisis was at hand. The detonations which pealed
forth from under our feet became louder and more

126 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

frequent ; the scoriee which were thrown up by the
small volcano rose to, a greater height, and in their
fall they sometimes passed beyond the boundaries
of the cone; the solid crust on which we were
resting began to emit a crackling noise, and a few of
the less steadily poised blocks were thrown over.

At this moment the soil began to rise at about
forty feet from us, and in an hour's time, instead of
presenting a nearly horizontal surface as it had done
on our arrival, it formed, in the direction of the
eastern margin of the crater, a rounded prominence
of about ten or twelve feet in height. Several
openings appeared on its side, but these were soon
reduced to three, and finally to a single one, from
which a perfectly fluid lava issued, and flowed in a
straight line towards us. At its origin this burning
stream was at most about four or five feet in width,
and here it exhibited a beautiful and almost dazzling
whiteness; but it gradually acquired a deep red colour
as it also became considerably wider in the course of
its progress. In about two hours' time it had reached
the spot where we were standing, and we now began
to retreat step by step before it. At the same time
the entire crater seemed to waken into activity.
All its fissures and crevices gleamed with light, and
the block which had served us for a table began to
grow red round its base. Every moment the heat
grew more intense. It was a true overflowing, occa-
sioned by the afflux of the liquid matters which
rose from the abysses of the volcano. It was now
necessary to think of retreating, for when we
reached the margin, at least one sixth part of

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 127

this surface, which had previously been solid, was
in a state of fusion; and it was evident that the
blocks of lava on which we were standing, although
they were still joined together, formed only a simple
flooring, supported by this lake of fire, like a piece
of ice which is still connected with the shore.

These appearances were indeed very different
from those which precede the great eruptions of
Etna. Nevertheless, the difference is more apparent
than real. The phenomena are fundamentally the
same, and differ only in the amount of their in-
tensity. The small cone of forty feet serves, like
the mountain of 10,000 feet, to give issue to the
internal agent, and to eject flame, gases, smoke,
sand, and scoriae. Each ejection was accompanied
by a noise proportionate to the energy of the sub-
terranean fires. The stream of lava which was
advancing towards us, at one time disturbed and
overthrew solid blocks, which lay in its passage,
and at other times upheaved and carried away with
it the fragments of these masses, which floated on
its surface like blocks of ice on a river which is
breaking up.

It is evident that these disturbances of the strata
and these upheavals, which we may actually observe
in the crater of Vesuvius, must be reproduced on a
much larger scale in all great eruptions generally,
and in those of Etna more particularly. The cen-
tral elevation and the terminal cone — which are
formed of strata which have been upheaved and
consequently broken at many points, and of move-
able materials which are simply accumulated toge-

128 E AMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

ther in masses — cannot possess any great stability.
The sinking in, which is visible on the margins of the
Piano del Lago and at other points, sufficiently
proves how deficient in solidity is this kind of frame-
work. When the subterranean furnaces are kindled
and the rocks are fused, and an enormous quantity
of gas liberated, an outlet must be obtained at some
point or other. And if the crater is slow in opening,
and the passages of communication should be closed,
why should not the boiling lava raise up the vault
which accidentally confines it in the same manner as
the lava of Vesuvius, acting alone and without any
shocks, upheaved before our eyes a hillock of several
feet?*

The difference of thickness of the strata cannot
be adduced in opposition to these conclusions. Is
the earth's crust, on which we dwell, and in which
the basins of our seas are hollowed out, in reality so
solid as we are inclined to imagine ? We will pause
to consider this question.

Entire provinces have been gradually and con-
tinuously raised ; as, for instance, a portion of Scan-
dinavia. In other cases they have been suddenly
elevated above the ordinary level, as was the case in
1822 with the territories of Valparaiso and Quintero.
Considerable islands issuing from the bottom of the

* During the whole time that M. Blanchard and myself remained
within the crater, that is to say, for more than three hours, we
experienced nothing that resembled an earthquake. It was the
absence of every indication of this convulsion which enabled us to
enjoy entire security, and to observe without the least uneasiness
the beautiful eruption which was so well adapted for a subject of
study.

THE COASTS OF SICILV. 129

sea sometimes vanish as rapidly as they have ap-
peared, as those islands of the seas of Iceland and the
Azores which rise from the waves, eject flames and
then sink into the abysses, from whence they had
emerged ; as, for instance, the Isle of Julia, which
in 1831 rose in the Sicilian waters, although not
a trace of it now remains ; at other times, these
islands become solidified and increase in number, as,
for instance, in the case of Santorin, the Aleutian
Islands, and the Azores, where in 1757 nine new
islands were formed in less than a twelvemonth. At
one place we find that in a single night plains have
been upheaved, bristling with volcanic cones, as was
the case atMechoacham at the time of the formation of
the volcano of Jorullo in 1759; while, in another place,
we find that they are buried in the entrails of the
globe, as, for instance, at Sorca, where forty villages
disappeared with the land on which they stood.
Mountains crumble away and are replaced by lakes,
whilst others, on the contrary, rise from the earth,
block up the course of rivers, or replace a bay by a
cape. Earthquakes cause our fields to undulate,
like an agitated sea overthrowing and engulfing
our cities, and even at times shaking both hemi-
spheres at once. We see therefore that everything
teaches us that the crust which we crJl terra Jirma,
in reality very little merits that title. We see how
thin and fragile is that pellicle which envelopes the
fluid part of our globe*, and we learn to understand

* A very erroneous idea is generally entertained in reference to
VOL. II. K

130 IIAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

how rapidly it might be destroyed if a more or less
free outlet to the action of subterranean fires was
not always presented by the 550 volcanoes which
are disturbed over its surface like so many safety
valves.*

the thickness and solidity of the earth's crust. The following figures
will furnish a more exact idea on this subject.

The most superficial strata of the soil participate in all the varia-
tions of temperature which depend upon the seasons, and this
influence is exerted to a depth which, although it varies with the ati-
tude, is never very considerable. Beyond this point, the temperature
rises in proportion as we descend to greater depths, and it has been
shown by numerous and often repeated experiments that the increase
of temperature is on an average one degree (Fahrenheit) for about
every 54'5 feet. Hence it results that at a depth of about ?,000 yards
from the surface we should reach the temperature of boiling water.
In supposing that the heat increases in a uniform ratio, we should
have at a depth of twenty miles a temperature which would fuse
most of the silicates that enter into the composition of our rocks ;
and at a depth of about twelve miles from the surface we should be
on the verge of the incandescent mass which constitutes almost the
whole of our globe.

Now this thickness, when compared with the dimensions of the
earth, would represent about one inch for a globe whose diameter
was about nine yards. In other terms, it would very nearly equal
the thickness of a sheet of ordinary letter paper for one of those
globes which are commonly used for geographical studies. With
this illustration of the question before us, we cease to be asfonished
at the movements which can agitate this pellicle ; and indeed if there
is anything to excite our surprise it is rather that the habitable
surface of our globe has not more frequently been the theatre of
such convulsions, which, although they might be terrible in their
results to ourselves, would not the less remain almost inappreci-
able on the "vast extent of our planet.

* The following table gives the number and the geographical
distribution of all the volcanoes and solfataras (semi- extinct
volcanoes) whose existence has hitherto been verified.

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 131

Man is small and feeble, but full of pride, and he
always takes himself as the unit, and as a term of
comparison. He measures the globe and the universe
by his own stature, and the infinite powers of nature
by his own forces. In his eyes, Etna, that blow-hole
which is scarcely perceptible upon our planet, which
is about 24,000 miles in circumference, is a gigantic
mountain, and he starts back in amazement at the
forces which are required to upheave it. It is not
very difficult, however, to convince oneself that in
volcanic phenomena the energy of the cause is fully
in harmony with the greatness of the effects.

Let us then, by way of illustration, inquire what
relation exists between the forces employed at the
present day by industrial science and those which
slumber within the crater of Etna. Let us suppose,
and the assumption is by no means an exaggerated
one, that this crater is 500 yards in diameter, and
that it penetrates below the earth to a depth equal
to the height of the mountain.

The magnificent steam engines which exhaust the
air on the atmospheric line of Saint-Germain, have ti
400-horse power. They act under a pressure of six
atmospheres, and their pistons present a surface of
more than three square yards. In approximate calcu-

Parts of tho World. Volcanoes Volcanoes

of Continents. of Islands. Total.

Europe - - - - 4 - 18 - 22

Asia - - - 55 - 71-126

Africa - - - - 13 - 12 - . 25

America- - - - 114 - 90 - 204

The Ocean - - - -183-182

Total 186 373 559

(Nouveau Cours dementaire de Geologic, by J.-J.-N. Iltiot.)
K 2

132 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

lations like this, the pressure of an atmosphere on a
surface whose extent we know, may be regarded as
equal to the weight of a column of water of the
same base, and of eleven yards in height. Conse-
quently the total effect produced by the machines of
Saint-Germain may be represented by a weight OA
about 150 tons.

A column of water raised from the level of the
sea to the summit of Etna, would exert a pressure of
300 atmospheres, but the fluid lava is very nearly
three times heavier than water. Consequently when
this lava flows over the margin of the terminal cone,
its pressure at the level of the plain will equal a
force of 900 atmospheres, while its force at the
bottom of the crater itself will be equal to the
pressure of 1,800 atmospheres. The weight of this
pressure on every square yard of surface will there-
fore be equal to more than 40,000 tons.

Now we know that the pressure of liquids is
exerted in all directions at once. Consequently each
square yard of the vault which supports the volcano
is subjected to a force, acting from below upwards,
which is 283 times greater than that of the machines
of Saint-Germain. In the crater alone, the total
force which is solely employed in sustaining the
column of lava at the level of the orifice is equal to
53,262,500 times that of these machines. This is a
force of more than twenty-one thousands of millions
of horses.

Hitherto we have supposed that the steam engine
was in perfect working order, and that the lava rose
easily to the margin of the crater. We know,

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 133

however, that this is not always the case. In the
steam engine the safety valves become clogged, and
are no longer available at the right moment ; innu-
merable causes, some of which are still unknown,
bring about the sudden evaporation of too large a
quantity of water. In this case the boilers burst,
and rending the most solid walls throw the fragments
far around them. Under circumstances such as
these, masses of fused metal weighing two tons have
been projected to a distance of 250 yards. Now
volcanoes have also their explosions, or, more cor-
rectly speaking, their eruptions are to a certain extent
one continuous explosion, and the preceding remarks
will show how extremely powerful must be their
action.* To appreciate completely the forces which
are put into action, it will be necessary to add to
the pressures that we have already calculated the
tumultuous liberation of vapours and gases, and the
frightful degree of tension to which these elastic
fluids must be subjected at a temperature capable of

* The following numerical details will afford some idea of the
•volcanic force. M. d'Aubuisson des Voisins estimates the velocity
of the matters ejected at the mouth of the crater to be about 400 or
500 yards in a second. This is very nearly the velocity of a ball
at the moment it leaves the cannon's mouth. On assuming that this
velocity is only 200 yards per second, it has been found that, during
certain eruptions, Vesuvius has thrown its artillery of rocks to a height
of more than 4,000 feet. Estimates of height are, however, almost
always very conjectural, and the volcanic force can be much better
estimated by the space which is traversed horizontally. Now the
volcano of Cotopaxi has ejected, to a distance of nine miles from its
crater, blocks often cubic yards; that is to say, masses of rock
weighing about 30 tons. From this we may judge of the force
developed in the interior of the volcano.
K 3

134 RAMBLES OF A NATUKAL1ST.

liquefying the hardest rocks. It would be necessary
to multiply the upward pressure resulting from these
combined forces, not merely by the surface of the
crater, but by the extent of the base, which may
perhaps embrace the entire central elevation, and we
should then obtain numbers representing a force of
which nothing would be able to give us any adequate
idea, if the mountain itself did not exist as a monu-
ment of this formidable power.

135

CHAP. VII.

THE BAY OF BISCAY.
BIARRITZ. — G UETT ART. — SAINT • JE AN-DE-LUZ.

Departure for the Bay of Biscay. — Bayonne. — The bar of the
A dour. — Biarritz. — La chambre (Tumour. — Geological problems
relating to the age of neighbouring rocks. — Guettary. — Saint-
Jean-de-Luz. — Encroachment of the sea. — Wearing away of the
coast; the ground swell. — Hermellas. — Extreme variability in the
type of the Annelids. — The Polyophthalmians ; organic compli-
cation.— Realisation of some of the fables of mythology. —
Independence of the nervous centres in certain of the lower
animals ; transposition of the ordinary seat of certain sensations.

THE early portion of June 1847 was a period of
much enjoyment to me, for after a two years' un-
avoidable delay, I was at length enabled to resume
my studies at the seaside ; the Bay of Biscay being
on this occasion the scene of my exploration*. This
expedition was almost like a voyage of^discovery, for
only one naturalist had preceded me in the zoological
investigation of this portion of the coast of France.
In 1794, M. Alexandre Brongniart had on different
occasions visited the mouth of the Adour, and ex-
plored the neighbourhood of Biarritz. Being in-
formed of my intentions, he placed his memoirs and
notes most freely at my disposal. Although he was
already then labouring under the disease to which
he fell a victim a few months afterwards, M. Bron-

K 4

136 K AMBLES OF A NATURAL I ST.

gniart * laid before me his diaries and the journals in
which he had day by day recorded the varied events
of his life. For two hours we perused together
these memorials of the past, and often the voice of

* For more than a century the family of Brongniart has enjoyed
the rare privilege of finding that the members of each new genera-
tion enhanced by their own eminent merit the splendour of the
name which they bore.

Alexandre Theodore Brongniart, a member of the Institute,
whose fame first rendered this family illustrious, was born in Paris
in 1739, and died in the same city in 1815. Having been originally
destined for the medical profession, he first directed his attention to
scientific pursuits, but yielding soon to his taste for the fine arts, he
devoted himself entirely to the study of architecture. We owe to
him the erection of some of those princely mansions which are
daily being replaced by the humbler houses of the bourgeois, and
some of those parks which even more fully manifest the style of
living in former times. M. Brongniart was engaged throughout
the whole of his life in different public offices ; he also erected many
public edifices, among others the Bourse, the exterior of which was
partly constructed in accordance with his plans, but on his death
the completion of the work was entrusted to an architect who made
very great alterations in the original designs.

Alexandre Brongniart, a member of the Institute, and professor
at the Jardin des Plantes, was the son of Alexandre Theodore
Brongniart. He was born in Paris in 1770, and died in the same
city in 1847. From, an early period he devoted himself to science,
and at the age of twenty he published a work on the means of
improving the art of enamelling. While he was attached to the
Army of the Pyrenees, in the capacity of a military pharmacien, he
devoted his attention specially to zoology, and commenced a memoir
on the anatomy of Cephalopodous Molluscs, which, however, he
abandoned as soon as he learned that Cuvier was engaged on the
same subject. He next studied mineralogy, and published in this
department of science a Traite elementaire, which was adopted by
the University, and was used in the mineralogical class at the
Jardin des Plantes.

Brongniart having combined the study of living and fossil animals,

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 137

this aged philosopher grew strong, and his eyes
glistened at the recollection of those days of his
youth, when, as a humble pharmacien attached to the
Army of the Pyrenees, he would wander forth at

published successively a treatise entitled Essai d'une Classification
naturelle des Reptiles, the principal results of which have been uni-
versally adopted, and several important memoirs on fossil shells and
crustaceans. It is to this last work that we must refer for his ob-
servations on the Trilobites — a family whose true nature he was the
first to recognise, but which has since then been so much multiplied
as to have become the subject of special treatises of considerable
extent. At this epoch, Brongniart had become the collaborateur of
Cuvier, and it is to their united efforts that we owe the work
which was first published under the title of Essai sur la Geographic
miner alogigue des environs de Paris (1810), and two years afterwards
under that of Description geologique des environs de Paris (1812).
Subsequently Brongniart made a great number of geological expe-
ditions, traversing every part of France, and a great portion of
Europe, and he has fully established a claim to be regarded as one
of the founders of modern geology.

These different labours did not, however, make him lose sight of
a work on which he had been engaged for more than forty years.
Having been nominated in 1807 to the directorship of the manufac-
tory at Sevres, he wished to bring the light of modern science to
bear upon the manufacture of porcelain, and the results of his various
investigations were incorporated in a work, entitled Traite des Arts
Ceramiques, which appeared only two years before his death.

M. Adolphe Brongniart, member of the Institute, and professor at
the Jardin des Plantes, is the son of Alexandre Brongniart, and the
worthy inheritor of his name. He first devoted his attention to
botanical studies, for which he was prepared by his researches in
minute anatomy and physiology. Among the works which he has
published in this department of science, we may particularly
instance his observations on the organisation of leaves and on the
fecundation of plants ; but M. Adolphe Brongniart owes more
especially the high rank which he occupies in science to his
researches on fossil plants. We may say that he is the founder of
vegetable palaeontology, as Cuvier was the founder of animal

138 KAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

dawn, provided with a piece of bread, which was to
serve for his meal through the day. Exclusively
absorbed in the studies which were to render his
name illustrious, he was contented and happy if he
could return at night with some fossil, some mollusc,
or some alga, which he had gathered from the rocks
on the shore, or in his wanderings along the sandy
beach. M. Brongniart belonged to a generation
which is daily passing away. All his life he had
loved science for her own sake, and revered her
under every form and every manifestation ; he loved
her too personified in those young and ardent
students of nature who, like himself, had been
zealously devoted to her cause, and he ever treated
them not as rivals who were to be feared and
shunned, but as successors who merited instruction
and assistance.

A week after my interview with M. Brongniart, I
was at Bayonne. In every other place I had always
found a sort of separation between the water and
the rest of the landscape, but here the country and
the sea seemed to approach and blend with one
another. Near its source the Adour, which is
scarcely wider than the Seine at the Pont des Arts,
winds along the foot of lofty hills. Near its mouth
dunes covered here and there with pines *, appear

palaeontology. Thus both departments of that new science of
palaeontology, which teaches us to read the history of the globe in
its fossil remains, with as much certainty as we read the history of
man on the monuments of the past, is of a wholly French origin.

* The kind of pine which grows near Bayonne is the Pinus mari-
tima. This tree, whose trunk is often twisted, and whose wood is
too soft to be of any great value, has nevertheless become a source

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 139

to bar its passage, while within the town itself, the
trees of the public walks reach its very banks.
Everywhere the black hulls of ships, their tall and
slender masts, and their white or reddish sails, stand
out against a back ground of verdure. One might
almost suppose that one was viewing an inland lake,
did not the rising tide indicate the vicinity of the
ocean. Twice in the day the waters of the river are
driven back, and the direction of the current changed,
whilst the bridge of boats which connects Bayonne
with its faubourgs as often rises and falls.

The Adour presents a somewhat singular pheno-
menon in the history of our rivers. At several
different epochs its mouth has changed its place.
The inhabitants of the district assert that it formerly
flowed into the sea between Biarritz and Bidar, to
the south of its present outlet, but an examination of
the localities does not confirm this tradition. On
the other hand, it is quite certain that at different
periods this river has made an eruption towards the
north. In 1360, the same tempest which destroyed
the fleet of Edward III. off the coasts of Normandy,
filled up the bed of the Adour and inundated Bayonne
and the neighbouring districts. Harvests, cattle,
merchandise — everything, in short, perished in the
waves. At length the waters found an outlet near
Cape Breton, and the river having formed for itself
a new bed, fell into the sea at Vieux Boucaut, at

of riches to the whole of this district, from the great quantity of
turpentine which it produces, and from the facility with which it
grows on sandy dunes, which it consolidates, and whose further
progress it arrests.

140 KAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

about twenty-four miles distance from its former
mouth. For two centuries the Adour followed this
direction, until, in 1579, Louis de Foix made a
successful attempt to turn it back to its former bed.
From this time forth, as in olden times, ships were
able to come up to the harbour of Bayonne without
the slightest difficulty ; but it would appear that there
was soon reason to fear new disasters. Under the
continual action of the waves coming from the north-
west, the channel, which had at first been tolerably
direct, gradually inclined towards the south, and
filled up the bed of the river with sand. In 1720,
the channel had become almost impracticable. The
river was now for the first time embanked, and from
thenceforth additions were constantly being made to
the magnificent dykes of Touros. The engineering
difficulties were, however, far from being removed,
and the bar of the Adour has always continued to be
a somewhat perilous, and often an impracticable
passage, notwithstanding the assistance which is
afforded by a tug steamer that is always stationed
here for the purpose of towing ships into the
harbour. The bar of the Adour always presents
the appearance of a restless and troubled sea. I
have visited it during one of those splendid autumn
days, when all nature seems to repose after the
activity of the past season, and to prepare for the
torpidity of winter. The breeze that was coming
from the east was so slight that it did little more
than stir the pennons that were hanging at the
mastheads of the many vessels moored along either
side of the river, and yet before I left the " Alices

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 141

Marines/' those lovely walks which are singularly
enough neglected by the Bayonnese for the ramparts
of the town, I could hear that distant thundering
crash which announces the vicinity of a stormy sea.
The half clouded sun was gilding with its rays the
whole town of Bayonne and its framework of hills,
when I made my way along the narrow jetty of the
left bank, which, although it seems a very feeble
barrier against the power of the ocean, has hitherto
proved sufficient to protect these sandy shores from
being worn away. When I approached the village
called Boucaut, the noise of the breakers was re-
doubled, and at the Quarantine house it became
truly formidable. At length I reached the Signal
tower, from whose platform I commanded a full
view of the mouth of the river and its adjoining
banks.

On either side the smooth and low beach sloped
gradually upwards to the long line of sandy dunes,
where many arid points rose above the plantations of
pines, which were intended to fix the drifting soil.
At my feet lay the low dykes which were planned
by MM. de Prony and Sganzin, with a view of
gradually contracting the bed of the river, and of
acting as a means of flushing the sand and gravel.
Before me lay the ocean, whose smooth surface was
unruffled by the slight east wind that was then
moving over its waters, and yet a broad semicircle
of waves and foam separated the sea and the river.
This was the bar of the Adour, and here was raging
that storm which I had heard for more than an
hour.

142 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

The tide was rising. Scarcely perceptible waves,
which were flowing in from the ocean, rose by
degrees as they came in contact with these low
embankments, and fell into long undulations like
extended lines of walls. Broken at their base by
these breast-works, they were twisted upwards in
coils, which rapidly descended in a shower of white
foam and mist. Being soon again lifted up, not to
an equal height, but with a greater force, they rose
opposite to the Adour like a quadruple barrier, which
was perpetually being destroyed and reproduced,
until at length they reached the shore, where they
broke with fury into a thousand foam-crested lines,
dashing their long and rapid jets of white mist to
the very top of the incline which had arrested their
progress. At the mouth of the river they rushed
precipitously through the narrow channel, dashing
to the right and left against the jetties, as if they
were endeavouring to open a broader passage for the
waters of the ocean, and bearing with them in their
course masses of yellowish foam, which looked at the
distance almost like floating rocks.

Every stranger on arriving at Bayonne makes a
point of visiting Biarritz, and as I was anxious not
to depart from the ordinary custom, I lost no time
in making inquiries as to the means of accomplishing
this journey. Formerly this excursion was always
made on the back of some animal, either a horse,
mule, or donkey, on which was placed an apparatus
very much like a set of double panniers, and this
mode of travelling was called riding en cacoleL
The traveller seated himself on the one side, while on

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 143

the opposite side of the animal, by way of balance, sat
the cacolettiera, a sprightly black eyed Basque
damsel of lively wit and quick repartee, whose
engaging conversation no doubt contributed very
materially to compensate the traveller for the length
and weariness of the route.

The progress of civilisation, and the necessity of
more rapid and frequent communications, have, how-
ever, put an end to these romantic journeyings. A
tolerably good road now joins Biarritz to Bayonne.
Various omnibuses and minibuses, decorated with
the name of diligences, now carry on an active
traffic, which is rendered more exciting by the
competition of cabs and other carriages ; but I have
no doubt that many a traveller, when seated within
these dusty and ill-adjusted vehicles, has often
regretted the cacolet of former days. Nevertheless
a journey to Biarritz is well worth an hour's exposure
to dust and the jolting of a rough vehicle. This
village is the very realisation of some lovely and
picturesque scene in an opera. Imagine a small
plateau terminating in a deep gorge, sloping rapidly
towards the sea, and surrounded by mountains and
rocks, interspersed with precipices and ravines ; the
whole scene being abrupt and wild, although on a
very miniature scale ; such was Biarritz before it
became one of the most celebrated bathing places of
southern France. Its two lines of hills advance into
the sea in the form of a double-horned cape. To
the left at the Pointe des Basques, begins a high
range of cliffs, which stretch far towards the south,
while to the right the Cote des Fous is dotted over

144 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

with the perforated rocks of the Attala'i, whose
isolated pinnacles have been strangely fashioned into
various shapes by the waves that are rapidly wearing
them away. Between the Pointe des Basques and
Attalai lies Port-Vieux, from whence many whalers
were wont to set sail year by year in former times,
although the harbour, which is constantly being con-
tracted, can now do little more than give shelter to a
few stray fishing smacks. Encased as it were within
this charming framework, lie the picturesque habita-
tions of Biarritz. Some of the houses occupying the
plateau and the bottom of the valley constitute the
village and its principal street, whilst others are
grouped here and there, by chance, as it were, and in
accordance with the nature and character of the
ground. The green blinds and dazzlingly white
walls of these cottages, give them an air of cleanli-
ness and comfort, which is well adapted to attract
visitors, arid each year the nomad population which
flocks to Biarritz tends more and more to convert it
into a fashionable watering-place, to the loss of the
invalids who formerly resorted to it.

The coasts of the Bay of Biscay are extremely
dangerous, even to the most skilful swimmers,
except at a few sheltered spots. The Port-Vieux
is, however, perfectly adapted for bathing, for it
seems like a basin artificially formed by the hand of
man for the very purpose. On either side, the two
points of the cape break the force of the waves and
neutralise the effect of the currents. The sandy
bottom slopes gently upwards towards the shore,
which is overlooked by the last houses of the village,

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 145

and a few of the principal establishments which have
lately been erected for the accommodation of travellers.
Narrow paths run in a zig-zag direction all round
the harbour, and at the hour for bathing these walks
are crowded with the promenaders, who for the
moment have deserted the rocks of Attala'i, or the
beach of Les Basques. Thanks to the patriarchal
traditions of Biarritz, no artificial barrier separates
the male and female bathers. Men and women here
adopt a costume, to which the most scrupulous
prudery could not object, but which varies some-
what according to individual taste, and thus conver-
sations or even flirtations are as agreeably conducted
in the bath as on the promenade. It afforded me no
little pleasure to watch this scene of enjoyment and
sport, in which harmless defiances were giren and
returned amid cries of joy and shouts of laughter.
Every one is ambitious of outvying his neighbours,
and even the most timid lady is desirous of reaching,
at least once, the line which is slung across the
entrance of the harbour. In order to attain this
desired goal, most of the fair bathers are obliged to
have recourse to the aid of some attendant cavalier,
or to accept the less agreeable support of a rude
swimming belt, composed of a pair of large gourds.
I have, however, seen several daring lady swimmers,
chiefly Basques or Spaniards, who, without the
slightest apparent effort, would bring up a handful of
gravel from a depth of ten feet, or would take a
header with all the ease and security of a proficient
swimmer.

At about a mile from Biarritz lies la Chamlrc
VOL. II. L

146 KAMBLES OF A NATUEALIST.

d? Amour, a deep recess hollowed out in a semicircle,
and surrounded by inaccessible cliffs. The only
access to it is by a narrow tongue of sand which
is left dry by the retiring tide at the base of the
northern cliffs. Formerly the shore was everywhere
very low, and at high tides the waves beat the
precipitous rocks of the bay in every direction, and
sometimes penetrated into the grotto which had been
excavated in the cliff. According to tradition it
once served as the rendez-vous of two lovers. For a
long time the ocean appears to have respected and
protected their try sting place ; but one day, \\ hen the
waves were driven violently against the rocks by a
strong north-west wind, the waters rose above their
usual level, and the next day a fisherman, on pene-
trating into this rocky recess, found the bodies of the
lovers clasped in each other's arms.

A similar catastrophe need no longer be appre-
hended. For many years past the repeated shock of
the waves has crumbled away a portion of the cliffs,
and the sand which has been washed in from the
open sea has covered these debris, and obstructed the
entrance to the grotto. At the present day, if the
traveller were surprised by the tide and imprisoned
Avithin the Chambre d' Amour, the worst that could
befall him would be imprisonment for a few hours in
the open air, or perhaps, if the sea were running very
high, he might be compelled to take refuge on the
summit of the little hillock which covers the tomb
of the two lovers.

The naturalist feels perhaps even a greater interest
than the poet in the Chambre d'Amour, for the un-

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 147

dulation of the soil surrounding it marks the extreme
boundary of the chain of the Pyrenees. At a few
feet from this little bay, the cliffs sink to rise no more,
their last rocks dipping below the sea of sand, which
extends as far as La Gironde, exhibiting in the midst
of our richest provinces a miniature representation of
an African desert. Biarritz, with the surrounding
district, which is thus situated on the limit of one
of those great geological formations which give to
our globe its existing configuration, presents very
curious problems, regarding whose solution geolo-
gists are by no means agreed. We will endeavour
to give some idea of this subject, by taking for our
guides the magnificent Atlas* and the special Memoirs
of MM. Dufrenoy f and Elie de Beaumont.

* In 1811, M. Brochant de Villiers, professor of mineralogy and
geology at the School of Mines, first proposed to construct a
geological atlas of France. The execution of this project, after
many delays, was resumed in 1822, under MM. Dufrenoy and Elie
de Beaumont, who shared in the responsibility and labours of the
undertaking. They devoted themselves for nineteen years to this
great work, which appeared in 1841. It is unfortunately very
difficult to procure copies of this splendid atlas, in consequence of
the government having reserved to themselves the absolute monopoly
of the work.

f M. Dufrenoy a member of the Institute, professor at the
Jardin des Plantes, and Director of the Ecole des Mines, has raised
himself to the first place among contemporary geologists by the
publication of numerous works, among which we will only instance
those which refer to the geological atlas of France and to Mount
Vesuvius, the latter of which is to a certain degree the pendant to
that of M. Elie de Beaumont on Etna. M. Dufrenoy has especially
endeavoured to restore to mineralogy its character as a science of
observation, which it had partly lost by the introduction of almost
exclusively chemical methods. His TraitG de Mincralogie, which is
L 2

148 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

It is well known that our globe has only gradually
attained its present configuration. Before it pre-
sented the elevations and depressions which are now
figured on our geographical maps, its surface under-
went numerous convulsions which were separated
from one another by long intervals of repose. During
these periods of rest, whole tracts of land were
heaped up upon one another, and strata superposed on
other strata at the bottom of the vast seas of those
geological periods, but when the moment of a new
cataclysm arrived, the forces which had been tem-
porarily dormant in the centre of the globe were
again awakened, and thrusting the subjacent rocks
through more recent deposits, caused hitherto sub-
merged continents and new chains of mountains to
be upheaved. Vast dislocations, twistings, ruptures,
and disturbances of strata accompanied each of these
upheavals, and it is from these disturbed masses, and
the relations by which they are connected, that
modern science has succeeded in tracing, with an
almost incredible degree of certainty, the history of
these vast revolutions.

At the period when the land surrounding the
Bay of Biscay first appeared, Europe generally,
and France more especially, bore no resemblance to
their present condition. Twelve upheavals or cata-
clysms had already taken place.* Auvergne, the

accompanied by a magnificent atlas, has become a standard work 011
the subject to which it refers.

* These numbers have been given by M. Elie de Beaumont in one
of his recent publications on the subject. Article SYSTEMES DE
MONTAGNES in the Dictionnaire Universel (THistoire Naturelle.

We ought however, to observe that the author himself merely

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 149

Black Mountain, and the Cevennes formed a sort of
continent, which extended as far as the Ardennes and
the Yosges; Brittany, a portion of Normandy, Maine,
and La Vendee were prolonged into a sort of irregular
isthmus, and were connected by Poitou with this
central plateau, while Flanders, Picardy, Cham-
pagne, the Paris basin, Upper Normandy, Touraine,
the south of France, and the north of Spain were
all one vast sea, in the midst of which rose a fe\v
scattered islands. At tlje bottom of this sea were
deposited the last strata of the secondary or creta-
ceous formations, which by their thickness and
variety attest the long period during which this
condition of things must have existed.

This state of repose was disturbed for the first
time by the thirteenth upheaval, namely, that of
Mont Viso, which gave origin to the French Alps.
Then, after another period of tranquillity, came the
fourteenth cataclysm, which was one of the most
considerable of which we have any traces on the
earth's surface. It extended from the western extre-
mity of Europe as far as North America, through
the whole of Asia ; and it is especially to this up-
heaval that the Pyrenees owe their present eleva-
tion.* The eruption of the primary rocks which

regards these numbers as provisional, and as representing only the
present condition of science. No one could be less disposed than
M. Elie de Beaumont to assign impassable limits to the progress of
knowledge, and on this account he has always designated every
recognised upheaval by a name, borrowed either from the principal
chains which have resulted from it, or from the districts in which it
has occurred.

* The present form of mountain chains is r.ot owing to a single
L 3

150 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST

formed the central axis of these mountains, uplifted
the chalk strata of which we have just spoken. On
either side of this chain we find that the strata are
inclined in a direction parallel to this axis, and they
constitute all the littoral rocks of the Basque pro-
vinces.

If the geological phenomena that occurred round
the Bay of Biscay had stopped at this epoch, their
explanation would have presented very slight diffi-
culties; but such is by np means the case. The
chalk strata which have been raised and thrust to
the south by the appearance of the Pyrenees, and
retained towards the north by the ancient formations
on which they rested, had been bent in the middle,
and hollowed into a vast depression, which had been
immediately filled up by the waves. The Pyrenees
were thus separated from France by a broad arm of
the sea, which extended to the west from Biarritz to
La Gironde, and to the east from Carcassonne to the
mouth of the Rhone. Tertiary strata were suc-
cessively deposited in this basin, and many distin-
guished geologists, guided principally by the study of
the fossils of the district, have referred the neigh-
bourhood of Biarritz from the Chambre d'Amour to

upheaval. M. de Beaumont admits that the Alps, such as we see
them in the present day, have been as it were modelled by at least
five upheavals, and the Vosges by as many as twelve. According
to M. Durocher we find in the Pyrenees superposed traces of seven
successive cataclysms. Often, in a somewhat limited space, different
systems of mountains, differing in age and direction, appear to have
been accumulated, as it were at will. Thus MM. Boblaye and
Virlet recognised in the More a as many as nine distinct upheavals.
Article SYSTEMES DE MONTACNES.

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 151

the Mill of Sopite to these formations. In accord-
ance with this view, the Pyrenees must have been
upheaved subsequently to the formation of these
strata ; and consequently they would be more recent
than has generally been supposed.*

A special circumstance complicates the question
and renders its solution still more difficult. Very
long after the appearance of the Pyrenees, and after
the deposition of the tertiary strata, a new cataclysm
occurred which convulsed the whole region, changing
the primary inclination of the strata, and occasion-
ally modifying their relations to one another. Ser-
pentine, a kind of porphyritic rock, penetrated
through all the preceding formations, and gave rise
at several points to centres of partial upheaval. M.
Dufrenoy had drawn attention to this remarkable
fact, and he made a sketch of one of these masses of
serpentine surrounded by gypsum, which had exerted
an upheaving action on the cliffs lying between
Biarritz and Bidar.f

I did not fail to visit this remarkable locality;
but twenty years had passed since M. Dufrenoy had
made the sketch which accompanies his memoir, and
the aspect of the district had been strangely changed
since that time. The gypsum had almost entirely

* Among those geologists who have maintained this opinion, -we
must especially mention M. d'Archiac, who amongst other works
has published a very important memoir on the fossils of Biarritz
(Mcmoires de la Societe geoloyique de France, 1846), and M. Alcide
d'Orbigny, a geologist who has most strenuously maintained the
principle of the characterisation of strata by fossils.

f Mcmoires pour servir a une description geologique de la France,
by MM. Dufrenoy and Elie de Beaumont, t ii. pi. 7.

L 4

152 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

disappeared under the incessant action of the waves,
and the cliffs had retreated at least 150 feet farther
inland. The serpentine, from its extreme hardness,
had alone been able to resist this continued action of
the waters, and it now stood forth in the midst of the
beach as an evidence of the destructive power of the
waves. M. de Collegno, who had made his obser-
vations long before my visit, estimates the annual
encroachment of the sea to be about ten feet.*

This fact, which is observable in a more or less
marked degree along the whole length of the coast,
depends upon the very nature and structure of the
rocks. The cliffs here are generally formed of a
marly or sandy limestone, which becomes disintegrated
under the action of atmospheric agents. It is almost
everywhere divided into laminae, which are occasion-
ally separated by layers of clay. This earth on
being carried away by the waters becomes changed
into a sort of foliaceous crust, which yields to the
slightest shock of the waves ; and, indeed, from the
Chambre d'Amour as far as the bay of Saint-Jean-
de-Luz the whole line of the shore affords ample
proof of a gradual and progressive disintegration.
On every side deep crevices, crumbling earth, and

* Bulletin de la Societe geologique de France, 1839. M. de Collegno,
being implicated in the political troubles of Piedmont, was obliged
to leave his country. He learned, however, to seek consolation for
the pains of exile in the pursuits of science, and during his residence
in France he was appointed professor in the Faculty of Sciences at
Bordeaux. Having been subsequently recalled to his native country,
he continued to take an active and earnest part in politics, and he even
returned to Paris as the representative of the country from which he
had once been banished.

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 153

recently fractured rocks, meet the eye. Science
alone can profit by a state of things which threatens
the future stability of these districts. The rent and
fractured sides of the cliffs bring to view innumerable
fossils, the remains of those animal and vegetable
races which once peopled these ancient seas, and
every storm prepares a new harvest for the naturalist.
In order to avail myself of this opportunity, I lost
no time in providing myself with a geologist's
hammer and a quarryman's chisel, and thus equipped,
I was enabled, under the direction of the expe-
rienced guide * who accompanied me on my explora-
tions, to make a large collection of fossils in the
course of a very few days.

Biarritz, therefore, presents sufficient attractions
for the tourist and the geologist, but it is not
equally favourable to the pursuits of the zoologist.
The rocks of la Pointe, which are isolated between
two long tracts of sandy beach incessantly worn by
the waves, afford a very precarious and limited
retreat to marine animals. Indeed, some small
Molluscs, now and then an Annelid, and a few of
the commonest Zoophytes are the sole representa-
tives of their fauna. I saw, therefore, that it would
be mere loss of time to remain longer at this station,
and after consulting M. Beautemps-Beaupre's Atlas,
I determined to fix my quarters at the little village
of Guettary, which is situated about six miles from
the town of Saint-Jean-de-Luz.

Guettary, which is a true type of a Basque vil-

* M. Darrac of Bayonne, who is well known to all naturalists
who have visited this part of France.

154 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

lage, consists of a church, round which are grouped
ten or a dozen white houses furnished with red or
green blinds, and perhaps some fifty similar habi-
tations scattered over a space of about two square
miles, and enclosing within its limits several low
hills and small valleys, dotted over with clumps of
trees, and corn, and maize fields, which are every-
where intersected by narrow paths, shaded by haw-
thorn and wild plum trees. The cliffs, which are
broken by a sort of platform at about the elevation
of one of the principal groups of houses, sinks in a
rapid slope towards a small sandy harbour, which is
protected by two long ledges of rocks, which extend
on either side of it like natural jetties. On this
account Guettary is also well adapted for bathing,
and the cheapness of provisions, and the quiet and
isolation of the village, attract to it many of those
who dread being involved in the luxurious habits of
Biarritz, and who visit the sea rather for purposes of
health than pleasure. The primitive simplicity and
customs of the olden times still prevail at Guettary,
where the bathing is carried on in the most social
and familiar manner. The beach, which is exposed
to the sea, receives the full force of the waves, which
often roll in with considerable violence. For the
sake of making a better stand against the onset of
the breakers as they dash against the shore, it is
customary for the lady bathers, both young and old?
to advance hand in hand into the water ; and it is
truly a pleasant sight to watch the sort of joyous
anxiety with which they await the arrival of the
waves, each one springing aside to avoid the ad-

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 155

vancing mass of waters, although occasionally dis-
appearing almost entirely under some high wave.
There is not, however, the slightest cause of alarm
on these occasions, nor is any real danger to the
fair bathers to be apprehended, for a master diver,
an old sailor, who has been bronzed by exposure to
the sun and winds in every climate, is always present
to watch over the general safety, and to afford as-
sistance in case of need. There is, however, no
instance on record of any bather having been drowned
at Guettary, and there is no doubt that bathing in
this manner in the open sea must be doubly effi-
cacious from the amount of exercise which it neces-
sitates.

All the men of Guettary are sailors, or, at all
events, lead a seafaring life. The greater number of
them generally ship themselves on board vessels
bound for Newfoundland, and after the season they
return to their homes with a sum of money varying
from 800 to 1,500 francs each. The others are en-
gaged in fishing, more especially in the tunny fishery;
but this is not conducted here in the same manner
as in the Mediterranean, for the abysses, rocks, and
tempests of the Bay of Biscay do not allow of the
establishment of madrayuas.

