LOG OF THE ARCTURUS 411 



May 16th. Another busy day for everyone, diving, Ashing, collect- 

 ing and exploring. 



May 17th. All-day rain. Mucu diving done in the morning, a 

 rather dismal proceeding when you emerge into a drizzle and sit 

 damply in already soaked bathing-suit. The wonderful coral reefs 

 were reward enough, however. At one spot they were all in the shapes 

 of Gargantuan mushrooms, with bright fishes floating in and out 

 around them. 



In the evening we were invaded by hundreds of boobies, who 

 seemed to find the lighted ship more attractive than the wetness of 

 the island. They crashed aboard, rushed into laboratory and cabins, 

 screaming and flapping. It was a chaotic scene, as we dodged the 

 broad flailing wings and sharp beaks, and threw them, hissing like 

 angry geese, over the rail, only to have them return a few seconds 

 later. The small boats, tied to the boom, were full of them, so was 

 the rigging, and they squawked and blundered all over the decks, 

 ejecting large fish from their crops in their excitement. Then a heavy 

 squall came up, with sheets of rain, dashing spraj', loose boats and 

 frantic birds, — the wind blowing half a gale and the sailors shout- 

 ing as they hoisted the boats on deck and made everything fast. It 

 was a turbulent night. 



May 19th. At daylight found that the Albatross launch was gone; 

 she had been anchored in the bay as a convenience for diving, and 

 must have chafed through her moorings and drifted away. One of 

 our two diving-helmets was on board. The first ofBcer went off in 

 the Pawnee, the other launch, to search for her, and one squall after 

 another kept us worrying about him until he finally returned late in 

 the afternoon minus the Albatross. 



May 20th. Not a drop of rain all day, wonderful to relate. Half 

 a dozen dynamite charges have proved the most productive methods of 

 getting new species of fish at this place and there follows a more or 

 less typical list of one day's results: 



10 Dermatolepis, IVa to 2 feet long. 

 5 Caranx melampygus. 

 2 Barred-fin Surgeonfish. 



1 White-tailed Surgeonfish. 



2 Pufl'ers (one yellow, the other black-and-white). 



12 Evoplites viridis. 



104 Pomacentrus arcifrons. 

 14 Paranthias furcifer. 

 4 Pachygnathus capistratua. 

 8 Lutianus jordani. 

 4 Holocentrus suborbitalis. 



13 large Myripristis murdjan. 

 23 small Myripristis murdjan. 



1 Zanclus canescens. 



1 Chcetodon Nigrirostris. 



1 Ostracion sp. 



