LOG OF THE ARCTURUS 387 



Put over two Petersen trawls from stern and lost both. Third net 

 towed at two knots, and brought in one half-inch squid. Put the 

 boom-walk into commission and towed silk surface nets from there, 

 catching quantities of weed from the small pieces that floated past. 

 The usual small amount of life, — crabs, shrimps and nudibranchs, and 

 some interesting egg clusters, probably molluscan. No fish at all. 

 From the deck we saw occasional large swimming crabs, and wind- 

 rows of loose berries, all indicating a complete destruction of any 

 masses of sargassum which may have been consolidated at one time. 

 Weed fairly abundant, though so much scattered, and young. 



Chiriqui broke out of his cage and wrecked one of the rooms before 

 he was detected and captured. 



At 8 P.M. made surface hauls with half-metre and one-foot silk 

 nets and got exciting results. Thousands of organisms of all kinds, 

 tunicates, larval fish, including twenty Leptocephalus eel larvae, 

 feather-tailed Copepods, Pteropods and Heteropods, sea-worms, — in 

 fact a solid month of investigation would not exhaust this one haul. 

 The Leptocephalus were ghostly transparent, except for the solid 

 circle of mother-of-pearl of the eyes, which glowed like fire. The 

 nearest of any example in books is pictured in Depths of the Ocean, 

 page 92. 



Noon position: Lat. 26° 06' N; Long. 55° 56' W. 



Feb. 21th. The tropicbirds were prompt and so was the foghorn. 

 We all think Nature is wonderful, but some of us wish birds would 

 sleep late. They probably follow the ship at night and go off in the 

 daytime, but these are assuredly the same pair, as one has lost a long 

 rectrice and is easily recognizable. Two nets put over at 4 a.m., and 

 more Leptocephalus caught. At 6 a. m. another net brought in a good 

 haul, though it was daylight. A kittiwake came aboard later, black 

 with oil, so that we thought it was a new species until it came close 

 and we saw that the black breast was the result of following a tanker. 

 On wireless advice from other ships in vicinity, we changed course 

 slightly, as they report more weed further east. Sounding machine 

 in difficulty, so we wallowed in the trough of the waves for hours while 

 it was repaired. 



Noon position; Lat. 26° 17' N; Long. 55° 09' W. 



Feb. 25th. Tropicbirds showed great discretion, not appearing until 

 seven o'clock. Made one haul with Petersen trawl, and two with 

 vertical nets. Remarkable colonial Siphonophore and an unusual squid 

 were the most interesting specimens. Much discussion of Museum 

 groups, and a rough design set up in library to work on. Sewing 

 machine busy making nets against the time when we shall be really 

 busy. 



Noon position; Lat. 26° 42' N; Long. 53° 11' W. 



Feb. 26th. Day dawned with a beautiful tropic sky, the bluest water 

 in the world and a heaving swell with mighty waves, thirty feet from 

 crest to crest. The big drum was put in commission and a Petersen 