The fish too is different in the two seas. The
tunny of the Mediterranean may be known by its
short pectoral fins, but the species which is caught
at Guettary has very long fins, and is, moreover, of
much smaller size, although its flesh is more delicate,
and hence it is most esteemed in a commercial point

156 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

of view.* The fishermen, who pursue the tunny to
a distance of from sixty to ninety miles off the shore,
use long handlines baited with a piece of canvas
roughly painted so as to resemble a sardine. It
requires all the proverbial intrepidity of the Basque
sailor to venture out to such great distances in small
undecked boats, and that upon a sea which is sur-
rounded on every side by this formidable iron-bound
coast, which is certain destruction to every ship that
strikes upon it; but when the fishing is good the
profits are very considerable. I have seen one of
these boats return to Guettary loaded with more than
eighty tunnies, weighing on an average more than
thirty pounds each. In their cruise of two days, the
crew, consisting of five men and a boy, had gained
more than 1,000 francs. The Newfoundland trade
together with the Tunny and Sardine fisheries (the
latter of which is more especially practised by the
fishermen of the Socoa) is quite sufficient to diffuse
plenty, and even riches, among the population of this
coast. My landlord at Guettary was a striking
instance of what may be done here by order and
economy. At the age of twenty, Cazavan was a
common sailor, poor, and with no prospect of ad-
vancement. He thgn married a woman as poor as
himself, and immediately afterwards sailed for New-

* This difference in the length of the fins joined to several
other characteristics has led to the separation into two distinct
genera of these two fishes, which we have designated in the text by
their ordinary appellation. That which is caught in the Mediter-
ranean is the only true Tunny, the Thynnus Mediterraneus of
naturalists. The other is the Orcynus da longa.

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 157

foundland. At the present day he is a landowner,
and one of the first master sailmakers of Bayonne.
Unhappily, however, his case is an honourable ex-
ception to the general rule, for recklessness and
dissipation keep up a constant state of poverty
amongst this population, which might so easily attain
to a state of competence ; and strangely enough it is
to the women more especially that this sad result is
to be attributed. Surrounded by sailors, they seem
to have adopted their character and manners. The
greater number give themselves up to drinking, and
when the father or sons return from some distant
cruise, there is always a bread or tavern bill to be
paid for with their earnings. The little that remains
from their wages is soon dissipated in the same
manner. It is thus that Guettary, which of itself
sends forth more than 200 men to the cod fisheries,
and which consequently receives annually from this
sole branch of commerce from 200,000 to 250,000
francs in hard money, suffers misery notwithstanding
this source of wealth, which would rapidly enrich the
neighbouring communities. There is certainly no
doubt that the Basques of the plain and of .the moun-
tains are very different in this respect from their
brothers of the coast, and it is very easy at compara-
tively short distances to obtain striking evidences of
the moralising influence of agricultural pursuits.

To the right of the little harbour of which I have
already spoken, extends the sandy beach which con-
nects Guettary, Bidar and Biarritz. To the left
begin the rocks which run along the base of the
cliffs to the very mouth of the Bidassoa, and are un-

158 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

covered at every tide. This was the field of my
operations, and I certainly found it very hard ground
to work upon. The chalk rocks, which have been
incessantly broken by the waves, are worn down to
the level of high water, forming a sort of irregular
causeway, which extends to a width of several hun-
dred yards. The strata, which have been bent and
twisted in all directions like the leaves of a book
that had been purposely crumpled, form a coast line
bristling with points and narrow ledges, and inter-
sected to a greater extent than I had ever observed
with openings and fissures.

In the midst of this disorder there was no veo-eta-

o

tion, and no mud suitable to the abode of marine
animals, or adapted to their nourishment. On every
side lay pure sand, which was consequently unsuited
to animal life, or solid rocks, which showed between
their laminae the various creatures which I was
anxious to obtain to aid me in my zoological inqui-
ries. An ordinary pickaxe would have been of very
little use to me here ; but, knowing the nature of the
ground, I had provided myself with a very strong
spade, tipped with steel and terminated below by a
sharp point, and with this instrument I attacked the
foliaceous lamina of the compact limestone, which
was frequently superposed on quartz. Besides this
I had a hammer, and by the help of these tools my
flasks and bottles were soon tolerably well filled.
However, both here and at Biarritz, no less than at
Saint- Jean- de-Luz and at Saint Sebastian, I missed
that superabundance of marine animals to which I
had been accustomed in iny former excursions. The

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 159

coasts of the Channel, which perhaps are exceptional
in this respect, had spoiled me for the Bay of Biscay.
Guettary then had become my head-quarters for the
time being. Sometimes I explored the neighbour-
hood, intent on zoological investigations ; at other
times I visited the cliffs of Bidar, provided with a
large canvas bag, which was very soon filled with
vegetable treasures, or with some fossil molluscs or
zoophytes, intended for the Museum of the Jardin
des Plantes. On several occasions I extended my
excursions as far as the fort of the Socoa, which is
situated at the southern extremity of Saint-Jean-de-
Luz, and, the better to profit by my distant explora-
tions, I usually carried with me a double supply of
collecting apparatus. On these occasions I was
equipped somewhat after the Robinson Crusoe
fashion. At my right shoulder hung a bag for
fossils ; over my left arm was suspended a long tin
box intended to receive large animals. My hammer
was passed through a belt somewhat in the fashion of
a poignard, whilst my tubes and bottles, whose wide
mouths protruded from all my pockets, personated
inoffensive cartridge boxes, or very harmless pistols.
My double pickaxe with its strong ash handle com-
pleted my strange equipment, and no doubt made
me appear a most singular object ; indeed the fisher-
men and labourers, on seeing me pass, regarded me
with a look of the most intense curiosity, whilst more
than once I was pursued by the entire juvenile po-
pulation of Saint- Jean- de-Luz.

This town, which is the last on this frontier of
France, has more than one claim to the notice of the

160 RAMBLES OF A NATUKALIST.

traveller. Its roadstead, which affords the only safe
anchorage along the whole line of coast from the
Gironde to the Bidassoa, presents a view which chal-
lenges admiration from those who have seen the
Gulf of Palermo and the Bay of Naples. All that
is lovely or stern in the characteristics of Basque
scenery is concentrated in this view. From the
summit of Point Saint Barbara, whose batteries,
which are now in ruins, formerly exchanged fire
with those of Fort Socoa, the eye in turning towards
the south, encounters a line of rounded hills, irre-
gularly interspersed with trees and small white-
washed cottages. To the east, the bay expands
into a semicircle, margined at its base by the houses
of Saint-Jean-de-Luz, which, seen from a distance,
has all the appearance of a large town. A narrow
opening, contracted between two granite dykes,
marks the entrance of the harbour and the mouth
of the Nivelle. Beyond, this little river flows
through a charming valley, which is overhung by
the abrupt declivities and barren summit of the
Rune ; to the west, the bay curves into a crescent,
and gliding below a triple series of hills terminates
at the large grey tower of the Socoa. On every
side, the Pyrenees exhibit their deep gorges and
rugged rocks, whose outlines are softened by distance,
their picturesquely indented summits gradually va-
nishing in the direction of the coasts of Spain, until
they are lost in the horizon, amid the double azure
of the sea and sky.

Saint- Jean-de-Luz contains now only about 2,000
inhabitants, but in its days of prosperity it numbered

THE BAY OF BISCAY, 161

a population of fully 10,000. Its seamen had for
a long time no rivals in the whale and cod fisheries ;
and, as late as the middle of the last century, it
enjoyed a state of the greatest commercial pros-
perity. Louis XIV. and the Spanish Infanta re-
ceived the nuptial benediction in the principal
church of Saint-Jean-de-Luz, and this event is still
referred to with considerable pride by the inha-
bitants. Elated at the honour of having lodged
the king within their walls*, whilst his suite and
equipages remained at Bayonne, they contemptuously
designate this latter town as the stables of Saint-
Jean-de-Luz. This, however, must be but a mourn-
ful source of consolation ; for the real struggle,
which once existed between these two towns, has
for many years past been a mere tradition, and Ba-
yonne has nothing now to fear from her old rival.
The ocean even seems to have taken part with
her, and every year this formidable auxiliary is
carrying away, piece by piece, some fragment of
Saint- Jean-de-Luz.

This is no exaggeration, for I simply express a fact
which is but too evident. If you go to the rocks
which form the left bank of the mouth of the Ni-
velle, you will everywhere see traces of foundations
and a few fragments of broken walls ; yet this was
once one of the ancient quarters of the town. If
you proceed along the sandy beach at the foot of the
bay, you will find at fifty feet or more in advance

* The inhabitants of the district always speak of this event as if
it were an occurrence of a very recent date. They never refer to
this king as Louis XIV., but they always speak of him as le roi,
VOL. II. M

162 RAMBLES OF A NATUEALIST.

of the present pier a circle of mason work, which is
the only trace now existing of a well wrhich in 1820
watered the gardens which lay at the back of a
street of which not a vestige now remains. If you
return to the town, you will find, behind the mole
which is intended to protect it, uninhabited houses,
falling in and crumbling to pieces in consequence of
neglect. This state of things is owing to the long
and cruel experience which has taught the inha-
bitants that all means of defence against the enemy
which is thundering at their gates are alike una-
vailing, and that the wisest and safest plan is to
retreat before its advances.

Saint- Jean-de-Luz formerly possessed natural dykes
of its own. The entrance of the bay was narrower,
and while a ledge of rocks served the purpose of a
breakwater, the mouth of the Nivelle was as it were
embanked between the mountain of Bordagain and a
high tract of sandy dunes. Towards the seventeenth
century, the Points of Socoa and of Saint Barbara
yielded little by little, the plateau of Arta sank more
and more, and the waves, which were then able to
reach the beach without any serious obstacle, began
to wear it away. A wall was now constructed to stop
their further advance, but the sea encroached daily
more and more upon the land, and on the 22nd of
February, 1749, a tempest carried away this first
dyke, together with several houses.

Since this time the most skilful engineers have
vainly attempted to struggle against the fatality
which seems to be impending over Saint- Jean-de-Luz.
Works which to all appearance were of the most

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 163

solid kind have been thrown down, and their complete
destruction by the storms of 1822 appears definitely
to prove the inutility of all further attempts. In the
hope of opposing the advance of the waves, M. de
Baudres improved upon the works of his predecessors,
and in the additions which he made to the former
embankments he appears to have exhausted all the
resources of engineering art. A dyke of earthwork
was erected on the embankments formed by the sea
itself, and strengthened in the interior by massive sup-
ports of masonry. With a view of offering the greatest
opposition to the force of the waves, its exterior was
covered by a steeply inclined wall of a yard in thick-
ness, composed of large blocks of freestone. Enormous
masses of rock bound down by three tiers of deeply
sunken piles protected the base of the dyke, and yet
in the course of a few days the piles were all torn
up, the pieces of rock washed away, and the whole
so entirely destroyed, that after the tempest there
remained not a single vestige of the embankment for
a length of more than 140 yards.* The ocean had
passed its levelling touch over the whole of the ruins
which it had made, and entombed them in a bed of sand.
A new pier has now replaced those which the sea
had destroyed, but we scarcely dare to hope that it will
be able to afford better resistance than its predeces-
sors. The sand has already begun to accumulate at
its base, and with every storm of wind the waves
pass over it, and break into the town, carrying masses
of sand and gravel with them through the streets.

* Nouveau Cours clementaire de Geologic, by M. J.-J.-N. Huot.
M 2

164 KAMBLES OF A NATUKALIST.

To save Saint- Jean-de-Luz by any direct means of
defence would, therefore, appear to be impossible,
and experience seems to show that a more successful
result would hardly be attained by attempting to
defend it by a line of advanced works. Vauban pro-
posed to close the bay by means of two moles which,
resting upon the rocks of Saint Barbara and Point
Socoa, would have left only a very narrow passage
between them. Towards the end of the last century
an attempt seems to have been made to put this plan
into execution, but after several fruitless trials it was
found necessary to relinquish the project. The dyke
of Saint Barbara, which had been advanced about
two hundred yards, is now entirely abandoned, while
that of the Socoa has been adapted to a wholly local
purpose, and now merely serves to protect the fort
with a small harbour adjoining it. Thus Saint-Jean-
de-Luz, or at least all the portion of the town which
separates the bay from the harbour, is irretrievably
doomed to destruction.

Such was already the opinion of Napoleon when he
visited the town, and far from thinking it expedient
to pursue this struggle with the ocean, he rather
wished to yield to it at certain points in order the
better at others to avail himself of its power. Ac-
cording to the plans which were drawn up under his
own immediate direction, the town was to be destroyed
as far inland as the church, by which a free passage
would be opened to the sea in the direction of the
low and shallow land, through which the Nivelle
takes its course. A harbour dug out behind the
mountain of Siboure would have afforded safe shelter

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 165

to shipping, and, finally, for nothing checked this
genius who delighted in colossal schemes, the Adour
was to have been diverted from its present bed, and
its waters turned into the new roadstead, which
would thus have been kept free from sand. It re-
mains for engineers to determine whether so desirable
a project, which would have afforded to our coasts a
harbour of refuge, which they so greatly need, is
practicable and deserves to be put into execution.

One cannot contemplate the devastation which has
been caused by the sea along the whole line of this
coast, and more especially at Saint-Jean-de-Luz,
without inquiring to what special cause we must at-
tribute this destructive action of the ocean. A very
simple experiment will suffice to solve this problem.
If we take an inverted funnel and plunge it rapidly
into a vessel filled with water, taking care not to
submerge the mouth, we shall perceive at every
movement the liquid will rise within the funnel very
much above the external level, darting upwards in a
jet thro ugh the orifice. If the funnel remain motion-
less, and we let the vessel of water be rapidly moved
from below upwards, a precisely similar result will be
brought about.

The Bay of Biscay, which is formed by the union
of the coasts of France and Spain, which intersect
one another almost at right angles, forms a sort of
gigantic funnel whose base opens towards the north-
west. Besides this, the coast dips into the sea on
almost every part of the bay below slopes which
become more and more steep in proportion as we
advance towards the bottom of the bay, whilst the

M 3

166 KAMBLES OF A NATUEALIST.

depth of the water at a short distance from the
shore increases in a similar proportion. Thus the
waves, urged by the north-west wind, traverse the
whole of the Atlantic as far as the entrance to the
Bay of Biscay without having encountered any ob-
stacle to their course. But being now compressed
between coasts, which gradually approximate more
and more closely to one another, they exhibit on a
large scale the same phenomenon as the water in the
funnel, and flow towards the bottom with a con-
stantly increasing velocity. It is only at short dis-
tances from the shore that the deep waves striking
against the submarine escarpments tend to shoot
upwards in an eddying current, like those which we
observe to be formed at the water's level along our
dykes ; but having been stopped and turned aside by
the strata of water which cover them, these ascend-
ing currents become changed into a ground swell,
which moves with frightful rapidity and strikes
against the shore with an irresistible force. During
the storm of 1822 the waves which were dashed
from the rocks of Arta had a breadth of more than
400 yards, and moved at the rate of twenty yards a
second. Their progress was therefore nearly twice
as rapid as that of a locomotive which is going at the
rate of thirty miles an hour.

According to Colonel Emy, the ground swell plays
a very considerable part in the greater number of
the remarkable phenomena exhibited by the ocean.*

* Du mouvement des ondes et des travaux hydrauliques maritimes,
by Colonel Emy. M. de Caligny, who is well known in the
scientific world for his able experiments on hydraulics, has opposed

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 167

It occurs in all seas, but the disposition of the coast-
line influences its intensity. It is by this ground
swell and not by the superficial waves that boulders,
pebbles, sand, and all submerged objects are thrown
on the shore, and this is also the cause of those
breakers occurring above submarine shoals, which
are so much dreaded by sailors, and which render
many channels impracticable even during the calmest
weather, as we see amongst other places at the
entrance to the bay of Saint-Jean-de-Luz. To the
same kind of ground swell we must also ascribe that

O

perpetual tempest which seems to prevail at the bar
of the Adour, and at several other points of this
coast. Colonel Emy also refers to it the singular
phenomenon which I have observed on a small scale
in the river of St. Sebastian, but which is much
more fully developed in almost all large rivers. It
is known to the English by the name of the bore, to
the bargemen of the Seine as la barre, to those of
the Dordogne as le mascaret, and to the boatmen of
the Amazon as la pororoca. At the mouth of the
latter river, during spring tides at the periods of
new and full moon, the sea, instead of continuing to
rise for six hours, attains its greatest elevation in

the theory of Colonel Emy in relation to the formation of the ground
swell, and he regards it as owing to the action of waves, which are
formed not by simple undulations, but by a real transportation of
liquid. All the effects attributed to the ground swell are ascribed
by him to the back stroke.

The views which we have here expressed correspond very nearly
with those of M. de Caligny, although we agree with Colonel Emy
in attributing a very decided influence to submarine rocks in the
formation of the ground swell.

U 4

168 KAMBLES OP A NATURALIST.

the course of two or three minutes. A wave of
twelve or fifteen feet in height extends across the
entire breadth of the river. This is very soon fol-
lowed by two or three similar waves, all of which
ascend the stream with a terrific noise, and with such
rapidity that they destroy every thing that opposes
their passage, uprooting trees and carrying away
vast tracts of land. The pororoca extends its in-
fluence sometimes as far as 600 miles inland. In
the open sea, the ground swell is not the less power-
ful where it encounters sharp and perpendicular
rocks in its passage. These ground waves have often
been known to dart their eddying lines of water
to the very top of Lot's Wife ; a rock which is situ-
ated in the Archipelago of the Philippines, and which
rises to an elevation of more than 360 feet. Colonel
Emy asserts that these waves act at a depth of 130
yards, and that they will raise above the level of the
sea columns of water more than 50 yards in height,
of 2,000 or 3,000 cubic yards in bulk, and weighing
from 2,000 to 3,000 tons. With such figures as these
before us, we can no longer feel surprised at the
ravages which these waves have committed at Saint-
Jean-de-Luz, and we may now more readily believe
in the possibility of blocks of stone which weighed
four tons, and formed part of the masonry of the
pier, having been uplifted and carried to the top of
the dyke.

It is also in a great measure to this ground swell
that we must attribute the relative poverty of the
coasts of Guettary, Saint-Jean-de-Luz, and Saint
Sebastian in respect to marine animals. These

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 1G9

laminated rocks are so constantly penetrated by the
waves to their very innermost fissures and indenta-
tions that they cannot nourish a very numerous
population ; but as the animals which live in these
recesses belong to a warmer sea than the Channel,
they were to a certain extent new to me, and on this
account they were the more highly valued. It must,
moreover, be remembered that in the present state
of science no real interest can attach itself to super-
ficial studies embracing a very large number of
animals. A single species thoroughly and systema-
tically studied will teach more than a hundred that
have been cursorily examined. The great matter,
however, is to make a judicious choice, and in this
respect I was very fortunately situated. At Guettary I
found an abundance of those Polyophthalmians which
I h#d already studied in Sicily together with the same
Hermellas which I had casually seen at Granville.
These two types were represented here by species
which differed from those with which I was already
acquainted. I lost no time in testing my past re-
searches by a new and severe revision, while at the
same time I entered upon fresh inquiries, and the
results of these investigations, of which I shall en-
deavour to give some idea, fully recompense me for
all my labours.

On these coasts, which are so violently beaten by
the waves, we often observe small hillocks of sand
pierced by an infinite number of minute openings
half covered by a thin projecting margin. These
mounds are either found behind some large rock or
in some deep fissure, although occasionally they are

170 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

fixed on an entirely uncovered point. These little
hillocks or mounds which look very much like a thick
piece of honeycomb are in reality villages or popu-
lous cities, in which live in modest seclusion certain
tubicolous Annelids, known by the name of Hermel-
las — creatures as curious as any that fall under the
notice of the naturalist. Their body, which is about
two inches in length, is terminated anteriorly by a
bifurcated head, bearing a double bright golden-
coloured crown of strong, sharp, serrated silken
threads.* These brilliant crowns are not mere orna-
ments, but, to speak more correctly, are the two sides
of a solid door or rather a true portcullis, which her-
metically closes the entrance of the habitation, when,
at the least alarm of danger, the Annelid darts with
the rapidity of lightning within its house of sand.
From the edges of the cephalic opening, issue about
fifty or sixty light violet-coloured slender filaments,
which are incessantly moving about like numerous
minute serpents. These are so many arms which can
be lengthened or shortened at will, and which seizing
the prey as it passes, bring it into the hollow funnel-
shaped mouth at the base of the depression. It is by
means of these arms that one by one the grains of
quartz or hard limestone are collected, and put into
their proper places, to serve in the composition of the
tubes, the different parts being solidly cemented
together by a sort of mortar-like mucosity, which
is furnished by the animal itself. On the sides of its

* These Setae replace the calcareous or horny operculura, which
in the ordinary Tubicula, similarly serves to close the orifice of the
tube*

TUE BAY OF BISCAY. 171

body appear little projections, from whence issue
bundles of sharp and cutting lances or broad fans,
serrated like semicircular saws. These are the feet
of the Hermella. Finally, the back is furnished
with cirrhi, recurved like sickles, and whose colour
varies from dark red to grass green ; these organs re-
present the branchiae, which, by an exception that has
hitherto been found to be unique in this group, are
distributed over every ring instead of being united
to the head like the petals of a flower.

These external characters are in themselves suffi-
cient to attract the attention of the naturalist to the
Hermellas, and most keenly to excite his curiosity.
Their internal organisation is not less remarkable.
These singular animals realise in their actual ana-
tomical details a theoretical view which might
hitherto have been justly regarded as a mere abstract
idea.

In the Articulata generally, the two sides of the
body are similar to one another, so that these animals
may be regarded as formed by the reunion of two
symmetrical halves, cemented together along the
median line, and attempts were long since made to
confirm this view by the study of their embryology ;
and Newport, one of the most distinguished compa-
rative anatomists of England, had shown that in the
young Myriapods *, the abdominal nervous centres,
the ganglia, are developed in two halves, which
become subsequently united. I had made a similar
observation in respect to a Eunice sanguinea, which

* This class is nearly allied to that of insects, and it includes
amongst others the Centipedes and Millipedes.

172 RAMBLES OP A NATURALIST.

was in the act of producing the posterior segments of
the body, which had been lost by some accident, but
no adult animal had hitherto been met with which
presented any very apparent traces of this original
division. In the Hermella, however, this division
exists throughout the greater portion of the body.
Throughout the whole length of the abdomen, the
muscles, vessels, and nerves are all double, and the
two halves are only held together by the skin and by
the digestive canal, which is single. Here, then, the
Annelid is actually cleft in two; both before and
behind all parts of the muscular and vascular appa-
ratus meet along the middle of the body, but the
ventral nervous system remains divided from the one
extremity to the other, and its two halves only com-
municate together by delicate threads or excessively
thin bands.*

At the period when I made these observations, this
division of the nervous system in the Hermellas was
regarded as an entirely exceptional mode of arrange-
ment ; but in the course of my investigations I found
that the Annelids exhibited many other equally re-
markable phenomena. This is incontestably the most
interesting group to which the zoologist can at the
present day devote his attention ; for it appears to be

* I would here observe, that in the Articulata the principal
nervous centre is situated in the head above the digestive tube.
This ganglion is considered as the representative of the brain in the
Vertebrata, because it usually furnishes nerves to the organs of the
senses. This brain is united by two connecting filaments to the
abdominal nervous system, which is placed below the digestive tube,
and consists essentially of a chain of nervous centres or ganglia
united by other connecting filaments.

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 173

more especially distinguished by the infinite varia-
bility of characters which in all other cases exhibit
the greatest constancy. In the Annelids the organs
of motion and of circulation vary in the most marked
degree in the different species. The respiratory
system is sometimes developed in an almost exagge-
rated manner, whilst in other cases it is found to
have completely disappeared, and that even in ani-
mals which are apparently very nearly allied to one
another. The nervous system itself, that system
which Cuvier characterised as the entire animal) pre-
sents no exception to this common law, for, in a spe-
cial memoir on this important question, I have been
able to demonstrate that this apparatus exhibits the
most singular variations. Thus I found in other
Tubicolous Annelids, and even in the Errantia,
these abdominal nervous chains cleft into two halves,
which were widely separated from each other ; while
on the other hand, I found in other species that this
same chain formed along the median line merely a
narrow and uniformly equal band, in the thickness of
which the ganglia seemed as it were embedded ; and
between these two extremes I moreover discovered
a great number of intermediate .forms.

Thus those premature generalisations which have
more especially originated from the exclusive study
of animals belonging to a fixed type, vanish one by
one before an examination which is daily becoming
more and more severe ; and thus we learn day by day
more thoroughly to appreciate the scientific import-
ance of the study of the lower animals. In this respect,
botanists are in the same condition as zoologists. In

174 KAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

ohlcr to solve the most difficult problems of their own
science, they no longer turn to the oak or the palm-
tree for their information, but rather to the Algse
and the lower plants.

In no other animals does creation exhibit itself so
completely in the light of a veritable Proteus as in
the Annelids, which are at every moment assuming
new forms, and surprising the observer by the mani-
festation of the most unexpected modifications. The
Polyophthalmians exhibit one of the most curious
examples of these metamorphoses ; but here a few
historical details become necessary, in order to show
the great interest which attaches itself to the study
of a small worm which is only a fraction of an inch
in length.

The splendid discoveries of Ehrenberg revived in
1830 a discussion of originally a much more ancient
date. Among naturalists, some, adopting the views
of the illustrious Berlin microscopist, maintain that
even the smallest animals, those, for instance, which
in our scientific classifications are placed in the very
lowest position of the zoological scale, present an or-
ganisation which is fully as complicated as those of
the higher animals. Others, on the contrary, follow-
ing the steps of the celebrated founder of the Natur-
Philosophie, maintain with Oken that the organisation
is simplified in a progressive manner the lower we
descend in this scale ; so that entire groups, composed
to a certain extent of rudimentary animals, are almost
entirely devoid of organisation. The latter class of
observers agreed with Reaumur in regarding the
Medusae, for example, as nothing more than masses

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 175

of living jelly, whilst the Planarias and the greater
number of Intestinal Worms in their estimation con-
sist of little else than Parenchyma. In their eyes,
this simplification of the organisms was carried to
such an extent that whole classes of animals were
regarded as altogether devoid of a nervous system.

In France and Germany, these opposite doctrines
were attacked and supported with much heat and
asperity. The discussion was commenced without a
clear understanding on either side as to what is to be
understood by the expression inferior animals ! and
consequently it soon led to much exaggeration and
error. Various works published during the last few
years present the subject in its true aspect. Many
points of detail undoubtedly still need elucidation,
but it may be stated generally, that wherever we
study even the lowest animals with care and exact-
ness, the results of our investigations will show us
that even in their case a very decided organic com-
plication is apparent. The advocates of organic sim-
plicity are daily losing ground, and at present they
are unable to defend themselves except by having
recourse to the negative results yielded by the Infu-
soria ; that is to say, by beings whose excessive
minuteness places the majority beyond our means of
investigation.

Amongst the most warmly discussed points of
fact or theory in this quarrel, we must place that of
the existence of distinct organs of the senses, and
more especially of eyes, in a great number of animals
which belong to the three divisions of the Mollusca,
Articulata, and Radiata,

176 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

Ehrenberg had regarded as organs of vision certain
coloured points which are met with in the margin of
the umbrella in the Medusae, at the extremities of
the rays in the Star-fishes, in the head among the
Annelids, Planarias, Rotifers, &c., and at one of
the extremities of the body in certain of the Infu-
soria. The accuracy of most of these statements was
denied in the most positive manner, although often
very unjustly. In proportion as these creatures have
been more profoundly studied, it has been found, in
the case of those animals whose size rendered them
accessible to our methods of examination, that the
greater number actually possessed true organs of
vision. The most abundant evidence on this point
has been contributed by naturalists of every Euro-
pean nation.

The Annelids more especially furnished me with
a very striking example of this fact. One of the
species, which lives in the Sicilian seas, possesses
eyes which are almost as complete as those of a fish.
I have succeeded in enucleating the crystalline lens,
and in examining it separately ; and I found that
when it was placed upon a piece of thin glass which
received the parallel rays transmitted to it by a plane
mirror, it formed perfectly achromatic images. These
images repeated and magnified by the microscope
enabled me to distinguish with perfect clearness the
very smallest details of the neighbouring coast, and
by means of the crystalline lens of an Annelid my
microscope was thus converted into a telescope.

The opposition which Ehrenberg met with was
even more strongly marked when he announced that

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 177

he had discovered an Annelid, the Amphicora, which
carried at the end of its tail two eyes, which were
perfectly similar to those which were upon its head.
How, it was asked, were we to admit such a trans-
position of the senses ? how was it to be supposed
that eyes could exist at so great a distance from the
brain, and without having any probable connection
with it? The question was thus made a general
one, and consequently acquired a very high degree
of physiological importance. It was no longer suffi-
cient to ascertain whether eyes did or did not exist,
but it was now further necessary to decide if any one
portion of the nervous system, excepting the brain,
could become the seat of sensorial perception.

If by the word eye we must understand an Organ
which is always the same, and everywhere similar to
that which we find in Man or Birds, Annelids, Ne-
mertes, Planarias, and Medusas are certainly blind
animals, but, like every organic apparatus, the visual
organ may be simplified and degraded, without, on
that account, changing its nature. Even in this state
of degradation it maintains its fundamental parts, and
these parts are generally easy of recognition.

Although destined to fulfil an entirely physiological
function, the eye is a true physical apparatus. It
always consists of a camera obscura, in which a con-
verging lens concentrates the light, and throws the
image of external objects on a screen which is placed
in its focus. But here the lens instead of being
formed of inert matter is organised, and is known as
the crystalline lens. The screen is also living, and
bears the name of the retina, and it is through the

VOL. n. N

178 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

latter that the impression received from images is
transmitted to the brain. However varied may be
the degree of complication in an eye, its fundamental
parts always consist of a crystalline lens and a retina.
We are therefore on the other hand bound to consi-
der as a true eye every organ which possesses these
characteristic elements ; for it could not fulfil any
other functions but those of which we have spoken.
To decide this general question advanced by Ehren-
berg, and to ascertain whether in fact the visual
organ can be thus transposed, or, in other words,
whether it can exist elsewhere than in the head, we
must necessarily find in the Amphicora, or in every
other animal presenting analogous facts, the crystal-
line lens and retina of the eyes.*

In this respect my investigations continued for a
long time to be unsuccessful. On the coasts of the
Channel and of Sicily, I had found many Annelids
allied to the Amphicora, and bearing on the posterior
extremity of their bodies the coloured points in
question. In some of the species that I had disco-
vered, these coloured points were moreover strangely
multiplied. There were several of them on the head,
four at the extremity of the tail, and two on each
ring of the body. This multiplication seemed to me
to present in itself a very serious objection to the
views of Ehrenberg. How was it possible to believe
in such a profusion of visual organs ? Yet the study
of the living animals seemed to confirm this determi-
nation. I saw the tail fulfilling all the functions of

* The term crystalline lens is here used to express generally the
whole refractive apparatus of the eye.

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 179

the head, and this with evident proofs of spontaneity
and intelligence. In moving, the tail went first,
explored the objects without touching them, and
turned aside from obstacles that lay in its path ; in a
word, it acted as if it were the seat of distinct vision,
and as if it were directed by a clear will. Neverthe-
less, notwithstanding the many hours which I devoted
to these observations, I was unable to discover either
a crystalline lens or a retina ; and hence my convic-
tion in reference to so delicate a question as this
could not be conclusive.

At length, among the Coralline?, those small
Algse which cover the rocks with their closely com-
pressed tufts as the moss mantles over the stone,
I discovered the Polyophthalmians (Polyophthtdmia).
Here there was no longer any room for doubt; the
fable of Argus was realised before me on the most
incontestible evidence. Imagine to yourself a nearly
cylindrical little worm, of a golden yellow, about an
inch in length, and armed with two rows of seta?,
whose length increased from before backwards, and
you may perhaps form some idea of the aspect pre-
sented by the Polyophthalmians in a state of repose.
In the sand where it passes its life this animal
moves with incredible rapidity, by means of the
general contractions of its body and the setaB which
serve it in place of feet, but as soon as it wishes to
swim freely in the water, or merely to place itself
in such a manner that the little animals with which
it is nourished may be within reach of its mouth,
two large ciliated structures, which are placed on

N 2

180 RAMBLES OP A NATURALIST.

the sides of its head, are protruded and act like
the two paddle-wheels of a steam-boat.

With the view of directing its course, the Poly-
ophthalmian is provided on its head with three eyes,
each of which is furnished with two or three volu-
minous crystalline lenses, very easy of recognition.
Besides this, on each side of the rings of its body
there appears on either side a red point, very similar
to those of certain of the Amphicorae. On dissection,
we find that each of these points receives a large
nerve issuing from the ganglion or ventral nervous
centre corresponding to it. By the help of the
microscope, we can see that this nerve penetrates
into a mass of pigment, which encloses a spherical
crystalline lens, and we now see that the textures
lying before it have undergone a modification by
which they are rendered more completely and equa-
bly transparent. In a word, we can no longer
doubt that these red points, which are placed on the
sides and along the whole length of the body, are
true eyes, receiving their optic nerves from the
abdominal nervous centres, and having no direct
connection with the brain.

This result, however strange it may appear, is not
the only one of the kind by which modern science has
been enriched. The Mollusca furnish us with several
facts of the same nature. Most of our readers are
no doubt acquainted with the Pecten, which is com-
monly known as St. James's or the pilgrim's shell.
The animal which inhabits this shell somewhat re-
sembles the oyster, and possesses like the latter a
mantle or thin covering of living tissue, which lines

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 181

the interior of its habitation. The Pecten, which is
as restless as the oyster is sedentary, possesses organs
of vision, and these organs are not placed upon the
head, nor are they connected with a brain, but they
occupy the margins of the mantle, and derive their
optic nerves from the great ventral ganglion.

These very curious facts were published more
than ten years ago in Germany.* I have been able
to verify these observations at different times, and I
have detected in these eyes in the mantle of a Mol-
lusc almost all the parts which are present in the
eyes of a Mammal, including even the eyelashes
and eyebrows, which are here represented by fleshy
cirrhi which surround and protect the delicate organ
of vision. Three German naturalists, Grube f ,
Krohn, and Will, have extended these researches
to other genera of Acephalous Molluscs, and they
have detected a similar organisation in the Spondyli,
Tellings, Pinnae, Arcae, Pectunculi, &c. In the pre-
sence of such precise and abundant evidence, our
observations on the Polyophthalmians lose their
apparent improbability. Indeed, the multiplication
of eyes, their lateral position, and their relations
with other nervous centres than the brain, are per-
haps less singular in this little Annelid than in the
Molluscs of which we have just spoken.

Indeed, as in the case of all animals belonging to

* The existence of these eyes appears to have been long known;
but no detailed anatomical description of them was published until
1840.

f Grube, a professor at Dorpat, has devoted himself, with much
success, to the history of the Annelids. He has published several
zoological and anatomical memoirs on this subject,

K 3

182 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

the group of Annelids, the body of the Polyoph-
thalmians is formed of a series of rings, joined toge-
ther piece by piece, and presenting very great resem-
blance to one another. In the largest Annelids one
may easily convince oneself of the slightness of the
connection which exists between these rings. A
certain number of them may even be killed or
affected by gangrene, while the others, and more es-
pecially those which precede them, do not appear to
suffer in any way. Each of them is to a certain
extent a complete animal, having as it were its own
life, while the entire body may be considered as a
kind of colony, of which the head would be the chief,
or rather the guide. This is the portion which
usually possesses organs of the senses. On cutting
it off, the body can undoubtedly no longer see, and
it also becomes deprived of organs of touch, but as
far as we can judge, it still experiences tolerably
precise sensations, and manifests a will. Thus, for
instance, severed portions of the Eunice evidently
avoid the light and bury themselves in the mud by a
succession of movements which exhibit no appear-
ance of confusion.

What, then, can be wanting to these severed seg-
ments, to these isolated rings, to render them
so many complete animals? Assuredly, they can
only need organs of sensation generally, and more
particularly organs of sight. Now we find that both
the Amphicorge and the Polyophthalmia are Anne-
lids, in which each ring, by receiving these organs,
and consequently by presenting so much the greater
resemblance to the head, most completely realises one

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 183

of the most characteristic tendencies of the group.
Considered in this respect, they are only Annelids
which possess a greater degree of perfection than the
others.

This remarkable independence of the different
parts of the body of the same animal, and the strange
diffusion of the faculties of perception and of a
reasoning will through all parts of the nervous sys-
tem, are not exclusively exhibited by the Annelids.
The same thing is to be met with in insects, animals
whose organic complication exceeds in many respects
even that of man himself.*

The experiments of Duges leave no doubt on this
point. If you imitate this skilful and lamented na-
turalist, and if you successively remove from a
Praying Mantis the head and the posterior part of
the body, the prothorax which remains will live for
more than an hour, although it now only contains a
single ganglion. If you attempt to seize it, you will
find that the aggressive feet of the animal will
be directed towards your fingers, into which it will
bury the powerful hooks with which they are armed.
The abdominal ganglion, which alone animates the
ring, has therefore /<?# the fingers which pressed the
segment ; it has recognised the point that was pressed
by a foreign body ; it wishes to free itself from this
constraint, and hence it directs towards the point
that has been attacked its natural arms, and co-ordi-

* Lyonnet, in his admirable Anatomic de la Chenille du Saule,
and M. Strauss-Durckheim, in his Anatomic du Hanneton, have
placed this general result beyond all doubt

N 4

184 BAMBLES OP A NATURALIST,

nates their movements. This ganglion, although
completely isolated, comports itself therefore like a
perfect brain.

Hence we may see how the study of the lower
animals leads us to ideas which are apparently very
different from those that are to be deduced from the
exclusive study of the higher animals. Science,
however, does not on that account change, but it
simply becomes more complete, and, by revealing to
us new horizons, it daily enlarges and satisfies more
and more the noblest aspirations and requirements of
human intelligence.

185

CHAP. VIII.

THE BAY OF BISCAY.
SAINT SEBASTIAN.

The road leading from Saint- Jean-de-Luz to Saint Sebastian ; the
Bidassoa ; the Isle of Pheasants. — Saint Sebastian. — The Basques:
their claims as a race ; their probable origin ; their fueros ; their
ethnological characters. — The Teredo ; its mode of reproduction ;
means of preserving wood from its attacks. — Embryological
studies ; nature of germs ; theories of evolution, of accolement and
of epigenesis ; distinct life of germs. — Development of the
Hermella and the Teredo. — Metamorphoses. — General idea of life.

TOWARDS the close of autumn, I left the French
Basque territory on my way to Spain. On leaving
Saint- Jean-de-Luz the road winds among rich and
smiling hills, passing here and there some village,
similar to Guettary, or some detached house whose
white walls and red shutters gleamed from, the midst
of the verdure with which they are usually surrounded.
After gradually ascending, the traveller finds himself
suddenly on the top of a long and rapid slope, from
whence he sees a lovely valley, which contracts
towards the left and is lost on the horizon amid the
passes of the Pyrenees, whilst to the right it widens
considerably and then gradually slopes towards the
sea between Point Saint Anne and Cape Figuier.
The Bidassoa and the Isle of Pheasants are at his
feet, recalling the memory of names which are alike

186 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

great in geography and in history. Yet the stream
is so shallow and contains so little water, that at low
tides it almost disappears in the sand before it '
reaches the ocean, whilst the island has been so
buried under the accumulations of each season that
it is now little more than a sand bank, on which a
few half uprooted willows struggle for existence.
But this brook is the boundary of France, and this
islet was the meeting place of Louis XIV. and
Philip IV. The greatness of these recollections, and
the inexplicable sentiment which we always experi-
ence at the moment of crossing our native frontier,
compensate for the actual smallness of the objects, and
you descend the hill, and, passing the wooden bridge
at Behobie, and almost before you are aware of it,
you find that you are in Spain, by being summoned
to show your passport at the gate of the Custom
House of Irun. Indeed, you will scarcely have
found time to cast a hasty glance at Fontarabia,
that Moresco- Spanish town, which from the height
of its isolated rock can direct the fire of its bastions
over the entire plain, while it raises towards the sky
its lofty towers and belfries as if the better to keep
watch over the sandy bay which encircles its base.

Owing to the direct road which now connects Irun
and Saint Sebastian, the diligence conveys you in
two hours to the capital of Guipuzcoa. If you enter the
Parador Real, the best hotel in the town, you must
request, if you are a naturalist, to have a room in the
back of the house, and you will find yourself in an apart-
ment as large as a ball-room, and lighted by a high
double window, from which you have a view of the

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 187

rock of Santa Clara and the entrance of the roadstead.
If you arrange your microscope, pencils, and brushes,
on the solid table which the landlady will speedily
bring at your request, and place your bottles and
phials on the broad sideboard which occupies one entire
side of the apartment, you may, if you have the day
before you and are in good walking condition, set forth
on a tour of exploration, and traversing the town from
south to north ascend the zig-zag paths of Mount
Orgullo. You will soon find that you have made
the circuit of the entire mountain, and passing on the
one side the batteries which protect the entrance of
the harbour, you will admire the wild beauty of the
English cemetery, where rise in the midst of broken
masses of rock the graves of several officers who
were killed in the Carlist wars, and having finally
reached the dungeons of the Castillo, your eye will
embrace at one glance the whole of Saint Sebastian
and its environs.

An amphitheatre of hills, which soon become suf-
ficiently elevated to merit the title of mountains,
curves in a semicircle before you, stretching on the
left hand into the sea, where it terminates in the cliffs
of Mount Ulia, while to the right it extends to the
lighthouse and the rocks of Mount Igueldo. A nar-
row and low tongue of land, which is detached from the
continent, separates into two very nearly equal parts
the basin or harbour, which is about two miles broad
and extends three quarters of a mile inland, widening
a little before it reaches Mount Orgullo. This is the
point of land on which Saint Sebastian is built. To
the east, at the foot of the ramparts of the town, you

188 RAMBLES OP A NATURALIST.

see the mouth of the Urumea, whose winding course
can be traced till it disappears at a projecting point
of the valley, where it turns in the direction of Asti-
garaga. The actual roadstead is on the other side,
and here it presents only a narrow channel towards
the sea, being protected by the advanced rocks of
Mount Orgullo, the island of Santa Clara, and the
chain of rocks which connect the latter with Mount
Igueldo. A magnificent beach of fine sand borders
this channel in a semicircle which is only inter-
rupted by the rocky point on which stood before
the late wars the chapel of La Antigua. This
beach, which merges into the sea by a scarcely per-
ceptible slope, is every summer the rendezvous of
numerous bathers, who come hither from all parts of
Spain either in search of pleasure or of health. The
harbour itself is situated immediately at the foot of
Mount Orgullo, completely sheltered on all sides,
and covered even in the direction of the roadstead
by four jetties which mutually protect one another.

