Bobbers

Abstract

IN his well-known account of the habits of the Pearly Nautilus, Rumphius (D'Amboinsche Rariteitkamer, door G. E. Rumphius, Amsterdam, 1705, p. 61) states that the animal crawls sometimes into the hoop nets set for fish or “bobbers.” For a long time I have been unable to discover the meaning of the word “bobbers.” It occurs in no Dutch dictionary. I inquired from several Dutch friends without success, and an appeal to Notes and Queries was similarly without result. On visiting Leiden this summer I asked again about the word, and my friend, Prof. Serrurier, promised to find out about it for me. He now writes that “bobber” is a Dutch mutilation of the Malay word boeboe, meaning a hoop-net, so that Rumphius merely adds the Malay term for the hoop-net to his statement, and does not mention some other kind of trap besides this, in which nautilus is to be caught as I had expected. This matter may teem scarcely worth troubling the readers of NATURE with, but Nautilus is so important a form, so little is known about its habits, and naturalists so eagerly look forward to the day when it shall be caught somewhere in numbers, and its developmental history worked out, that every statement as to possible modes of trapping it is of importance. It is just possible that suitably baited lobster pots or hoop-nels, used in depths of 100 fathoms or thereabouts, might be found efficacious.