21 6 . Voyage of the Novara. 



decaying organic matter. With the exception of the clothes- 

 moth, which has prohably been introduced among the wool- 

 stuffs, there are in the island no butterflies, none of the been 

 tribe, no Neuroptera. Mites also need scarcely be reckoned, 

 since the only representative, the common cheese-mite, is more 

 apt to become extinct than to thrive ; on the other hand, there 

 are two kinds of spiders, for which the enormous number of 

 flies furnish sufficient food. 



The species belonging to the sea are somewhat more plenti- 

 fully represented, although, with few exceptions, very small and 

 insignificant. The largest shell fish, a Tritonium, on\j attains a 

 length of 3 inches ; Patella, which is very plentiful all round 

 the island, is only 1 inch long ; several sorts of snails (such as 

 Buccinum, Defrancia, Mangelia, Paludmella, Adeorhis, Jan- 

 thina, Fissurella, Scutellina, Lepidopleurusy Bulla, Astero- 

 notus, Doto), are barely a few lines in length, or even less. 



The Brachiopoda are represented by a very inferior mem- 

 ber, the Terehratulina, only two lines long, which, however, is 

 a giant compared with one of the two only kinds of mussel, 

 Kellia and Lima, which are occasionally met with here, and 

 are only half-a-line in length. 



Among the Vertebrafce, the fishery of which is the prin- 

 cipal object of the visits annually paid to the island, one, 

 the Clieilodactylus, a spinous-finned fish, which is extraordi- 

 narily abundant all round the island, supports an important 

 fishery, while Thyrsites Atun were frequently caught with rod 

 and line from the frigate. 