It might be supposed that this roadstead and har-
bour, which art and nature seem to have combined
to place beyond the reach of any external influences,
would present unusual conditions of safety ; such,
however, is far from being the case, for there are
occasional storms, when the winds and waves exert a
power which defies all attempts at description. I have
often witnessed at Saint Sebastian a violent outburst
of storm and wind which would elsewhere be regarded
as a frightful hurricane, but which the people of
the district only characterised as roughish weather.
I am not, however, about to give a description of

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 189

these storms, for I know no pen or pencil that could
afford any just idea of these convulsions of the at-
mosphere, or of the excessive violence of the wind
which continued to blow for forty-eight hours in the
same manner as it blew for a few moments in Paris
on the day of the waterspout at Montville. No one
could adequately depict those enormous waves that
were sometimes swept by the hurricane into foam
which was blown over the beach like flakes of snow,
and at another time rose in vast masses up the in-
clined slopes of Santa Clara like reversed cataracts,
crowning even the summit of the rock, which is very
nearly as high as the platform of Notre-Dame, and
darkening the atmosphere with humid dust which
rose to the very top of the lighthouse, whose eleva-
tion certainly equals that of Montmartre. Those
gigantic billows which passed through the narrow
channel of the roadstead expanded within the bay
into a large fan-like shape, by which the violence of
the waves was proportionally diminished, and yet
within the harbour the ships were striking against
one another, and one unfortunate brig, after having
broken away from its moorings and vainly sought
shelter behind the Castillo, was at last obliged to
yield to the frightful pressure of the water, and
finally ran aground and was wrecked near the base
of the harbour.

In the midst of this confusion of the elements,
white-plumed burgomasters and red-coloured ospreys
were sporting tranquilly before my windows, blend-
ing their cries with the crash of the tempest, describ-
ing in their aerial course a thousand capricious curves

190 RAMBLES OF A XATUEALIST.

and lines, and plunging from time to time between two
billows, from which they soon re- appeared holding a
fish in their beak. Their flight, which is as rapid as
that of the arrow when they suffer themselves to be
impelled by the wind, is slackened when they face
the hurricane, but in either case they rise with the
same ease and facility as in the calmest days. There
was something remarkable and most singular in the
sight of these birds which, with their wings extended
and apparently immoveable, could progress in a steady
and uniform manner in the face of squalls of wind
which would have thrown down the strongest man.
MM. Quoy and Gaimard long since drew attention
to this singular phenomenon in large aquatic birds
of the antarctic regions. These two observers, after
having thousands of times watched the albatross and
the frigate-bird on the wing, have hesitated to offer
any explanation of the manner in which their flight
is accomplished. Others, with less diffidence, and
after merely examining the same species through the
glass cases of our museums, have decided that this
mode of locomotion is the simplest thing in the
world. They discourse gravely of acquired velocity,
of an invisible tremulous movement of the wings, &c. ;
but for our own part, after having watched the same
phenomena, we are bound to admit that we agree
entirely with MM. Quoy and Gaimard, whose cau-
tious reserve we shall imitate.

Fortifications a la Vauban, with a raised rampart
whose fosses are filled during high tide, occupy the
entire width of the isthmus which joins Saint Sebas-
tian to the continent and protect it on the land side.

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 191

Nestling at the foot of Mount Orgullo, as if it were
seeking shelter from the north wind, and circum-
scribed by its walls which the sea beats on either side,
the capital of Guipuuzcoa forms an irregular square
whose surface is less than 120,000 square yards in
superficies. But this narrow space has been turned to
the best possible advantage. Two parochial churches,
a convent, an arsenal and barracks, constitute the
principal public edifices, which are almost all erected
on the lowest declivities of Mount Orgullo. In the
centre of the town the Hall of Ayuntamiento occupies
the entire side of a square surrounded by arcades,
something like the Palais-Royal on a small scale.
The remainder of the ground is mainly occupied by
lofty houses, forming streets which are almost all of
them perfectly straight, and whose width appears to
be strictly calculated in accordance with the necessi-
ties of the traffic. Here are no gardens and scarcely
any courts attached to the houses, and in conse-
quence of this economy of ground the space within
the Avails affords accommodation to a population of
9,000 souls.

Notwithstanding this accumulation of inhabitants,
the town exhibits a degree of cleanliness which is
very uncommon in our large cities. This fact is
more especially explained by the manner in which
the population is distributed. Saint Sebastian has
none of those streets and alleys filled with mean and
low houses, which disfigure even our finest cities,
and which afford shelter to the poorer classes. Al-
most in every part of the town the houses are equally
good and, very similar to one another, and they are

192 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

all filled by tenants of every class. The mercantile
or professional people occupy the ground floors and
the first floors, whilst the boatmen, fishermen, and
artisans have their abode in the attics and garrets.
A great advantage results from this admixture of
society. The rich become acquainted with, and
can relieve the miseries of their poorer neigh-
bours with whom they are thus brought in contact,
whilst the poor in their turn, being constantly thrown
under the notice of the wealthier classes, are forced,
as it were, to avoid that kind of indifference which
amongst their order so often degenerates into reck-
lessness and slovenliness.

Saint Sebastian is almost entirely a new town,
and with the exception of the churches and a few
houses placed near them, all the other buildings
are recent. In 1813, the English and Portuguese,
those allies which Spain designated by the title of
her liberators, when she rose against Napoleon, re-
duced to ashes the ancient Donestia.* Saint Se-
bastian has now, however, risen entirely from her
ruins. At the period of my sojourn, a few crumb-
ling walls and some heaps of rubbish lying between
my windows and the harbour were the only evi-
dences of the demolition that had resulted from the
horrors of war. The ancient capital of Guipuzcoa
has now recovered its former rank. Industry and
commerce have brought back prosperity within her
walls, and, as in past times, Saint Sebastian is one of
the principal centres of the Basque population. It

* The Basque name of Saint Sebastian.

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 193

may easily be understood with what interest I
studied this remarkable race, which has no affinity
with any other European nation, and whose origin is
one of the most difficult problems of Ethnology.
He would ill deserve the title of naturalist who,
being exclusively occupied with the study of animals,
should neglect that of the human race, or should
hesitate to attach the highest importance to every-
thing that might throw light on the history of its
innumerable varieties.

The Basques, called by different authors Canta-
brians, Euskarians, and Euskaldunes, give them-
selves the name of Euskaldunac.* They speak a
language which has no analogy with other European
dialects, and they designate it as the Eskuara, or the
Euskara tongue. f Distinguished from all neigh-
bouring populations by their physical and moral
character, their customs and institutions, they differ
from them still more by their religious belief and
traditions.

The ancient Euskarian myths speak, according to
some authors, of the destruction of a former world,
from which only a few men escaped, f( as few in
number as the olives which remain upon the tree after
the fruit has been gathered in, and as rare as the grapes

* This word is formed by contraction from Eskua-alde-dunac,
which signifies a people of skilful hands. (Histoire des Cantabrea,
ou des premiers Colons de toute VEurope, avec celle des Basques^
leurs descendants directs, by the Abbe d'Hiarce of Bidassouet.
Paris, 1825.)

f The language of the hand, the science of gesture.
VOL. II. O

194 11 AMBLES OF A NATUKALIST.

which hang'upon the vines after the vintage is over.* :
Of this number was Aitor, the ancestor of the Eus-
kaldunac. Having retired with his wife into an inac-
cessible grotto, Aitor lived for a whole year in the
midst of fire and water, which were disputing for
supremacy everywhere around him. Overwhelmed
with terror, he forgot all the knowledge that had
been transmitted to him by his ancestors concerning
past events, and having even forgotten his own lan-
guage, he invented a new tongue. The sons of Ai'tor
having descended into the plains, spread rapidly,
and soon formed powerful nations, which always
faithfully preserved the language and religion of the
father that had descended from high places, their ancestor
of the mountains.] Polytheism in its coarse and ma-
terial aspect never prevailed among the Euskarians.
These people adored a supreme being, the Creator
and Preserver of the world, their Jao-on-Goica.f
They began and ended the day by addressing him
in prayer, and they offered him in sacrifice the fruits
of the earth by the hands of the ancient men of
their tribe ; but they did not raise any temple to him.
Their religious ceremonies, which were always very
simple, took place at certain epochs determined by
celestial phenomena, and were all performed under the
same oak beneath which their old men, who had be-

* Philosophic des Religions comparees, by Augustin Chaho. Paris,
1848.

f Artagoia, Arbassoia, names given to Aitor. (Philosophic des
Religions comparees. )

$ Or by contraction Jainkoa, the lord on high. (Augustin
Chaho, the Abbe d'Hiarce.)

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 195

come chiefs by the privilege of age, administered
justice and regulated the affairs of the nation. The
Basques believed in the immortality of the soul, and
in rewards and punishments after this life. In their
eyes natural death was nothing more than a long
sleep, and the grave, in their language, is called the
bed of profound repose*

A people whose religion had always possessed this
spiritual character would of necessity be easily led
to embrace Christianity. The Basques themselves
boast of having been the first Christian nation.
Their national traditions readily accommodated
themselves to the new faith. The Euskarians have
thus, as it were, arrogated to their own use the claims
advanced by the other Spanish tribes in reference to
the antiquity of their race. The Spaniards generally
claim as their special ancestors the immediate descen-
dants of Noah, without, however, being entirely
agreed as to the precise period when these first
colonists arrived in Spain. Mariana, Joseph Moret,
Gabriel de Henao, Florian d'Ocampo, and Ferreras,
have all adopted the version which Alphonso Tostat

* Augustin Chaho. We leave to this writer, to the Abbe
d'Hiarce, and to the Basque authors who have preceded them in the
same track, the entire responsibility of these assertions regarding
the ancient spiritualism of the Euskarians. M. d'Avezac, whose
opinion ought here to have great weight, regards all these pre-
tended traditions as so many modern inventions, and even as having
been entirely forged by those who have quoted them as evidences of
popular belief. However it seemed to us that it might be interest*
ing to our readers to know what has been recently advanced by
Spanish archaeologists, or by the eccentricities of an exaggerated
patriotism, in reference to the origin of the Basques.

o 2

196 EAMBLES OF A NATUKALIST.

had derived from the Leyenda Pendolada, Avritten in
1073, by Herman Llanes.* According to these
writers, Tubal, the son of Japhet, came, 131 years
after the Deluge, to settle down on the western
extremity of Europe, and this primitive race subse-
quently spread its colonies over the whole of Europe,
the northern coasts of Africa, and even a portion of
Asia. Other writers, such as Bochart, Ponce de
Leon, Joseph Pellicer, Xavier de Gama, Manuel de
la Huerta, &c., admit that the sons of Japhet, pro-
ceeding from east to west, began to people the
central portions of Europe, and did not arrive in
Spain until 535 years after the Deluge, under the
leadership of Tarsis, the cousin german of Tubal.
These two versions, which have been attacked and
maintained with equal asperity, are universally
current among all clases, both parties invoking Holy
Writ in support of their favourite view. The
ecclesiastical tribunals, being called upon to pro-
nounce between the two, adopted an expedient,
which was certainly alike ingenious and prudent.
They admitted that both opinions were equally pro-
bable, but that the truth must belong exclusively to
the one or the other. This decision became an
article of faith, and even as lately as the close of the
last century it would not have been prudent for a
Spanish author to recognise any other chief of his
race than Tubal or Tarsis, if he would avoid being

* De I'Ibene, ou Essai critique sur Vorigine des premieres popula-
tions de VEspagne, by L. F. Graslin, formerly French consul at
Santander.

TIIE BAY OF BISCAY. 197

called to account by the inquisition, as if he had been
guilty of a heresy.

The Basques, who consider themselves as the sole
representatives of the ancient Iberian people, have
not failed to avail themselves of the results of this
controversy. A sort of Christian mythology has
replaced among them the vague traditions of former
times. Aitor has become Noah ; he is the father of the
Euskaldunac ; from whence it results that the latter
are the progenitors of all other nations. According
to their legends, Spain more particularly was peopled
directly by the companions of Tubal or of Tursis *,
whose descendants spread themselves over the whole
of Europe, and possibly other parts of the world. Is
the Euskara language, in truth, the same which,
according to the common belief, was spoken by
Adam and Eve in their terrestrial paradise ? This
is very possible, for Noah may have received it tra-
ditionally, and in that case he would have transmitted
it to his descendants. It is true that the latter,
wishing to defy the Almighty by erecting the Tower
of Babel, were struck with confusion, seventy-two
tongues having suddenly replaced the single language
they had received from their fathers. But the Scrip-
tures do not inform us of the year in which the pride
of men brought upon them this punishment. It is
therefore not impossible, that the colony which was

* We find that all modern Basque authors maintain these two
opinions, -which were first advanced by Spanish writers. Thus, for
instance, the Abbe d'Hiarce regards Tarsis as the founder of the
first Iberian colony, whilst Larramendi, who in this respect la
followed by M. Chaho, refers its origin as far back as Tubal.
o 3

198 KAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

destined to people Europe and Spain, might have set
forth on their wanderings before this epoch.* It
might thus have brought with it the language which
was coeval with the earliest ages of the world; and
if this were the case popular traditions may be a
mere expression of the truth.

At all events, say these ultra-patriotic Basques,
the Euskara language is infinitely superior to all
known tongues for its priority, universality, inex-
haustibility, naturalism, inflexions, niceties, termi-
nations, allusions, and verbal mechanism. This
language in itself contains radicals enough to suffice
for the formation of the seventy-two languages which
originated at the foot of the Tower of Babel. f No
language therefore approximates more closely to that
which was revealed to Adam by the Almighty. :f
Inspired by God, the Euskara language is as natural
to the human species as cooing to the dove, barking
to the dog, or bellowing to the bull. Every one, as
he begins to stammer forth the first sounds, speaks
Basque. Papa, titi, Mama, caca, those infantile
sounds which are met with amongst almost all people,
and whose signification is sufficiently obvious, are,

* The Abbe d'Hiarce.

f According to Don Publo de Astorloa, the Basque language
possesses more than four hundred thousand words of one, two, or
three syllables, exclusive of those which result from the combination
of different radicals. (Apologia de la Lengua bascongada, Madrid
1803.) We ought to add that some Basque words consist of
sixteen syllables.

J Such is the conclusion of the grammatical theorems which
the Abbe d'Hiarce believes that he has demonstrated. Don Pablo
de Astorloa had advanced the same pretensions in the work which
we have already quoted.

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 199

according to the Abbe d'Hiarce, pure Euskarian
words. This language having its roots in the very
nature of things, its study suffices to reveal to us
the origin of all the arts and sciences. Its names of
numbers include in thirteen words all the funda-
mental principles of natural philosophy, and the
numerical mysteries of Plato, or of Pythagoras,
could never have been established excepting on the
principles of Basque numeration. The Euskarian
alphabet is in itself a revelation. Its name is Yesus.
The five vowels taken together in the usual order,
present a complete idea of the primordial world and
of the creation.* Three amongst them, namely,
i, a, o, when united into a single word, include
within themselves the adamic verb, expressing at
the same time both life, incarnation and spirit,
the beginning, end, and middle, lao is the true
name of God, a sublime name revealed in the early
ages to the patriarchs of the south, which although
corrupted by the Hebrew Levites and the Celto-
Roman pontiffs, has been preserved through all
time, and is still venerated by the Euskarians.f

Setting aside the exaggeration and absurdity of
the linguistic pretensions of the Basques, it is
impossible to deny that their language is truly
remarkable, and that it presents many special
characters. Wilhelm von Humboldt J thinks that

* The Abbe d'Hiarce, Histoire des Cantabres. Don Juan Bau-
tista de Erro y Aspiros, Alfabeto primitivo de la lengua primitiva de
Espana, Madrid, 1806, and El mundo primitivo, Madrid, 1815.

f Philosophic des religions compares, by Augustin Chaho.

J [A sketch of the life and labours of Wilhelm von Humboldt
and his brother Alexander is given in the Appendix, Note III.]
04

200 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

it cannot be referred to any language of the Indo-
Germanic family. In the first place, it is entirely
distinct from all the Celtic dialects, and indeed the
only languages to which it in any way approximates
by its grammatical construction, are, according to
Humboldt, a few of the American dialects. On the
other hand, the Abbe d'Hiarce has detected in a vo-
cabulary that was brought by Peron from Van Die-
men's Land, several words which he asserts to be
strictly Basque. It is somewhat strange that we
should have to go so far for the only analogies
connecting this dialect with other known languages.
It is, moreover, almost impossible for foreigners
ever to learn to speak the Basque language. Some of
the grammatical theorems of the Abbe d'Hiarce may
serve to give an idea of its difficulties. In Basque,
nouns, pronouns, and adjectives may be changed
into verbs, whilst verbs become metamorphosed into
nouns and adjectives. Prepositions, adverbs, con-
junctions, interjections, and even the letters of the
alphabet are de Jmed like Latin nouns or adjectives,
and conjugate like verbs. Every noun has six
nominatives and twelve different cases, whilst adjec-
tives have as many as twenty cases. The noun often
changes in accordance with the condition of the
individual or thing which it serves to designate.
Every French verb is represented by twenty-six
verbs, each of which expresses a special modification
either of the person or thing on which the action of
the verb is exerted. There are moreover four diffe-
rent conjugations, which are used according as the
speaker addresses a child or woman, an equal or a

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 201

superior. These illustrations will we think suffice to
refute the assertion that the Euskarian tongue could
ever very easily become a universal language. And
indeed it has hitherto been limited solely to the
Basques, who very easily learn both Spanish and
French, although their own language is never learned
by their neighbours of Spain or France.

A history whose origin dates as far back as 535
years after the Deluge must necessarily present
several remarkable peculiarities. Thus, we find in
the annals of the Basques, side by side with the
patriarchs, persons of very different origin. After
the death of Tarsis, the Euskarians of Spain elected
Geryon as their king, who, to immortalise the re-
membrance of his reign, built two powerful cities,
namely, Girone to the north, and Cadiz to the south ;
but this sovereign, forgetting that a king should be
merely the father of his people, attempted to tyran-
nise over his subjects. They, however, revolted
against him, and Osiris king of Egypt, having
assisted them by force of arms, Gt *on was defeated
and killed on the plains of Tarifa, "not far from the
Straits of Gibraltar. His three sons succeeded him,
but being similar in character to their father, they
caused Osiris to be assassinated by Typhon. Orus,
the Libyan Hercules, now hastened from the depths
of Scythia, and having challenged them to single
combat, killed them and erected as monuments of his
victory the two celebrated pillars which bear his
name. Two companions at arms of Hercules, His-
palis and Atlantis, successively occupied the throne
of Spain. Siculus, the son of the latter, reigned

202 RAMBLES OP A NATURALIST.

over Spain and Italy, and having conquered Sicily
he peopled it with Euskarians. After Siculus, the
race of Tarsis recovered the supreme power, which
they maintained until the time when the great le-
gislator, Abides, having voluntarily renounced the
throne, organised Iberia into a vast federal republic,
1014 years before the foundation of Rome. From
Abides, or his contemporaries, have descended all
the dukes or chiefs of the federal republics, all the
heroes in which Spain glories, and more particularly
Pelages and his companions. Thus, in accordance
with this genealogy, the Spanish nation is still
governed by a Euskarian or Basque family, and
Queen Isabella is descended in a direct line from
Tarsis and from Noah !

We thus see that even in the present day the
Basque historians write under the influence of pre-
conceived ideas which totally exclude the possibility
of discussion. This is the more to be regretted, be-
cause if they could lay aside the prejudices of a false
national pride, their researches would undoubtedly
have led to singular discoveries. From the midst
even of their exaggerations we may deduce one im-
portant result. Thus, for instance, we find in the
Euskarian language the etymology of a great number
of the names of rivers and mountains, and of provinces
where the Basque race no longer exists.* This fact,

* Larramendi, Astorloa, de Erro and the Abbe d'Hiarce, may be
named among the authors who have given way to exaggeration in
their etymological systems. Thus, for instance, they have attempted
to prove that the names of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, together
with those of Helicon, Cyprus, Delos, &c ., were primitive Basque

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 203

which was proved by the illustrious Wilhelm von
Humboldt, who visited Biscay expressly for the pur-
pose of verifying the exactness of these etymologies,
confirms some of the Euskarian traditions, for since
the time of Leibnitz *, local appellations, which it is

names, and they have made similar statements with regard to
Lutetia, Versailles, Orleans, Arras, &c. The natural conclusion to
be derived from all these strained etymologies is, that the Basques
are the primitive race; and that the whole of Europe has been
peopled by them.

* Leibnitz, one of the most distinguished men of modern times,
was born at Leipsic in 1646, and died in 1716. From his childhood
he had manifested a decided taste for study. Having been enabled
to make free use of an extensive library, he read everything that
fell in his way. Fortunately the standard works of the ancients
were among the first which engaged his attention, and they early
led him to entertain a marked predilection for the genius of
antiquity, which he maintained during the rest of his life.

After having attained to the most brilliant success in the study of
civil law and jurisprudence, he obtained the title of doctor at the
age of twenty, at the University of Altdorf, where he distinguished
himself in so marked a manner, that the authorities offered him a
chair in that university. Leibnitz, however, had other views, being
anxious to enlarge his mind by travelling. He came to Paris in
1672, being already known to the learned world by the publication
of various memoirs, and here he at once devoted himself to the
study of mathematics, under the direction of Huygens. His success
in this branch of knowledge was so great, that Fontenelle was able
to say of him, with truth, that his name was connected with the
most sublime problems that have been solved in modern times, while
it is moreover intimately associated with all the great, difficult, and
most important achievements of modern geometry.

Leibnitz familiarised himself with every department of physical
and natural science. He wrote alternately on physics, chemistry,
medicine, physiology, zoology, and botany, while in his work
entitled Protogea he was the first to indicate the method which we
now pursue in our geological studies.

His philosophical works were, however, those which gave Leibnitz

204 B AMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

difficult to change, are justly considered as one of the
most constant indications which may assist us in re-
covering traces of an extinct or transplanted race.

When we combine the data furnished by this
study with some passages in the Greek and Roman
historians, we are led to admit that the Basque race
must have formerly been much more widely extended
than at the present day. It is probable that it occu-
pied a large portion of Italy, the eastern coasts of
Gaul, and the whole of Spain; while it may also have
partially colonised the islands of the Mediterranean,
together with the Libyan provinces.* It is to the
nations of this race that Prichard has given the name
of Iberians. They appear early to have attained a
certain degree of civilisation. They were acquainted
with the art of writing, and their alphabet, which is
undoubtedly derived from the Phoanician letters,

the highest reputation. Being deeply impressed with religious
sentiments, he could not accommodate his mind either to sensualism
or to pantheism, and while he always endeavoured to discover the
practical bearing of even the highest theories, he rejected all
approach to exaggerated idealism. His system, which has been
termed a Spiritualistic Realism, is principally expounded in the work
entitled Monadologia, which he wrote for Prince Eugene. In the
application of his views to science, and more particularly to the
natural sciences, we find the first traces of those ideas which
Bonnet and his successors advanced in reference to the progressive
series of organised beings.

* The Libyans are the ancestors of the modern Berbers, and
form a branch of the great Semitic or Syro-Arab race. They
occupy the northern coast of Africa, from Egypt to the Straits of
Gibraltar, and all the western portion of the African continent,
known to the Romans and Greeks. (Prichard's Natural History of
Man.)

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 205

bore some resemblance to those of the ancient Italian
nations.

Modern science has been less successful in its en-
deavours to connect the primitive Spaniards with one
of those great families into which the different varieties
of the human races are classed. Here everything is
mere conjecture. Bory Saint- Vincent makes the
first inhabitants of Spain come from the fabulous
Atlantis of Plato.* M. Petit-Eadel regards them as
having issued from Latium and Etruria.f MM. Mi-
chelet J and de Brotonne § see in them a Celtic race,
while M. Graslin considers them to be a Celto-
Scythian off-shoot. || Some of these authors, more-
over, distinguish the early Iberians from the nations
who speak Euskarian, and deny to the latter the im-
portance which we have assigned to them in accord-
ance with the views of some of our most distinguished
ethnologists. IF Two learned inquirers have endea-
voured to connect the Euskarians with the Finnish
nation **, whilst M. Dartey refers them to a Semitic

* Essai geologique snr le genre humain. Paris.

f Memoir e sur les anciennes villes cFEspagne. Paris, 1837.

J Histoire de France.

§ Histoire de la filiation et de la migration des peuples. Paris,
1837.

|| DeTIbfrie.

f Abel de Remusat, W. von Humboldt, A. Von Humboldt,
Prichard, &c.

** Arndt, Ueler die Verwandschaft der Europ&ischen Sprachen
1810, and Rask Ueber das Alter und die Echtheit der zend
Sprache, 1826. The Finnish race, having come from Asia, appears,
according to the investigations of these inquirers, which have been
confirmed by the osteographical researches of Retzius, to have
occupied a great part of Europe before the Celtic invasion. It is

206 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

origin*, and this opinion appears to us to be the
least improbable. Nevertheless, in the presence of
such an absolute deficiency of precise information,
we must admit that modern science is totally incom-
petent to solve this problem. While we regard the
question as an open one, we concur with Prichard in
regarding the Euskarians as a remnant of the
ancient Iberian race, and consequently as an abori-
ginal people ; that is to say, a nation who before our
historic times occupied the districts in which we can
still trace their former presence.

However this may be, the Iberians appear to have
experienced the first loss of territory when the
Ligurians, issuing from the borders of the river
Ligys, which is supposed to be the Loire, took pos-
session of the coasts included between the Rhone and
Italy. At a later period, occurred the great invasion

from this race that the Magyars, amongst others, are descended ;
although their origin has long been a matter of dispute, and they
themselves lay claim to a descent in a direct line from the first
patriarchs, pretending that their original language was that of
Adam. The traditions of the North represent that the first Finns
•were men of pallid complexion, with red hair, grey or bluish eyes,
and a hideous expression of countenance. More or less deep traces
of the same physical characteristics are still to be met with amongst
the different tribes who have descended from this stock, and, as we
shall presently see, these characters are extremely remote from the
Basque type.

* Itecherches sur lorigine des peitples du Nord. M. Vivien de
Saint- Martin, who was good enough to communicate to me his notes
on the works of Arndt, Rask, and Dartey, regards the opinion of
the latter as historically untenable, but as probable, if we have
reference merely to physical characteristics ; and in this opinion we
are ourselves disposed to concur.

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 207

of the Celtic tribes, whose descendants occupy almost
the whole of Western Europe. The Celts, who were
more powerful and more warlike than the Euska-
rians, almost everywhere exterminated them, leaving
them no other asylum than the wild gorges of the
Pyrenees.* Here, favoured by the nature of the
ground, and having grown accustomed to war through
necessity, the remnant of these nations formed
several small confederate republics f, and struggled
successfully against new invasions. Dating from
historic times, we see all the conquerors repulsed
from the natural strongholds which the courage of
these mountaineers had rendered impregnable. Car-
thaginians, Romans, Goths, Franks, and Saracens,
each in their turn attempted to subjugate the Basques.
They often defeated them in pitched battles, they
laid waste their valleys and their hills, and sometimes
they even subdued them for a time to their yoke ;
but this subjection was only temporary or nominal,
since the Basques never lost their nationality, whilst
they have always obstinately retained their own man-
ners and language.

The Euskarian populations were in truth rather
the allies than the actual subjects of their pretended
rulers. Ever ready to resume entire independence,

* According to M. Chaho, the giants, Tartaro, of which we read
in popular legends, were merely Celts.

f The principal Euskarian tribes at the period of the Punic wars
were the Cantabri and the Vascones. The latter subsequently gave
their name to the whole of these provinces and the populations by
which they were occupied. The present Basque tribes are the
immediate descendants of the Vascon family.

208 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

they never hesitated boldly to seize the first op-
portunity of making sanguinary reprisals on their
enemies, and the name of more than one spot is re-
peated in the Basque country with as much pride as
that of Roncevalles. Nevertheless, in proportion as
the states bordering upon the Euskarian confede-
ration became more thoroughly developed, they
absorbed the members of this small body which had
never possessed a very homogeneous character.* But
we everywhere find that the sovereigns granted
their new feudatories exceptional privileges, and left
them to govern themselves according to their own
customs and usages. f Biscay and Guipuzcoa have

* The Garazi district which was peopled by Navarrese Basques,
was re-united to the kingdom of Navarre in the year 906, by Sancho
the Great. Alava voluntarily recognised the sovereignty of Alfonzo
XI. King of Castile in 1330. Three years afterwards, this
sovereign received on the same conditions the submission of Gui-
puzcoa and Biscay. The district of Labourt, or the French Basque
country, remained for a long time in a wild uncultivated state. It
was purchased in 1106 by the Guipuzcoan Basques, who, for the
sum of 3,306 gold florins, obtained from Guettard, Viscount of
Labourt and of Marennes, the right of cultivating the soil and of
enjoying all the advantages attached to it. From this time Labourt
shared in all the vicissitudes of this part of the country, and it was
finally re-united to France by Charles VII. in 1451. Histoire des
Cantabres.

f In France even the people of Labourt were exempted from all
taxes, duties and imposts, in consideration of their paying annually
a sum of 353 livres 10 sols, and maintaining a force of 1,000
militia for the purpose of guarding the frontiers. During the wars
of Louis XIV. Labourt voluntarily imposed upon itself a subsidy of
22,600 livres, on the understanding that all its privileges should be
preserved, and we find that they remained intact until the period of
the Revolution.

THE BAY OP BISCAY. 209

preserved the language, manners, and institutions of
their ancestors better than the other Basque pro-
vinces, and there is certainly something very singular
in finding in the nineteenth century, and at a few
paces only from France, a society which belongs
essentially to the middle ages.*

The franchises of the Basque country, which have
become celebrated under the name of fueros, regu-
lated both their relations with the crown of Spain
and the internal organisation of each province. In
respect to the first point, there was but little differ-
ence between Biscay and Guipuzcoa. The king of
Castille was the Lord Suzerain to whom they owed
fealty and homage, and who raised a slight tax on
certain houses and on the products of the mines.
In case of any invasion of the country, the popula-
tion was bound to rise en masse. On these condi-
tions the provinces were exempt from all duties,
taxes and imposts, their commerce was entirely free,

* It is well known what extraordinary precautions were taken
by the Basques to maintain their privileges against all encroach-
ments on the part of the crown. In Biscay, the lord of Biscay, the
only title which was granted in the province to the king of Castille,
was obliged to come in person to swear that he would maintain their
fueros. He was bound to take four solemn oaths ; the first at the
gates of Bilbao before the General Assembly ; the second at San -
Meterio Celedon de Larravezua before the clergy in their eccle-
siastical robes, and bearing the holy Sacrament; the third under the
famous oak of Guernica, where the junta of Biscay assembled; and the
fourth on the altar of Saint Euphemia, in the town of Bermeo. In
case these formalities were not complied with within a year after the
summons had been issued, the king of Castille lost all right to the
revenues of the province, while the inhabitants were no longer
bound to obey his orders.

VOL. II. P

210 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

and they only granted such a contingent of men and
money as they judged suitable.

The province of Guipuzcoa, which was situated
on the extreme frontier, contained a few strongholds,
which were garrisoned by the troops of the king of
Spain. They, moreover, received a general-com-
mandant, who usually resided at Saint Sebastian *,
but this officer could not act on his own authority, and
his duty was chiefly limited to the joint considera-
tion with the Alcades of all questions relating to the
defence of the country. With respect to the pro-
vince of Biscay, one of its most essential rights was
to have neither troops nor royal fortresses in any part
of its territory, the sovereign himself being obliged
when he entered certain cities to leave behind him
all his men at arms, and only to retain about his
own person a small escort, whose number was care-
fully specified.

The internal government of Biscay and of Gui-
puzcoa differed in certain respects, but they had this in
comtnon, that independently of the general franchises,
each town and each village, so to speak, had an en-
tirely independent and special administration, and not
unfrequently particular laws and special privileges.
The province was in reality a federal state, com-
posed of a great number of small republics governed
by their Alcades and their Ayuntamientos\^ all of

* This circumstance has led Saint Sebastian to be regarded as the
capital of Guipuzcoa; but the expression is far from being exact, for
in this province, the seat of the Bihar, or general Annual Assembly,
and of the Government Junta, changes every year.

f The province of Biscay includes 110 infanzonados or small

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 211

which had their representatives in the provincial
estates called the Bilzar. To these were reserved
the general administration, the fixing of imposts, and
more especially the care of preserving intact the
privilege of the fueros.

To take part in this national assembly, it was suffi-
cient to be a Basque, or rather a landowner. The
feudal hierarchy, such as we find in every other part
of Europe, never existed amongst the Euskarians.
It is true that all the Guipuzcoans were nobles by
birth and enjoyed in Spain all the rights attached to
that rank, and there were even certain towns of
Biscay and Alava which conferred the same privi-
leges on their inhabitants, but these were to a certain
extent mere external distinctions which had no value
whatever within the Basque territory. Even the high-
est titles conferred by the kings of Spain upon certain
families did not establish any real distinction in
their favour amongst their fellow- citizens. In Grui-
puzcoa, Biscay, and Alava, the constitution recog-
nised neither nobles, marquesses, nor dukes ; but, on
the other hand, no one was regarded as plebeian. To
take part in the deliberative assemblies, or in the
public administration, it was only necessary to be
ctclieco yauna, that is to say, the master of a house,
or a house-owner ; and this quality being attached to
the possession of the soil could be transmitted with
it. A foreigner, however low his birth, might ac-

republics, having the right of sending delegates to the General
Assembly. Guipuzcoa is less divided (Aper$us sur la Biscaye, les
Asturics ct la Galice, by Count Louis de Marillac. Pario. 1807.)

P 2

212 RAMBLES OP A NATURALIST.

quire this title by the purchase of land ; and he might
even assume those of gentleman, nobleman, or hi-
dalgo, which the Basques regarded as mere equiva-
lents of the former.

The etcheco yauna did not, however, enjoy any
other privileges.* All professions were regarded
as equally worthy of esteem, and none of them was
considered to be derogatory to the honour of the
individual who exercised it. It may easily be un-
derstood, therefore, how perfect a state of equality
must result among all the citizens from such prin-
ciples as these. Thus even at Saint Sebastian, when
the Ayuntamiento gave a ball, no special invitation
was issued, but a notice was merely posted up in the
town containing the words " there will be a ball this
evening," and those who liked took part in the fes-
tivity. Even in the present day, we meet with nu-
merous traces of these patriarchal manners. These
will, however, no doubt, gradually disappear as the
Basques mix more and more with the neighbouring
populations, and here probably, as elsewhere, the
vanity of some and the jealousy of others will tend
to establish more strongly marked social distinctions.
Nevertheless, at the different singing classes and

* Histoire des Cantdbres. This general equality is only charac-
terised by one exception. Certain houses, called infanzonos, gave
to their proprietors a distinguished place in certain churches,
together with the privilege of having the hells tolled for them on
their decease. It is, however, worthy of notice that these houses,
which have been preserved with much care and pride in the same
families, have almost all remained in the hands of cultivators of the
soil, who in France would be regarded as holding the rank of mere
peasants.

THE BAY OP BISCAY. 213

public assemblies on Sunday and other fete days,
I have seen titled nobles mixing together with mer-
chants and even with persons who amongst ourselves
would rank very little higher than the common ar-
tisan. Marquesses and counts would figure in the
same country dance with the tailors and haberdashers,
and this admixture of ranks seemed to be perfectly
natural to all parties.

The Basque fueros, which were exposed to serious
risks during the Carlist war, have been preserved
through the convention of Burgara and the pru-
dence of the Spanish government, with the loss of
two very unimportant privileges. The Carabineros,
who performed the duties of the French gendarmerie,
have been installed in the three provinces, while
custom houses have been established through the
provinces as far as the frontiers of France. But
even in this respect a very marked distinction has
been made in favour of the Basque provinces. Salt,
sugar, and tobacco, which are subjected throughout
the rest of the kingdom to a very high duty, are here
almost entirely free. As in times past, the sovereign
of Spain can neither raise men or taxes without the
express consent of the states, and every attempt to
establish any system of taxation or of conscription
would very probably be followed by a new insur-
rection. When the Basques fought for Don Carlos
with the cry of " Viva el rey neto!" Biscayans, Ala-
vans, and Guipuzcoans were alike agreed in applying
the term merely in the sense of the absolute king of
Castille, who was nothing more than the simple Su-
zerain of the Euskaldunac. Their true battle cry,

P 3

214 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

the cry that alone appeals to their affections, is " Viva
losfueros /"

A people amongst whom each individual can take
part at any moment in the minutest details of the
internal administration of the country, possesses true
liberty and a true political existence. However
great may be such a citizen's activity, he will always
find full scope for its development, and he will exer-
cise it wisely. The people will occupy themselves
with their own affairs, and consequently they will
think but little of those of their neighbours. Ready
to resist every external aggression, they will be but
ill disposed to become aggressors themselves. If,
moreover, the constitution and customs consecrate
amongst the members of this community a real
equality resulting from a like condition of things,
there will result from it a nearly uniform develop-
ment. And such, in fact, is the picture presented
to us by the Euskarian race. This race has never
either been oppressed, nor has it oppressed others.
It has neither been conquered, nor has it made con-
quests over others. Nowhere amongst this people
do we meet with any painful contrast of extreme
misery and exaggerated riches; a general competency,
based upon the cultivation of the soil, seems at all
times to have prevailed in this country, which owes
its prosperity in part to maritime commerce. Ad-
mirably adapted for every profession which demands
courage, address, and agility, the Basques continued
for a long time to be esteemed among the best sailors
in the world, and they still maintain their ancient
reputation. In the middle ages, they alone knew how

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 215

to attack and overcome the whale, which was then
very frequently met with in our seas. It was no doubt
while in the pursuit of these animals, that they left
along our coasts those colonies which, at the present
clay, in the midst of populations of very different
origin, still present the incontestable impress of
the Euskarian type.* The Basques carried their
fishing excursions to very considerable distances,
and they even frequented Iceland and Greenland
at a very remote period; and if we are to believe
some authors, they discovered the banks of New-
foundland and Canada about a hundred years before
Christopher Columbus first set foot on the shores of
America.

The Euskarian race is remarkable for the extreme
beauty of its type, the principal ethnological cha-
racters of which are a rounded cranium, a broad and

* The inhabitants of some portion of the islands of the coast of
Brittany and of several of the seaports of Normandy, no doubt owe
the characters by which they are distinguished to a mixture of the
Euskarian with the Celtic element. This fact appears to me
probable in respect to the Island of Brehat, and incontestable in the
case of Granville. The women of this seaport bear the closest
resemblance to the Basques both by their general physiognomy and
by the beauty and special character of the face, but more especially
by the graceful curve of the outline from the head to the bottom of
the shoulders ; and this last point of resemblance seems to be
singularly characteristic. M. Vivien de Saint-Martin has made
analogous observations on the fishing population of Boulogne, and
he thinks even that the ethnological element of black hair which
has mixed with the Celtic element of a light complexion at various
points of the western shores of Europe, may be referable to an
intermixture of the Basque type, and he thus approximates to the
opinion of William Edwards, who characterised the inhabitants of
certain districts in Brittany as Celto-Iberian.

!• 4

216 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

well developed forehead, a straight nose, a very
delicately chiselled mouth, an oval face, which be-
comes narrower towards the chin, large black eyes,
black hair and eyebrows, a clear brown complexion,
and an average sized but perfectly well propor-
tioned figure, together with small and well shaped
hands and feet. Owing to their seldom intermixing
with other races, this type has been preserved, more
especially in the mountains of Guipuzcoa and Biscay,
with a surprising degree of purity. I have very
frequently had occasion in crowded assemblies at
Saint Sebastian to observe that for one somewhat
homely face there were some twenty or thirty of
really magnificent beauty.

The women more especially possessed in a high
degree these characteristics of their race.* Their
features, which are at once regular and animated,
their large and expressive eyes, their delicately
chiselled lips, which are almost always parted with a
half sarcastic smile, and their long hair, which either
falls in tresses nearly to their feet, or is wound round
their heads like a natural diadem, combine to produce
a picture which cannot fail to strike even the most
careless observer. They are almost all distinguished
for the delicacy of outline of the neck and shoulders,
and this feature of beauty, which is generally of such
rare occurrence, imparts even to the humblest peasant
a certain air of grace and nobleness which even a
duchess might envy. I do not exaggerate when I

* This is a fact -which is well known to all ethnologists. The
essential characters of the race are always more strongly marked
and more constantly present in women than in men.

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 217

sny that the carriage of those ragged aguadoras who
support heavy pails of water on their head, presents
the ease and almost the majesty of the Huntress
Diana.

The men are perhaps less distinguished than the
women for beauty of feature, but they are in no
respect inferior to them in the elegance of their
figures and the grace of their movements. With a
red girdle bound lightly round his loins, his jacket
thrown over the left shoulder like that of a hussar,
with his cap set jauntily over one ear, and with a
stick in his hand, the Guipuzcoan looks as if he were
ever ready to leap rather than to walk, and when
with head erect and a proud glance he salutes the
passer by, one feels that there is a true courtesy in
this act, which in other places is too often tinged
with an air of servility. After I had become ac-
quainted with this population, among whom each one
knows how to maintain his own dignity while he
respects that of others, I could better understand
the spirit which had dictated the ancient charters
that were granted to this race by the kings of
Spain. Truly the Guipuzcoan Basques are a nation
of nobles.

From my first arrival at Guettary, I had been
struck by the fact that the men and women never
join in the same sports on the Sunday. In the
villages whither my geological expeditions led me, I
had frequently had occasion to make the same
remark, and I almost always found that while the
men were playing at ball or at skittles the women
were dancing by themselves. This condition of

218 KAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

things certainly exhibits a marked contrast to the
habits observed among Celtic or Germanic popula-
tions.

