374 THE ARCTURUS ADVENTURE 



pher Columbus hailed birds and floating grass as 

 indicative of land, — so the comic elements in our 

 pulpit hauls adumbrated human proximity. Here 

 is a catalogue of these items taken on the first day, 

 showing a pronounced lacteal dominance: 



Rubber nipple from a baby's bottle 1 



Cardboard milk-bottle tops 4 



Empty milk of magnesia bottle 1 



Cans 2 



Leg of rubber doll 1 



Piece of bath tub 1 



*Empty Gordon bottle 1 



Large wooden spigot 1 



*Possibly autochthonic to the Arcturus 



"We were well inshore, away from any strong 

 influence of the Gulf Stream, in an eddy-like back- 

 water with little current, so that we found crea- 

 tures which had drifted out of the main Gulf 

 Stream, as well as others which hailed from the 

 shore. Although there was no strong offshore 

 breeze, yet an astonishingly large number of in- 

 sects had found their way these hundred miles 

 from land, and we captured thirty altogether, in- 

 cluding moths, grasshoppers, beetles, and dragon- 

 flies. Some were strugghng their last in the water, 

 others flew wearily aboard the Arcturus. 



Scattered bits of sargassum weed floated here 

 and there — sad little plants of the sea, for all were 

 doomed. Better for them if they had clung to the 

 northward flowing stream, within a few days to 



