BY R. ETHERIDGE, JUNR. 425 



of the occurrence of the Palu (based on that of the hook), through- 

 out twenty-six degrees of longitude in the Pacific, i.e., from the 

 Gilbert Islands on the east to Manahiki, or Humphrey Island, 

 on the west, or from 175° E. to 160° W., and throughout nineteen 

 degrees of latitude, from about the equator to Nieue, in 19° S. 

 If to this be added the later known occurrence of the hook the 

 distribution may be " extended north of the line to the Marshall 

 Group, thence westward to the Caroline Islands," and Eastern 

 New Guinea, south of the equator.* 



The Palu has been identified by Waite as Ruvettus pretiosus, 

 Cocco, the " Escolar " of the Canary Islands fishermen, and the 

 " Rovetto " of the Mediterranean, a species extending from the 

 Adriatic on the east to the N. American coast on the west, 

 throughout one hundred degrees of longitude, and twenty-five 

 degrees of latitude, from 25° to 45° N.f It is known to exist 

 bathymetrically to depths as great as four hundred fathoms. 



Mr. Waite has also given an account of the method of fishing 

 for Palu, from the graphic pen of Mr. Louis Becke.J 



A remarkably fine series of these V-shaped hooks is now in the 

 Australian Museum, from the gigantic Mortlock Island implement, 

 of seventeen inches in length, and weighing 1 lb. 15| oz., to the 

 smallest Kouhoru of Funafuti, or the baby hook, of the first- 

 mentioned locality, only three and a-half inches long. 



The model consists of a two-ply cocoanut-fibre line, to which 

 is joined another fine white two-ply line of a different fibre. To 

 this are attached by loop hitches two outriggers of wood in such 

 a manner that they stand out at a more or less oblique angle to 

 the line, but on opposite sides of the latter. The white line is in 

 one continuous piece from the cocoanut deep-sea line to sinker 

 attachment, and does not pass along either of the outriggers. A 

 still finer line is made fast at the proximal entl of each of the 

 latter, and is Mr. Hedley's " cord of attachment," or oukafakana- 



28 



* Waite, loc. cif., p. 541. 



f M., ibid., p. 539. 



J/6w/., 1897, Hi. Pt. 3, p. 199. 



