502 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1956 



same fish in southern Honshu. It was living in a completely different 

 ecological situation, in rocky tide pools near the Seto Marine Biologi- 

 cal Station at Shirahama. 



One of the major eel-grass inhabitants is a mammal, the little-known 

 dugong, or sea-cow (Dugong dug on). During our stay in Palau we 

 were always especially watchful while passing over eel-grass areas, 

 in the hope of seeing some dugongs, but as they are quite scarce we 

 never did see one in its natural habitat. During our last few days at 

 Koror, however, some Palauans speared and captured alive a half- 

 grown specimen that provided us with considerable excitement and be- 

 came the first ever to be exhibited alive in an American aquarium. 

 We bought this dugong, otherwise destined for sale as food in the local 

 market, and kept it alive in a large pool at the end of Koror dock 

 until we were ready to begin our return trip to the United States. 

 Then we caught it, wrapped it in wet blankets (pi. 20, fig. 1), and 

 carried it, lying on the floor of the plane between our seats, to Guam 

 (pi. 20, fig. 2). At Guam it was ensconced in a sturdy crate and 

 transferred to a commercial airline for shipment to California. The 

 California Academy of Sciences had arranged for its transportation 

 to the Steinhart Aquarium, where it proved to be an unusually popular 

 exhibit. It was certainly the first Palauan dugong ever to fly to 

 America, and we have no doubt provided some material for the "talk- 

 ing picture" carvings that decorate Palauan abais. 



HERPETOLOGICAL STUDIES 



Another Palauan animal that never before had been displayed alive 

 in an American zoo or aquarium, and which we succeeded in bring- 

 ing back to the United States, is the deadly poisonous sea snake 

 (Laticauda colubrina) , a relative of the cobras and coral snakes. 



Our first encounter with the banded sea snake in the wild was on 

 a field trip to Ngemelis, a group of islands along the southwest barrier 

 reef. We were making our way toward the beach just before dusk 

 when, a hundred yards or so from shore, we came upon a huge snake, 

 a good 6 feet in length, slowly working its way seaward along the 

 bottom, poking its head into nooks and crannies and in and out of 

 corals, carefully feeling with its tongue. It paid no attention to us, 

 and we stood or swam near it for several minutes, in water perhaps 

 5 feet deep. At no time did we see it surface for air, and as we con- 

 tinued on our way it was still swimming seaward along the bottom. 



The Palauans have an odd story about using sea snakes to catch fish. 

 They say that if one holds the snake by the tail, it will probe among 

 the rocks and catch fish, which can then be easily seized. We never 

 saw this method of fishing practiced. Probably no modern Palauans 

 are courageous enough to try it, for our helpers invariably let out 