The Basque mountaineers present another very
characteristic and remarkable custom. When a
woman is confined, the husband takes to his bed
with the new-born infant, and there receives the
congratulations of his neighbours, whilst the wife at
once rises and busies herself with the cares of the
household.* M. Chaho explains this singular custom
by the legend of A'itor. During his exile on the
mountain, this father of the Euskaldunac had a son,
and the mother fearing, if she remained alone with
her child, that his life might be endangered, placed
him under the care of her husband, while she herself
went forth to seek the food necessary for the whole of
the family. From this time the Basques have main-
tained this singular ceremony, in memory of the rude
existence of their first parents. It will be readily
understood that we can scarcely admit the truth of
this explanation of a custom which is so contrary to
our own habits, and we are more disposed to regard
it as a remnant of that barbarism which is to be
found among so many savage nations, where man as
the warrior is all and everything, while woman is
regarded as of no account.

* This strange custom exists among some of the tribes of Africa
and among the savages of America. It appears also to have pre-
vailed amongst the Tibari, a Scythian people who inhabited the
borders of the Euxine Sea. It was also found, according to the
testimony of Diodorus Siculus, in the island of Corsica. (Graslin,
De Vlberie.)

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 219

The moral and intellectual characteristics of this
people correspond entirely with their external ap-
pearance. A most remarkable degree of cleanliness,
which strikes the traveller more especially among the
French Basques, shows that the Euskarians possess
that self-respect which is too often lost sight of by
our peasants and working classes. The feelings of
independence and of patriotism are the two great
moving springs of their life. Proud of their origin,
they despise all their neighbours whether Spanish or
French, but the Castillians and Gallicians are more
particularly the objects of their contempt. Enter-
prising and active, they are ever ready to leave their
country, but it is with a view of returning to it after
they have made their fortunes elsewhere. Capable
of devoting themselves to the most assiduous labours,
they soon become excellent workmen ; and this qua-
lity alone, in an industrial epoch like the present,
will probably secure at no very distant period to the
Spanish Basque provinces a decisive preponderance
over the other races inhabiting Spain.

Gifted with a lively and keen imagination, the
Basques are naturally inclined to sportiveness and
pleasantry. The instinctive love of poetry and of
music, which is favoured by a language in which
the same consonants recur at every moment, is very
highly developed amongst them. Sometimes, on the
occasion of a festival or fete day, the inhabitants of
two different villages enter into a species of poetical
contest. For days together the improvisatori of
the two opposite parties challenge and reply to onc-
another in verse, which they either recite or sing to

220 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

those natural airs which are called sorsicos. The
least event is often made the theme of a song, which
circulates through all the neighbouring district, and
this often becomes a very formidable weapon, which
serves to punish many small misdemeanours. For
example, every betrayed or deceived lover composes
a song on the conduct of his mistress, and for some
time she can scarcely appear abroad without hearing
her infidelities warbled aloud by every mischievous
urchin whom she encounters. This abundance of
compositions has perhaps a special inconvenience of
its own, for the latest productions soon obliterate the
older ones, and of the many songs which were trans-
lated to me, there was only one which presented
true characters of antiquity.* At the present day

* I have thought that my readers might be interested in becoming
acquainted with this ballad, which I first communicated to my
learned confrere, M. Ampere, and which was judged worthy of
being introduced into the Recueil des Chants nationaux published by
the Government. The translation was given to me by the woman
who sung it.

The Maiden of Santa Clara.

" Although no hand of man has touched them, the church bells of
Ataratz are tolling mournfully. To-morrow departs the maid of
Santa Clara. Great and small are mourning, for to-morrow departs
the maid of Santa Clara. Gold is gleaming on her saddle, and
silver is shining on the trappings of her steed.

" My father, thou hast sold me into Spain, as though I were a cow.
If my mother had been alive as thou art, my father, I should never
have gone to Spain, but I should have been wedded within the
castle gates of Ataratz.

" At the castle of Ataratz two oranges are blooming, and many
have come to beg them of the Lord of Ataratz. But the answer
has always been that the oranges were not yet ripe.

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 221

we must penetrate to the recesses of the mountains
if we would find some old man who is still acquainted
with those ancient ballads which date from the time
of Charlemagne or the Roman epoch*, and which
narrate the early traditions of the Euskaldunac.

" My father, let us depart in joy, for thou wilt return with tearful
eyes and saddened heart, and often wilt thou go forth to watch the
stone on thy daughter's grave.

" My sister, mount thee to the turret window, and see if Egoua, the
wind of the south, is blowing, or if Iparra, the south-west breeze, is
stirring. If Iparra be stirring, go bid him greet Sala, my lover ;
but if Egoua is blowing, bid him tell Sala to come and seek my
body.

" My sister, haste thee to find me a snowy white robe, but do
thou deck thyself in a garb of black.

" She dons her snowy white robe, and her sister decks her in a
garb of black. She mounts to the turret window, and looks abroad
for Sala. She sees him coming from afar, she throws herself from
the turret window, and she falls dead. No one can raise her body;
Sala alone can lift it."

* The most ancient monument of Basque literature is the Song
of Lelo, discovered by Wilhelm von Humboldt, and which relates to
the wars maintained by the Cantabri against the Romans, under the
reign of Augustus. Without venturing to affirm that the poetry is
really contemporaneous with the events which it records, Fauriel
refers it to a very high antiquity by comparing it to another heroic
song of 1322. The customs of which I have spoken in the text,
appear to me to confirm the opinion of the celebrated historian of
southern songs. The following is the ballad, which I borrow from
the translation in the work of M. Mazures on Beam and the Basque
provinces.

" Strangers from Rome would subdue Biscay, but Biscay raises
the song of war. Octavius is the lord of the universe, butLecobidi
is the Lord of the Biscayans.

" From the sea and from the land Octavius presses us closely.
The arid plains belong to the Romans, ours are the woods and
caves of the mountain fastnesses.

" Standing on well chosen ground, each of us is of stout heart.

222 KAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

Having been continually surrounded by Basques
for nearly eight months, I had little difficulty in
collecting numerous ethnographical observations in
reference to this race ; and during my stay at Saint
Sebastian my time continued to be divided between
the rocks and the sea in the same manner as at
Guettary. Having been specially charged by the
Museum to collect our littoral fossils, which had
hitherto been very imperfectly studied, I devoted
myself with assiduity to the search for these re-
mains, which are the true archaeological documents
that have been bequeathed to science by the creations
which preceded our own on the surface of the globe.
In this respect, I could scarcely have been better
situated, and from the first day of my arrival I
found good reason to hope that I might successfully
fulfil the mission that had been entrusted to me.
In pursuing my investigations in the valleys around
Saint Sebastian, I discovered several hitherto unex-
plored beds, and very soon my boxes were well filled
with fossil plants, radiated animals and molluscs,
while even the bay itself furnished me with some of
my most curious specimens.

Our terror flees away when we measure arms with the foe, but alas
our bread panniers are well nigh empty.

" If our enemies wear hard cuirasses, our defenceless bodies are
nimble and agile. For five years, day and night, has the siege
continued without rest or break.

" For one of our men that falls, fifteen of theirs are stricken
down. They are many, we are few — at length we have made
peace.

" The strength of the hardiest oak dwindles away as it grows
higher up the mountain side. The city of the Tiber is far distant,
but Uchain our chief is great."

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 223

Among the latter, there is one that demands
special notice. On a stone which had been recently
detached from the calcareous strata of Point Antigua,
I found the perfect cast of a gigantic articulate
animal, a worm which must have been several feet
long, and more than one inch broad. The outline of
the body, the walls of the intestine, and the mem-
branous partitions in the interior, could be clearly
distinguished on this fragment of rock, which in my
eyes possessed as great a value as a newly discovered
and perfect medal could have in those of an anti-
quary. Unfortunately, however, this magnificent
specimen was inclosed within the stonework of one
of the public dry docks, and I could not here make
use of my hammer without special authority ; but
thanks to the activity of our consul M. Tastu, all
difficulties were soon removed, and M. Peroncelli, the
chief engineer of the province, came to preside in
person over the removal of this precious relic. At
the present day it forms a part of the collections in
the Museum, and every one who examines it may
recognise not merely external characters but even
anatomical arrangements, which prove that thousands
of years before the existence of man the type of the
Articulata numbered upon our globe representatives
which bore a great resemblance to those of the
present day.*

* We have a great number of fossils belonging to the tubicolous
Annelids with solid tubes, like the Serpulae, but very few are to be
met with belonging to the naked and soft bodied errant Annelids,
like the Nemertes, &c. It is evident that it could only have been
under favourable circumstances that the mud, hardened by the

224 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

My first zoological excursions were very unsuc-
cessful. The sea, like the earth, has its times of
repose, and when I arrived at Saint Sebastian at the
beginning of winter I was at first fearful that I
should not meet with any good subjects of study.
The laminated rocks of Point Antigua, and the sands
and muds of the Urumea, exhibited numerous traces
of the presence of marine animals, but their tubes
and galleries were for the most part empty; their
inhabitants having migrated to greater depths.*
I was already trembling at the thought of my pro-
bable want of success, when, in one of the small and
narrow gulfs which are enclosed by the harbour
between the mountain and the hills, I found pieces

action of time, could preserve this mould, and hence fossils of this
kind present a very great interest. I do not believe that any of
those -which have hitherto heen discovered afford us any insight
into the anatomical organisation of the Annelids of these ancient
seas. In this respect, the specimen which I brought from Saint
Sebastian may perhaps be regarded as unique of its kind. Unfor-
tunately, however, the rock in which it was deposited is very friable,
and the voyage has to a certain degree injured some of the minuter
details which could previously be traced with the greatest exact-
ness.

* These migrations of the lower animals are as yet very imper-
fectly known. I have on different occasions observed that they
were as rapid and as general as those of animals which occupy a
higher place in the scale of being. Thus, for instance, at the end
of October, at different points of the coast of Normandy, one is often
unable to find a single sea urchin where perhaps a week before they
might have been gathered by thousands. I have made a precisely
similar observation in respect to one of the most remarkable
Annelids of our coasts. We see, therefore, that these Radiata and
Articulata possess the same instinct as many birds which, on the
approach of winter, abandon mountainous heights and seek refuge
in the plains and valleys.

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 225

of wood, that had been perforated by wide and deep
galleries. I at once recognised the work of the
Teredo, and having soon discovered the animals
themselves, I was fully reassured as to the future
success of my expedition, and I felt that two or three
months would scarcely be too much to devote to the
thorough investigation of this singular and too cele-
brated Mollusc.

The Teredo is an Acephalous Mollusc belonging
to the same class as the Oyster, Mussel, &c., and yet
at first sight there seems to be no resemblance be-
tween them. Imagine to yourself a kind of worm of
a somewhat greyish white colour, which is sometimes
as much as a foot in length, and from six to eight
lines in diameter, one extremity of which terminates
in a sort of rounded head, whilst the other is like a
bifurcated tail. Such is the aspect of a perfectly
developed Teredo when removed from its tube. The
part which I have called the head consists of two
small valves, something like two halves of a deeply
notched nut shell. These valves are immoveable,
and only protect a small part of the body properly
so called. The liver and the ovaries lie in contact
with one another, very far back and behind the
rudimentary shell, whilst the branchiae are placed in
the posterior part of the body. The mantle, forming
a sort of fleshy case, envelopes all the viscera, and
afterwards divides into two tubes, which the animal
extends or contracts at will. One of these tubes
serves to introduce the aerated water, which bathes
the branchiae, and carries to the mouth the organic
molecules, which are necessary for the nutrition of

VOL. II. Q

226 KAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

the animal, while the other throws off the exhausted
water, which collects in its passage the residue of
digestion. Thus, in the Teredo, the organs instead
of being placed side by side are arranged behind
one another, and this circumstance necessarily induces
important modifications in the form, proportions,
and general relations of these animals. Neverthe-
less, although this organisation may appear extremely
strange at first sight, it is fundamentally the same
as that of all the Acephala, and the philosophical
anatomist will have no difficulty in detecting in the
Teredo the essential character of the general type.

When we examine the delicate and fragile shell,
the semi-transparent tissues, and the soft body which
is almost incapable of motion, we can hardly conceive
that the Teredo is an object to be feared ; and yet
this Mollusc is one of the most formidable enemies
of man. The Teredo attacks submerged wood some-
what in the same manner as the larvae of insects which
are vulgarly known as worms attack wood that has
been exposed in the open air. Imagine what would
become of our trees and furniture, and of the
supports and joists of our roofs, if they were to
be gnawed by worms measuring a foot in length.
If we supposed this for a moment we could better
understand the damage which these obscure miners
perpetrate by their stealthy and silent operations.
In a few months, or even a few weeks, thick planks
or piles of the strongest oak or pine, which to all
appearance are perfectly sound, are sometimes found
to be so completely excavated that, unable to offer
further resistance, they yield to the slightest shock.

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 227

Thus large openings have suddenly been made in
ships at sea beneath the feet of the sailors, utterly
unsuspicious of the danger to which they were ex-
posed, and at the beginning of the last century one-
half of Holland was nearly engulfed in the waves,
in consequence of the piles which supported her large
dykes having all been destroyed and undermined by
the Teredos.

Only one method has hitherto been proposed as a
prevention against the recurrence of similar disasters,
and this is by investing all submarine wooden struc-
tures with a complete metallic casing. The object
of coppering the bottom of ships is chiefly with the
view of protecting them against the attacks of the
Teredo.* Unfortunately, however, this method is
inapplicable for structures of submerged wood which
every year pay a very considerable tribute to these
destructive Molluscs. In our own day, however,
science places at the disposal of industry many
valuable resources which were unknown to our fore-
fathers, and I believe it will be found very easy to
destroy the Teredo within a given space, and con-
sequently to protect our wharfs and other wooden
structures from the attacks of these animals.

The process which I am about to describe is con-

* According to some experiments made in England, wood that
has been long macerated in a solution of corrosive sublimate is not
perforated by the Teredo. This mode of preserving wood is pro-
bably too expensive to be employed on a large scale. It seems to
us, however, that thin planks that had been thus prepared might
be employed for the bottoms of the small coasting vessels which
frequent the ports which are infested by these Molluscs, and this
method would probably be cheaper than the use of copper.
Q2

228 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

nected with some of the most intricate points of
zoology, being based upon the study of artificial
fecundation. Here, however, it will be necessary
to enter into a few preliminary and explanatory
details.

After they have attained the adult state, the Te-
redos live secluded within their galleries, which
being lined with a calcareous matter secreted by
the animal itself, have no communication with one
another. This circumstance led to the Teredo being
classed among those animals which are at the same
time male and female ; but although this opinion has
been generally admitted it is not founded on fact.
Here, as in many other cases, nature has solved the
problem proposed to her in a manner wholly at
variance with our preconceived ideas. Notwith-
standing the cenobite life which the Teredos lead
they are of distinct sexes. At an epoch which
varies according to the species*, the females emit
their eggs, which are arrested within the folds of the
respiratory organs. Within this singular nest the
young animals are born and live for a certain length of
time under a very different form from that which they
subsequently acquire. f At the moment when they

* It was long believed, and seems still to be the opinion of some
naturalists, that our seas only possess one species of the Teredo.
This, however, is evidently an error. At Pasages, I found two
perfectly distinct species. The one kind ceased depositing its ova
towards the end of October, after which time all the larvae which I
found in the branchiae were already living and capable of indepen-
dent motion. The other probably lays its eggs in the spring.

j This kind of incubation is common to many other Acephalous
Molluscs. The Anodonta and other fresh-water Mussels may serve

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 229

arc about to experience their last metamorphosis, the
young Teredos leave the branchiae of their mother,
and, fixing themselves upon the first piece of wood
that presents itself, begin to construct their galleries,
and from this moment they are entirely protected
from all external attacks. It is therefore necessary
to destroy them before this period, or, what is at
once more certain and more economical, we must
prevent their birth. To attain this object it is suffi-
cient to dissolve in the water which the mothers re-
spire, an infinitely small quantity of a salt of mercury,
lead, or copper.

Physiology teaches us that the egg, or female
element, produced by the mother requires to be
brought in contact with a special element secreted
by the male, in order that it may be fertilised and
become developed into a living being. In all ani-
mals that have hitherto been examined, this secretion
when observed under the microscope has been found
to contain minute organic particles which move with
extreme rapidity. When submitted to the action of
various reagents, these corpuscles comport themselves
in the same manner as the Infusoria ; various poi-
sonous agents and electric shocks at once putting a

as examples. The eggs, or rather the young which proceed
from them, pass the whole of the winter in the branchial folds of
the mother. I was enabled for several months to follow the develop-
ment of these Molluscs, of which I kept several by me in a tub of
water. The memoir which I published in reference to this subject
in 1839, was the first which I addressed to the Academy of Sciences
at a period when I certainly had no hope that I should ever attain a
place among that distinguished body.

Q 3

230 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

stop to the rapid movements to which we have
already adverted.

Led astray by these experiments, the first observers
looked upon these corpuscles in the light of true
animalcules, but a more profound investigation of
the subject has now given us more correct ideas
in regard to their true nature. These minute bodies
are produced by Special organs, in the same manner as
the simple granular cells, which are so abundant in the
fluids of living beings. They are to a certain degree
organs, but organs which are charged with the
accomplishment of their functions externally to the
animals from which they emanate, and which
for this purpose receive a certain share of vitality,
which enables them to move for some time very
nearly in the same manner as the tail of a lizard
that had been separated from the remainder of the
body.

These corpuscles are the active and immediate
agents in the fertilisation of the eggs. To them is
entrusted, so to speak, the accomplishment of the
process by which the conservation and perpetuity of
all animal species are maintained. Anything that
arrests their movements and destroys their vitality
obviously prevents them from exerting the mysterious
power to which we have referred. Now in the Teredos,
this fertilising fluid is as it were emitted at random:
the organic particles disseminated throughout the
mass of the surrounding water are carried away by
the currents, and some of them thus make their way
into the branchiae of the females, where they meet
with the eggs which they vivify by contact. If we

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 231

could only destroy the vitality of these organic par-
ticles before they come in contact with the eggs, we
could at once put a stop to the further development
of these destructive Molluscs.

I convinced myself by repeated experiments that
a twenty-millionth part of a mercurial salt, if thrown
into the water in which myriads of these organic
corpuscles were moving, would be sufficient to render
all of them motionless in the course of two hours. A
two-millionth part of the same salt produces the
same effect in forty minutes, and entirely deprives
the water of the fertilising power with which it had
previously been so highly charged. Without pre-
senting equal intensity of action, salts of copper and
of lead possess a similar property. To preserve the
submerged wood of our marine docks and wharfs, it
is therefore only necessary from time to time to throw
a few handfuls of these different substances into the
surrounding water. Fecundation would thus be en-
tirely arrested, and the eggs would perish before they
were developed, and consequently the species would
be completely exterminated in our harbours and docks
in the course of two or three seasons. By prevent-
ing the loss which is annually occasioned by the
Teredos the original cost of this process would very
speedily be more than covered.*

* The first expense would be merely to enclose the water within
a circular wall, and this would obviously not be a very costly
process. It will, of course, be impossible for me in the present place
to enter into any practical details, but if everything should happen
on a large scale in the same manner as in my experiments, one
pound of corrosive sublimate, or two pounds of acetate of lead, would

232 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

The Hermellas of Guettary and the Teredos of
Saint Sebastian were admirably adapted for experi-
ments on artificial fecundation. All that was neces-
sary to secure a supply of thirty or forty thousand
eggs was to open one male and four or five females
in a vessel filled with sea-water. This accouchement
forcA in no way interfered with the success of the
experiment. In a few moments vital activity began
to manifest itself, and in the course of fifteen or
eighteen hours every ovum had become an active
larva, which swam about in all directions. By the
aid of the microscope I frequently examined the
succession of phenomena which brought about
this marvellous result, and while my eyes were fol-
lowing the slightest appreciable modifications, and
my hands were engaged in tracing the drawings
which were intended to represent what I saw, my
mind was busily engaged in considering all the great
questions of natural philosophy, which are suggested
by the study of embryology. It would be alike dif-
ficult and out of place were we to enter upon
the consideration of all the problems which have
been advanced or solved by this study. We will
here merely consider those which precede the first
rudiments of the nascent organisation. Let us
enquire whence comes the germ of the new being ?
what are the general laws which preside over its de-
velopment ? what is the probable part played by the
two elements, which almost always intervene to

suffice to destroy all the organic corpuscles contained in more than
twenty thousand cubic yards of water ; but it is probable that this
proportion would require to be augmented.

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 233

secure the perpetuity of species? and let us be
careful in this investigation not to separate plants
from animals, for in the two kingdoms of nature inert
matter after being vivified by life rises to a state
of organisation under the control of the same laws.

Every living being is produced from an egg, or, to
adopt the axiom of Harvey, omne vivum ex ovo. If
by this word we understand something that is always
identical with and more or less similar to the egg of
the . bird, the inaccuracy of the aphorism would be
evident. A plant is multiplied by seeds, buds,
bulbils, cuttings, &c., and animals present to us
precisely analogous facts. If, for instance, we take
one of those fresh- water Hydras, which are so common
in our ponds, and cut it in pieces, we shall find in
the course of a few days that each fragment has
become a complete individual. This is a reproduc-
tion by cuttings. If we observe the same Hydra in
the vessel into which we have thrown for its nourish-
ment the larvae of Insects or of Naides, we shall per-
ceive that at one time it will lay eggs covered by a
solid shell, that is to say, it will produce true animal
seeds ; while at another time it will give off buds,
which grow, become more and more organised, and
at length appear in the form of a young Hydra fur-
nished with all its organs. At first adherent to the
parent, and in direct communication with it, this
newly formed being in all respects resembles a para-
site, and is like a tender branch which derives all its
nourishment from the trunk. After a few days,
when the mouth is formed and the arms have grown
longer, the young Hydra begins to seek for prey on its

234 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

own account, and thus contributes towards the general
maintenance, in the same manner as the developed
leaves of the young branch extract their portion of
nutrient elements from the atmosphere. The branch,
indeed, never leaves the stem from which it sprang,
while the Hydra, on the contrary, after having attained
sufficient size, separates itself from the body which
had previously nourished it, and begins to lead an
entirely independent existence. In addition to the
seed, properly so called, which reproduces the plant,
and the bud which becomes developed into a branch,
there exists in certain plants a kind of intermediate
structure, which is the bulbil. It resembles an ordi-
nary bud in its composition, but, like the seed, it
must be detached from the plant and developed apart
from it, before it can give origin to a new individual.
Animals in the same manner exhibit reproductive
bodies, which are at once allied to buds by their
structure and to ova by their functions. Let us
examine some of these Synhydras, a kind of polype
which I found on the shores of the Channel. You
will often observe on some old and worn shell a some-
what thin stratum of a fleshy substance, bristling
with small protuberances, and held together by a net-
work of horny matter. This is the polypary, or
common body to which the entire colony is attached,
The animals, which are very similar to our fresh-water
Hydras, have an elongated body, terminating in a
mouth which is surrounded by six or eight moveable
tentacles, which fulfil the functions of arms and hands.
Narrow channels, forming a network, pass from one
individual to the other, and maintain a communica-
tion between all the digestive cavities, so that the

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 235

nourishment taken by each polype tends to the direct
support of the entire community. This animal is
multiplied in three different ways.

From the fleshy polypary of which we have
spoken are given off buds, which increase and become
organised in the same manner as those of the Hydra,
but without ever leaving the place of their birth.
They therefore comport themselves precisely in the
same manner as the branches of a tree.

In the thick substance of this same polypary are
developed eggs properly so called, and these eggs,
when they are ejected from the body within which
they took their origin, comport themselves in the
same manner as the seed, which is developed and
propagates the species after separation from the
parent plant.

Finally, a certain number of individuals are des-
tined to generate deciduous buds or true bulbils, the
propagation of their species being the only function
which they have to fulfil ; they have neither arms nor
mouths, and are nourished by their neighbours.
These ovoid buds are detached from the parent stock
at certain epochs, and are carried away by currents.
Many no doubt perish, but those which encounter
a favourable locality become fixed, and, in a few
days, after undergoing elongation, give birth to a
polype which is at first isolated, but afterwards be-
comes in its turn the original stock of a new colony.

We see, therefore, that there is not so great a dif-
ference between the seed and the vegetable bud, or
between the egg and the animal bud, as we might at
first have been led to suppose. In these two king-
doms of nature the bulbil occupies an intermediate

236 KAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

position. We may, however, employ a more general
term to designate these different reproductive bodies,
and define them in a more precise manner. The bud
is a germ which requires for its development that it
should adhere to a parent which does not in reality
deserve the name either of male or of female ; the
bulbil is a, germ which is detached from the parent, and
is developed without fecundation ; whilst the egg is a
germ which for its development requires the concur-
rence of the two sexes, and is also detached from the
parent.* Finally, then, every living being proceeds
from a pre-existing germ, and such is in fact the true
translation which we ought to give of the Latin
aphorism to which we have already referred.

It would be impossible to give a detailed report of
all thaf has been said on the origin, nature, and mode
of development of these germs. Absurdities and
incongruities abound in most of these reveries, of
which only a very small number deserve the title
either of a hypothesis or of a system. To give a
general idea of the conceptions of the human mind
on this subject, we will refer to three leading
doctrines, which have been supported by celebrated
physiologists, who have attempted to establish an
accordance between their theories and the science of
the time. These are the doctrines of evolution, of
accolement (Button's theory), and of epigenesis.

* It is now well known that the viviparous as well as the
oviparous animals proceed from an egg. The only difference
between these two modes of development is, that in the former case
the egg is detached from the ovary, and undergoes development
within the body of the mother.

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 237

According to the system of evolution, germs are
as ancient as the world itself. In other words, God
in forming the universe created simultaneously all
the organised beings which were to people it to the
end of time. Each of these germs is, in short, either
a complete plant with its roots, trunks, branches,
and leaves, or a perfect animal, which is deficient in
no respect, not even in a hair or a feather. When
placed under favourable conditions, this kind of
animated miniature grows, it is true, but it never adds
the slightest new part to those which it has possessed
from the creation of the world.

Up to this point the evolutionists are tolerably
unanimous, but all accordance disappears among them
when they are called upon to explain the actual
distribution of these germs. Some, as Bonnet, hold
that these infinitely small germs, which are by nature
indestructible, are everywhere diffused. They main-
tain that they circulate in the sap of trees and in the
blood of animals, being always ready to become
either wholly or partially developed, either for the
sake of giving birth to an embryo, or of reproducing
some organ that has been lost by the living being
which encloses them. The young bird and the young
mammal are germs which have undergone a com-
plete evolution : the claw of the crab which has been
reproduced after having been torn off; the head or
the tail of the worm which is reproduced after having
been severed from the rest of the body, are the claw,
head, and tail of so many germs, which profit by the
opportunity of developing a portion of their being,
whilst the rest remain in a rudimentary state.

238 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

Other evolutionists, and amongst these we are sorry
to have to place the great Haller * and Cuvier

*

* Haller was born at Berne in 1708, and died in 1777. He was
one of the most distinguished scientific men of the eighteenth
century, and nature appears to have been most bountiful to him
in every respect. He was at once noble, rich, and handsome,
and he moreover was endowed with a very uncommon degree of
mental power. From the age of nine, he began to distinguish
himself, and at a very early period he was admitted as member
of several scientific societies. The rest of his life was in perfect
accordance with this beginning, for he devoted his time almost
exclusively to science, poetry being the only relaxation in which he
indulged. Two odes which he composed are said to have been
remarkably good, one being " On the Alps," and the other " On the
Death of his Wife." Haller spoke almost all living languages, and
wrote equally well in German, French, and Latin.

Having been appointed at a very early age as professor at the
University of Gottingen, he continued for seventeen years to occupy
the chairs of anatomy, surgery, and botany. Several sovereigns
endeavoured to attract him to their courts, but having been nomi-
nated member of the supreme council of his native town he returned
to Berne, where he received all the honours at the disposal of a
republican government. Haller having been attacked by the disease
to which he afterwards succumbed, devoted his attention to the
study of his own symptoms, recording the progress of his malady
and the progressive failing of his vital forces, until the moment
when his pulse" had nearly stopped, when a sign to the friends who
were standing round him indicated that he had maintained his
presence of mind to the very last moment of his existence. Cuvier,
who has recorded this remarkable example of moral courage,
exhibited in his turn a precisely similar instance of consciousness
and self-possession.

The works of Haller are very numerous ; but although the greater
number of them relate to medicine and human physiology he did
not neglect the natural sciences properly so called, and he deserves
to be regarded as one of the founders of comparative physiology.
His great work, which appeared under the modest title of Elementa
Physiologice Corporis Humani, will always be regarded as one of the
noblest monuments of human intelligence, while his Opera Minora

THE BAT OF BISCAY. 239

himself, admit that germs are only to be met with
in certain organs. Now as a germ can only enclose
its descendants in the same organ in which it was
itself contained by its predecessors, it results, if we
admit the first proposition, that the germs of all past,
present, and future generations have been and still
are contained within one another by emboitement.
According to this hypothesis, an animal may be
compared to a sort of juggler's box, and when a new
individual is produced it is simply as if one of the
double bottoms of the box had been removed. The
mere enuciation of such views is sufficient for their
refutation.

The doctrine of Buffon, to which the term accole-
ment is applied, is not more rational. According to
this illustrious naturalist, there exists in nature a
primordial matter, which is alike common to animals
and plants. This matter is composed of living,
incorruptible, and ever active organic particles.
These universally diffused particles serve for nutri-
tion and growth, while the surplus of what is
necessary to attain this result is transmitted from all
parts of the body into certain organs specially
destined to serve in the place of a reservoir. When
these molecules are arranged in a suitable place they
exercise a sort of elective affinity. All those which
come either from the foot or the hand, attract one
another reciprocally, and become aggregated together,
whilst they maintain the order which they previously

will continue to be consulted, if for no other reason, for the obser-
vations which they contain in reference to the embryology of Birds
and Mammals.

240 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

occupied. Consequently they reproduce on a small
scale the internal mould or cast of which they them-
selves had formed a part. We see that in this
hypothesis, the new being can only be formed by the
aid of materials which have been directly furnished
to it by each of the organs of the parents, and
consequently the children of a one-armed parent
could not possess two arms.

This objection, suggested by common sense, did not
prevent the ideas of Buffon from being adopted or
reproduced with certain modifications even in our own
day, under the sanction of several distinguished
physiologists. Oken, amongst others, the patriarch
of the Natur-Philosophie school, admits the existence
of a primordial mucilage very similar to the primor-
dial matter of the French naturalist, whilst he assigns
to the Infusoria a part which is very nearly iden-
tical with that of organic molecules. According to
him all living beings are merely aggregations of
Monads, chained together by an archetype, which
gives to them their form, and if the Monads them-
selves appear to be produced in animal or vegetable
infusions, it is only in consequence of their having
been set at liberty.

In the doctrine of epigenesis, or super-formation
of parts, which is almost universally admitted in the
present day, it is held that no appearance of the new
animal is to be found in the perfect impregnated egg
before the commencement of incubation, but that
when the formative process is established under the
necessary favourable circumstances, the parts of the
embryo are gradually put together or built up by

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 241

the apposition of their constituent molecules. Hip-
pocrates, with his penetrating genius, gave a clear
enunciation of these views when, in speaking of the
formation of man, he compared the embryo to a tree,
and the different members or viscera to the branches
and stems which are successively added, to the trunk.
In this doctrine every birth is to a certain degree a
creation, and every new individual is truly a product
of the individual by whom it has been generated.

Many naturalists have maintained that the future
embryo may be traced solely to the male, and is prima-
rily an organic corpuscle (in the case of animals), or a
grain of pollen (in the case of vegetables), which pene-
trates into the ovum or ovule of the animal or the plant,
and here becomes developed as in a kind of nidus.*
According to these, the female is entirely passive,
and is merely a kind of animated hatching machine,
somewhat more perfect perhaps than the ovens of the
Egyptians or our own model Eccaleobions.

• * These views have never had many adherents among zoologists,

and although attempts have been made to reproduce them in the pre-
sent day it is not probable that they will meet with greater success.
The mass of facts and of precise observations that may be opposed
to them is too great, to be set aside by a few exceptional cases that
have been observed in the eggs of a very small number of animals.
The case is different, however, in respect to botany. Schleiden, one
of the most celebrated German botanists, has exhibited considerable
talent in developing the doctrine to which we refer, and his theory
has been almost universally adopted in his own country. French
botanists, after remaining doubtful for a time, are now tolerably
well agreed in opposing these views, chiefly in consequence of some
most conclusive observations which are more especially due to
M. Tulasne, who mainly owes his recent introduction to the
Academy of Sciences to his able researches on this difficult subject.
VOL. 11. i:

242 11AMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

More precise information and more exact methods
have, however, overthrown these hypotheses. After
having for a long time attempted to supply the defi-
ciencies of science by mere creations of fancy, and
after having endeavoured to explain that which did
not admit of explanation, embryologists have turned
in our own day to rigid experiment and observation.

Under the guidance of these, we learn that in the
two kingdoms of nature, epigenesis, or successive
formation, is the great law, which presides not only
over the development, but over the very organisation of
germs. Buds, bulbils, eggs, or seeds, in short all re-
productive bodies, are produced from a pre-existing
individual being, which elaborates them from its own
substance, under the influence of vitality, and in con-
sequence of phenomena of nutrition and secretion
similar to those from whence result all the other
products of the organism. At first imperfect, these
germs are successively completed, and only become
capable of fulfilling their important functions after
they have attained to maturity. Some, as we have
already remarked, possess in themselves all the vital
activity that is necessary for their development, in
which case, properly speaking, there is neither father
nor mother ; others, on the contrary, require the in-
tervention of a special agent, and here first appear
distinct sexes which concur in the reproduction of
their species.

In the plant as in the animal, the female secretes
a germ that must be fertilised, while the male pro-
duces the fertilising agent. From the contact of
these two elements there results a new individual.

TUE BAY OF BISCAY. 243

In the animal and the plant the bud is living,
because it is simply a portion of its parent. Again,
in the animal or plant the bulbil is living, because
when separated from its parent it grows and is de-
veloped. The seed and the fertilised egg are equally
living, although both may for a more or less con-
siderable length of time present all the appearances
of inert matter. Is the egg which we keep for house-
hold purposes dead? By no means, for if it were
placed under a hen that was sitting it would give
birth to a chick. Were the cereals which were
found in the tombs of Thebes dead? By no means,
for when they were thrown into the earth they ger-
minated and produced plants similar to the progeni-
tors which had disappeared from the face of earth
for thirty or forty centuries. In both cases life was
in a latent condition, and required for its manifesta-
tion a concurrence of favourable circumstances.

The observations which I have made on the Her-
mellas throw considerable light upon some of the
difficult points to which I have already reverted.

On leaving the body of its mother the egg of the
Ilermella is composed like all perfect eggs of four
distinct parts, that is to say, of a yolk or vitellus, a
germinal vesicle or vesicle of Purkinje, placed in
the interior of the yolk, a germinal spot enclosed
within the vesicle, and finally of a very fine membrane
which envelopes the whole.* The germinal spot and
vesicle are two minute transparent globules, while the

* In the eggs of birds, the white or albumen and the shell are
merely accessory parts, which are formed in the oviduct after the
actual egg has left the ovary.

244 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

yolk is formed of very minute opaque granules, united
together by a perfectly diaphanous matrix.

If we throw one of these eggs into sea-water, in
which some of the male organic corpuscles are mov-
ing, we shall see, after a few moments' immersion,
that it has become the seat of a condition of vital
activity which may be easily watched through the
microscope. A mysterious force seems to mould
these elements, blending them together on all sides.

The yolk presents alternating movements of con-
traction and expansion ; the spot and the vesicle suc-
cessively disappear; a transparent globule escapes
from the midst of the vitellus, and then begins the
singular phenomenon discovered by MM. Prevost
and Dumas.* A circular streak is observable round
the vitellus, which divides spontaneously first into
two, and then into four parts, and goes on subdivid-
ing thus successively, until it is only composed of
very minute globules. In proportion as this cleavage
progresses, the granular character of the vitellus
diminishes, and finally disappears. The entire mass
assumes the appearance of young tissues. At this
period, we soon begin to perceive a few small fila-
ments, which are at first immoveable, but speedily
begin to strike the liquid with jerking motion.
These filaments become more and more multiplied
when the young Hermella after having balanced
itself for some time, as if to try its nascent organs,
suddenly leaves the solid plane which supported it

* The cleavage of the vitellus, which was originally discovered
by physiologists in the egg of the frog, has since been observed in
all animals that have been investigated under favourable conditions.

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 245

and throws itself into the liquid under the form of a
small and irregularly spherical larva, bristling all
over with vibratile cilia.

Such are briefly the phenomena presented by the
fertilised egg of the Hermella. In twelve or at most
fifteen hours, this egg becomes transformed into an
animal, which swims about, stops and guides itself,
and thus gives evident signs of spontaneity. The
same egg, if left in the liquid without being brought
in contact with the fertilising element, becomes de-
composed in about forty or fifty hours. We must
not, however, suppose that it is the less active on
this account. The characteristic activity of the first
phases of development are manifested here no less
than in the fertilised egg. The yolk dilates and
contracts, the spot and vesicle disappear, the vitellus
undergoes cleavage, and becomes thinner. For the
first few hours it is almost impossible to distinguish
a fertilised from a non-fertilised egg. In the latter,
however, the movements increase in rapidity while
they diminish in regularity, and instead of result-
ing in the organisation of a new being, they terminate
in the destruction of the germ. If, however, we take
some of these eggs which seem very nearly decom-
posed and bring them in contact with the fertilising
corpuscles, their movements will slacken and become
more regular, and we may even frequently obtain
numerous swarms of larvae from eggs that have been
deposited for nearly forty hours.

These facts, which I have repeatedly verified,
appear to me to be thoroughly conclusive. They
teach us that the movements, which have their seat

it 3

246 RAMBLES OP A NATURALIST.

in the egg immediately after its appearance, are
entirely independent of fertilisation. The disappear-
ance of the germinal spot and vesicle, the oscillations
of the yolk and its cleavage, are, in the isolated
female element, so many signs of special activity, and
of a vitality which belongs to it. When these move-
ments cease, and when the egg becomes decomposed,
it is in reality dead.

Thus the fertilising corpuscles, after separation
from the male, retain a certain amount of vitality.
In the same manner, on their separation from the
mother, the eggs possess a special and individual
life. Even in non-fertilised eggs, this vitality is
manifested by spontaneous and characteristic move-
ments, precisely the same as we observe in the
case of the male corpuscles. In the latter, all indi-
cations of vitality disappear in a comparatively short
time, and it is precisely the same in respect to non-
fertilised eggs. In the fertilised eggs, on the con-
trary, vital movements are prolonged, and result in
the complete organisation of a living being. The
contact of the egg with these 'corpuscles is not, there-
fore, to give or to re-awaken a life which is already
present in the egg, and which is manifested by ap-
preciable phenomena, but rather to regulate the ex-
ercise of this force and thus to secure its duration.*

* Several naturalists have observed the movements to which we
refer in non-fertilised eggs, but pre-occupied with the idea that
the male organic corpuscles were necessary to vivify the germ, they
have ascribed these movements to incipient putrefaction. The
experiment which we have described must, however, completely
set this view at rest, for it is obvious that eggs, whose chemical
composition had begun to be affected, could not possibly be re-

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 247

Under the influence of fecundation, all the parts
of the egg of the Hermella and of the Teredo are
changed into an animal. The entire mass of these
parts is transformed into tissue, the external mem-
brane becoming the skin of the new being. Here
we have in truth a metamorphosis in the strictest
sense of the word. As phenomena more or less
similar to those which we have sketched occur in all
species, whether oviparous or viviparous, it follows,
that this expression, which has been proscribed by
evolutionists, ought rather to be generalised and
applied to the development of all living beings.
Embryology might, properly speaking, be defined
as the science of metamorphoses.

The word metamorphosis would here assume a
general sense, and would designate the succession of
epigenetic facts, which produce from the germ either
a perfect plant or animal. Hitherto, however, it has
only been applied to those very apparent modifica-
tions which are experienced by certain animals after
their escape from the egg, and we will therefore
employ the term in its ordinary signification. Even
in this restricted sense, the phenomenon of metamor-
phosis is much more common than is generally sup-
posed. It was long regarded as a characteristic of
the class of Insects and of the group of the Batra-

organised so as to give birth to larvae. Since I published these
researches, the results which I obtained have been confirmed by
different observers. I had even an opportunity of thoroughly demon-
strating this fact to some of my colleagues, in the case of the eggs
of the Unio, in which these phenomena are very well marked, al-
though perhaps they are not so striking as in the eggs of the Hermella.
u 4

248 EAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

clrian reptiles.* At the present day, however, it
has been found to occur in a great number of the
Articulata and in most Molluscs and Radiate animals.
In proportion as this remarkable phenomenon is ob-
served in more numerous and more varied types, it
exhibits itself under an entirely new light. For ex-
ample, it was formerly believed that the object of
metamorphosis was always to raise the organism to a
more perfect condition. Such is indeed the case in
respect to the tadpole that becomes a frog, and to
the caterpillar which is changed into a butterfly, but
the result is often precisely the reverse. By the
very fact of metamorphosis, the organism becomes
degraded, and the adult animal only retains faculties
which are inferior to those of its larva, as if the
butterfly were to become a chrysalis, f

We will now consider what takes place in the case
of the Teredo.

The larva, which is at first almost spherical and
entirely covered with vibratile cilia, may be com-
pared to a very minute hedgehog, in which every
spine acts as a natatory organ. It swims in all
directions with extreme agility, and this first state
continues about a day and a half. Towards the end

* Frogs, Salamanders, &c. These animals are the only ones
belonging to the type of the Vertebrata which present true metamor-
phoses.

f Milne Edwards has proposed to apply the term recurrent types
to those animals in which the very progress of development seemed
to result in the organic degradation of the individual. One of the
best examples that we can give, independently of the Teredo referred
to in the text, is that of the Lernea, to which I have already
alluded in a preceding note.

