Sounds somewhat similar are heard under water at some places on the 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 naturalist.  Of the perfect accuracy with which the singular facts above related have been given, no doubt will be entertained when it is mentioned that the writer was one of a party of five intelligent persons, by all of whom they were most carefully observed, and the impressions of all of whom in regard to them were uniform.  It is supposed that the fish are confined to particular localities—­shallows, estuaries, and muddy creeks, rarely visited by Europeans; and that this is the reason why hitherto no mention, so far as we know, has been made of the peculiarity in any work on Natural History.”