562 A NATURALIST ON THE "CHALLENGER." 



to the hand, but rather, in the daytime at least, cool, and it is 

 always moist. I gathered several sets of eggs, placed them in 

 large vessels full of sand, and took them on board the ship, 

 thinking that I should easily succeed in hatching them arti- 

 ficially. I wished to obtain eggs in all stages of development. 

 I found, however, that all my eggs perished within a couple of 

 days. No doubt a certain definite amount of moisture must 

 necessarily be maintained in the sand as well as a certain con- 

 stant temperature in order to keep the eggs alive and develop 

 them. I exposed the sand in which my eggs were to the sun 

 in the daytime and covered it up at night. 



I used to imagine, from what I had read, that Turtles' eggs 

 were hatched by the direct daily heating by the sun of the sand in 

 which they were buried. What appears to be the case is, how- 

 ever, that the eggs are buried at such a depth that the sand there 

 maintains a constant mean temperature, never hot and never cold. 

 The eggs of a species of Mound Bird (Megapocliiis) are hatched 

 under closely similar conditions in the Philippine Islands.* 



The young Turtles fresh from the eggs are kept as pets by the 

 seamen at Ascension in buckets of sea- water. They eat chopped- 

 up raw meat ravenously, using their fore-fins to assist their beak- 

 like jaws in tearing the morsels. Turtle-meat is served out twice 

 a- week as rations to the inhabitants of Ascension, who are all 

 naval employes. The island is commanded by a captain, and is 

 treated by the Admiralty as a man-of-war, a sort of tender to 

 the " Flora," the Guardship stationed at the Cape of Good Hope, 

 to which the Ascension officers theoretically belong. 



I paid a visit in the small steam-vessel which is employed 

 in collecting Turtles from the various bays of the island to 

 Boatswain-Bird Island, a breeding-place of various Sea Birds. 

 As we steamed along the shore of the main island large Flying 

 Gurnets (Dactylopterus) rose, scared by the vessel, and skimmed 

 rapidly away in front of the bows. I stood in the bows with 

 my gun and tried to shoot Flying Fish on the wing, a novel 

 experience, but quite without success. The flight was rapid 

 and the boat was in constant motion, pitching and rolling; no 

 doubt in calm weather the thing might be done. 



* See page 403. 