THE BAY OF BISCAY. 249

of this time, the external skin bursts, and after being
incrusted with calcareous salts becomes a shell, which
is at first oval, then triangular, and at last very nearly
spherical. While the shell is being formed, the vi-
bratile cilia disappear, but the little animal is not
on that account condemned to inactivity. In pro-
portion as the external cilia diminish, we observe
that another equally ciliated organ becomes deve-
loped, which widens and extends in such a manner
as to form a large ruff or collar margined with
fringes. This new organ of locomotion may be en-
tirely concealed within the shell, or may be extended
from it, and acts in the manner of the paddle-wheel
of a steamboat.

By means of this apparatus, the young larva con-
tinues to swim with as much facility as in its earlier
age ; but it now moreover requires another organ,
which enables it to advance upon a resisting plane,
as, for instance, to rise along the side of a glass
.vessel. This is a sort of fleshy foot, very similar
to a long and very mobile tongue, which can be ex-
tended and contracted at will. The larva of the
Teredo possesses moreover organs of hearing similar
to those of several other Molluscs, and eyes analogous
to those of certain Annelids.

During this period of its existence, our Mollusc
therefore enjoys to a high degree the characteristic
faculties of a living being. It moves, and is brought
in relation with the external world by organs of the
special senses. Now, however, comes a last meta-
morphosis, and this same Teredo loses its organs of
motion and sensation, becoming a kind of inert mass

250 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

in which vegetative life replaces almost entirely the
active spontaneity of the animal.

If I have not fallen far below the task which I
had proposed to myself, even those among my readers
who are the least familiar with zoological science
will now be able to understand some of the attrac-
tions which belong to these embryological investiga-
tions. The birth and development of a germ, and
the metamorphoses of the being which derives its ex-
istence from that germ, are objects which cannot fail
to interest all those who are capable of thought and
feeling. The crudest facts have in themselves often
an immense interest in consequence of the questions
which they raise or solve, but even beyond the
modifications of form, and the transformations of
matter, it is impossible not to recognise something
infinitely superior. Everywhere in these phenomena
life appears as a distinct force, acting with one
special object which could not be attained by any
other agent, giving rise to germs, and fashioning
each one according to its species. While it is
always one and the same in its essence it is infinite
in its manifestations, enveloping inorganic and dead
matter in the rich mantle of organised creation.
We may recognise this force by its effects, but we
shall doubtless always remain ignorant of its nature.
Here we are most assuredly touching upon the pro-
foundest mysteries of this world ; for beyond this
primary cause there is nothing but the Cause of
causes , — there is nothing but God.

251

CHAP. IX.

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE.
LA ROCHELLE.

Journey from Paris to La Rochelle.— Historical notice of that town:
its origin ; its constitution ; its sieges. — Decay of La Rochelle. —
Poverty of the coast ; reciprocal dependence of the kingdoms of
nature. — The Branchellion ; its external characters ; its lym-
phatic respiration. — The natural method ; insufficiency of the
principle of dominant characters in the study of the lower animals.

A MERE glance at the geological atlas of France
will suffice to show that our western coasts present
two totally different varieties of geological structure.
At the extremity of Normandy, along the whole
length of Brittany, and on a considerable part of
Poitou, the ocean strikes upon a coast line consisting
of schistous or granitic rock ; while from Talmont as
far north as Saint Vaast nothing is to be seen but
limestone, which finally merges in sand and alluvial
deposits. The pursuit of marine animals had first
led me to the shores of the central mass of our con-
tinent ; subsequently I explored those of the Basque
country and the Channel. In all these different
regions, the animal populations, or, to use the current
expression, the/awrcos, appear to me to present cha-
racteristic differences corresponding to the nature of
the geological strata. I felt that to confirm this
general fact it would be necessary for me to visit

252 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

some intermediate point most likely to furnish
the data necessary for a rigorous comparison. I had
recourse to my usual councillors, the geological atlas
of MM. Dufrenoy and Elie de Beaumont and the
hydrographical atlas of M. Beautemps-Beaupre, and
from the indications afforded me by these works I was
induced to set forth for La Rochelle. It was in 1853,
on one of those gloomy evenings, which, by the cold
dampness of the atmosphere, made one feel as if
autumn had supplanted summer, that our diligence
was put upon the railway. At Saumur, our vehicle
was suffered to resume the use of its four wheels,
and at break of day we were passing one of those
military roads which have opened the way into the
recesses of ancient Vendee. Like many other useful
things in this world, our road was of a very modest
and unassuming kind, for it never attempted to
oppose or overcome the obstacles that lay before it.
Yielding to every accidental rise and fall of the
ground, it wound at one moment along the base of a
shady valley, at another round the sides of a
hill empurpled with flowering heather. An August
sun was rising above the horizon, gilding with its
rays the foliage of a grove of chestnut trees, and illu-
minating with its brightness masses of granite which
had witnessed the first cataclysm that had rent the
crust of our globe. The genial warmth soon restored
sensation to my stiffened limbs, and awoke a thousand
sweet sounds of birds and insects. Amid the rattling
of our wheels and the tinkling of the small bells
that adorned our horses, I felt the calm and solitude
around me in the same manner as at Paris I have
been conscious, amid the stillness of my own chamber,

THE COASTS OF SAINTOXGE. 253

of the distant hum that betokens the vicinity of a
busy and crowded city, and soon the bright sun, the
songs of the birds and the calmness of the scene,
filled my heart with a sentiment of happiness and
profound peace, which after a time seemed even to
extend to my travelling companions, who certainly
were amongst the most stolid and sullen individuals
that I had ever encountered.

I reached La Roche] le before night, and on the
following morning I hastened to pay my respects to
the elder M. d'Orbigny, one of the veterans of
marine zoology.* Like all men who have worked
hard themselves, M. d'Orbigny gives a hearty wel-
come to all those who follow in his own steps. On
the strength of my title of a naturalist I was re-
ceived as an old friend. I soon made the acquaint-
ance of several men devoted to the study of the
natural sciences, and in their company I visited the
Museum, in which they have made a most interesting
collection of the different productions belonging
to the three kingdoms of nature which are to be ob-

* M. d'Orbigny, who originally practised as a physician at
Esnandes, and subsequently at La Rochelle, has devoted himself with
the greatest enthusiasm and perseverance to the study of natural
history. Not contented with collecting and describing a great
number of marine animals, he was one of the most active corre-
spondents of Cuvier, and it is to him that the town of La Rochelle
owes in a great measure the foundation of its provincial museum.
The four sons of M. d'Orbigny have all devoted themselves in
various ways to the study of their father's favourite science. M.
Alcide d'Orbigny has acquired a distinguished reputation by his
travels in South America, and by the important palaDontological
memoirs which have led to his nomination to the rank of jn
at the Jardin des PlaiiU-s.

254 liAMBLES OP A NATURALIST.

tained in the department of the Lower Charente.
Having examined the local fauna, I at once under-
stood the nature of the district that I was about to
investigate, and was anxious to begin my labours
without delay. Unfortunately, however, it was
neap tide when I arrived, and as the sea scarcely
uncovered more than the highest zones of the beach,
which was very poor in animal life, I found no op-
portunity for some time of pursuing my zoological
investigations. To occupy this forced leisure, I
turned my attention to the past records of La
Rochelle, and began at once to study the history of
this city, which would very probably have played as
great a part in history as any of the Italian republics
if it had not been nearly crushed between France
and England.

Like Venice, La Rochelle has risen from the midst
of the sea, and has been peopled by the proscribed of
other nations. The ocean, which once advanced far
beyond its present limits, surrounded on three sides
a low rock,* forming a small elongated cape, which
appeared to emerge from the midst of vast morasses.
A few cottages grouped together round a tower ad-
joining a chapel, and inhabited by poor fishermen,
were built on this islet, and such was La Rochelle
until the beginning of the twelfth century. At this
period, the serfs of Chatelaillon and Montmeillan,
fleeing from their native territory, which had been

* This rocky ledge, on which were constructed first the tower,
and subsequently the castle, gave to the town the Latin name of
which its present name is a mere translation, namely, Rupella, or
little rock.

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 255

Liid waste by war and overwhelmed by the sea,
sought refuge on this far distant promontory. They
were joined by a colony of Colliberts, who had
been driven out of Lower Poitou, and in 1152
the population had so much increased that it was
found necessary to build a new church.* From this
period the importance of La Rochelle increased ra-
pidly. After his marriage with Eleanor of Aquitaine,
Henry II., anxious to secure the fidelity of a town
that was peopled by bold seamen and rich merchants,
raised it to the rank of a commune and granted
it very considerable privileges. At a later period,
Eleanor accorded them fresh immunities, and or-
ganised that energetic and active municipality which
successfully struggled against so many cro*wned
heads, and which subsisted for more than 400
years.f

The municipality of La Rochelle was composed
of twenty-four eschevins and seventy-six peers, ap-
pointed for life. This kind of senate was recruited, in
case of vacancies, by election, while moreover they
every year selected from their number three candi-
dates, from among whom the king or his representa-
tive was compelled to choose the mayor, who, during
the term of his office, exercised sovereign power.
The king of France, it is true, appointed a lieutenant-

* Histoire de la mile de La Rochelle et du pays d'Aulnts, composte
d'apres les Auleurs el les litres originaux, by M. Arcere, 1 756.

t The constitution of La Rochelle was fundamentally modified by
Francis I. in 1535, and re-established in its primitive form thirteen
years afterwards by Henry II. Independently of this temporary
suspension it continued almost unaltered from 1198 to 1628.

256 KAMBLES Or A NATURALIST.

general in civil and criminal matters ; but this func-
tionary could levy no tax, and his prerogatives were
limited to the nomination of the mayor and to the
presidency of the Rochellais tribunals. The military
governor, who was also nominated by the king, could
not issue any orders to the town militia, nor cause a
single soldier to enter into La Rochelle without the
permission of the mayor and the eschevins. It is
evident, therefore, that in regard to these privileges,
La Rochelle was a true republic, as free, and, in
reality, as independent of the crown, as the great
fiefs themselves.

By means of these institutions and the remarkable
men who were placed at its head, La Rochelle soon
assumed very considerable importance. At once
commercial and warlike, it was able, when the occa-
sion demanded it, to convert its trading-vessels into
ships of war, while its sailors were as speedily con-
verted into soldiers, who, from the time of du Gues-
clin to the days of the Duke de Guise, merited the
epithet of ruses soudards and braves gens. Thus
too, in the middle ages, it repeatedly played. a very
important political part. It made an honourable
peace with the king of Arragon, repulsed the English,
to whom the city had been surrendered by the treaty
of Bretigny, and afforded aid to du Guesclin. Again
we see it resisting the English and the Bourguignons
during the insanity of Charles VI., while it furnished
Charles VII. with the fleet by which he was enabled
to reconquer Bordeaux. During this long period
the spirit which animated La Rochelle continued
unchanged, and may be expressed in these words —

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 257

unlimited attachment to its privileges, and unalterable
fidelity to the sovereign who respected them. The
republic claimed as an honour its title of vassal of
the crown, but in return it exacted that the sovereign,
before he entered its walls, should swear to respect
its liberties. On this condition alone the mayor cut
the silken cord which was suspended before the
city gate, while on the same condition La Rochelle
pledged herself never to aid the enemies of France
with men or money, and always to remain a faithful
and serviceable ally of the sovereign — a compact
which she faithfully kept. The advance of society
and the antagonism of religious creeds at length,
however, severed a bond which for three centuries
had been consecrated by devotion on the one hand
and friendly protection on the other. La Rochelle
having become a stronghold of protestantism, the Count
de Montmorency, one of the generals of Charles IX.,
severed the cord that had been respected by so many
kings, and entered the city without having tendered
the usual oaths of good will. This was a signal for
a war, which was sometimes carried on openly and
honourably, and at other times covertly and treach-
erously ; but throughout this long contest, which
endured for nearly a century, La Rochelle maintained
the struggle always with honour, often with success.
Indeed she seems to have drawn an additional degree
of energy from the association of a new faith with
her antiquated form of policy. Twice the entire army
of France was ranged in order of battle before her
walls, and when at length she succumbed, it was to
VOL. II. S

258 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

no weaker power than the inflexible and persevering
genius of Richelieu.

Among the events which signalise the mournful
period of our religious wars, there are scarcely any
which equal in importance the two sieges of La
Rochelle by the royal troops. The Massacre of
Saint Bartholomew, on the 24th of August, 1572,
had placed the Rochellais on their guard, and on the
first news of this fearful event they prepared coura-
geously to defend their lives and religion.* The
mayor, Jacques-Henri, placed the city in a state of
defence, and armed all the inhabitants. Paris,
Orleans, Tours, Bordeaux, Castres, and Mmes, sent
reinforcements of Calvinists who had escaped the
sword of the assassins, and these refugees constituted
a formidable body known as the enfants perdus.

The territory of La Rochelle was indeed speedily
invaded, and the city closely invested by the royal
troops under the command of the Duke d'Anjou.
With him were also present the Duke d'Alen9on, his
brother, and Henry of Navarre, together with the elite
of the French nobility, including the Prince de
Conde, the Dukes de Nevers, Longueville, Guise,
and Mayenne, with the Duke d'Aumale, the Catholic
hero of " La Henriade," to whom Charles IX. had
confided the direction of the siege. The attack on

* Histoiredu 'siege de la Rochclh par le due d'Anjou en 1573, by
A. Genet. The author of this narrative, which is composed from a
purely military point of view, combines together all the documents
that have been left in relation to this siege, and it is from this writer
and from Father Arcere that we have extracted the materials em-
ployed in the above narrative.

THE COASTS OF SAIN'JXXN'GE. 259

the city was begun on the 15th of February, 1573,and
was carried on for four months with unparalleled
valour and obstinacy on both sides. At length in
the middle of June the Duke d'Anjou made one
groat concentrated assault upon the city, but having
been seven times repulsed, he finally ordered a
retreat to be sounded, and confessed himself van-
quished. These repeated checks had brought the
royal army to a state of hopeless demoralisation.
Disease was raging in the camp and decimating the
soldiers, whilst even their bravest captains were
discouraged at the hopeless progress of the siege.
The Duke d'Anjou, who had lately been elected
king of Poland, and in whose camp were the ambas-
sadors charged with the duty of conveying him to
his new states, earnestly desired to come to some
arrangement which would save appearances and
enable him to depart. The queen-mother, Catherine,
who felt that the glory of her favourite son had been
tarnished by the result of this prolonged siege,
caused negotiations to be seriously entered into
between the belligerents, and, as a first pledge of the
good faith of the royal party, the Rochellais received
a promise that the besiegers would destroy all their
works. Soon after this, Charles IX. was compelled
to sign one of the most favourable edicts that had as
yet been obtained by the reformed party, for the
Rochellais not only secured liberty of conscience for
themselves, but stipulated that the same privileges
should be accorded to all those who professed the
reformed faith in France.

s 2

260 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

Unfortunately this peace was as hollow as those
which had preceded it, and hostilities soon recom-
menced, in defiance of treaties. Although these
dissensions were suspended as long as Henry IV.
lived, they revived almost immediately after his
assassination by Ravaillac. The construction of
Fort Louis, which commanded the town, became an
incessant cause of uneasiness and irritation to the
Rochellais. Although every new treaty contained
a special clause for securing the demolition of this
citadel, it nevertheless continued to exist, recalling
to mind the gloomy prediction of Lesdiguieres, that
either " the town must swallow up the fortress, or
the fortress would swallow up the town." At length,
in 1627, Richelieu appeared before the gates of La
Rochelle, and in a very few days the inhabitants saw
that the ancient republic of Eleanor was drawing-
near its end. The issue of this second siege de-
stroyed the last stronghold of the Protestants, and
compelled them forcibly to submit to one common
law with their Catholic brethren. From this time
forth protestantism was simply a religion, and ceased
to constitute a political watchword.

The siege of 1573 was tinged with the character
of an age in which the traditions of chivalry were
not yet wholly effaced. It was purely by force of
arms that the captains of the Duke d'Anjou had
attempted to reduce the rebel city. Prodigal of
their own lives, they had shown very little care for
those of their soldiers. The fury of the attack and
the energy of the resistance explain the nature and
enormous amount of the losses experienced by both

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 261

parties, although more especially by the royal army*,
while at the same time they enable us the better to
appreciate the result of the undertaking. This
mode of fighting left some chance to heroism, and
this chance had been in favour of the Rochellais.

To imitate the Duke d'Anjou would have been
merely to have run the risk of encountering the same
obstacles and meeting with the same reverses.
Richelieu, who had determined to destroy in France
the Protestant party which he upheld in Germany,
followed from the first a totally different system of
tactics. In order to leave nothing to chance in this
terrible game of war, he changed the siege into a
blockade. By his order a trench six feet deep and
twelve feet wide was cut for a distance of twelve
miles around the suburbs of La Rochelle, terminating
at both extremities at the entrance of the bay.
Behind this trench rose a parapet, flanked by seven-
teen forts and a great number of redouts armed with
formidable artillery. Forty thousand chosen men,
under the command of the most skilful generals of
France, were encamped beyond those lines, with
orders not to fight excepting to repulse the sorties
of the besieged ; and the severe punishments which
were inflicted on those whose ardour led them to

* The troops of the Rochellais amounted to about 3100 ; of these
about 1300 were killed in the course of the siege. The royal army
amounted to 40,000 men, of whom 22,000 were killed ; more than
10,000 fell in the trenches or in the different engagements that
took place between the besieged and the assailants. The loss on
both sides was therefore nearly proportional to their numbers, and
from these data it would appear that the siege cost the lives of
nearly half of those who took part in it.

s 3

262 KAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

disobey these commands, soon taught the army that
this prohibition was one which could not be safely
trifled with.

Having made all his arrangements on the landside,
Richelieu next turned his attention to the sea. The
bay, at the termination of which the town is built, se-
parated the two extremities of his lines by a channel
of about 1500 yards, which the ships of La Rochelle
entered notwithstanding the fire of the batteries
and forts, and which consequently might be entered
by the English, the doubtful allies of the city.
Richelieu determined to bar the passage, and under
his directions stakes were driven in, vessels filled with
stones were sunk, and on the top of this foundation
a dyke was raised whose height exceeded the eleva-
tion of the highest tides. The narrow passage which
was left in the middle was protected by two acces-
sory piers, armed with two forts, and by a triple row
of ships of war, which were always ready for action,
while stakes were fastened together by iron rings,
and ships at anchor were ranged with their prows
turned towards the open sea, and armed with long
spikes for the purpose of arresting fire-ships or other
combustible matters that might be sent against them.
Richelieu then waited with that patience which
the certainty of success alone can engender.

In fact the fall of Rochelle was a mere question of
time. Its inhabitants, who were thus completely cut
off from the rest of the world, very soon exhausted
all their provisions. The famine became horrible, and
the details that have been transmitted to us in refer-
ence to the subject by several eye-witnesses are truly

THE COASTS OP SAINTONGE. 263

frightful. After having eaten the most loathsome
animals, and attempted to substitute pounded bones
and sawdust for corn, and leather or parchment in
the place of meat, the Rochellais attempted to cheat
their hunger by devouring plaster and grated slates.
Many fed upon the bodies of the dead, and one woman
died in the act of devouring her own arm. The
bodies of the dead encumbered the streets and re-
mained unburied till they were entirely decomposed.
The living, who were covered with a black skin,
through which their bones protruded, experienced
the most horrible pain on the slightest touch. To-
wards the close of the siege, 400 persons died daily,
and when, after fourteen months and sixteen days'
blockade, Louis XIII. made his entrance into La
Rochelle he could not restrain his tears at the sight
of so much suffering, although precautions had been
taken to render the spectacle as free from horror as
possible. Only 5,000 Rochellais received him and
implored his pardon and favour ; out of the 28,000
inhabitants which the city had contained at the begin-
ning of the siege 23,000 had died of famine.*

A whole population seldom attains this degree of
heroic constancy, if it be not sustained by some noble
spirit who can inspire them with his own energy.
Such a man was Jean Guiton. Descended from a
family of eschevins, and the son and grandson of mayors,
this celebrated Rochellais had at first exclusively oc-
cupied himself with the cares of business and the

* A thousand persons died from the effects of their privations
after the surrender of the city, and there remained therefore only
about 4000 of the original population of La Rochelle.

s 4

264 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

management of a somewhat impaired fortune, but
having been named admiral at the age of thirty -nine,
he at once displayed the greatest military talents, and
a most indomitable firmness.* He had begun by at-
tacking the royal fleet, which was twice as strong as
his own, and after putting it to flight, had captured
several vessels. Next, with 5000 men and 500 can-
nons, he attacked the Duke de Guise, whose vessels
were at once larger and better armed, carrying 14,000
men and nearly 650 cannons. This was a most san-
guinary battle. 14,000 discharges of cannon were
made in two hours, and both commanders incurred
the most imminent peril. Night interrupted this
unequal struggle ; but instead of profiting by it to
escape, Guiton and his Bochellais remained in battle
array, ready to recommence hostilities in the morning.
By break of day news arrived that peace had been
signed. Then Guiton went to salute the Duke de
Guise, and offered him his standard as the representa-
tive of the king of France. Guise refused it, declar-
ing that he had not gained it. He embraced Guiton,
and said to the Rochellais captains, " Yous etes de
braves gens d'avoir oze combattre si vaillamment ; c'est
a quoy je ne m'attendais pas, et estimais que, voyant
une armee si puissante, vous deussiez vous retirer
sans combattre." " Monseigneur," answered Gui-
ton, " jusqu'ici Dieu m'a faict cette grace de n'avoir
jamais tourne le dos au combat, et je me fusse plus-
tot perdu par le feu que de fair."

Such was the man whom the Rochellais chose for

* Jean Guiton, dernier maire de Vancienne Commune de La
Rochelle, by P. S. Callot, ex-mayor of the city, 1847.

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 265

their chief, when after having been besieged for nine
months and having exhausted all other resources,
they wished to strengthen their own courage. It
required more than ordinary devotion to accept a
duty like this, and we can scarcely wonder that
Guiton should at first have hesitated ; but when once
he accepted the charge confided to him, he never
wavered for a moment. In the midst of the most
horrible scenes, he always showed himself calm and
almost cheerful in his bearing towards his fellow
citizens. He managed everything both in regard to
the internal administration, the defence of the city,
and the negotiations which were being carried on
both with England and the king of France. By day
he presided over the councils, visited the sick, and
consoled the dying, and at night he made the rounds
and himself gave orders to those on guard. Some
few citizens, bewildered by suffering, and fully con-
scious that it was he alone who prolonged this des-
perate resistance, attempted to set fire to his house,
and even endeavoured on several occasions to assassi-
nate him. Guiton, although he had no mercy for
spies and traitors, contented himself with commit-
ting them to prison, and pursued his unswerving
course. At length, having twice seen the English
fleet approach the roads without making any attempt
to aid them, after having ascertained that a treaty
had been signed by which these faithless allies left
them to the mercies of Richelieu*, and finding that

* It is easy to perceive, from reading the details of the negotia-
tions which took place before and during the siege, that the English
government had expected to find among the inhabitants of La

266 KAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

his garrison was reduced to seventy-four Frenchmen
and sixty-two Englishmen, Guiton felt that he had
done enough, and had exacted from his compatriots
all that was humanly possible ; he therefore now
came forward and entreated them to surrender to the
king, and laying aside all personal feeling went and
himself liberated from prison one of his greatest
enemies, the assessor Raphael Colin, and entrusted
to him the command of the city, in order the more
effectually to facilitate the conclusion of the treaty.

The conditions were extremely severe ; for although
life, property, and liberty of conscience were granted
to the few surviving Rochellais, all the privileges of
the city were annulled, and it was stipulated that
the ramparts and other defences of La Rochelle
were to be entirely destroyed.* The mayor and ten

Rochelle a sentiment of animosity against France, or at all events
against the king, which they were very far from entertaining.
Buckingham probably hoped by the aid of religious dissensions to
bring back those times when England possessed one of the finest
districts of France. These hopes were, however, frustrated by the
cordial patriotism of the Rochellais, and when the fact was once
ascertained, a marked coolness was exhibited towards them by the
English. The armaments which had been promised to them, and
the reinforcements on which they had relied, never reached them.
Finally, the want of success which attended the expedition conducted
by Buckingham himself on the island of Re, in 1627 (in which he
was repulsed by Toiras, and defeated by Schomberg), thoroughly
disgusted him with the war, and he concluded a separate peace with
France without informing his allies of the step he had taken.

* These conditions which were granted by Richelieu when all
further resistance was absolutely impossible, exhibit the real cha-
racter of this struggle. It is evident that it was more especially of
a political character, at least in the eyes of the leaders of the oppo-
site parties. If the Cardinal had acted in accordance with the

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 267

of the principal burgesses were at first exiled, but
they returned some time afterwards, while Guiton
took service in the royal navy with the rank of
captain. He died at La Rochelle at the age of
seventy-nine, and was interred near the canal of La
Verdiere, where had stood the ramparts which he de-
fended with so much constancy, and close to fort Louis,
which had been the cause or pretext of those wars in
which he had so signally distinguished himself, and
within sight of the dyke which completed the ruin of
his native city.

With the exception of Colin and a few compilers
who have blindly followed his statements, all writers
are unanimous in their appreciation of Guiton ;
Catholics and Protestants, priests and laymen, all
alike agree in rendering homage to the magnanimity
of his character and the nobleness of his heart.*
Hence his name has always been popular at La
Rochelle, where the marble slab is still shown on
which he struck his poignard when he swore to
defend the city to the utmost of his ability. A
proposal was made in 1841 to erect a statue to

catholic spirit of his age, he would not have left the Rochellais to
the free enjoyment of their own mode of worship. If the munici-
pality had considered its religious faith before its municipal rights,
it would not have taken those minute, and occasionally even offen-
sive precautions against the English, which afford the only expla-
nation of the strange and somewhat ungenerous conduct of
Buckingham and his successors towards their allies.

* During the siege some fanatics offered on different occasions to
assassinate Richelieu. ' Guiton rejected these offers with indignation,
giving utterance to his refusal in nearly the words of the minister
Colbert : " It is not by such means that God will deliver us."

268 11 AMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

Guiton, but the existing government refused to
ratify this vote of the municipal council of La
Rochelle.

It is difficult to explain the motives of this refusal,
for if it were from the apprehension of seeming to
sanction a revolt, the fear was entirely unfounded,
for Guiton and his fellow-citizens cannot in any
respect be regarded as rebels. They demanded
nothing more than the execution of a contract that
had been ratified by many successive kings, and
sanctioned by the authority of ages, and which more-
over they had always faithfully observed. During
the whole of the siege the fleurs de Us were respect-
fully preserved on the city gates, and every day
through the sorest times of the famine they prayed
to God for the life of the king. But their fidelity
was subordinate to their attachment to their ancient
privileges, and the latter being irreconcilable with
the progress of society, and with that spirit of fusion
or amalgamation of different parties in the state
which was accelerated by the powerful hand of
Richelieu, they were necessarily doomed to perish.
La Rochelle had incontestably ancient rights on her
side, whilst the Cardinal might invoke the aid of the
new order of things ; and perhaps we may be per-
mitted to say that in this sanguinary conflict the
attack and the defence were equally legitimate.

La Rochelle has never entirely recovered from
the terrible blow inflicted by the hand of Richelieu.
At different times its relations with Canada, the
coasts of Africa, or Saint Domingo, have restored
commerce and riches to her walls, and in our own

THE COASTS OF SAINTOXGE. 269

day its well-known medicinal salts, brandies, and
various fishing expeditions, bring numerous ships
into the harbour, but the population has never ap-
proximated to its original numbers. It has been
at once reduced and transformed, for La Eochelle
contains now only 15,000 inhabitants, of whom only
about 800 are Protestants, while there is scarcely a
family that can trace its genealogy as far back as the
time of the sieges. The persecutions which began as
soon as the Calvinists were no longer to be feared, the
revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and the emigration
to which it gave rise, and lastly mixed marriages,
which have almost always been contracted to the
advantage of the dominant religion, have combined
to bring about these results.

The town itself is but little changed ; the streets
are still bordered with porticoes or low galleries,
which entirely conceal the pedestrians, and give to
the city a desolate and sombre aspect which com-
pletely harmonises with the puritanical austerity of
the original builders. The Hotel-de-Ville, with its
smooth stone facade, with its fortress-like gate, its
two towers, and its rows of battlements and loop-
holes, is a faithful representation of the Maison
Commune of those haughty merchants who fought
under Morisson and Jean Guiton. But the ram-
parts which once protected the city have all dis-
appeared with the exception of three towers pre-
served by Richelieu as citadels, and subsequently
connected with the fortifications which were erected
in accordance with Vauban's plans. On a hill whose
summit commands the harbour and the town stands

270 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

a cheerful country house with an adjoining farm and
gardens, enclosed between a line of low hillocks.
These hillocks, which are every year being more and
more levelled by the action of the plough, are all
that now remains of Fort Louis, which according to
the prediction was to have swallowed up the city,
and it is only with difficulty that the eye can trace
by a few irregularities of the soil, the plan of the
glacis and the lines of its trenches. The dyke has
been better preserved ; for although the winds and
the waves have demolished the summit and rendered
the sides less steep, its foundation stones may still be
seen at low water, running out from the shore in a
long black line, which still seems as if it would bar
the entrance to the harbour.

The neap tides, which had opposed so decided an
obstacle to my zoological excursions, did not, how-
ever, prevent me from traversing the coast day by
day in order to form some idea of my prospects of
success, and certainly my first explorations inspired
me with very serious apprehensions on this subject.

My preceding researches had shown me that lime-
stone is infinitely less rich in marine animals than
schists and granites. The greater softness of this
stone prevents it from resisting a purely mechanical
shock, even when it occurs in compact masses. Be-
sides this, the chemical composition of limestone
enables the water to dissolve a portion of it, which
although inconsiderable is not the less appreciable.
On this account the Alga? and Fuci, which on the
shores of Brittany cover the granite with detached
clumps or extended sheets of verdure, cannot attach

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 271

themselves securely to these surfaces, which are
always being broken up, and on this account they
are of much rarer occurrence. With their disap-
pearance, numerous species of animals vanish from
sight which either feed upon these marine plants, or
find a retreat within their branches. The same con-
ditions oppose similar obstacles to the multiplication
of Zoophytes and other fixed animals. With the
herbivorous species and with those which are sta-
tionary in the manner of plants, all the carnivorous
species also disappear which live at their expense.
If, moreover, the limestone happens to be formed of
fissured strata, which the waves can easily break up,
the preceding causes exercise a still stronger action,
while, moreover, those animals which usually conceal
themselves or at any rate deposit their eggs within
the recesses of the rock, diminish in their turn from
the want of safe retreats. Finally, if these strata
form inclined planes towards the sea, the springs in
the neighbouring district follow these water-courses,
and bursting forth in streams along the beach, di-
minish the saltness of the water which washes the
shore and drive away all those animals which are
more decidedly marine in their character.

It is obvious, therefore, that the richness and cha-
racter of the littoral fauna depend upon the minera-
logical composition and geological structure of the
district. This is one of the thousand examples which
show us how great an influence the mineral king-
dom occasionally exerts over the two other kingdoms
of nature, and how organised and living beings may
be placed in a state of dependence on inert bodies,

272 RAMBLES OP A NATURALIST.

and finally how all the links in the great chain of
creation are held and bound together by one univer-
sal whole which constitutes the great end and object
of the studies of the naturalist.

All these causes of depopulation were combined
together in the environs of La Rochelle. Every-
where the oolitic limestone exhibited its shallow
strata, broken in every direction and cut perpen-
dicularly down by the action of the waves. At the
foot of these cliffs, there usually extended a long
line of the same rocks, formed into broad inclined
tiers. Even on the most favourably situated points,
I found a marine plant which from its colour and
plaited leaves has been compared to our lettuce, and
which only grows in brackish water ; down to the
very zones of the lowest tide-mark, this inauspicious
Ulva formed vast beds, amid which the Fucus that had
been closely cut looked something like badly grown
chicory. One last sign, which was scarcely less un-
promising than the preceding ones, made me tremble
for the result of my expedition. Long experience
had taught me that nothing is to be found in pure
mud. Alike hurtful to the eggs and to the adult
individuals, it destroys the former by preventing the
oxygen from reaching the germs, while it is not
suited for the habitation of the latter, which require
a somewhat resistant soil through which to carry
their passages and galleries.

Now at La Rochelle the mud invades everything,
both the harbour and the bay ; and it is scarcely
possible for the sluices to keep a channel deep enough
for the passage of trading vessels. Beyond this arti-

TilE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 273

ficial canal, nothing is to be seen but a bed of black
or yellow mud, which extends from the highest zones
far below the limits of the lowest tides. There are
even some uncovered spots, where one would have
imagined that the waves would have swept every-
thing away, yet here the mud is more than a foot
deep, and covers with its thick mantle both sands
and rocks, while it fills up every fissure and opening.
The slightest agitation is sufficient to move the semi-
fluid stratum, and indeed along the whole length of
the coasts the water is almost always turbid, the
slightest breeze of wind being sufficient to render it
thick and to give it an appearance almost of solidity.
Farther off land, the sea, without being much clearer,
preserves something of its natural colour. Its blue,
blending with the yellow of the mud, often changes
into a fine green colour. At certain moments when
the isolated clouds marble the ocean with their
shadows, and a light breeze breaks the water into
furrows, the play of the light upon the surface of the
waves produces a strange illusion. It almost seems
as if you were looking at a vast plain, the nearest
portions of which consisted of freshly cut corn fields
beyond which a rich tract of fresh meadows seemed
to stretch to the very horizon.

Several causes combine to produce this accumu-
lation of earthy particles in the waters of the Sain-
tonge. From north to south, from Point Aiguillon
to Point Fouras, the islands of Re, Aix, and Oleron
form as it were a kind of interrupted dyke, which
runs along the shore, and is separated from it by an
irregular canal, which is very much contracted towards

VOL. II. T

274 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

the south. Several rivers, amongst others the Cha-
rente, the Sevre, and the Saint Benoit, empty them-
selves into this basin, and their currents, which are
opposed to each other owing to the situation of their
mouths and the disposition of the coast, mutually
neutralise one another. Thus the detritus, which
has been carried away from the marshy districts
through which they have flowed, is prevented from
being discharged into the open sea.

The ocean on the other hand contributes in two
different ways in maintaining and augmenting this
accumulation of mud. For a considerable distance
from the coast the sea is of very little depth, and its
bottom, which is composed of strata very similar to
those of the neighbouring districts, is readily in-
fluenced even by ordinary tides. The water flowing
within the space inclosed by the islands and the
coast penetrates into it by three straits *, and meets
on its passage with submarine beds, from which it
always takes up a certain amount of matter, while
the currents, impinging upon one another, serve only
to carry new detritus towards the shore. This cause
acts with a very much greater force, when the wind,
coming from the open sea, drives the high waves
of the Atlantic against the coast. At this time, the
bottom of the sea seems to be convulsed by the agi-
tation of these liquid masses, whilst the cliffs, which
are formed of yielding rock, giving way to the re-

* These straits are the strait of Breton, between the island of Re
and the coast ; the strait of Antioche, between the islands of Re and
Oleron ; and the strait of Maumusson between the islands of Oleron
and the continent-

THE COASTS OF SAINTOXGE. 275

peated shocks which shake and undermine their base,
fall away in large fragments, and mingle their debris
reduced to powder with those which the waves have
torn up from the very depths of the ocean. Thus
we find along the whole length of this coast that the
sea has been effecting the double work of accumu-
lating mud and of breaking down the rocks — results
which we may see confirmed at the very gates of
La Rochelle.

My first researches confirmed but too well the
discouraging presentiments with which the inspection
of these coasts had inspired me. I was obliged to
go to the lowest tide mark before I could meet with
animals which elsewhere are found in the highest
zones, and even there, although I worked diligently
with my pickaxe and crowbar, I only found a few
common species, which I recognised from having
seen them both at Boulogne and Saint-Jean-de-Luz.
After many equally unprofitable attempts, and
finding that my bottles still continued empty, I gave
up my ordinary methods of exploring, and tried
what could be done by other means.

It was then that I had reason to congratulate myself
for not having listened to the petty vanities of society
or to self-love and a desire of ease, and that, faithful
to the habits of a devoted labourer in the cause of
science, I had avoided taking up my residence in
the fashionable quarters of the city. The lodging
which I secured was situated at the harbour, in a
tavern which was chiefly frequented by the work-
men of the neighbouring docks. My hostess, who
was no longer young, was somewhat of a scold, and

T2

276 11 AMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

without incurring the reproach of being over fastidi-
ous, I might have objected to the flavour of the
viands and the amount of cleanliness with which
my meals were served ; but my room was large and
light,, and before me stretched the harbour with its
three basins where I could see every barque that
entered the roads of La Bochelle. I was in the
midst of the fishermen and sailors, and by the help
of some introductions, which are quite as necessary
in such a case as in any other, I made the acquaint-
ance of two masters of merchant vessels. I saw
them very frequently, and took care always to pay
them great attention. Doctor Sauve joined ^his
influence to my solicitations, and finally succeeded in
bringing me a very curious animal, whose existence
in the seas of La Rochelle had been one of the main
inducements that led me to visit that place. A few
details regarding this remarkable species will I hope
make my readers comprehend that in the present
condition of modern science, a little worm like this
may not be an unworthy inducement to a naturalist
to undertake a journey of 450 miles for the express
purpose of studying its anatomy and internal organ-
isation.

Those naturalists who, by combining a number of
hitherto isolated facts into one general whole, elevated
zoology into a true science, were necessarily led to
direct their attention first to the best defined and
most natural groups of a fixed type ; consisting of
animals whose anatomy indicated in the most decided
manner a fundamental plan. When they encountered
one of those groups of a variable type, in which the

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 277

species which appear to be most similar under certain
relations differ essentially in respect to others, and
when their scalpel was employed in the dissection of
those animals which deviate abruptly from the
neighbouring groups, appearing to form a distinct
class, they passed over these exceptions, which were
at first very rare, or endeavoured, as well as they
could, to make them fall within their regular systems.
This mode of studying animals could indeed only
afford a key to a method of classification, and while
it revealed the general tendencies of the organisation
and inspired elevated views capable of embracing
the entire animal kingdom in one vast and general
whole, it necessarily was attended with very serious
inconveniences. The science of living creatures
was assimilated too closely to that of inert bodies,
and because the latter presented a certain number of
more or less rigorous laws, a premature attempt was
made to proceed in the same manner in respect to
descriptive zoology, anatomy, and physiology. Very
soon zoology, like physics and chemistry, and almost
like mathematics, had a certain number of formulas,
which were generally estimated at their right value
by those who propounded them, but which many of
their pupils and imitators soon converted into in-
flexible rules and incontestable truths.

Science, however, has always advanced, and it has
been found necessary to admit that a great number
of generalisations which had been taken for granted
or recognised as facts thirty years ago, require in
our own day a most severe revision. From hence
has arisen that special interest which belongs to the

T 3

278 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

study of long neglected animal groups, and hence also
has emanated a spirit of emulation which brings the
naturalists of all countries to the sea-side, in search
of the objects of their study. The marine faunas
bear indeed very little resemblance to those of the
land, or air, or fresh water. The sea contains entire
groups belonging to special types which have no
representatives elsewhere. Here live almost exclu-
sively those singular beings which are often of
considerable size, although the animal organisation
is reduced to its simplest expression, seeming almost
as if they were objects fitted by the hand of nature
for elaborate experiments in physiology and which it
is sufficient to know, recognise, and interpret. It is
here more especially that we must seek those animals
of abnormal external forms and exceptional organic
arrangements which open to the student of nature vast
and ever varied fields of inquiry.

Considered from this point of view, the JBranchel-
lion merits the serious attention of naturalists. This
animal lives as a parasite upon the Torpedo, and is
never met with elsewhere, a fact which, it may be
observed, is in itself extremely curious. Every one
is aware that the Torpedo is a living electrical
machine, which has the power of striking its enemies
even at a very considerable distance. Fishermen
daily witness evidences of the singular faculty of
this fish. As soon as it enters their net or chalut,
they are made aware of the fact by the shocks which
are transmitted through the tackle by which it is
suspended, and I was assured that these shocks are
often sufficiently violent to compel the men to let go

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 279

when they are drawing in their nets, and thus allow
the whole haul to fall back into the sea. To enable
the Branchellion to live with impunity upon the
body of the Torpedo its organisation must render
it insensible to electrical action, so as to allow this
worm, which varies from an inch to an inch and a
half in length, to resist the force of discharges which
shake even the strongest man.

The Branchellion, which was first discovered by
Rudolphi *, was classed by Savigny f among the

* Rudolphi, professor and director of the Museum at Berlin, is
justly regarded as the founder of Helminthology. He has devoted
almost all his life to the study of the Intestinal Worms. His principal
works on this subject are entitled Entozoorum sive vermium intesti-
naliurn historia naturalis, and Entozoorum Synopsis, which will always
serve as a point of departure for researches of this nature.

f Savigny, a member of the Institute, was born at Provins in
1777, and died at Versailles in 1851. Destined for the clerical
profession, he commenced his studies in the College of the Orato-
rians, where he showed such aptitude for learning, that his teachers
predicted for him a successful career in the church, but the Revolu-
tion changed the destiny of Savigny. At the age of sixteen, he
came to Paris to attend the classes of the Ecole JVormale, and he then
lodged in a garret in the Rue Copeau. He soon, however, made
himself known by several memoirs on botany, in consequence
of which he was appointed professor at the Ecole Centrale of Rouen.
At this time, however, Bonaparte was organising his expedition for
Egypt. Cuvier, who appreciated the talents of Savigny, recom-
mended him for the post of zoologist in association with Geoffrey
Saint-Hilaire, and when he hesitated, on the plea that his studies had
hitherto been of a different nature, Cuvier replied to him: " Partez,
vous serez zoologiste quand vous voudrez."

