e
through our hands--a tedious and superficial mode of examination.
Two days after, Mr. Huxley and I set to work in Botafogo Bay,
provided with a wire-gauze meat-cover and a curious machine for
cleaning rice; these answered capitally as substitutes for
sieves, and enabled us, by a thorough examination of the contents
of the dredge, to detect some forty-five species of Mollusca and
Radiata, some of which were new to science."

By "new to science" MacGillivray meant no more than that the
particular genera and species had not been captured before. Huxley, by
his anatomical work, showed many of the most familiar creatures in a
light "new to science," by revealing their true structure and
relationships.

"Among the acquisitions," MacGillivray goes on, "I may mention a
new species of Amphioxus, a genus of small fishes exhibiting more
anomalies than any other known to Ichthyologists, and the lowest
organisation found in the class. It somewhat resembles the
sand-eels of Britain in habits, like them moving with
extraordinary rapidity through the sand. By dint of bribery and
ridicule we had at length managed to get our boatmen to work
tolerably well, and when we were alike well-roasted by the sun
and repeatedly drenched, besides being tired out and hungry, they
had become quite submissive, and exchanged their grumbling for
merriment."

The towing net repeatedly produced a rich harvest. It was constructed
by themselves, and consisted of a bag of the bunting used for flags,
two feet deep, the mouth being sewn round a wooden hoop fourteen
inches in diameter; three pieces of cord, a foot and a half long, were
secured to the hoop at equal intervals and had their ends tied
together. This net was towed behind the ship by a stout cord. The
water passed through the meshes of the cloth and left behind in the
pocket any small floating animals.

Excursions ashore to the little savage islands or to the mainland were
a source of constant interest, and it cannot be doubted that the
acquaintance Huxley thus gained with many of the very low savages of
Australia and New Guinea prepared his mind for the revolutionary
doctrine of descent which he embraced a few years later. At the
present time, there are probably very few parts of earth where there
are yet to be found savages unaltered by civilisation. Some of the low
races with which Huxley came in conta