The Days of a Man 



Giant ferns there are three species, the commonest, Cy- 

 botium, having a shorter trunk and longer fronds 

 than the umbrella-like one of Australia. With it in 

 abundance occurs the large staghorn fern, Platy- 

 cerium, a sort of huge brake. Its wiry, much- 

 branched fronds which fork in zigzags, mixed with 

 other brush on which it leans, form impenetrable 

 thickets. 



The picturesque harbor of Hilo proved admirably 

 adapted for our work, and there Knight discovered a 

 new species of goby which we afterward named 

 Gnatholepis knighti. As helper we employed a native * 

 capable of the extraordinary feat of dragging a fierce 

 coiled moray or giant eel from the crevice of a rock 

 and bringing it safely in. While at Hilo we were 

 often entertained and materially assisted by Carl- 

 smith and his equally devoted Stanford wife. 



In Honolulu we met the veteran naturalist, Henry 

 ' Henshaw, whose fish collections from the High 

 Sierra I had studied twenty-two years before. Hen- 

 shaw was deeply interested in the local bird-fauna, 

 the chief group of songbirds illustrating in the most 

 perfect fashion the phenomenon of geminate species. 2 

 Of the single family of Drepanidcz, an offshoot from 

 the honey creepers Ccerebid<z of tropical Amer- 

 ica, there are some forty kinds, all with the same 

 general shape, structure, and goat-like odor but dif- 

 fering in color, and amazingly in form of bill. Black, 

 yellow, and scarlet are the prevailing hues, while the 

 beaks range from the heavy jaw of a parrot or gros- 

 beak, suited for cracking nuts, to a long, slender, 



1 John Herring. 



2 See Vol. I, Chapter xiv, page 329. 



c 90 -3 