Savigny justified this confidence both by his zeal and by the
number and value of his researches. Having been commissioned to
collect and study the Invertebrate animals, he not only traversed
the whole of Egypt, but he advanced as far as possible along the
coasts of the Red Sea, to observe the marine species which it

T 4

280 KAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

leeches. Cuvier, De Blainville, and their successors
adhered to this arrangement, although its external

contains in such large quantities. He was at Alexandria at the
period of the capitulation of the French army, and he was the first
to respond to the generous enthusiasm which, initiated by Geoffroy
Saint-Hilaire, enabled France to retain the fruits of her scientific
conquests when all else was lost.

On his return to France, Savigny resumed his studies with
redoubled ardour. While he was preparing his part of the great
work on Egypt, he published in succession several memoirs on
entirely new subjects, and it was then, in the very prime of life
and with one of the noblest scientific careers open before him, that
his labours were suddenly arrested. In 1817 he experienced the
first symptoms of a singular malady, which partially disappeared
with rest, but which having been revived by a premature application
to study, changed the rest of his life into one prolonged scene of
suffering. On the first symtoms of a relapse, Savigny understood
the fate that awaited him. In a letter which he wrote to his fellow-
citizens to announce the gift which he had made to his native town
of Provins of his copy of the great work on Egypt, he himself
related in the most touching manner the torments which he suffered.
It would appear that the nerves of special sensation were morbidly
affected ; grotesque and often threatening visions rose before his
eyes; voices, sometimes harmonious and sometimes discordant, were
ever singing in his ears; and fetid odours seemed to be diffused
around him.

If the unhappy Savigny retained his reason in this painful and
terrible condition, and if he were enabled to the latest moment of
his life to study and describe his sufferings, he owed this power in
a great measure to the generosity of a friend who gave him for his
residence a charming cottage near Versailles, and more especially
to one of those manifestations of disinterested devotion of which
women alone seem to be capable. For twenty-seven years Ma-
demoiselle Letellier de Sainte- Ville shared his prison. Placed by the
side of the wire screen, which closed the darkened chamber in
which Savigny suffered, she watched over him, read to him, and
kept him acquainted with the progress of science, and thus con-
nected him with that world to which he could never return.

Although the active scientific career of Savigny was thus brought

THE COASTS OP SAI^TONGE. 281

characters ought of themselves to have raised some
doubts on this head. Like the leech, the Branchel-
lion is furnished at each of its extremities with a
sucker, which enables it to affix itself securely, but
the body, instead of being in a single piece, as is the
case in all the animals to which it approximates,
bears on its anterior extremity a kind of rounded
enlarged and spindle-shaped neck, which is very
nearly one- third of the whole length, whilst the rest
of the animal, which resembles a dark violet coloured
leech, presents on each side a series of thin lamina)
widened in a fan-like shape, plaited on the edges,
and of a lighter colour. By this division of the body
into two very distinct portions, and by the existence
of these appendages the Branchellion formed a soli-
tary exception in the group of the Hirudinere *, and
by placing it in the same family, and side by side
with the ordinary leech, De Blainville acted in direct

to a close before his life was half spent, and although he was never
able to publish the greater part of the materials which he had
collected, he must still rank in the number of the founders of
modern science. Cuvier has gracefully characterised his labours in
a single sentence : " Savigny ne decouvre pas, il revele," words
which aptly express the unexpected nature of many of the results
discovered by this naturalist After an interval of twenty years we
can fully confirm this judgment. The memoirs of Savigny on the
Annelids, on simple and compound Ascidians, on the structure of
the mouth of Insects, &c., are still the standard works on the
subjects of which they treat, and indicate that their author
possessed in an extraordinary degree a combination of those two
rare properties, great power of observation and a spirit of generali-
sation which was at once bold and vigorous (see the Eloge de
Savigny, by M. J. Geoffroy Saint- Hilaire).

* The name of the family, in which are included all worms that
are allied to the leeches.

282 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

opposition to some of those principles which he had
himself most strenuously advocated. The truth is,
that in the presence of the great variability of the
lower animals, even the greatest systematisers are
forced to yield to evidence, and to renounce those
arrangements which have been arbitrarily drawn up,
and under which they endeavour to comprise the
whole of the animal creation. The remarkable
external characteristics of the Branchellion attracted
the attention of anatomists, who were impressed with
the conviction that it would be found to possess an
equally singular internal organisation. Unfortu-
nately, however, the Branchellion is not of common
occurrence ; indeed it is but rarely met with even in
those places where the Torpedo is taken by hundreds,
and yet it is impossible to make any accurate observa-
tions on the animal except in its living state. I knew
from my own personal experience that no available
results could be obtained from specimens preserved
in spirits, for the alcohol hardens the animal, and
confounds all its organs and tissues. I was not then
acquainted with the works which had been recently
published in Germany on the subject, and there
remained therefore many questions for me to deter-
mine.* For instance, I was anxious to ascertain what

* F. Leydig, a distinguished naturalist, published, some time
before my departure for La Rochelle, a very interesting notice of the
Branchellion, which he had observed in the living state at Genoa.
The results at which we both arrived agree in most points, although
they differ on several. These differences are no doubt in part to
be ascribed to the more favourable circumstances in which I was
able to examine these animals, and perhaps also in part due to
our having observed different species. Some details given by

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 283

were the lateral appendages which were placed on
each ring like so many vertical fringes ; were they
simple cutaneous folds, as had been affirmed by
Cuvier, De Blainville, and all their successors ?
were they the respiratory organs, as Rudolphi and
Savigny appear to have conjectured them to be after
the inspection of a single specimen ? If this were
the case the Branchellion would be a leech with
branchiae, that is to say, an animal of an exceptional
kind, not only in respect to the family to which it
belonged, but also in respect to the neighbouring
groups. If we are to accept the principles of which
I have already spoken in their strictest sense this
would be as singular as if we were to meet with a
mammal without lungs; and although we may observe
in the lower animals very considerable deviations
from their assumed normal types, this would be a
most extraordinary deviation. Yet I learned from
direct observation that such was actually the case,
and repeated experiments fully confirmed this result.
When seen under the microscope these broad
membranous laminae, which appear to be so thin and
of so simple an organisation, showed that they were
protected by cutaneous strata, moved and kept open
by muscular and ligamentous fibres, and animated by
nerves. I further discovered ramified canals giving
origin to a network permeated by a perfectly colour-

Leydig have led me to think that there may be two species of
Branchellion, although only one species has yet heen recognised.
I brought the preparations with me to Paris which are necessary to
demonstrate the exactness of all the essential facts which I obtained
from my investigations.

284 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

less liquid which was loaded with very minute
granules whose movements indicated those of the
liquid itself. This characteristic structure was in it-
self sufficient to authorise us in regarding these appen-
dages as true branchia3, but I wished to obtain a
more decisive proof for my own satisfaction and that
of others.

By means of a finely pointed syringe, I injected into
the canals which connect these appendages a preci-
pitate of iron of a faint bluish colour, which has the
property of becoming darker on being brought into
contact with oxygen, and of becoming changed into
a Prussian blue colour. I took care to select an
animal that was full of life and activity, but although
the operation was perfectly successful, I did not at
first perceive any change ; the colour of the liquid
employed being concealed by that of the tissues.
But very soon the air in the water which penetrated
through the living tissues of the animal, acted upon
my precipitate as it would have done upon the blood
itself, and yielded to it its oxygen. I saw the
appendages become rapidly coloured, whilst the
vessels assumed the appearance of undulating lines
of a blue tint, which became every moment deeper,
and in a very short time I could perceive their rami-
fications with a simple lens. This experiment was
decisive. I had seen the Branchellion respire the
salt of iron, if I may be allowed to use the expres-
sion ; the appendages were therefore incontestably
branchia3.*

* In this experiment, the portion of the injected liquid which had
penetrated into the interior of the body, did not present any change

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 285

Having once determined the part played by these
organs, I had next to inquire what liquid it was that
was exposed in them to the action of the air. This
question may at first sight seem a singular one.
Without any profound knowledge of natural history,
and even without any acquaintance with medical
science, most persons are aware that the blood is
subjected to various alterations by the action of re-
spiration, which is performed by lungs in Mammals,
Birds, and Reptiles, and by branchiae in the case of
Fishes. Is there then in certain of the Invertebrata
some other nutrient fluid besides the blood ? and does
this liquid require to be vivified by being brought
in contact with the air ? We reply in the affirmative
to both these questions, and at once proceed to enter
into a few details which may render this very im-
portant fact more easy of comprehension.

In all animals without exception the nutrient
fluid, whatever may be its true nature *, becomes
constantly exhausted by its sojourn in the organs,
and repairs its losses by the materials furnished to it

of colour for more than forty-eight hours. This difference of time,
together with the appearances presented by the lateral lamella;,
places the respiratory nature of the latter beyond all doubt.

The method which I employed to determine the function of
these lamellae might be adopted in many analogous circumstances.
Considered from this point of view it would, I think, be found to be
highly serviceable ; for we are still ignorant of the exact point at
which the respiratory process is effected in the case of a great
number of animals.

* I have elsewhere endeavoured to show how the circulatory
apparatus becomes successively completed, and how this progressive
complication corresponds with the equally progressive character of
the nutrient fluids.

286 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

by digestion on the one hand, and by interstitial se-
cretion on the other. In Man and in all the Verte-
brata, the blood thus receives the chyle and the
lymph, and these two liquids, which proceed the one
from the digestive organs and the other from all
parts of the body, circulate in special vessels which
communicate by a common trunk with the system of
the blood-vessels. In consequence of this disposition
or mode of arrangement, the chyle and lymph remain
distinct from the blood and the other liquids which
bathe all our tissues.

In the Invertebrata there are no lymphatics or
lacteals. Here, moreover, we miss that cellular or
connective tissue which lines all the interstices of the
different organs in the Vertebrata; and in conse-
quence of its absence we meet with large, empty,
free spaces or lacunae, which separate the organs.
The lymph and the chyle not being enclosed in
vessels fall into these spaces, which are thus filled
by the liquid which is being elaborated to repair the
losses of the blood. We may easily comprehend
from these few words how important a physiological
part must be played in the Invertebrata by the
general cavity which results from the presence of
these lacunae, and by the fluid enclosed within that
cavity.

We have already observed that in the Vertebrata
the chyle and the lymph are poured directly into the
vascular apparatus of the blood by means of the
vessels which enclose them. In the Invertebrata,
where these vessels are wanting, this cannot occur ;
and here two cases may present themselves. When

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 287

the circulatory circle is incomplete, and when there
exists some sort of interval between the termination
of the arteries and the origin of the veins, the blood
itself falls into the general cavity of the body, and
its admixture is effected within that cavity. Such
is the case in Insects, Crustaceans, Molluscs, &c.

When the circulatory circle is complete, when the
arteries and veins form a continuous circle, the repa-
ratory matters of the chyle and of the lymph can
only reach the blood by traversing the walls of the
blood-vessels. Certain of the Radiata and all the
Worms exhibit this phenomenon.

But whatever may be the existing anatomical
dispositions, there is one fact which we observe
in all animals. In order to become adapted for
the nourishment of the animal and to be trans-
formed into blood, chyle, and lymph, all the materials
destined to repair the incessant losses depending on
the wear and tear of the organism must first be ex-
posed to the action of the air. Thus in the Verte-
brata the lymphatic vessels open into the veins, in
the immediate vicinity of the respiratory organs.
In the Invertebrata even, when the blood mixes
directly with the chyle and the lymph, the anatomical
dispositions bring about a precisely similar result.

When the blood on the one hand and the chyle
and the lymph on the other, are enclosed in distinct
cavities without communicating with one another, it
becomes necessary that these two latter fluids should
each undergo a special respiratory action. Innume-
rable observations proved to me long ago that such
was the case. In the Worms more particularly, the

288 EAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

liquid of the general cavity is subjected to the respi-
ratory action, quite as much as the blood itself.*

Hitherto I had constantly seen the skin alone
performing this function. The air exerted its action
on the liquid to which I refer solely by means of the
integuments, either of the whole body or of some
portion of it which moreover served other purposes.
No animal was known which possessed special organs
for subjecting the chyle and the lymph to the respi-
ratory action; and consequently the observations
which I made on the Branchellion afforded me ample
materials for thought.

The lateral appendages of this animal are not
perfectly similar, some are thin and laminated
throughout their whole extent, others, to the number
of about two and twenty, are regularly partitioned and
arranged in pairs, having at their base a hemi-
spherical and semi-transparent enlargement. In each
of these protuberances (mamelons) I discovered a
kind of sac (ampulla), which regularly dilated and
contracted in the same manner as a heart. Such is
in effect the nature of this organ, and the liquid
which it encloses is the blood of the animal. This
blood appeared, however, in healthy individuals, to
be tinged with a fine brownish-red colour, whilst the
liquid circulating in the appendages themselves ap-

* These facts and the consequences deducible from them, have
met with considerable opposition. I have, however, daily the
pleasure of finding that they are more and more thoroughly
confirmed, and often in the most conclusive manner, by observers
who believe that they are making new discoveries while they are
only repeating my observations.

THE COASTS OF 8AINTONGE. 289

peared perfectly colourless. These two liquids could
not therefore be of the same nature. If one were
the blood properly so called the other could be
nothing but the liquid of the general cavity.

Such was the conclusion which I deduced from
observation alone, but which was fully confirmed
by experiment. On injecting the vessels, I filled all
the sacs without reaching the appendages, and I
found that, in order to penetrate into the latter, it
was necessary to pass the instrument into the lacuna?,
that is to say, into one of the dependencies of the
general cavity, and I then obtained the result of
which I have already spoken. Thus the lateral ap-
pendages of the Branchellion were not only branchiae
but they were moreover lymphatic branchias.

In making this injection, the fluid did not enter the
appendages alone, for the coloured liquid reached
the intestine and presented on its surface a network
of large meshes. Besides this, it had filled a special
vessel placed on either side below the skin, and com-
municating with all the branchia3. Lacunary passages
connected these two cavities together, and the whole
of these canals, lacunas, and well-characterised ves-
sels, which were everywhere filled with a mixture of
chyle and lymph, represented, as we have seen, the
general cavity of the other Invertebrata. There
was only one portion of its dependencies consisting
of vessels properly so called which formed a true
rudimentary lymphatic apparatus.

This was at once a totally novel fact in the history of
the Invertebrata, and a new proof that nature every-
where remains faithful to the great law of the pro-

VOL. II. U

290 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

gressive perfection of organisms. Like the ap-
paratus of the circulation for the blood, of which we
have already spoken, the apparatus for the lymphatic
circulation first shows itself to be very incomplete ;
and, if we were to follow it in its transformations,
we should find that it was not completely isolated,
nor definitely constituted as such, until after we have
passed through the lowest group of the sub-kingdom
of the Yertebrata, namely, the class of Fishes.

Thus, by the presence of lateral appendages, the
Branchellion deviates from all the Hirudineae, while
by the respiratory action of these appendages, it
differs not only from the group in which it has been
placed, but also from all the neighbouring groups.
Finally, the identification of these respiratory organs
as lymphatic branchiae completes the thoroughly ex-
ceptional character of the animal.

If indeed the principle of dominant characters were
as true as Cuvier supposed it to be, and as some
anatomists still assert ; if the slightest modification
in an apparatus destined for the accomplishment of
one important function really exercises over all the
rest of the organism the influence that is attributed
to it ; an anatomical examination of the digestive,
vascular and nervous systems ought to exhibit dis-
positions not less novel. Such, however, do not exist
in this instance.

There can be no doubt that there are differences
between the Branchellion and ordinary leeches, but
these differences are not of a very important kind.
The greater number of them do not exceed in im-
portance those which we meet with among the most

THE COASTS OP SAINTONCE. 291

nearly allied genera of this group. Although it
is abnormal in regard to the lymphatic respiration,
the Branchellion in all other respects is merely an
ordinary leech. Classification, which is not science,
but which ought as far as possible to be the ex-
pression of it, has here a double fact to record, and
it will consequently be necessary again to deviate
from some of those rules which have been deduced
from too exclusive a study of the higher animals.

By introducing into zoology the great principle
of the subordination of characters discovered by
Laurent de Jussieu*, Cuvier rendered an immense
service to science. From that moment the value
and not the number of characters determined the
division of the animal kingdom, like that of the
vegetable kingdom, into naturally sub-divided groups.
But in arriving at the appreciation of this value the
two men of genius whose names we have quoted
proceeded in a very different manner, for while
Jussieu consulted only the evidences of observation
and experimental research, Cuvier, as he himself de-
clares, attached a pre-eminent and almost exclusive
value to reasoning.! He judged of the importance
of the organs by the importance of the functions,
and then proceeded to the characters yielded by
those organs.

Nothing can be more apparently rational and lo-
gical than this, but unfortunately nature often seems
to take a malicious pleasure in sporting with our

* [A sketch of the scientific services of the different members of
the family of De Jussieu is given in the Appendix, Note III.]
f Ht'yne animal, 2C edition, Introduction.
u2

292 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

reason. That magnificent a priori mode of conclu-
sion, which may be true as long as it is limited to
the Vertebrata, becomes in many cases strikingly
inexact when it is extended to the Invertebrata, and
more especially to the most degraded representatives
of this great sub-kingdom. To those who would
adopt literally, in the strict sense of the word, all
that Cuvier has stated in respect to respiration and
the respiratory organs, the B ranch ellion would in
itself form a distinct class.* To a follower of Jus-
sieu it would be merely the type of a sub-class, and
this is the point of view which we ourselves incline
to adopt. The nomenclature will thus express, if we
substitute value for number of characters, the resem-
blances which connect the Branchellion with the
other Hirudinea3 and the differences which distinguish
it from them.

At the risk of appearing somewhat too technical,
I have thought it necessary to present my readers
with the preceding anatomical and physiological de-
tails. I have deemed it necessary to show at some
length how the minute examination of a single
animal, if the selection be a good one, leads us to the
most varied and delicate questions of zoology. I

* I ought, however, to observe that Cuvier himself was always
most anxious to avoid this strict interpretation of his views. In this
great man pretensions to infallibility and a systematising spirit never
took the place of the most perfect good faith, and that sound common
sense which is one of the attributes of true genius. Thus, more
especially in the classification of the Annelids, he has not hesitated
to give way to facts in preference to the rules which he had himself
established, and this is certainly in a great measure owing to the
circumstance that he never confounded classification and method.

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 293

have been anxious to afford to those who have fol-
lowed me thus far some idea of the nature of that
general revision of accepted facts which is required
in the present state of science ; and, if my explanations
have been in any way successful, my readers will
readily comprehend the pleasure that I experienced
from my study of the Branchellion, and the satisfac-
tion that I derived from the results of my labours.

U.3

294 K AMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

CHAP. X.

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE.
CHATELAILLON ; ESNANDES.

The evident marks of great changes in the coasts of Saintonge ;
encroachment of the sea; destruction of Montmeillan, aud of
Chatelaillon ; accumulations due to marine action ; salt marshes.
— The former gulf of Poitou ; elevation of Saint-Michel-en-
1'Herm ; Esnandes. — "Walton the Irishman ; his introduction of a
new breed of sheep ; his nets ; the aeon and bouchot ; Mussel-beds. —
Excursions to Esnandes ; shrimp-fishing. — The Termites ; ancient
fables regarding them ; habits of the Termes bellicosus ; the
buildings erected by these insects ; fecundity of the queen ; the
ravages occasioned by them. — French Termites ; their recent
appearance in Europe ; the Rochelle Termites ; the destruction
they have effected in the Prefecture of that city. — Observations
made on Termites in confinement ; means of destroying these
insects.

THE coasts of Saintonge and the neighbouring dis-
tricts have not always presented the form and out-
lines which they now exhibit. Few coasts perhaps
have experienced more marked changes since the
great geological revolution which gave them origin.
It is true that elsewhere at the mouth of large rivers
new lands are often formed, and without going
beyond France we find that the Rhone presents us
with an example of one of these deltas at La Ca-
margue, while, moreover, there are many other points
which the sea is incessantly wearing away as it ex-
tends its barriers farther and farther inland. French

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 295

Biscay presents us with a curious example of these
erosions, but in cases analogous to those to which
we have referred the modifying action of rivers or of
the ocean is always exerted in one and the same
directiop, whether in the creation or the destruction
of deposits. In Saintonge, owing to the structure
of the continent and the mineralogical nature of the
soil, these two effects are being simultaneously pro-
duced. Everywhere the ocean attacks and demo-
lishes piece by piece the salient points of the coast,
everywhere it fills up the receding portions ; and the
final results of this double action will be to fill up
gulfs no less than to wear away advancing promon-
tories. Sooner or later the coast line to the north of
La Gironde, from Point la Coubre as far as Longue-
ville, which was formerly so deeply indented, will be
almost as uniform as that which extends southward
from the Point de Grave as far as Saint- Jean- de-
Luz ; or at most a few slight curves, formed by the
alternation of flat beaches and headlands, will be all
that remains to our descendants of the deeply in-
dented bays, the advanced capes and peninsulas, of
former days.

Whether in respect to ancient or to modern times,
the formation of new land is confirmed both by direct
observation and by historical evidence, but tradition
has almost always been the only authority in reference
to the encroachments of the sea, and this species of
proof is often of a very inconclusive kind. The for-
mation, since the Roman epoch, of the bay of Mount
Saint Michael, the separation, not earlier than the
middle agey, of the island of Sesambre, which is now

296 KAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

situated at not more than six miles from Saint Malo,
are probable rather than certain facts, but in Sain-
tonge one cannot entertain any doubt in regard to
the erosive power of the waves. Here important
towns have crumbled with the cliffs that over-
hung them, and the ocean, after having reduced their
ruins into dust, is every day carrying away some
fragments from the districts surrounding them.
History has preserved to us the names and annals
of these towns ; and, guided by the light which she fur-
nishes, we may readily trace the sinuosities of the
ancient shore by the inequalities of the bottom of the
ocean, as it is laid down on the charts of M. Beau-
temps-Beaupre.

About nine miles to the south of La Kochelle lies
the point of Chatelaillon, which is separated from the
island of Aix by an arm of the sea which is about
6000 or 7000 yards across. In the middle ages a high
road passed from the one to the other on which were
situated two towns. The existence of Montmeillan
is only known to us by an authentic proces-verbal re-
corded by one of the old annalists of La Rochelle.*
It is different, however, with Chatelaillon, which

* Amos Barbot, quoted by Arcere, who has frequently referred to
his manuscript. The following is an extract from this proces-
verbal : " The town of Montmeillan was situated between Chate-
laillon and the Isle of Aix, to which said city and island one might
walk on land and dry-footed at low tide, according to the state-
ments of old people who have themselves made this journey." This
proces-verbal bears the date of 1430, and from these statements
we are led to conclude that within a hundred years before that
epoch, that is to say, in the course of the fourteenth century, a com-
munication existed between the island and the continent.

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 297

was for a long time the principal city of the ancient
Aunis, and whose authority extended even over La
Rochelle. Founded, according to tradition, by Julius
Caesar, and fortified, as Arcere asserts, by Charlemagne,
it became, even before the twelfth century, a consider-
able barony and occasionally bore the title of a prin-
cipality. The Isamberts, its first lords, were fre-
quently allied in marriage with the families of the
reigning sovereigns. It was often at war with the
powerful counts of Poitou and the dukes of Aquitaine.
At a later period Chatelaillon numbered amongst its
rulers the Richemonts and Dunois. It was then
a fortified town surrounded by high walls and deep
fosses. At its base lay a vast harbour, and every
ship which entered its waters was compelled, under
penalty of heavy reprisals, to lower her flag. Not a
trace now remains of these walls and fosses, which
have all been engulfed in the sea. In 1660 seven
towers which formerly commanded the neighbouring
country still commanded the bay, but the storms of
one winter carried away the last remains of these for-
tifications. At the beginning of the present century,
during the wars of the empire, a fort was erected
upon the Point, but this too has been thrown down.
At the present day a humble Custom-house depot has
succeeded these fortresses of past ages, but it has not
been erected upon their remains, for on these ever-
crumbling heights, towers and bastions have scarcely
time to leave a trace, so rapidly are they undermined
by the power of the waves.

MM. Viviers and Beltremieux, two men who
combine an ardent love of science with the absorbing

298 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

duties of a professional life, accompanied me, on a
fine day in September, to this ever-receding shore.
My companions had each provided themselves with
a bag and a geologist's hammer; and, with a lingering
hope of finding some zoological treasures, I took with
me a few bottles and glasses in. addition to my pick-
axe which might perhaps serve a double purpose. At
Angoulin, we reached the beach, which is covered
at this point with enormous blocks of stone formed
either entirely of polyparies or of the remains of
shells and of fossil sea-urchins. Elsewhere such a
locality would have furnished me with ample mate-
rials, but here a bed of soft mud flowed onward to
within a couple of feet of the rocks at the high-water
mark, and, finding that it was hopeless to look for
living animals under such circumstances, I imitated
my companions, and applied my pickaxe to this mine
of fossils which was opened before us.

At Chatelaillon the prospect was equally bad, but
in this 'case I was not disappointed, and, without
losing time in the vain search for animals in this un-
favourable locality, I directed my undivided attention
to the curious spectacle presented by the adjoining
coast. Above us rose the cliffs, which were then in
shade and looked like an immense perpendicular
wrall veined with broad and almost horizontal bands.
Here and there immense masses, which seemed ready
to fall, projected like turrets from the rest of the sur-
face ; numerous blocks that had been recently frac-
tured were to be seen in all directions, and seemed
to warn us that this crumbling away of the rock
might recur at any moment, and that no unnecessary

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 299

time should be lost in collecting our fossils. To the
north, the island of Re and the Point Chef-de-Baie
appeared almost to meet ; whilst to the west, facing
us, the strait of Antioche opened a broad vista to-
wards the Atlantic which here is known by the name
of the mer sauvage ; to the south, the Point of Fouras
and the Isle of Olcron almost entirely blocked up the
strait of Maumusson. In the midst of this basin rose,
like some watchful sentinel, the Isle of Aix, whose
bastions and cliffs were gleaming brightly in the sun-
light. Between this island and the spot on which
we were standing there spread to a distance of
nearly three miles, and almost at the water's level,
the plateau of Chatelaillon, which was at this moment
enlivened by the presence of several hundred fisher-
men, who had been busy in catching Mussels, and who,
loaded with their booty, were hastening with rapid
strides before the rising tide. The waters were
rising quickly up this slightly inclined slope, and we
Avere soon able to judge of their progress by the agi-
tation of the mud. Here land and water are so much
alike in respect to colour and consistence that the
eye can scarcely distinguish them by any other
indications excepting those afforded by motion.
In proportion as the tide rose we saw the plain
covered with undulations and long parallel furrows,
the whole looking like some vast field of clay that is
being broken up by an invisible plough. A tempest
on this beach must present a very singular appear-
ance, for it must seem as if the cliffs were being
besieged by moving lines of rocks, and not merely by
waves.

300 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

The mud which covers the plateau of Chatelaillon
does not, as we may readily suppose, entirely sup-
plant those districts on which formerly rose the
towns and fortresses of the Isamberts. Driven back
by the currents, these debris have been carried along
the whole length of the coast, and have been arrested
within every sheltered creek and every calm basin.
Thus have been formed the low and marshy lands of
Brouage, and of the basin of the Charente, near Roche-
fort, and the alluvial deposits lying at the foot of
the bay of Fouras, at Che, and all round La Rochelle.
These alluvial beds, which are only slightly elevated
above the level of high tide, are admirably adapted
for the fabrication of salt, and indeed all these bays
run inland in the form of salt marshes. The sea-
water is carried by sluices and canals far inland,
and flows back to the ocean with the ebbing tide,
and this branch of commerce is thus extended to
the very limits of the newly accumulated deposits of
soil.

The salt marshes of Saintonge are well worth the
attention of the traveller. Having been established
in a district which is not so warm as those parts of
Southern France in which the other salt works are
situated, they have here been arranged in such a
manner as to compensate for a deficient intensity in
the sun's rays. For this purpose the extent of sur-
face has been greatly multiplied, whilst the arrange-
ment of the tanks in which the water is collected for
evaporation is much more complicated than at Gard
or Herault. Here each marsh is composed of seven
distinct kinds of compartments, which are arranged

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 301

at different levels, so that the liquid may easily pass
onwards from the first to the last in the series.

The marsh is a large square, enclosing on the side
nearest the water the first basin or tank, which is
about one yard deep, and called the jard, in which
the sea-water is allowed to deposit its sediment by
remaining at rest before it enters the conches, in
which begins the work of evaporation. These
conches are three very narrow basins, from six to
eight inches deep, and arranged in such a manner
that on passing from one to the other the water
is obliged to traverse the whole width of the marsh
in a zig-zag direction. The mors and the tables,
in which the sea-water is subjected to a second and
third evaporation, are of very nearly the same dimen-
sions and surround an oblong space occupying about
the third of the marsh. This enclosure is divided
into two parts by a broad basin, about two inches
in depth, called the muant. To the right and left of
the latter are arranged the compartments known as
the nourrices, which are only an inch deep. Here the
solution, which has become more and more concen-
trated by its sojourn in the preceding compartments,
undergoes its fourth and last preparation before
it enters the enclosures in which it is suffered to
crystallise. Small elevations of clay are arranged
with the most perfect regularity around the different
compartments, which they sufficiently isolate from one
another, and thus serve all the purposes aimed at by
this mode of arrangement. The whole lies upon the
blue or yellow argillaceous earth *, which is entirely

* It has been remarked that the nature of the soil influences the

302 RAMBLES OP A NATURALIST.

composed of the alluvial deposits that have been left
by the sea.

To comprehend the whole extent of these accumu-
lations of soil, one ought to proceed about six miles
north of La Rochelle to the bay of Aiguillon. In
our own time this bay forms a nearly regular
crescent, whose entrance is scarcely more than 7000
yards across, while its depth is 9000 yards. For-
merly the sea entered the land from Longueville to
the Point Saint Clement by an opening of more than
34,000 yards. The gulf then widened, and gave off
deep and indented secondary bays in all directions, to
the north as far as Lu£on and Maillezais, to the east
as far as Niort and Grip, and to the south as far as
Benon and Aigrefeuille. From the entrance of the
gulf to Niort, the distance was not more than fifty
kilometres *, while it was forty-two kilometres from
to Aigrefeuille. To go in a straight line from
to Aigrefeuille it was necessary to cross the
gulf from north to south, passing over about forty-
two kilometres of water, while at the present day
this journey may be made entirely by land. Longue-
ville is now about twenty-five kilometres from the
shore, Lu§on more than twelve, Maillezais about
twenty-nine, Niort forty-eight, Grip forty-nine,
Benon twenty-one, and Aigrefeuille about twenty-
two. Between the southern extremity of the bay
of Aigrefeuille, and the ancient basin of Fouras, the

quality of the salt. The blue clay is the only one which yields a
very white salt, whilst the product of the yellow clay, is always
coloured with the same hue.

* [The kilometre is 1093 yards.]

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 303

distance was only six kilometres, nor was it farther
between this bay and the northern branch of the
basin of the Charente. We see that the ancient
barony of Chatelaillon, comprising the territories of La
Kochelle and Esnandes, formed a true peninsula, pre-
senting to the sea a straight line of coast measuring
about thirty kilometres, and connected with the con-
tinent by a very narrow isthmus.

The changes that I have indicated may be seen at
a glance on the magnificent atlas of MM. Dufrenoy
and Elie de Beaumont, for we can here trace the
ancient coast lines by observing how far the alluvial
deposits have penetrated inland. It must not, how-
ever, be supposed that these changes have been
effected by one of the great revolutions of which
our globe still bears those traces which science
alone can interpret. These results were brought
about at a period which, comparatively speaking, is
quite recent, and here geology has done no more
than confirm the indications of history.

Ptolemy, who knew and named the Charente, does
not speak of the Sevre, and we may easily comprehend
the reason of his silence, for at the period at which
the celebrated geographer wrote, the Sevre was a
very inconsiderable stream which entered the sea at
Niort. In proportion as the gulf has been filled
up the stream has been lengthened and widened,
and acquired new affluents, until it now merits the
name of a river. Its embouchure has successively
advanced behind many islands which had previously
been placed far in front of it, and which, being en-
closed by the surrounding land, form in the present

304 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

day so many hills, which are scattered over the plain
in the same manner as they formerly appeared upon
the sea.* Maillezais, Marans, Velluire, Triaise,
Maille, Vildoux, and a dozen other villages or ham-
lets were surrounded by water even at as late a date as
the thirteenth century. We still meet at certain
points with posts having iron rings attached to them,
which formerly served to fasten boats and ships.
This movement has not diminished in our own times.
When Father Arcere wrote, a little less than a cen-
tury ago, there lay to the north of the bay an island
formed of steep rocks and known under the name of
La Dive. The annalist of La Rochelle remarks that
the Point of Aiguillon was advancing each year, and
that in a little while the lowlands would reach these
rocks. Fact has very speedily confirmed these pre-
dictions. In 1824, La Dive was in the midst of
fields, and the Point inclining southward was about
four kilometres in advance of it.

From the facts and dates to which we have here
referred, it would seem that the gulf of Poitou
remained till towards the beginning of the middle
ages very nearly in the same condition in which it
had been left by the last cataclysms ; that is to say,
it remained open to the waves of the ocean for
several thousand years, and that, dating from some
undetermined although probably entirely modern
epoch, it began rapidly to be filled up. If this

* From Eochefort the Charente has increased in the same
manner. From this point, as far as the sea, there extends a gulf,
one of whose arms, as I have already remarked, is directed north-
wards, and nearly joins the bay of Aigrefeuille.

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 305

were really the case, this accumulation of soil may
not be the sole cause of the actual progress of the
continent. It is probable that we must associate
this fact with a totally different order of phenomena*
of which Scandinavia furnishes a remarkable ex-
ample.

It is well known that the coasts of this peninsula
are rising on the one side by a movement which is
so regular and slow that it admits of being measured.*

* According to an ancient tradition, the Scandinavian peninsula
was formerly an island, and this opinion seems to be confirmed by
numerous facts. Several towns which were originally built on the
borders of the sea are now more or less distant from the coast.
We may explain this phenomenon, as in the case of Aigues-Mortes,
by the deposition of soil. Rocks mentioned by ancient bards, and
which have maintained their old names, served formerly as a place
to which Seals resorted, although at the present day these ledges
lie far too high above the level of the sea to allow of their being
reached by those animals. These facts, and several others which
have been long known, had led to the opinion that the level of the
Baltic was gradually sinking — a view which was advocated by
Celsius, Bergman, and Linnaeus. In 1820 the Russian and Swedish
governments appointed a scientific commission to examine this
question, which was at once curious in a scientific point of view and
very important in respect to all littoral districts. This commission
ascertained, indeed, that the level was gradually declining at certain
points, but they discovered at the same time that the fall was not
everywhere uniform, and that at some points it was absolutely null.
The opinion that had long prevailed among the simple fishermen
was then finally adopted, namely, that the sea kept its level but
that the land was rising.

Some of the most eminent of our geologists, amongst others
Leopold von Buch and Sir Charles Lyell, made a voyage expressly
to test the accuracy of these conclusions, and they confirmed the
results, which have been still further verified by MM. Bravais and
Martins. From these researches it would appear that the shores of
the Gulf of Bothnia are slowly rising, and that this rise is about

VOL. II. X

306 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

Does anything analogous to this occur in this gulf,
and is its gradual filling up even partially owing to a
progressive elevation of the district above its ancient
level ? This question is so much the more admis-
sible, as positive facts attest at several points the
recent action of those geological forces which are
incessantly modifying the thin pellicle which we call
terra jfirma. In the environs of Fontenay, in the
very midst of the marshes whose origin we have
described, exist deposits of shells well known to
geologists under the name of the banks of Saint-
Michel-en-PHerm. These extensive banks are com-
posed of the shells of oysters, mussels, and pectens,
belonging to the same species that occupy the
neighbouring seas.* All these shells are appa-
rently retained in their original position ; a great
many of them have their valves connected by the liga-
ment which completes the hinge, and they have not

four feet during every century at those points at which it is the
most rapid.

On the other hand, it would appear from marks made upon the
coast of Scania in the time of Linnseus, that this part of the shore
is gradually sinking below the water. The same phenomenon is
manifested on the coast of Greenland, over an extent of more than
600 miles. Buildings placed upon low islands, or upon the con-
tinent, have been submerged, while it has been found necessary at
different times to remove farther inland the establishments erected
on the beach. It is therefore probable that on these regions the
earth's crust presents at the present day one of those movements
giving rise to the flexure of strata, which modern geologists appear
to agree in regarding as an important feature in geological pheno-
mena.

* The three banks of Saint- Michel-en-THerm are about 730
yards in length and 300 yards in width, rising from ten to fifteen
yards above the level of the surrounding marshes*

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 307

even changed in colour, while some of them still en-
close a yellowish animal matter, the remains of the
Molluscs which formerly occupied them. Everything
in these banks indicates that the inhabitants of these
shells lived and died in the spot where their remains
are found at the present day, and yet their upper
beds are from nine to fourteen yards above the level
of the highest tides. To explain their existence we
must, therefore, admit the occurrence of circum-
scribed local upheavals. With these facts before us,
there seems no difficulty in assuming the occurrence
of a slower upheaval extending over all the neigh-
bouring districts.

Be the causes, however, what they may, it is
certain that the entrance at Point Aiguillon is in-
cessantly contracting towards the north. On the
southern side, the coast has not undergone any
notable change, and Point Saint Clement still
shelters, as it did in the middle ages, the little village
of Esnandes. Hither I was conducted by Doctor
Sauve, in order that I might observe the curious
phenomena which are an exact counterpart to those
that may be seen at Chatelaillon. An hour's rapid
drive sufficed to carry us over the undulating hills
of the primitive isthmus, and from the brow o
the last ascent we could perceive at our feet Es-
nandes, with its pretty white and clean-looking
houses and its singular church. This last edifice in
no respect resembles a peaceful house of prayer. If
it were not for the cross which surmounts the massive
square donjon-like tower, one would be disposed to
take it for a fortress. Ruined fosses still surround

K 2

308 EAMBLES OF A NATUKALIST.

it, and the roof is concealed by a platform which
entirely encircles it, and is flanked with turrets and
bristles with battlements. The gate and all the
windows are commanded by loopholes, while nu-
merous embrasures complete the preparations of
defence. By way of greater security, every opening
looking towards the sea has been carefully blocked
up. This was indeed the point from which danger
was to be apprehended ; for, protected by its
marshes, Esnandes had nothing to fear excepting
from the incursions of pirates, and being too poor
to enclose herself within walls, she had metamor-
phosed her church into a fortress. Marsilly and
several other villages on the coast trusted to similar
means of defence, but none of these fortified
churches have been so well preserved as the one of
which I have spoken.

From the tower of Esnandes the eye embraces
the whole of the neighbouring country. To the
south the view is bordered by the hills, which ex-
tend as far as La Rochelle, and by the small plateau
of Vildoux, whose ancient shores still retain the
iron rings to which the ships of the middle ages
were moored. To the north and east extends, like
one great solid lake, the plain, which is enamelled
with the rich tints of the flowering meadows, the
waving cornfields, and the glistening marshes. On
the horizon rise the cathedral of Lucon, and the
hills of Maillezais and Fontenay, whilst Marans and
its neighbouring district, resuming for a moment the
appearance of what they once were, resemble a
small island. To the west the shore merges so in-

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 309

sensibly into the sea that all limits seem to disappear,
and the eye passes almost imperceptibly from the land
to the ocean. Between the two there intervenes,
however, a belt of mud, which, incessantly driven
inland, becomes accumulated, and extending to the
highest limit of the tides, dries, and, becoming con-
solidated, is soon covered with littoral plants, after
which it can no longer be carried away by the force
of the waves. It thus gradually advances day by
day, and threatens rapidly to fill up all that yet re-
mains of the ancient gulf. A seafaring man who
together with the beadle did the honours of the
church to us, gave us a convincing proof of the ra-
pidity of this invasion of the coast. At our feet
lay a jetty which had been constructed in this man's
youth. It then marked the limits of the shore, and
its sides were beaten by the waves at every high
tide. In the present day, it stands in the midst of
fields, and is used as a cross-road, while between it
and the sea there extends a zone of two kilometres
in width and eight kilometres in length. The bay
has thus lost all this space at this one point within
half a lifetime.

Situated on the borders of a kind of mud lake,
Esnandes has become the centre of a curious branch
of industry, which has spread to the villages of
Charron and Marsilly, but which is not to be met
with at any other part of the coast. We refer to
the breeding of mussels, which is as great a source
of general competency to the inhabitants of the
bay of Aiguillon as are the oyster-beds to the fishing
population of all our coasts, more especially at Ma-
\ ;;

310 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

rennes, Cancale, and Saint- Vaast. The origin and de-
velopment of the mussel trade, which are attested both
by tradition and ancient records, have been ably dis-
cussed by M. d'Orbigny, in a pamphlet which is very
little known in consequence of its having been pub-
lished in a small provincial town. It is from this
work that we have borrowed the following details.*
In the year 1035 an Irish bark loaded with sheep
was thrown in a heavy storm on the rocks near Es-
nandes, whose sailors hastening to the scene of the
catastrophe were unable to save any one on board
excepting the captain. This man, whose name was
Walton, amply repaid the services which had been
rendered him ; for having saved some of the sheep
from the wreck he crossed them with the animals of
the country, and thus produced a fine race, which is
still held in high estimation, and is known under the
name of the marsh sheep. He next devised a kind
of net, the allouret, which was stretched a little above
the level of the open sea, where it caught entire
flocks of those shore birds which skim the surface of
the Avater at twilight or after dark. In order to
render these nets thoroughly effective, it was neces-
sary to go to the very centre of the immense bed of
mud, where these birds seek their nourishment, and
to secure a sufficient number of poles to support the
nets, which were between three and four hundred
yards in length. Walton also invented the pousse-
pied or aeon, a kind of boat which is still in use.

