The Plant World 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL OF POPULAR BOTANY 



Official Organ of 

 The Wild Flower Preservation Society 



OF America 



Vol. VII DECEMBER, 1904 No. 12 



Extracts from the Note-Book of a Nat- 

 uralist on the Island of Guam.— XXV. * 



By William K. Safford. 



Thursday, June 14. — This has been a great day. The whole town 

 turned out for a grand fishing fiesta on the reef. Last night a number 

 of the natives prepared several bags of macerated pulp of Puting fruit 

 (^Barringtonia speciosa) , and this morning these were lowered into a large 

 basin, or hole, in the coral reef opposite this city. The bags had 

 been perforated in a number of places, and as soon as their contents 

 began to diffuse fishes by the hundreds came floating to the surface, some 

 dead and some feebly swimming belly up. The natives beat them 

 with paddles and clubs, scooped them up with nets and even dove for 

 them and caught them in their hands. A number of Caroline Islanders 

 from the colony a little to the eastward of Agana were armed with two- 

 pronged spears. Some of the younger ones looked like bronze statues 

 in their abbreviated costume. Mr. Scale, of the Hawaiian Museum, 

 took advantage of this opportunity to add to his collection of fishes. 



Susana accompanied us to the beach. We told her that Mr. Scale 

 wanted a specimen of every kind of fish caught, no matter how ugly or how 

 insignificant. As a rule Susana behaves with dignity; but to-day 

 she tucked up her petticoat as high as her knees and waded out on the 

 reef, a veritable pirate, swooping down upon one basket after another 

 and helping herself at will. Everybody seemed glad to contribute to the 



* Concluded from the November issue. Begun in September, 1902. 



