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

[Footnote 1: These sounds are thus described by Dr. BUIST in the _Bombay
Times_ of January 1847: "A party lately crossing from the promontory in
Salsette called the 'Neat's Tongue,' to near Sewree, were, about sunset,
struck by hearing long distinct sounds like the protracted booming of a
distant bell, the dying cadence of an AEolian harp, the note of a
pitchpipe or pitch-fork, or any other long-drawn-out musical note. It
was, at first, supposed to be music from Parell floating at intervals on
the breeze; then it was perceived to come from all directions, almost in
equal strength, and to arise from the surface of the water all around
the vessel. The boatmen at once intimated that the sounds were produced
by fish, abounding in the muddy creeks and shoals around Bombay and
Salsette; they were perfectly well known, and very often heard.
Accordingly, on inclining the ear towards the surface of the water; or,
better still, by placing it close to the planks of the vessel, the notes
appeared loud and distinct, and followed each other in constant
succession. The boatmen next day produced specimens of the fish--a
creature closely resembling, in size and shape the fresh-water perch of
the north of Europe--and spoke of them as plentiful and perfectly well
known. It is hoped they may be procured alive, and the means afforded of
determining how the musical sounds are produced and emitted, with other
particulars of interest supposed new in Ichthyology. We shall be
thankful to receive from our readers any information they can give us in
regard to a phenomenon which does not appear to have been heretofore
noticed, and which cannot fail to attract the attention of the
naturalis