* Histoire des pares ou bouchots a monks des cotes de Varron disse-
ment de La Hochelle^y M. C.-M.-D. d'Orbigny pere. La Rochelle,
1847.

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 311

The aeon is composed of a plank of hard wood,
which constitutes the bottom, and is called the sole.
This plank is bent in the fore part in such a manner
as to form a sort of flat prow. Three light planks,
which are nailed together at the sides and back, com-
plete this simple boat, which is not more than two or
three yards in length and from twenty to twenty-
five inches in breadth. A short pole and a wooden
paddle constitute the whole of its equipment. In
using the aeon, the boatman rests on one knee,
while he passes the other leg over the side of the
boat, where, provided with a long boot, it serves the
double purpose of an oar and a rudder. The boat-
man, who is balanced on the sole of the aeon, whose
sides he firmly grasps, plunges his foot into the mud
until he reaches a comparatively firmer part, when
he propels the boat onward. The aeon is thus made
to glide over the fluid mud, and by means of this
fatiguing process the Esnandes boatmen sometimes
move with such rapidity, that I have often found it
difficult to keep up with them, although I was walk-
ing at a quick pace along the beach.

The mode of locomotion which we have just de-
scribed requires a soft and smooth soil. It happens,
however, that every year, in consequence of the heavy
storms of winter, the bay undergoes a remarkable
transformation throughout its whole extent. The
mud appears to be moulded by the waves, whose
form it retains. From north to south there extend,
parallel to the shore, long furrows at equal distances
from one another, which are sometimes more than a
yard in height. During high tide the crests of these

X 4

312 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

furrows dry and harden in the heat of the sun.
At such times the aeon cannot be used, and to en-
able these boats to be worked easily, it would be ne-
cessary to level every part of this vast basin, which
extends over a space of more than 75,000,000 of
square yards. Such a labour as this, if human in-
dustry were to attempt it, would obviously be found
to be impracticable, even if the whole population of
the district were to devote the entire summer to the
task. Yet this herculean labour is accomplished in
less than a month through the agency of a Crusta-
cean, whose body, which is scarcely thicker than a
piece of sewing cotton, is not more than half an inch
in length including the antenna?.

Towards the end of April the little Crustaceans,
termed by the fishermen the Pernis ( Corophium longi-
curne), arrive from the open sea in myriads. Guided
by their instinct, they come to wage an exterminating
war against the Annelids, which during the whole
winter and early spring have multiplied undisturbed.
As the tide rises, these voracious hordes are seen
moving about in all directions beating the mud with
their long antennas, and pursuing Nereides and the
Arenicolse to their deepest recesses. When once
they discover one of these animals, which are several
hundred times larger than themselves, they combine
to attack and devour it, and then resume their eager
chase. This carnage never ceases till the Annelids
have almost entirely disappeared, but by that time
the entire bay has been dug up and levelled, and the
aeons are again able to move readily over its surface.
Before the close of May the work is completed, and

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 313

then the Corophium turns upon the molluscs and
fishes, which it attacks whether living or dead.
Through the whole of the summer these Crustaceans
remain upon the coast, but towards the end of
October they all disappear in one night, ready to
return the following year and resume their useful
labours of digging and delving.*

Walton discovered on examining the poles which
supported his nets that they were covered with
mussel spawn, and that the Molluscs which were
thus produced in the open sea, and beyond the im-
mediate contact with the mud, were finer both as to
size and quality than those which were bred nearer
the shore. He then increased the number of his
poles, and after various attempts, constructed his
first artificial mussel-bed or bouchot. At the level of
the lowest tides, he drove into the mud stakes that
were strong enough to resist the force of the waves,
and placed them in two rows about a yard distant
from one another. This double line of poles formed
an angle, whose base was directed towards the shore
and whose apex pointed to the open sea. This palis-
sade was roughly fenced in with long branches, and
a narrow opening having been left at the extremity
of the angle, wicker-work cases were arranged in
such a manner as to stop any fishes that were being
carried back by the retreating tide. Walton had
thus combined in one a sort of fish-preserve with a
bed for the breeding of mussels. The merits of this
invention must have been at once appreciated, for it

* Mcmoire sur la Corophie longicorne, by M. d'Orbigny, Journal
de Physique, 1821.

314 KAMBLES OP A NATURALIST.

soon became very popular, and the bouchots were
extended in several directions. It was soon found
inexpedient to trust only to the chance of the currents
and waves that might bring in the young mussels to
the poles and fences, and men frequently went to a
very great distance, even as far as the plateau of
Chatelaillon, in search of the young Molluscs. At
the same time this branch of industry was constantly
undergoing improvements, becoming as it were more
and more systematised, whilst its various operations
were designated by names, which, having been
borrowed from a totally different order of ideas,
might lead a stranger, who heard the conversation
of two boucholeurs, to suppose that they were dis-
coursing on agricultural matters.

The little mussels that appear in the spring are
known as the seeds. They are scarcely larger than
lentils till towards the end of May, but at this time
they rapidly increase, and in July they attain the
size of a haricot bean. They then take the name of
renouvelains, and are fit for transplanting. For this
purpose they are detached from those bouchots which
are situated at the lowest tide mark, and are then
introduced into pockets or bags made of old nets,
which are placed upon the fences that are not quite
so far advanced into the sea. The young mussels
spread themselves all round the pockets, fixing them-
selves by means of those filaments which naturalists
designate by the name of the byssus. In proportion
as they grow and become crowded together within
the pockets, they are cleared out and distributed
over other poles lying somewhat nearer to the shore,

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 315

whilst the full grown mussels which are fit for sale,
are planted on the bouchots nearest the shore. It is
from this part of the mussel-bed that the fishermen
reap their harvest, and every day enormous quantities
of freshly gathered mussels are transported in carts,
or on the backs of horses, to La Rochelle and other
places, from whence they are sent as far as Tours,
Limoges, and Bordeaux. They will no doubt soon
be sent to Paris, by means of railways, and our
epicures may then compare the wild mussels, which
are sent to us from Normandy and Boulogne, with
those that have been artificially bred by Walton's
system.

The following data, which were collected by M.
d'Orbigny more than twenty years ago, will show
how important this branch of industry must be to the
district in which it is cultivated. In 1834 the three
communes of Esnandes, Charron, and Marsilly, re-
presenting a population of 3000 souls, possessed 340
bouchots, the original cost of which was valued by
M. d'Orbigny at 696,660 francs ; the annual expenses
of maintaining them amounted to 386,240 francs, in-
cluding the interest of the capital employed and the
cost of labour, which however is spared to the pro-
prietor who works on his own account. The nett
revenue is estimated at 364 francs for each bouchot,
or 123,760 francs for the three communes. Finally,
the expense of the carts, horses, and boats, employed
in transporting the mussels, then amounted annually
to 510,000 francs; but these numbers are far from
representing the expenses or profits at the present
day. At the time that M. d'Orbigny lived at Es-

316 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

nandes, the bouchots were only arranged in four rows ;
now, however, there are no less than seven rows, and
some of them measure more than one thousand yards
from the base to the summit. The whole of these
bouchots, which were at first limited to the immediate
neighbourhood of the three villages of which I have
already spoken, extend at the present day uninter-
ruptedly from Marsilly far beyond Charron, and
form a gigantic stockade of two miles and a half in
breadth and six miles in length.

Unfortunately, however, the enormous extension of
these bouchots has given rise to some inconvenience.
In former times, if a ship were driving before the
wind, it could generally find a safe refuge on this bed
of soft mud, where there was very little danger to be
apprehended even in case of running aground. As
long as the bouchots were constructed of simple poles,
a merchant vessel, or even a fishing boat, could easily
strike them down ; and at worst, they would only
experience some slight damage in crossing the palis-
sades ; but in proportion as the bouchots have been
extended further out to sea, and have been brought
into the deeper portions of the bay, it has been found
necessary to increase their solidity, in order to prevent
their being torn up or broken by the waves, and the
simple poles of Walton have been changed into strong
and thick piles. At the present day ships are
obliged in a storm to wait outside the bouchots until
the full tide enables them to pass above these palis-
sades. Were they to neglect this precaution, they
would run the risk of being driven upon stakes as
thick as the trunk of a tree, which would be as dan-

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 317

gerous to a ship as to run upon a rock. We can
scarcely therefore wonder that the sailors and fisher-
men should make numerous complaints against these
louchots. The boucholeurs on their side deny or ex-
tenuate the facts of the case, and it is said that the
courts of justice, when called upon to decide between
these opposite parties, are often at a loss how to
award their verdicts.

After having seen the spot and examined these
bouchots, we are of opinion that it would be a very
easy matter to arrive at an equitable decision. It
would of course be alike absurd and cruel, either
directly or indirectly, to destroy the bouchots, and thus
at one blow to deprive a whole district of a flourishing
branch of commerce which has existed for more
than eight centuries. On the other hand, the
houcholeurs cannot be suffered to take possession of
the whole shore, and to transform the only harbour
of refuge along this line of coast into a bay studded
with gigantic spikes. But if an opening were made
through these palisades all interests might be main-
tained and respected. A channel of 400 or 500
yards in width, would be more than sufficient for
the purpose. At the cost of a small indemnity,
which would be justly due to the boucholeurs, whose
property had been interfered with, the communica-
tion between the entrance and the foot of the bay
would be re-established, whilst the various bouchots
that still remained would serve in the place of
breakwaters.

I have twice visited Esnandes. On one occasion
I accompanied M. Sauve on an excursion in an aeon.

318 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

and I then made my way, as far as the first bouchots,
across this enormous lake of mud, which has been
rendered productive and navigable by the ingenious
contrivances of Walton. In this excursion, I had
the pleasure of conversing for a few moments with a
descendant of the Irish captain. This man, who was
a simple boucholeur, and in no way to be distin-
guished from his fellow-labourers, was as proud of
his name as if he had been a Montmorency, and who
could blame him for this pride ? His name recalls
the services rendered for eight centuries to an entire
population, which owe to them their occupation and
their competency. Surely such a title of nobility may
bear comparison with that of many of our proudest
houses.

Some time afterwards, I again visited the bouchots,
and passed beyond their lines in company with
M. Valenciennes, who had been commissioned by
the Minister of Marine to examine the coast fisheries,
in order to decide upon the spot many important
questions connected with their management and re-
gulations. A journey of this kind with a confrere
who is justly regarded as the first ichthyologist of our
day was a source of the greatest enjoyment to me.

Having left La Bochelle in the evening, it was
already late at night when we reached Esnandes,
where, from want of accommodation at the only inn
of the village, we were obliged to accept the hospi-
tality of the Syndic. This worthy man who, like
the rest of the population, had led a seafaring life,
did the honours of his house in a truly patriarchal
manner. We passed the night in the same room

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 319

with the father, mother, and children of the family.
It is true that M. Valenciennes and myself had each
a bed to ourselves. These beds, which had four posts
and a canopy surrounded with curtains, were raised
two yards above the floor, and might have passed at
once for a fortress and an alcove ; but if our eyes
Avere unable to see beyond its limits, our other senses
were keenly alive to all impressions, and they re-
vealed to us many details of domestic management
which a more refined host would have been at the
pains of concealing from his guests. But when once
sleep fell upon us our rest was unbroken till we
were called by our host. It was four o'clock when
we reached the shore. At this moment the sun was
rising behind the alluvial lands of Niort and Grip,
in the same manner as it might have done on the
open sea. Its beams, reddened by a fog that pro-
mised badly for the weather, had coloured the mist
suspended over the marshes, imparting a blood-red
tinge to every patch of water, and giving to the
pebbles that were left by the retiring tide a decep-
tive appearance of burning coals, which contrasted
strongly with the sharp cold of the early morning
air.

A boat was waiting for us, and favoured by the
tide we were soon carried to the entrance of one of
the great bouchots. Here, upright upon his aeon,
stood a fisherman armed with a kind of large net.
Our arrival was the signal for him to begin his fishing
operations, and closing the entrance of the bouchot
with his net he drew it rapidly away at the end of a
few moments, and we could not help admiring the

320 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

precision with which he performed this difficult task,
for it required an immense amount of dexterity to
avoid upsetting the fragile bark. We had soon ex-
amined the greater number of the fishes which fre-
quent the bouchots. They are generally small species,
whose size does not exceed that of the Sardine.
There are no doubt amongst them some young indi-
viduals of larger species, but the number of these is
so inconsiderable that these bouchots cannot seriously
interfere with the multiplication of the fish , and it
seems to us that it would be an act of useless severity
to interdict the boucholeurs from employing their
net.

This kind of net and others of similar construction
are the only means employed for catching the com-
mon shrimp, which is known to naturalists under the
name of Crangon vulgaris, and which at Saintonge
bears the name of Bouc. This Crustacean, although
smaller than our common prawn, Palcemon serratus,
the kind which is to be met with at all fishmongers,
is scarcely inferior to it in flavour, while its abun-
dance in the bay of Aiguillon brings it within the
reach of the poorest inhabitants. The immense
numbers which we saw taken reminded M. Valen-
ciennes and myself of the miraculous draughts of
fishes recorded in the various legends of the saints.
A little after the tide had gone half way down, the
boatman plunged his net into the water, and drew it
back completely filled. If he left it there for three or
four minutes the haul became so heavy that the pole
supporting the net threatened to break. In less than
half an hour he had collected more than 200 Ibs., the

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 321

whole of which had been pre-sold to a retail dealer
for the sum of three francs, which was not much
more than a centime the pound. However inferior
the shrimp may be to the prawn, it can only be for
want of proper means of transportation that this
Crustacean here remains so much below its true value.
AVhen once the railways are completed, the in-
habitants of the districts of the Aiguillon will find a
new source of wealth in this little animal, which at
the present day they estimate so far below its real
importance.

At Esnandes, as at Chatelaillon, I had been un-
successful in filling my various tubes and bottles,
and when I returned empty-handed from the differ-
ent instructive and interesting expeditions which I
undertook, my instincts as a zoologist revived, and
I felt completely disheartened. The Branchellions
were of too rare occurrence to afford me materials of
work for a whole season. It was with great difficulty
that I obtained five specimens during my stay of more
k than two months. Fortunately the sea was at length
more favourable to me, whilst the land itself contri-
buted its contingent to my studies. The storms
from the south-west, which had changed the summer
into a rainy and cold autumn, brought into the waters
of these coasts some of those strange animals
which swarm in the tropical seas, whilst on every
side around me I encountered in my country rambles
the colonies of one of those insects, which have at-
tracted the attention of the naturalist by the sin-
gularity of their habits, and which indeed appear ex-
pressly created to recall man to sentiments of humility,

VOL. II. Y

322 11 AMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

by the power which they possess, insignificant as
they are, of successfully undermining the homes of
these lords of creation. Thanks to the Physalias and
the Termites, the loss of the first few days was amply
repaired, and this season, of whose success I had
nearly despaired, proved ultimately to be one of the
most favourable that I had ever enjoyed.

Passing over the Physalias and the important ques-
tions of philosophical anatomy which have been excited
by their strange organisation, we will for the present
limit ourselves to the consideration of the Termites.
This name has been given to insects belonging to
the order of the Neuroptera, and which by their
most essential characters approximate to the Libel-
lulie, or Dragon-flies, which are well known to all
French readers under the name of Demoiselles. But
although they belong to the same zoological group,
these insects exhibit widely different habits.

The Dragon-flies are essentially carnivorous. Like
almost all animals of prey, they pass their life in iso-
lation ; and only associate with other individuals of*
the same species, in obedience to the laws of repro-
duction. In the conditions of larva and pupa they
live at the bottom of our ponds and brooks. Here,
imbedded in the mud, they wait patiently until some
insect or mollusc, or even some young fish, comes
within their reach. They then uncoil a very singular
kind of weapon, something like the spring of a watch,
which represents in them the lower lip. This is a
sort of animated mask, armed with serrated and
strong pincers, and supported by articulated pieces,
the entire length of which equals that of the body

THE COASTS OF SAINTOXGE. 323

itself. This mask acts at once like a lip and an arm,
seizing the prey in its passage and conveying it to
the mouth. When the time of its metamorphosis
arrives, the larva draws itself out of the water in
which it has lived for nearly a year, and climbs
slowly up some neighbouring plant, where it suspends
itself with its head downwards. The sun soon dries
and hardens its skin, which suddenly bursts and
splits. The Dragon-fly first disengages its head and
its thorax ; its legs and its wings, which are still soft
and without strength, gradually become firmer as
they are brought into contact with the air, and in
the course of a few hours they have acquired all
their vigour. The Dragon-fly then at once abandons
the dull and muddy covering, in which it had been
so long enveloped, throwing it from it like a cast-off
garment ; and having become a perfect insect, it darts
forward in search of prey. It may then be seen
hovering round its native pools, sometimes poising
itself like an eagle or vulture, and sometimes, de-
scribing rapid circles, it falls like a dart upon some
unfortunate insect, which it seizes and devours with-
out pausing in its flight. Love scarcely softens for
more than a day the disposition of these ferocious
insects, and when they have satisfied the common
law of nature and secured the propagation of their
species, they die in the same isolation in which they
have lived.

The Termites, their kindred, are of a far more
sociable character, for they, like bees and ants, com-
bine together into numerous societies, in which indi-
viduals of different form represent various castes and

V -2

324 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

perform distinct functions. The singular habits of
these insects, which render them so formidable, have
given rise to many fables. It is probable that the
Termites are those ants which according to Herodotus
inhabited the country of the Bactrians, and which,
smaller than a dog, although larger than a fox,
devoured a pound of meat each day. Living in remote
sandy deserts, these gigantic insects dug subterranean
habitations, and raised up hills of golden sand which
the Indians carried away at the peril of their lives.
According to his usual custom, Pliny endeavoured
to make this marvellous history still more wonderful,
by adding that the horns of these ants might still be
seen in the temple of Hercules. Almost in our own
day even, and when the Termites were tolerably
well known, some travellers have apparently found
it difficult to content themselves with facts, although
these are certainly curious enough of themselves. It
has for instance been stated that these insects possess
so active a poison, that merely to respire the emana-
tions proceeding from them was sufficient to produce
death, and that a single bite excited a mortal fever.
An English naturalist, Smeathman, has thoroughly
analysed these narratives, and the facts which he
gives us in relation to the exotic species, are not less
marvellous than the errors propagated by his prede-
cessors.* This, however, is a result which very often
occurs, for, in respect to the marvellous, nature almost
always exceeds all that has been devised by human
imagination.

* Some Account of the Termites which are found in Africa and
other Climates (Philosophical Transactions) 1781).

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 325

Like the great majority of insects, the Termites
proceed from an egg, and before they assume their
definite forms, undergo various metamorphoses.* In
every Termites' nest we meet with larvas, nymphs,
and perfect insects, accompanied by an immense num-
ber of neuters. Among bees and ants, the latter
play the part of the workers, but amongst the
Termites they fulfil the functions of soldiers, and are
exclusively charged with watching over the common
safety, as well as in maintaining good order. The
larvas and nymphs, instead of wasting in complete
inactivity the time destined for their metamorphoses,
perform all the labours that are required in the com-
munity. It is they which erect their edifices,
dig the mines, amass provisions, and surround the
common mother, whose eggs they receive and
cherish.

Although charged with the performance of the
most laborious duties, they are of very small size ;
the workers of the Termes bellicosus, which is the
largest of the species observed by Smeathman, are
only about one-fourth of an inch long, while twenty-
five of them scarcely weigh a grain. They are not,
therefore, larger than our ants, which they so much
resemble that the same name was long since given

* Every insect that undergoes complete metamorphosis, passes
successively through three different stages. On coming forth from
the egg, it bears the name of larva. Thus, for instance, the cater-
pillar is the larva of the butterfly. In its second stage, it takes the
name of nympha or pupa, or chrysalis in the case of the butterfly.
It then finally becomes a perfect insect, and it is only after it has
attained this stage that the different sexes can be distinguished,
either by external or anatomical characters.

Y 3

326 K AMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

to them.* Their entire body is of such extreme de-
licacy, that they are crushed by the slightest touch ;
but their head is provided with serrated mandibles,
of so strong and horny a substance as to enable them
to attack the hardest bodies, excepting only metals
and stones. The soldiers are about double their
length, and weigh as much as fifteen of the workers.
This excessive weight is due to their enormous horny
head, which is much larger than the body, and is
armed with sharp pincers, true weapons of offence
which cannot serve for purposes of ordinary labour.
Finally the perfect insect is sometimes as much as
six or seven-tenths of an inch in length, it weighs
as much as thirty workers, and the wings which it
possesses only for a few hours, are two inches arid a
half from tip to tip. We shall presently see what
singular modifications appear to have been impressed
upon the females by the very nature of the part
which they are destined to play.

All the species of the Termites are miners,
and most of them, moreover, are architects. Some
among them build their nest on trees around a large
branch, which these destructive insects well know
how to respect when it suits their purpose. These
nests are often as large as a sugar barrel, and although
they present a broad purchase to the storms of the
tropics, and are composed entirely of small parcels of
wood, glued together by means of the gums of the
district, and the juices yielded by the workers them-
selves, they are never torn away. Very few species
live in the open air, for the greater number construct

* The Creoles and most travellers still designate the Termites by
the name of white ants, on account of their shape and colour.

THE COASTS OF SAINTOXGE. 327

above their subterranean galleries, edifices that en-
close their storehouses and nurseries. The Termes
atrox and the Termes mordax thus erect true columns
surmounted by 'a roof or dome, which projects on all
sides. These columns are about three-quarters of
a yard high, and about a quarter of a yard in
width. They are entirely constructed of a sort of
clay, which acquires an extraordinary degree of hard-
ness after it has been worked by the Termites. It ia
easier to tear up one of these columns from its foun-
dation than to break it through the middle. The
interior is hollow, or rather it is entirely composed
of irregularly- shaped cells, which serve as lodgings.
AVhen the number of the inhabitants augments
a new column rises by the side of the former one,
and so on, until the nest of one of the two species
which I have named, bears no inconsiderable resem-
blance to a group of monstrous toadstools.

If, however, we would see the Termites display
all the industry that the Creator has bestowed upon
them, we must follow the example of Smeathman,
and visit and demolish piece by piece a nest of the
Termes bellicosus. When a colony of the latter
establishes itself in the midst of a plain, one or two
conical towers are first observed to protrude above
the surface of the ground, and, growing rapidly, they
soon multiply and attain a height of five feet. The
extent of the soil occupied by these temporary edi-
fices corresponds with that of their subterranean
works. The diameter of these towers gradually in-
creases, their base extends, and in a short time they
touch one another and become cemented together.

V 4

328 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

The void which before had separated them then
rapidly disappears, and in less than a year the nest
presents externally the appearance of an irregularly
conical hillock, having around it a dome-shaped
summit, bearing on its sides a variable number of
elongated eminences, and having at its base a dia-
meter of five or six yards, with nearly the same
degree of height.*

If we take into account the difference of size of
the architects, we find, on comparing the hillocks con-
structed by these insects with the most colossal mo-
numents erected by the hand of man, that the result
is such as to excite in us a sentiment bordering on
humility. The pyramid of Cheops was, at the time
of its construction, and before the base had been
blocked up by the accumulation of sand, 479*640
feet in height, f It was, consequently, then about
ninety- six times the height of a man, if we assume
the average human stature at five feet. From what
we have already said in respect to the size of the
Termites, and of the hillocks which they erect, the

* Smeathman does not ascribe more thaii a height of ten or
twelve feet to the nests of the Termes bellicosus, but Jobson in his
History of Gambia says that he has seen them as high as twenty feet.
All travellers, moreover, are agreed as to the extreme solidity of the
domes erected by these insects.

f I use the name consecrated by custom, but M. Ampere assures
me that we ought to read Choufou instead of Cheops. The follow-
ing are the dimensions of this pyramid, as given in 1837 by the
English architect Mr. Perring : —

Feet.

Length of the base in its primitive condition - 767*424
Height in its primitive condition - 479-640

Actual length .-.__. 745-000
Actual height ---___ 450'7oO

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 329

latter must be about a thousand times higher than
the height of the insects which constructed them.
Thus, if we take all the different proportions into
account, we find that these edifices of the Termites
are relatively eleven times higher than the loftiest
of our monuments. In order to reach to an equal
height, the great pyramid must be elevated more than
a mile above the ground, which would give a height
superior to that of the Puy de Dome.

These artificial hills possess a degree of solidity
that is proof against most attacks. While they are
still in the course of construction, and when their
rounded domes are accessible to the wild bulls, these
animals may often be observed standing on their
summits as sentinels to the rest of the herd.
Smeathman, Jobson, and other travellers, were in
the habit of climbing up to the top of these hillocks
in order to obtain a view of the surrounding country ;
or they lay in ambuscade among the turrets of these
edifices in order " to shoot at deere or wild beasts,"
and yet these columns and hillocks are entirely
hollow. Situated in the centre of the ground
worked by each colony, these edifices may be said
to constitute the capital of the community ; and like
our own large cities they have their public streets
and squares, through which a numerous population
is seen passing to and fro ; their magazines always
well filled with provisions ; their foundling hospitals,
in which new generations are reared by the care of
the community ; and, lastly, the palace of their sove-
reigns, who are in truth the actual father and mother
of their subjects.

330 RAMBLES OF A NATUEALIST.

I would advise my readers to consult the curious
sketches which Smeathman has made of different
sections of these hillocks. On examining his draw-
ings we first see the walls, which are as hard as
brick, and measure from one to two feet in thick-
ness. More or less cylindrical galleries pierce these
walls, and increase in diameter towards the base,
where the largest of them are as much as four-
teen inches in width, and penetrate between four
and five feet under ground. These subterranean
galleries are at once quarries and drains for carrying
off the extra moisture. It is from here that the
materials necessary for the erection of the building
have been obtained, while in case of inundation they
carry off the water to a considerable depth below the
soil, and thus prevent it from reaching the populous
quarters of the nest. The other galleries, which
pass obliquely in every direction, intersect one
another, and by extending to the dome and to the
smallest turrets they serve as routes which are used
by the workers engaged in building operations.
Even this does not constitute the town itself, but is
rather to be considered as its ramparts.

The whole of the interior is not quite filled. Below
the dome lies a large free space, occupying the
entire width of the hillock. The height of these
attics equals very nearly the third of the total eleva-
tion. The ceiling is flat and has no opening in it,
but some of the galleries which run through the
general envelope open on a level with it. Other
galleries open at different heights, and are continued
by steps resting against the wall like the stairs in

THE COASTS OF SATNTONGE. 331

the interior of the cupola of the Pantheon. These
are so many scaffoldings, which enable the workers
to reach every part of the vault. As to the attics,
they serve the part of a double flooring, or an air-
chamber, whose utility may be readily understood
when we consider the intense noon-day heats and
the bitterly cold nights of those regions. This upper
chamber thus secures equable temperature through-
out the entire building, whilst it screens the nur-
series, which are situated below it, from daily vari-
ations of heat.

Having passed in review the walls, cellars, and
attics of the building, we will now proceed to the
apartments themselves. On a level with the soil, and
on the centre of the ground floor, rises the palace of
the sovereigns, which we are now about to describe.
This royal chamber is a large oblong cell, with a
flat floor, and a rounded vault, which when first formed
measures about an inch in length. The walls are very
thick, more especially in the lower part, and are
pierced with round doors and windows, at regular
distances from one another. All around the sanc-
tuary, extending for a space of more than a foot in
diameter in all directions, there appears a perfect la
byrinth of vaulted chambers, which are always round
or oval, and which either communicate freely with one
another, or open into wide passages. These are the
waiting rooms, exclusively appropriated to the use of
the workers and soldiers, who are in attendance upon
the royal pair. On the sides rise, to the very roof of
the attics, storerooms which line the walls of the
general covering. These are large irregular cells,

332 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

which are always filled with gums and the solidified
juices of plants, reduced into such minute particles,
that the microscope alone enables us to recognise
their true nature. Galleries and small empty cells
connect together all these well-stored chambers, and
secure a free passage to the attendants.

The royal chamber and its dependencies are pro-
tected by a thick vault, the upper part of which
serves to support a large empty space, situated in
the very centre of the hillock. On this kind of
area, rise massive columns, which are sometimes
more than three feet high, and which give to this
vast hall the appearance of the nave of a cathedral.
These pillars support the nurseries, which differ from
the rest of the edifice as much in their structure as in
the objects for which they are intended. In every other
part of the edifice, clay is the only material employed,
and even in the nurseries it forms the skeleton of the
cells; but here the large apartments in which the
eggs are to be hatched, and in which the very young
larvas remain for a time, are subdivided into a great
number of little cells, whose walls are entirely con-
structed of parcels of wood, glued together with
gum. Nurseries of this kind are found of all sizes,
and some of them are as large as the head of a child.
All of them are surrounded by a casing of mason
work, interrupted by doors which open into the
galleries or passages of communication, and being
situated between the large air-chamber of the attic
and the nave of which we have just spoken, they
combine all the conditions favourable to equability of
temperature and ventilation.

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 333

We will now return to the royal chamber, which
on being broken open is always found to enclose the
one couple, who are the objects of the most assiduous
care, but who purchase their greatness at the cost of
perpetual seclusion ; for the doors and windows of
the chamber, although sufficient to admit of the
passage of a worker or a soldier, are too narrow to
enable the king, and a fortiori the queen, to pass
through them. The royal mother of the community,
who always rests on the ground in the centre of her
habitation, at once attracts the attention of the
observer. How slightly does she resemble that
graceful insect with delicate wings and slender form,
which was only three or four times the length and
thirty times the weight of a worker! Her wings
have disappeared, but while her head and thorax
remain almost unchanged, her abdomen has on the
contrary acquired an enormous development, which
seems to have no limit. In an old female, it is fifteen
hundred or two thousand times larger than the rest
of the body, and it reaches a length of nearly six
inches. At this time her weight is equal to thirty
thousand workers, and in consequence of this exces-
sive enlargement, the precautions taken to prevent
her flight are perfectly useless, for she is unable to
advance a single step. The male also has lost his
wings, but he is not changed in any other respect
either as to dimensions or form. Nevertheless he
makes little use of his power of locomotion, and is
generally hidden under one of the sides of the vast
abdomen of his companion.

The workers and soldiers appear to pay very little

334 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

attention to the king, but their devotion to the queen
is excessive. The space that is left free round the
latter is constantly filled by several thousand eager
attendants who move round her, always turning in
the same direction. Some feed her, others remove
the eggs which she is unceasingly laying, for here,
as in the case of the bees, the queen is the actual
mother of her subjects, and her productiveness is
truly marvellous. If it were not for the immense
number of labourers which each colony must contain
in order to accomplish such vast works, it would be
difficult to believe the details which Smeathman de-
clares he has repeatedly verified. This monstrous
abdomen seems to be nothing but a vast ovary,
whose multiplied branches enclose so large a number
of germs in the course of development that there are
always some that have reached maturity. These
canals may be seen through the attenuated and
transparent integuments presenting incessant peri-
staltic or vermicular motions, first at one point and
then at another. By means of this mechanism, the
female Termite, probably almost involuntarily, lays
upwards of sixty eggs in a minute, that is to say,
more than 80,000 in a day, and Smeathman is led to
believe that this prodigious quantity is deposited with
the same activity throughout the whole year.

These myriads of eggs being promptly collected
are carried into the nurseries, and very soon there
issue from them a like number of larvas, similar to
the workers, but smaller in size, and of a snow-
white colour. These larvas continue to live for some
time in the cells in which they were hatched. Here
they are the objects of the most attentive care, the

THE COASTS OF SAIXTONGE. 335

very walls which shelter them seeming to be changed
into hot-beds to furnish materials for their nourish-
ment. Owing to the humid heat which prevails
at all times in the centre of the nest, the par-
titions of wood and gum which form the nurseries
are soon covered with microscopical fungi, very
similar to our mushrooms, and the young Termites
find in this mould a species of food adapted to their
early wants. They no doubt undergo some first meta-
morphosis, and subsequently assume the form of the
active labourers or soldiers. The former alone attain
the condition of perfect insects.

Towards the beginning of the rainy reason, their
wings become fully developed, and selecting some
stormy evening for the period of their flight, the
males and females issue by millions from their sub-
terranean retreats. Their aerial life is, however, of
very short duration, for after a few hours their wings
wither and fall off. On the following day the earth
appears thickly strewn with the bodies of these
hapless insects, and being henceforth incapable of
flight, they fall an easy prey to the thousand enemies
who are anxiously watching for this annual food.
Only a small number escape the general massacre.
A few couples, collected by the labourers, and pro-
tected by the soldiers which chance has led near them,
return into their galleries, and generally become the
sovereigns of those who have saved them. Soon
enclosed for ever within the royal cell, they form the
nucleus of a new community, and have nothing more
to think of but to endeavour to augment the numbers
of their subjects.

All travellers speak of ants being used by certain

336 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

nations as an article of food. This remark, however,
applies only to the Termites, and there is no doubt
that man must be classed among the enemies who
annually watch for the emigration of these insects,
with the view of securing them for food. The
Indians smoke the nests, and stop the winged insects
as they are hastening to escape from their habitation.
The natives of Africa, with less industry, content
themselves with collecting those which fall into the
neighbouring waters. The Indians pound these
insects into a paste, and mixing them with flour
convert them into a sort of cake ; while the Africans
content themselves with roasting them very much
in the same manner as coffee beans, eating them by
handfuls, and declaring that they thus constitute a
most delicious article of food. However strange
such viands may appear, they seem to be relished
even by Europeans, and all travellers agree in
speaking of the Termites, as a savoury and agreeable
article of food, resembling in flavour sweetened
marrow or cream. Smeathman regards them as a
delicate, nourishing, and wholesome food *, and he
seems even to prefer them to those famous palm
grubs, which in the West Indies are brought to the
tables of the rich as an exquisite delicacy. f

* It would appear, however, that the abuse of this food engenders
very serious diseases, and amongst others a kind of epidemic
dysentery, which carries off the patient in three or four hours.

f These grubs, which take their name from the locality in which
they are found, are nothing but the larva of a kind of weevil,
Calandra palmarum, which during the first two stages of its deve-
lopment inhabits the trunk of the palm tree. Some naturalists are
of opinion that the larva is the same as that which the Romans

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 337

The neuter Termites preserve through the whole
of their lives the characters and attributes which have
obtained for them the name of soldiers. Although
they hardly number one hundredth part of the popu-
lation of the Termites, they constitute a separate
class which a writer of the last century would un-
doubtedly have compared to the nobility of a mo-
narchy, whilst the larvas would have represented
the plebeians of the community. At ordinary times
they live idle, keeping guard or merely watching the
labours of the workers, over whom they exert an
evident authority. In times of war they bravely
risk their persons, and sacrifice themselves, if neces-
sary, for the common safety. At the first stroke of
the pick-axe, which lays open one of their galleries,
the nearest sentinel is observed to hurry forward.
The alarm spreads, and in the twinkling of an eye a
crowd of combatants cover the breach, moving their
large heads in all directions, and opening and shut-
ting their forceps with a loud noise. When once
they have seized any object, nothing will make them
relinquish their hold, they will allow their limbs and
body to be torn in pieces without unlocking their
jaws. If they can reach the hands or legs of the

regarded as so great a delicacy, and which they fattened with flour.
The idea of eating worms would not be very inviting to our
epicures, but this perhaps may arise from mere prejudice. We were
assured some time ago that a worthy citizen of Geneva, with the
view of effecting the destruction of the cockchafers, suggested that
their larvae might be used as food, and not only eat them himself, but
persuaded many of his friends to follow his example, and it was
asserted that they were found remarkably good when fried in
batter.

VOL. II. Z

338 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

aggressors, they at once draw blood. Each Termite
will cause a loss of blood exceeding the weight of
its own body. Thus the negroes who are without
shoes and only half-clothed, are soon put to flight,
whilst even Europeans leave the combat with their
clothes deeply stained with blood.

While they are engaged in fighting, the soldiers
strike the ground from time to time with their for-
ceps, and the labourers reply to this well known signal
by a sort of whistling sound. As soon as the attack
ceases, the masons appear in crowds, each carrying
in its mouth a piece of clay ready prepared. Each
in turn approaching the point that needs repair,
applies to it his portion of mortar, and then again
retires without embarrassing or interfering with his
companions. The new wall is rapidly constructed
under the eyes of the observer. During this time
the soldiers remain in the interior, with the exception
of one or two to every thousand labourers. One of
them appears to be charged with superintending the
works ; for during the building of a wall, he stands
as a superintendent, slowly turning his head in all
directions, and striking the dome rapidly every two
or three minutes with his forceps, which produce a
noise rather louder than that of the ticking of a
watch. This *noise is each time responded to by a
whistling sound, which proceeds from all parts of the
edifice, and is invariably accompanied by an ex-
hibition of increasing activity on the part of the
labourers. If the attack recommences, the labourers
disappear in the twinkling of an eye, and the soldiers
return to their posts, where they maintain the con-

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 339

test with the greatest obstinacy, defending the ground
inch by inch. The labourers in the meantime are
not idle, for they block up the passages and galleries
and appear especially anxious to guard their sove-
reigns. With this intention, they fill up the waiting
rooms with the greatest possible celerity, and effect
their purpose so completely that Smeathman on
reaching the centre of one of these edifices, was un-
able to distinguish the royal chamber, which was
lost in the midst of a shapeless mass of clay. The
vicinity of this palace is however betrayed by the
crowd of labourers and soldiers, who are collected
around it, and who allow themselves to be crushed,
rather than abandon the spot. The cell itself always
contains several thousands of the community, who
have remained and suffered themselves to be im-
mured with the royal pair. Smeathman always
found that they readily allowed themselves to be
carried away with these objects of their devoted at-
tachment, and that they continued their services
in captivity, being incessantly engaged in moving
round the person of the queen, giving her food, and
removing her eggs, which, for want of nurseries, they
deposited behind broken pieces of clay, or in some
retired portion of the bowl which served as their
prison.

It is scarcely possible to obtain a view of the
Termites without destroying their works. Chance
may, indeed, sometimes enable the traveller to see a
colony of these insects while they are proceeding
from one habitation to another, as in the case of
Smeathman, who had the pleasure of seeing one of
z 2

340 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

their armies march by him*, but in general they do
not appear above ground. Every nest that is built
on a level with the soil or below it, is characterised
in all the species by having subterranean galleries,
which radiate in all directions, and often to very
considerable distances from the point of their origin.
Even the Tree-Termites construct a long tube which
reaches to the ground and serves as the centre of
their covered roads. All the species, moreover, have
the same habits, and their innumerable squadrons
are incessantly on the watch to discover some organic
body which they may devour; and this instinct
renders them so formidable to man, that Linna3us
has not hesitated to designate them as the greatest
scourge of the Indies, f

Invisible to the eyes of those whom they threaten,
the Termites carry their galleries to the very walls
of inhabited buildings or storehouses, descend beneath
the foundations, and make their way up again through
the interior; and from this time they are entire
masters of the place. Some attack the woodwork,
the furniture, and provisions of every kind, whilst
others, without deviating from their course, demolish
the floors and roofs; but being always careful of
avoiding the light, they scrupulously respect the
surface of the objects which they attack and content
themselves with gutting the interior. If the spot
appears favourable to them and there seems much to

* This species is different from those of which we have hitherto
spoken, and our author gives them the name of Marching Termites
( Termes viarum).

f " Termes utriusque Indise Calamitas summa." — Systema Natures,

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 341

be attacked, they bring with them mortar to replace,
piece by piece, the woody structures which they
have destroyed ; and Smeathman has seen wooden
posts thus changed into hard clay columns. If the con-
trary be the case, they are less cautious, and their
work of destruction progresses with such amazing
rapidity that one season suffices for the complete
destruction of a house built in the European
fashion, while a negro village completely disappears
within the same period. They have been seen
to penetrate in a single night through the foot
of a table, and traversing the leg from below up-
wards, to attack a box which was standing upon
it, and so completely to destroy the contents that
the next day not an inch of the clothing which it
contained was found to have escaped their attacks ;
and even papers, drawings, and pencils, including
the lead, had all disappeared in the same time.

Of the different species of Termites described by
naturalists, two only appear to occur in Europe.*
Both are exclusively miners, and their nests, which
are difficult of detection, have not been studied like
those of their congeners which raise their habitations

* We are certainly far from knowing all the species of Termites
which inhabit the two continents, and the distinctions between those
that have already been described are by no means perfectly defined.
It would appear, however, from the memoirs of various authors,
that there exist at least twenty- four distinct species of these insects,
nine of which belong to Africa, nine to America, two to Asia, and
two to Europe. We do not yet know the habitats of the remaining
two. The two European species occur in France, and we shall
presently see that there are reasons which lead to the supposition
that we possess a third.

z 3

342 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

above the soil. For the same reason their habits
and internal economy are very little known ; but it
is only too easy to discover in our indigenous Ter-
mites the same destructive instincts which are pos-
sessed by their exotic brethren. In Sardinia, Spain,
and the South of France, the species known as the
flavicollis attacks the olives and other valuable trees,
while in the Gironde and the Landes the T. luci-
fugus devours the oaks and fir trees. Here we are
led to ask if it is one of these two species which,
renouncing a country life and accommodating itself
to our towns, is at present exercising its ravages at
La Rochelle, Eochefort, Saintes, and the neighbour-
ing districts ? It must be admitted that, notwith-
standing the affirmative reply that has been given
by some of our most distinguished entomologists,
the question seems to us at all events very doubtful.
Latreille, who was one of the founders of modern
entomology, informs us that the T. lucifugus of the
neighbourhood of Bordeaux reaches the condition
of a perfect insect, acquires wings, and emigrates in
the course of the month of June. On the other
hand, a much less celebrated observer, but one who
studied the Termites of Rochefort on the spot for
nearly half a century, affirms that in that town their
emigration takes place in the month of March, and
that when that epoch is passed there is not a winged
Termite to be seen.* Those who are acquainted
with the precision of the laws which regulate the
development of organised beings, will consider that

* Memoire sur les Termites observes a Rochefort, by M. Bobe-
Moreau. Saintes, 1843.

