FISHES OF THE PHOENIX AND SAMOAN ISLANDS 6 



On jNIay 23 the BusJtncll was aoain off Canton Island, and I had 

 another opportunity to collect fishes in the lagoon until the 2Gth. 

 when I was back on the ship and enroute to Samoa. On the after- 

 noon of June 1 we entered Pago Pago Bay, where with the help of 

 Frank Taiga, Polynesian, I captured specimens near Tower Kock 

 at the entrance of the bay. There appeared in these collections sev- 

 eral species that were not found on the coral atolls. During the next 

 few days I visited Alofau, Pagai, Coconut Point, and Fagasa Bay 

 on Tutuila Island, making valuable fish collections in each place. 



Leaving Tutuila Island on June 9, the BushneJl arrived in the after- 

 noon off Ofu r.nd Tau Islands, where natives came out to the ship 

 in their outrigger canoes to trade. When they departed, I found 

 and preserved a lizard that was on our ship. The next day I landed 

 on Rose Island. 



During the interval from June 9 to 21 I collected specimens on Rose 

 Atoll, chiefly in the lagoon and on the extensive reef. This atoll is 

 the first that has had tide pools exposed at low tide on the reef, and 

 so from them rich collections were made. It is nearly square and 

 less than 2 miles across. On the reef at the east corner is Rose 

 Island, only a few hundred feet in diameter, and at the north corner 

 is Sand Island, which is smaller and lower. Rose Island is about 

 6 to 9 feet above the sea; the south end of it is composed of coral- 

 shell conglomerate rock, overlaid by coral-shell gravel, and is cov- 

 ered with Pi.'^onia trees, while the north end is barren and composed 

 of coral-shell gi-avel. The island appears to be building up to the 

 northwest end and eroding on the south end. To the east of the 

 island for a few hundred feet are loose slabs of coral-shell conglom- 

 erate rock left on the reef, which may have at one time formed part 

 of the island. The large coral "iiiggerheads" scattered over the reef, 

 however, are not of the same composition as the coral-shell conglom- 

 erate rocks of Rose Island but are formed of corals that probably grew 

 at the rim of the island and were broken off by storms, then rolled 

 inward on the reef, where they have now come to rest. That these 

 were once coral heads seems probable, since the original corals are 

 not in the position in which they grew but rest in pr:ictically all di- 

 rections, some almost upside down, others sideways. 



From June 21 to 26, while the Bushnell mapped the ocean bottom, 

 I had opportunity to care for my extensive collections of fishes, birds, 

 plants, and invertebrates. But on June 27 I went ashore on Tau 

 Island and made a large collection of fishes at Siulagi Point, where 

 several native boys, from the village of Faleasau, helped me. The 

 little boys, 5 to 9 years old, w^ould dive after fish in a cave where the 

 water surged up and down, and if a fish was too big for one to handle, 

 more would go to his rescue, and all would come to the surface with it. 



On June 28 we arrived again at Pago Pago Bay but were quaran- 