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 343

this difference of two months between the two
periods of the metamorphosis is quite sufficient to
raise doubts as to the identity of the species, and
the more so in this case because it is in the more
southern region that the metamorphosis is reported
to be the latest. If the observations of Latreille on
the lucifugus of the Landes had been repeated and
confirmed, and if M. Blanchard had not found
winged males in the nests at La Rochelle in the
month of September, the fact that we have recorded
would of itself seem almost sufficient for the solution
of this question.

Other facts, which we must bear in mind, are more-
over in opposition to the generally received opinion.
Unless under very exceptional circumstances, the
same instincts occur in all the representatives of the
same species of animals. In insects more especially
we cannot admit that these instincts vary with the
locality, or, in other words, that they differ in dif-
ferent colonies. In Provence and in the neighbour-
hood of Bordeaux, Termites are found only in the
country, and far from following man into the towns,
they seem even to avoid all rural habitations. If
this were not the case, and if the Termites of the
Gironde, like those of Senegal and of Charente-
Inferieure, penetrated into all warehouses, and break-
ing through the hoops which encircle the tuns, occa-
sioned the loss of the wine, the Medoc wine owners
would assuredly have spoken of the damage done to
their property, and yet, as far as I know, they have
never made any complaints on the subject.

No mention is made in historic times of the pre-

z 4

344 KAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

sence of the Termites in Saintonge any more than
in the country round Bordeaux ; indeed no naturalist
had ever mentioned their occurrence in the basin of
the Charente until they suddenly appeared in the
very heart of the town of Rochefort, where they
spread rapidly day by day, until now, after the space
of half a century, they have successively invaded
several other towns, infested the gardens, attacked
numerous isolated houses, and even threaten to
overrun the entire district* Is it probable that
these insects should be of the same species as the
lucifugus, and that, changing the country habits
which they exhibit in La Gironde, they should have
accommodated themselves to a town life in Sain-
tonge ? f Is it not more reasonable to assume that
the Termite of Rochefort is a new species, or at least
new to this district, which having been imported by

* According to M. Bobe-Moreau, Termites were not discovered
at Rochefort until 1797, when they were found in a house that had
long been uninhabited, in which they had destroyed the greater
part of the woodwork together with all the furniture. After this,
they spread to the neighbouring houses. In 1804, their progress
was not yet very great, for Latreille mentions that there is a report
that the Termes lucifugus had for the last few years given much
uneasiness to the inhabitants of Rochefort, in consequence of these
insects having made their way into several of the houses. In 1829
the same writer spoke in a very different strain of the damage done
by these insects in the workshops and magazines of the navy.

f M. Lucas, member of the scientific commission sent by govern-
ment to Algeria, has found in that country the T. lucifugus and
the T. flavicollis. He has only met with the first of these insects
in the country, the second alone penetrates into inhabited houses.
Thus wherever the T. lucifugus has been observed in its native
state, it has shown habits which differ from those exhibited by the
Termites of Rochefort.

THE COASTS OF SAINTOXGE. 345

some merchant vessel, like certain of the Blattae,
has come no one knows from whence, as if to prove
to us that travellers have been guilty of no exagge-
ration in speaking of this scourge. A rigorous com-
parison of these insects in all their different stages, and
a thorough investigation of their origin, would alone
be able to settle this question.*

Whatever may be the true state of the case, La
Rochelle has undoubtedly experienced the same fate
as Rochefort, Saintes, and Tonnay-Charente, and on
arriving at the first-named town, I felt assured that
I should find these destructive insects.

I was well aware of the damage which they were
capable of accomplishing, for MM. Audouin, Milne-
Edwards, and Blanchard had frequently traversed
the department of the Charente-Inferieure, and
brought back with them to the Museum of Paris
several material proofs of the dangers, which those
apparently insignificant enemies are capable of inflict-
ing on the inhabitants of these districts. These na-
turalists had described the sudden manner in which
the roofs and floors of houses had crumbled to pieces,
and how some buildings were found to be so entirely
undermined, that it was necessary either to recon-
struct them from the very foundations, or entirely to
abandon them. I was very soon able to judge for
myself of the accuracy of these reports, although La
Rochelle is not nearly so completely infested as the

* M. Blanchard has already directed his attention to this subject,
and we ought to mention that his first results are not favourable
to our views. The materials, however, at his disposal were by no
means complete.

346 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

other towns to which I have referred. Here the
Termites have only taken possession of the Prefec-
ture and the Arsenal.* And in consequence of these
insects not having made any marked progress for
some years past, the Hochellais appear to believe that
they will never exceed their present limits. This is
most certainly an error, and whenever the season
should be a little more favourable than usual to the
development of these insects, the whole town may
be infested in the course of a few months, and the
Kochellais will then too late deplore the imprudent
security which led them to neglect to seek for the
necessary means of destroying these enemies, which
at present are quartered at the two extremities of the
town.

The Prefecture and a few neighbouring houses
are the principal scene of the destructive ravages of
the Termites, but here they have taken complete
possession of the premises. In the garden not a

* This installation of Termites at two perfectly isolated points,
which are situated almost at the two extremities of the town, and
the absence of these insects from all the central part of La Rochelle,
demonstrate most clearly that they are not natives of this portion of
the department. M. Blan chard indeed admits their importation into
La Rochelle. From information which I have obtained through
M. Beltremieux, this importation took place about 1780, when the
brothers Poupet, rich shipowners of that day, were building the hotel
or mansion which was afterwards converted into the Prefecture. It
would appear that goods which had come from Saint- Domingo were
the means of introducing the Termites not only into La Rochelle
but also into Rochefort, and several other points where the brothers
Poupet had warehouses. This traditionary account agrees tolerably
well with the date which M. Bobe-Moreau gives for the discovery of
the Termites at Rochefort, and would also explain their progressive

T1IE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 347

stake can be put into the ground, and not a plank
can be left on the beds, without being attacked
within twenty-four or forty-eight hours. The fences
put round the young trees are gnawed from the
bottom, while the trees themselves are gutted to the
very branches. Within the building itself, the
apartments and offices are all alike invaded. I saw
upon the roof of a bedroom that had been recently
repaired, galleries made by the Termites which
looked like stalactites, and which had begun to show
themselves the very day after the workmen had left
the place. In the cellars, I discovered similar gal-
leries, which were either half way between the
ceiling and the floor*, or running along the walls,
and extending no doubt up to the very garrets, for
on the principal staircase other galleries were ob-
served between the ground floor and the second
floor, passing under the plaster whenever it was
sufficiently thick for the purpose, and only coming
to view at different points where the stones were on
the surface ; for, like other species, the Termites of
La Rochelle always work under cover wherever it is
possible for them to do so. It is generally only by
incessant vigilance that we can trace the course of
their devastations, and prevent their ravages. At
the time of M. Audouin's visit, a curious proof was

* MM. Milne-Edwards and Blanchard have seen galleries which
descended without any extraneous support from the ceiling to the
floor of a cellar. M. Bobe-Moreau cites several curious instances
of this mode of construction ; thus for instance, he saw isolated
galleries, or arcades, which were thrown horizontally forwards like a
tubular bridge, in order to reach a piece of paper that was wrapped
round a bottle, the contents of a pot of honey, &c.

348 KAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

accidentally obtained of the mischief which this insect
silently accomplishes. One day it was discovered
that the archives of the department were almost
totally destroyed, and that without the slightest ex-
ternal trace of any damage. The Termites had
reached the boxes in which these documents were
preserved, by mining the wainscoting, and they had
then leisurely set to work to devour these admini-
strative records, carefully respecting the upper sheets
and the margin of each leaf, so that a box which
was only filled with a mass of rubbish, seemed to
enclose a file of papers in perfect order. The hard-
est woods are attacked in the same manner. I saw
on one of the staircases an oak post, in which one of
the clerks had buried his hand up to the wrist, in
grasping at it for support as his foot accidentally
slipped. The interior of the post was entirely
formed of empty cells, the substance of which could
be scraped away like dust, while the layer that had
been left untouched by the Termites was not thicker
than a sheet of paper.

Immediately on my arrival, I endeavoured to
procure a number of Termites, in order that I might
observe them at my leisure ; and thanks to the kind
attention of Doctor Garreau, one of the members of
the Society of Natural History, I constantly had a
supply of them on my table. It will be readily
understood that I took every precaution to avoid their
escaping, for had they got abroad, they would un-
doubtedly have destroyed the house, and in the course
of time the part of the city in which it was situated.
I kept these insects in a basin that was only half

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 349

full, and took every precaution to screen them from
the light ; and, as my prisoners were unable to scale
their glassy walls, I could observe them at my
leisure ; and I was thus enabled to follow in detail
the various steps by which they transformed into a
regular nest the confused mass of earth and rubbish,
in the midst of which they had at first been thrown.

A very few minutes after the bowl had been
placed on my table, each insect endeavoured to join
his companions. Some attempted to climb along the
smooth walls of their prison, but after a few unsuc-
cessful attempts, they buried themselves in the midst
of the earth. The entire troop was soon dispersed,
and I saw them divided into small groups on the
darkest part of the bowl. After a few hours the
various groups were reunited into one, and from
this moment their labours began and were continued
in common.

The first care of the Termites seemed to be to lay
down a sort of high road all round the bowl, and as
the materials were very unequally distributed, they
were obliged to clear away some parts, and to fill
up others. The first of these tasks was easy, but
the second gave them more trouble. The workmen
first transported a certain quantity of earth, intended
to raise the soil to the required height, and they
next constructed an arch above it. I saw them come
one after the other, each carrying between his jaws
a little mass of earth, which he applied without
pausing to the projecting edge of the work ; next he
descended by a kind of incline which had been ex-
pressly constructed for the purpose, and returned

350 KAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

under ground by a special gallery. Some of these
insects appeared to me to moisten the materials after
they had been put in their right places with a liquid,
which was no doubt intended to harden them. Du-
ring these labours., the soldiers were most evidently
engaged in playing the part of leaders and super-
intendents. I saw one here and there, and always
alone, mixing amongst the labourers but never per-
forming any of the work. At times they made a
sort of tremulous motion with the whole of their
body, and struck the ground with their forceps, on
which all the neighbouring workers executed the
same movement and exhibited renewed activity. In
twenty hours the circular gallery was fit for use.
It must be admitted, however, that the walls of the
bowl formed almost half of it. At the same time
the earth had been consolidated, and its surface
smoothed, whilst a cork which I had thrown in was
half buried. I then gave them three other corks,
and added successively a closely compressed paper
ball and a large ball of bread crumbs. These dif-
ferent materials remained precisely in the same
position in which they had accidentally fallen, and I
thought at first that they had been despised by the
Termites, but having after a few days turned the
bowl completely over, I found that they all remained
in their places notwithstanding their weight. They
had, in fact, been cemented together, and I disco-
vered afterwards, on opening them, that the insects
had carried their galleries through them, although
the work of cementing and boring could not be dis-
covered from the exterior.

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 351

The labours of my prisoners appeared at first to
be continued without any intermission, but they
were relaxed as soon as the great works were termi-
nated. A few days, however, sufficed for the com-
pletion of the nest, and this time the largest cork
had almost entirely disappeared, whilst the earth
had been raised to the level of the other two. All
the surface of the soil was smooth, without any
apparent opening, and the earth, which at the begin-
ning of the experiment was as loose as fine sand, had
been so well consolidated, that only a few particles
were detached from it when the bowl was overturned.
Under this kind of crust, and at the very bottom of
it, there extended all round the bowl, a gallery about
half an inch wide, and two thirds of an inch high,
in the form of a semi-arch, which rested against the
transparent sides of the glass. Several openings is-
sued from this circular road, and gave access into
low vaulted chambers, large enough to contain thirty
or forty workers. These compartments communi-
cated with other internal cells, by means of very low
doors, through which five or six workers could pass
abreast.

As soon as this work was completed, the Termites
remained at rest, at least during the day. I generally
found them grouped together in the darkest part of
the large gallery, or in the adjoining compartments,
whilst a few isolated soldiers seemed occasionally
to mount guard at the entrance of the empty cells,
but as soon as the light struck them, they manifested
an intense degree of excitement. Labourers and
soldiers then performed the singular and tremulous

352 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

movement of which I have already spoken, and in a
few moments all had disappeared into the central
apartments, where the light could not penetrate.

Curiosity was not the only motive which influenced
me in making my observations. In studying the
manners of the Termites, and endeavouring to form
a correct idea of the construction of their habitations,
I was more especially influenced by the wish of dis-
covering means of destroying these enemies, whose
numbers and minute size have rendered them almost
invincible. MM. Audouin, Milne-Ed wards, Blan-
chard, and Lucas had never made any prolonged stay
in the district, and consequently had been unable to
enter systematically upon this question, but many
other observers had attempted to solve this problem.
Different methods had been employed for protecting
the gardens and fruit trees, and, amongst other ex-
pedients, recourse had been had to sprinkling with
tar water, ploughing the land frequently and to a
great depth, and digging circular fosses round the
trunks of the trees. Essence of turpentine and
powdered arsenic have been suggested as means
for destroying those insects in their nests, and one
traveller assures us that the latter substance has per-
fectly succeeded at La Martinique.* Unfortunately,
however, these various processes have always failed
in the department of Saintonge, and the injections of
boiling potash lees, which have recently been tried,
are evidently inapplicable in most cases. f

* Chauvallon (Voyage a la Martinique). A letter which I have
received from an unknown correspondent in America affirms the
same fact.

f Madame George, who devotes herself to natural history, and

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 353

MM. Fleuriau and Sauve have also attempted
to destroy the colony that has established itself at
the Prefecture of La Rochelle. After having tried
various methods, but without success, they thought
of calling to their assistance the aid of auxiliaries,
and of employing Ants to combat the Termites. The
application of this ingenious idea would certainly
have been attended with some inconveniences, for one
destructive insect would only have replaced another ;
but still the remedy would have been much better
than the evil, and it is to be regretted that the at-
tempts of the Rochellais savants were not attended
with success. They intermingled in one bowl a
nearly equal number of these two species of insects.
A battle commenced forthwith, and it was soon easy
to foresee the issue of it. The Termites inflicted the
deepest wounds, and the soldiers, with a single stroke
of their terrible forceps, cut the Ants in two, as with
shears. In a little while they were exterminated,
whilst the Termites at first counted only a very small
number of dead. On the next day, however, nearly
one half perished, having very probably been de-
stroyed by the acid which the Ants secrete, and
which had poisoned even the smallest wounds.

Notwithstanding the many failures of my pre-
decessors, I entertained strong hopes of successfully

more especially to botany, with a zeal which is very seldom dis-
played by women, has announced to the Society of Natural History
at La Rochelle, of which she is a corresponding member, that she
has succeeded by this method in driving the Termites from her
garden. Madame George regards the Termite which has invaded
her premises as the Termes nasutus of Jamaica, but this determination
requires to be further confirmed.
VOL. II. A A

354 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

attacking the Termites. I relied upon the aid which
I might derive from some of those gaseous poisons
prepared by chemistry, and which in consequence of
their very nature are able to penetrate into the
smallest recesses. I had heard one of the founders
of modern science relate the manner in which he
had exterminated the Rats which continued to infest
his house, notwithstanding the snares and traps of
every kind which had been employed for their de-
struction. After having carefully closed all the
holes made by these rodents, M. Thenard applied to
one of the openings an apparatus from which sul-
phuretted hydrogen was disengaged, and the Rats
being thus imprisoned and compelled to breathe only
a vitiated air, were soon killed by the poison.

In consequence of the special mode of respiration
of insects, the Termites must be much more sensitive
than Rats to the action of a deleterious gas.* In
order to render the process of gaseous injection ap-
plicable to them, two conditions would be necessary.
It would be requisite that their edifices should pre-
sent a continuous line of galleries and compartments
through which the gas might universally penetrate,
and this was a point satisfactorily settled by my
observations. Next it would be necessary to find a
gas which would be as destructive to those insects

* It is well known that in insects respiration is not accomplished
by lungs, that is to say, by a localised organ, but by tracheae or
ramified canals, which convey the air into all parts of the body.
It will readily be understood that in these animals, a gaseous poison,
which is conveyed simultaneously to every portion of the organism,
must, all other things being equal, act with the greatest energy.

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 355

as sulphuretted hydrogen was to the Rats, and here
direct experiments became necessary. A great
number of substances which are highly poisonous to
Man and to the other vertebrata, exert only a very
feeble action on the invertebrata, and more especially
on insects. Sulphuretted hydrogen, which was so
successfully employed by M. Thenard, is one of
these, and hence it was necessary to replace it by
some other gas.

Owing to the kindness of M. Robillard, principal
apothecary to the military hospital at La Rochelle,
the laboratory of that establishment was placed at
my disposal. Freshly collected Termites were intro-
duced into vessels which, by way of extra precaution,
had been placed in large basins filled with water,
and I then proceeded to try the effects of various
gases, until I discovered that chlorine completely
answered my expectations. When perfectly active
Termites are plunged into this gas in a nearly pure
condition they at once fall as if instantaneously
killed. When left for half an hour in air mixed
with only one tenth of chlorine, they are found to
be completely asphyxiated. Experiments that were
repeated in several different ways, and in which I
tried as far as possible to imitate the arrangement
of the layers of wood that had been attacked by the
Termites, gave equally decisive and equally satis-
factory results. Thus, to destroy the largest Termite
settlement, all that is necessary is to inject a sufficient
quantity of chlorine.

We are far, however, from asserting that all the
difficulties of the problem can be met in this simple

A A 2

356 EAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

manner. In all questions of this kind, practical
attempts which alone can decide the applicability of
the method, must necessarily follow upon all those
investigations of science which yield what may be
termed a theoretical solution of a problem. Con-
sidered from this point of view, it will be seen that
new problems rise for every special case. Thus, for
instance, in attacking an exclusively mining species,
an exact exploration of the scene of their operations
will be the first thing necessary, in order to discover
the starting point of the thousand galleries which
are constructed by the Termites. Next it would be
necessary to determine the spot at which the appa-
ratus should be applied, in order that the gas might
penetrate with the fewest obstacles into the very
heart of the settlement. Perhaps the insects when
thus attacked might defend themselves, like those of
Senegal, by walling up the passages which gave ad-
mittance to the deleterious gas, and in that case it
would be necessary to display a promptitude of
action which would be the only means of forestalling
the efforts of these little animals. Perhaps it would
be necessary to liberate the gas under a pressure
high enough to enable it to penetrate through the
whole extent of these edifices. Perhaps, indeed,
notwithstanding all these precautions the first at-
tempts might prove unsuccessful, even in the case of
isolated colonies like those of La Rochelle. Lastly,
it is very probable, or rather almost certain, that in
towns which have been generally infected like
Saintes or Rochefort, it would be necessary, after a
first success, to contend against new invasions, and

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 357

to recommence from time to time a fresh course of
experiments and operations. But we may ask if the
farmer succeeds in freeing himself in one season
from noxious weeds and tares. He, too, requires
activity and perseverance to protect his harvests ;
and this is all we ask of the proprietors of the houses
or lands which are being undermined by the Ter-
mites, and at this cost alone can we guarantee them
success in their endeavours.

Since the publication of the original edition of this
work, a very careful series of observations has been
instituted by M. Lespes on the Termes lucifuyus of
Bordeaux. We learn from these observations, which
were begun in the autumn of 1855 and continued
through the greater part of the year 1856, that M.
Lespes concurs in the opinion already expressed in
the preceding pages, that this species differs from the
one found at La Rochelle, the latter having pro-
bably been imported from tropical regions. Among
many other reasons that may be advanced in support
of this view, he instances the fact that the damage
effected by the Bordeaux Termites is very trifling
when compared with the injuries inflicted by their
congeners in the department of the Charente.
Hitherto the T. lucifuyus of Bordeaux has mainly
limited its ravages to the old and decaying pine-
stumps, which remain after each year's felling of
timber in the Landes of Bordeaux ; but it is not im-

A A 3

358 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

probable that the abundance of this material may
hitherto have been the means of saving the city
itself from the inroads of these destructive insects,
by affording them on the spot all the conditions
favourable to the construction of their nests and the
maintenance of their community.

The results of M. LespeV observations seem to
have led him to the conclusion that a Termite
colony invariably consists of the following distinct

1. A fruitful pair, the parent king and queen, or
a secondary and lesser king and queen (petit roi et
petite reine).*

2. Neuters of two forms : workers and soldiers.

3. Larvas of two forms : sexual individuals and
neuters.

4. Nymphas of two forms.

5. Sexual individuals, winged insects of two forms,
which are destined to leave the nest : the May brood
becoming the secondary or lesser kings and queens ;
while the August brood are the future parent kings
and queens, destined to found new communities.

These classes may be grouped under two distinct
heads, as apterous neuters, which embrace the workers
and soldiers, and winged sexual individuals, which
comprise the secondary or lesser kings and queens,
and the parent kings and queens.

M. Lespes found workers and soldiers at all times

* M. Lespes was unable to satisfy himself as to the precise voca-
tion of these lesser kings and queens, of which he sometimes found
several couples in the same community, even where the nest con-
tained a parent king and queen of larger size.

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 359

of the year; but about the end of May they were
observed to have diminished very considerably both
in numbers and size ; and soon after this period the
old insects had all disappeared and given place to a
new generation of workers and soldiers; it would,
therefore, seem that this class lives about a year
after the final metamorphosis. The two forms of
Nymphas appear in July ; the first form undergo
their final metamorphosis in the following May ; and
the second form continue unchanged for a year be-
yond that period ; hence, the perfect individuals
live about twenty months before they attain their
ultimate state.*

It would appear from M. LespeV observations
that all the different classes of Termites resemble

* These Nymphas belong, as already observed, to two forms;
those of the first form have long and broad wing-cases, which cover
all the anterior portion of the abdomen. They are considerably
larger than the workers, and their heads, which are proportionally
longer, are of a white colour, and are furnished with eyes. Those
of the second form are of less frequent occurrence than the former,
but they are both larger and heavier, and are distinguished by their
shorter wing-cases. They are at first of a yellowish white colour,
but they gradually acquire a darker hue, and in August, when they
undergo their final metamorphosis, they are of a decided brown
colour. The Nymphas of the first form, or those with long wing-
cases, begin to change their colour, although not very decidedly,
early in May ; and, in about a fortnight afterwards, they are meta-
morphosed into winged insects, constituting the section of the perfect
insects which M. Lespes denominated les petits rois et petites reines.
The Nymphas of the second form, or those with short wing-cases, do
not attain the perfect state till the month of August or September.
After losing their wings, which they retain only for a few days,
they become the parent kings and queens of new communities.

A A 1

360 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

each other in their earliest stage ; but the difference
between the neuter and the sexual individuals begins
already to be visible during the second condition of
metamorphosis, the sexual individuals exhibiting,
even at that early period, traces of wings.

On the workers devolves not only the labour of
constructing the common habitation of the com-
munity, but also that of attending upon the Larvas
and Nymphas, and probably also on the kings and
queens. The metamorphosis of the Nymphas seems
especially to call forth all their activity ; for at these
times the whole community is in a state of commo-
tion, and even at the moment when the larval
workers and soldiers are undergoing their final
metamorphosis, the old workers may be seen busily
employed in assisting their infantine brethren to
disengage themselves from their skins. It would
seem that the commonly received idea that the
soldiers exert a supervision over the workers is not
correct, at least in reference to the Termes lucifugus,
and M. Lespes is anxious to make it understood that
his remarks apply solely to that species. The sol-
diers of T. lucifugus are very different from those
described by Smeathman ; for their bite is not suffi-
ciently virulent to inflict an injury, excepting on
very small insects ; and although in the combats
waged between the Termites and true Ants, the
soldiers exhibit great courage, and never let go their
hold until they have severed their prey in two with
their formidable pincers, they are generally van-
quished and overcome by the numbers of their small

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 361

but fierce foes. It is not unusual in opening a nest
of the Formica cunicularia to find numbers of dead
Termites, chiefly workers and Larvas, in the galleries
which contain the larval Ants, where they have been
brought as food for the young of the community.
This species might, therefore, be advantageously
employed to exterminate the Termites of Roche-
fort. M. Lespes never found any stores of food in
the nest, nor did he find anything in the nurseries
resembling those fungoid growths which Smeathman
described.

On taking a retrospective glance at these records
of " The Rambles of a Naturalist," my thoughts have
necessarily been led to dwell on the many varied
events which have checkered my path during the
years that have elapsed since I began to depict the
impressions, and to record the observations yielded
by those journeyings by sea and land, which are
described in the present volumes.

In this review of the pains and pleasures of a
period which stands widely apart from the ordinary
routine of my existence, I have felt the joys and
sorrows of years crowded into a few hours, and I
have risen from this contemplation of by-gone days
more and more deeply impressed with the conviction
of the beneficent, calming and ennobling influences
of the study of nature generally, and of the history
of living beings more especially. The study of
zoology, by bringing us constantly into the presence
of the infinitely grand and varied problem of orga-
nisation, and by comprehending within the scope of

362 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

its contemplation both animal structures and that
unknown agent which we term life, at once stimu-
lates our reasoning powers and elevates our moral
aspirations, and thus satisfies all the requirements of
our double nature. And it is no doubt owing to the
fact of this science appealing simultaneously to our
intellectual and moral instincts that it exerts so
powerful an influence over those who devote them-
selves in a humble and teachable spirit to its pursuit.
In the preceding pages I have already frequently
endeavoured to draw attention to the moral and
religious ascendency which the study of living beings
is calculated to exert over the human mind: and
happy indeed shall I esteem myself if anything that
I have said may have the effect of leading others to
seek in the study of nature for solace amid the
harrowing cares of life, or to turn to these ennobling
pursuits for a confirmation of their faith, when the
black mists of sophistry and scepticism threaten to
dim the bright light of truth. Happy, truly happy,
shall I be if any words of mine may be the means of
leading one wearied spirit to seek for a balm for his
wounds, or satisfaction for his wavering belief, in the
study of those marvellous and exquisitely beautiful
organisms which have their dwelling in the myste-
rious world of ocean ! To find that new labourers
are pressing forward to take their place in those
fields of research from whence I have myself reaped
so rich a harvest of pleasure and instruction, will be
more than ample compensation to me for the pain
it has cost me to retire from the direct pursuit of

THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 363

paths of inquiry, which have yielded me so many
moments of unalloyed enjoyment.*

* [M. de Quatrefages here alludes to his recent appointment to
the Chair of Ethnology (Histoire Naturelle de THomme) at the
Museum of Natural History in the Jardin des Plantes. While we
congratulate M. de Quatrefages on this honourable recognition of
his claims as a naturalist, we cannot help regretting, in common
with all zoologists, that any circumstances should have withdrawn
him from a department of natural history in which he had already
achieved such signal success.]

APPENDIX.

NOTE I.

ELIE DE BEAUMONT, Perpetual Secretary to the Academy
of Sciences, and Professor at the College of France, has
undoubtedly exerted a greater influence on the course
and progress of science than any other modern geologist.
By reviving the ideas that had been first enounced by
Stenon in 1669, and by giving prominence to the obser-
vations of Saussure * and Werner f, M. de Beaumont

* Saussure, who was born at Geneva in 1740, and died in 1799,
was the nephew of Bonnet, to whom he very probably owed that
taste for the natural sciences, which was still more strengthened by
his association with Haller. As early as his twenty-second year
he published a memoir, entitled Observations sur VEcorce des Feuilles
et des Petales.

Notwithstanding the multiplicity of his labours, he returned after
various intervals to his botanical studies, and his last memoir, read
at the Academy of Geneva a few months before his death, had for
its object the study of the " constant direction of roots and stems."
Saussure occupied himself more especially with physics and geology,
and he added to the former of these sciences a new branch, viz.
Hygrometry, and also made some very valuable observations on the
structure of high mountains, which distinguished him among the
founders of geology. It is well known that he was the first who
ascended to the summit of Mont Blanc.

f Werner, who was born at Welhau in 1750, and died at Dresden
in 1817, was the son of a manager of iron works. From his child-
hood he had been familiar with minerals, and this circumstance very
probably determined his future vocation. At the age of twenty-

366 RAMBLES OF A NATUKALIST.

was enabled, by combining the results of his own studies
with the researches made by Humboldt and Leopold
von Buch, to transform the vague idea of an upheaval
of mountains into a complete doctrine, which has given a
rapid impetus to the progress of geology, and enabled us to
trace the past history of our globe with a precision that
amounts almost to mathematical accuracy. By means of
this doctrine we have been enabled to ascertain the rela-
tive age of mountain chains and other districts, and to
determine their formation, to recognise the modifications
which each new cataclysm has effected in the form of
seas and continents, and finally to prepare geographical
charts corresponding to epochs which very probably

four he published his first work, which, although it was only a short
treatise of a few pages, on the classification of minerals, began a new
era in the history of mineralogy, because it was the first attempt to
reduce this science to a methodical system. Having been appointed
almost immediately afterwards assistant, and subsequently full
professor, at Freyburg, Werner, by the celebrity of his teaching,
attracted around him a numerous band of pupils, and it is by them
more especially that his doctrines have been promulgated, for their
master exhibited a repugnance to the manual act of writing that
amounted almost to mania. He would not even open the letters
which were addressed to him, for fear of being obliged to answer
them, and hence, in addition to the treatise of which we have already
spoken, he has left only two other works, which in like manner con-
sist of merely a few pages each, viz. A Classification and Description
of Mountains and A new Theory of the Formation of Metalliferous
Veins. Werner had more particularly occasion to notice sedimentary
rocks, and hence he was led to ascribe a very exaggerated influence
to water in the formation of the earth's crust. Thus, for instance,
he assigned an aqueous origin even to basalt, and he therefore
justly merited to be regarded as the chief of the Neptunian school.
This celebrated mineralogist was passionately attached to his native
country, and it is asserted that the misfortunes experienced by
Saxony in 1812, caused him so much grief as to accelerate the
progress of the disease from which he died.

APPENDIX. 367

preceded by many millions of centuries the appearance of
Man upon the earth. These results, however marvellous
they may appear, are based upon such solid proofs, that
they may be regarded as much more certain than many
portions of Greek and Roman history. M. de Beaumont
has not limited himself to the establishment of the
principles which have led to these consequences. He
has added to their demonstration by numerous memoirs
which have appeared in different publications, amongst
others in the Annales des Sciences Naturelles, Bulletin de
la Societe Geologique de France and the Annales des
Mines. He has also published an abstract of his funda-
mental views, first in an elaborate article in the Diction-
naire Universel d'Histoire Naturelle, and subsequently in
a special work, which was more particularly intended to
show their mathematical application. Finally, M. de
Beaumont has commenced the publication of a work which
is not yet completed, entitled Traite General de Geologic.
The theory first advanced by M. Elie de Beaumont in
reference to the formation of Etna, has given rise to
much controversy among geologists. We shall, however,
follow the views which he advanced in the memoir to
which we have already referred. We shall have no
difficulty in justifying our adherence to his theory, for
this distinguished geologist was the first to recognise a
great number of important facts, resulting from the ex-
amination of Etna, and which had escaped the notice of
his predecessors. Our own observations fully accord
with the deductions which he has drawn from his inves-
tigations. The exactness of these observations is farther
confirmed by the magnificent work of the German
geologist, Sartorius von Waltershausen, who devoted
six years to the study of this volcano, and who has
published a minutely detailed map of the mountain,
which is accompanied by drawings of the greatest exact-

368 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

ness. M. Elie de Beaumont has made an excellent model
of the volcano, which is based upon his own observations,
and he has faithfully represented all the various aspects
of the mountain in plates which accompany the work,
from which we have made numerous extracts.

NOTE H.

Few names are more celebrated in modern science than
that of Humboldt — a name which has been rendered
illustrious by two brothers, who appear together to have
compassed the entire range of human knowledge. Not-
withstanding the diversity of their labours, there is a
striking analogy between the tendencies of these two
minds. The elder, Wilhelm von Humboldt, directed his
attention to literature, more especially in its scientific
bearings, whilst the younger, Alexander von Humboldt,
devoted his attention more exclusively to the natural
sciences, although both took broad and general views of
the subjects which they investigated, regarding the special
departments of the various branches of knowledge which
they cultivated simply as means of arriving at more
general points of view. As the sons of a German father
and of a mother who was partially of French descent, the
brothers seem to have appropriated to themselves all the
best features of the genius of both nations, while they
wrote with equal facility in both languages. Their la-
bours may very probably have been of equal importance,
but the name of Alexander von Humboldt is at once more
popular and more distinguished, partly in consequence
of his labours having harmonised with the tendencies of
our age, and partly in consequence of the important
results which he attained by the bold and novel direction
which he gave to his researches.

Wilhelm von Humboldt was born at Potsdam in 1767,

APPENDIX. 369

and died at Tegel in 1839, while in the act of reciting an
ode of Pindar. He always appears to have combined
the most abstruse studies with a practical attention to
politics, and while he was prime minister of his native
country, he also occupied one of the first places among
the philologists of Germany. The comparative study of
languages at all times constituted his favourite pursuit,
and he has left numerous traces of his learning in this
department of knowledge. The language and population
of the Basque countries offered a curious problem, which
he endeavoured to solve by assiduous researches carried
on in the Basque country, where he resided for a long
time. The fruit of his researches first appeared in a
work, entitled Researches on the primitive inhabitants of
Spain, based on the Basque language. He also pub-
lished a vocabulary of this tongue, and enriched the work
of Adelung with numerous additions and corrections
bearing upon the same subject.

Alexander von Humboldt has survived his brother,
and is now one the patriarchs of science. He was born in
1769, a memorable year, which also gave birth to Cha-
teaubriand, Cuvier, and Napoleon. He prosecuted his
classical studies under the direction of Forster, who had
served as naturalist in one of Captain Cook's voyages,
and it is very probable that he derived from his inter-
course with his master, that love of science and of distant
travel which old age has scarcely extinguished. At the
age of twenty-three he was appointed director of the
mines of the Fichtelgeberge, and one year afterwards he
published a memoir on the fossil flora of the district. A
sedentary life did not, however, suit the tastes of Forster's
pupil, and the young von Humboldt having soon tendered
his resignation, travelled through a great part of Europe
sedulously devoting himself to the study of all branches of
science, and thus endeavouring the better to prepare
VOL. II. B B

370 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

himself for a great expedition through the Peninsula of
Southern Asia, a plan which had formed the most ardent
aspiration of his life.

These aspirations, however, were never realised.
Having hoped to reach the Red Sea by passing through
Egypt with Bonaparte's army, he hastened to Toulon
with the view of joining that expedition, but he unfortu-
nately arrived only in time to see the last ship of the
squadron disappear in the distance. He then made a
vain attempt to rejoin the French army by following the
native caravans, but being again disappointed, he deter-
mined to proceed to Asia by way of America, and this
was the cause of his departure for the New World ; but
after he had once set foot on the American continent, he
saw himself surrounded by such vast natural riches, that
for the moment he lost sight of his favourite project.
During five years, he continued to explore the vast rivers
and great mountains of Southern America, and having
reaped a rich harvest of materials, he was anxious to
turn them to the best account. He chose Paris as the
place in which to publish the result of his labours, and
having been received with the greatest cordiality by the
most illustrious savants of that distinguished period, he
remained for a long time in this city, which he has since
regarded as a second home.

Alexander von Humboldt repeatedly attempted to ac-
complish his great voyage to India, but his wishes always
met with the decided opposition of the English Govern-
ment, notwithstanding the direct intervention of their
ally the King of Prussia. As he was unable to explore
the south of Asia, he contented himself with visiting the
northern regions of the Asiatic continent. In 1819 the
Russian Government wished to explore the vast countries
which it possesses in those regions, and which had hitherto
been very little known. Humboldt having heard of their

ArrENDix. 371

intention, offered to lead an expedition into Siberia and
Central Asia, and his proposals were accepted without a
moment's hesitation. He was thus enabled to compare
the steppes of the Obi with the pampas of Brazil and the
plateaux of the Altai with the llanos of the Cordilleras.

From this period Baron von Humboldt undertook no
other great expeditions, devoting the whole of his energy
to more proximate objects. As the friend rather than
the subject of the kings who have succeeded one another
on the throne of Prussia, he has always made his high
position and influence serviceable in the cause of science.
He has enriched his country with numerous scientific
establishments and institutions, and it is to him that we
owe the foundation of a vast association whose centre is
at Goettingen, and which has for its object the study of
terrestrial magnetism, by the aid of observations regu-
larly conducted in all parts of the world.

The works of Baron von Humboldt are at once exten-
sive and varied ; there are few sciences on which he has
not written, and he has never treated of any subject
without leaving upon it the impress of his great genius.
Having, moreover, made general physics the focus in
which he centered all these varied branches of learning,
he has gained for himself one of the most distinguished
places in this difficult and great department of human
knowledge. As a traveller and a physicist, Baron von
Humboldt must rank with the great masters and founders
of modern science. Everyone is aware that he has
thrown the rich treasures of his intellectual life into
a work entitled Cosmos, which, originally written in
German, has been translated into several European
tongues.

B B 2

372 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

NOTE III.

The history of science presents few names more illus-
trious than that of Jussieu. For more than a century and
a half the members of this family have distinguished them-
selves in the first rank of botanists, and one of them has
exercised over botany and over the natural sciences gene-
rally an amount of influence which can never be effaced.

Antoine de Jussieu, who was born at Lyons in 1686,
and died at Paris in 1758, was Professor at the Jardin
du Roi.

He left various works, amongst others an Appendix to
Tournefort.

Bernard de Jussieu, his younger brother, was born at
Lyons in 1699, and died at Paris in 1777. He accom-
panied his brother in a journey through Portugal to
collect plants, and he then acquired so ardent a love for
botany that he devoted himself exclusively to that
science. Happy in the humble situation of sub-demon-
strator, which permitted him to manage the botanical
garden at his pleasure, and to collect plants in company
with the pupils to whom he communicated his own taste
for study, and to whom he made known all his discoveries,
Bernard de Jussieu never sought to obtain renown by
the publication of his observations. His answer to those
who informed him that his discoveries were claimed by
others was invariably, " Qu'importe, pourvu que la chose
soit connue ? " nor could his friends ever induce him to
do more than publish a few isolated memoirs. Never-
theless he was always deeply interested in general ques-
tions and amongst others in that problem of a natural
method which the great Linnaeus had declared im-
possible of solution. Having been named in 1759 super-
intendent of the gardens at the Petit-Trianon, Bernard

APPENDIX. 373

de Jussieu arranged the plants according to his own
ideas, but he never published anything which could give
a key to this arrangement, and those botanists who came
to Trianon to study his learned enigma were never
enabled to solve it. Bernard died blind, leaving to his
nephew Laurent the results of his studies.

Laurent de Jussieu, who was born at Lyons in 1748,
and died at Paris in 1836, was worthy of such a heritage.
At the age of seventeen he began his studies under his
uncle, and at the age of thirty he entered the Academy
of Sciences. Having at the same time been named
assistant to Lemonnier, professor of botany in the Jardin
du Roi, he began to reform the arrangement of the
school of botany, and to apply to it his own and his
uncle's ideas in reference to the natural method. For
thirty years he continued to develop these views, and
when in 1778 he began the publication of the Genera
Plantarum, which was terminated in 1789, the science of
botany was definitely established. Notwithstanding the
difficulties which the new method presented in certain
respects, and notwithstanding the convenience of the
Linnaean system, and the great name of its author, the
ideas of Jussieu prevailed, and are now universally
adopted. They have, moreover, extended their influence
to all the other branches of the natural sciences, and
with respect to zoology more particularly it may be said
that in certain respects Cuvier was merely the follower of
Jussieu. He rendered another great service to the natural
sciences by founding the library of the Museum, which
is now so rich in standard works. In 1826 this illus-
trious botanist became blind like his uncle, and resigned
his professorship to his son Adrien. This last scion of
the family, who was a member of the Institute, was born
at Paris in 1798, and died in same city in 1853. From
his earliest youth, Adrien had given proofs that the

374 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST.

name of his father and great uncles would find a worthy
representative in him. As a youth he carried off the
the first prize in the concours which takes place every
year among the colleges of Paris, and as a young man he
presented as his thesis for the degree of doctor in medi-
cine a memoir on the family of the Euphorbiacese which
attracted the attention of all botanists. Subsequently
in his researches on the Rutaceae, Meliacese and Mal-
pighiacese, he developed still further the most marked
qualities of a sagacious and profound intellect. In these
different memoirs, and especially in the last, the author
accompanied the description of the species with a full
account of the anatomy of the organs and their physio-
logical functions. A memoir on the embryo of the
Monocotyledons, a work of very considerable extent, was
to have formed the first of a series of publications on si-
milar subjects, for which the author had collected a very
large amount of materials, but ill health prevented the
realisation of this and many other projects. .Adrien de
Jussieu published a Cours Elementaire de Botanique
which was speedily translated into all the principal
European languages. It was his intention to have
extended this work into a complete and general treatise,
and it is much to be regretted that the prosecution of
this object was arrested by his death.

Adrien de Jussieu rendered continual services to
science, not only by his writings but by his teaching.
In the various botanical excursions which he undertook
he was often accompanied by distinguished men who
rejoiced in the opportunity of witnessing that display of
profound learning, combined with one of the most
amiable and gentle natures, for which he was remarkable.
These characteristics insured to Adrien de Jussieu the
attachment of all who were brought in contact with him.
The esteem of his colleagues led them to resign to him

APPENDIX. 375

the entire management of the Jardin des Plantes, and he
had been named president of the Academy of Sciences
very shortly before his death. As Adrien de Jussieu
has left no sons to inherit his name, in him is extin-
guished a scientific dynasty which for three generations
has constituted the glory of the Academy of Sciences
and of the Jardin des Plantes. (See the Notices of
M. Adrien de Jussieu by MM. A. Brongniart and
Decaisne.)

THE END.

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