BuLLEE. — Ohscrvations on an Ocean Voyage. 191 



kind being not uncommon. I collected a small packet of this 

 red dust on the captain's bridge, and have handed it over to 

 Sir James Hector for microscopical examination."'' 



4th February. — A beautiful cool day, with just sufficient 

 breeze to fan the air. No sea-birds, but when about sixty 

 miles off Cape Verd a small bird of the size and general 

 appearance of a Hedge-sparrow came on board and remained 

 about an hour in the rigging : greyish-brown, with black cap, 

 and rufous spot on forehead. About 11 o'clock at night a 

 Storm Petrel (Occanites oceanicus), attracted by the glare of 

 the electric light, dashed itself on board, and was captured by 

 one of the passengers. It proved on dissection to be a ? , 

 and the stomach contained pasty organic matter of a greyish- 

 brown colour. Length, 8-5in.; extent of wings, 17"5in. 



5th to 7th February. — No bird-life of any sort ; but x^lenty 

 of Flying-fish, and a solitary whale disporting itself in the dis- 

 tance. We crossed the Line at 7 p.m. The night was dark, 

 and there was not a spark of phosphorus on the waters, nor 

 was there on the 6th, although the night before the whole 

 ocean seemed illuminated. It is difficult to account for this 

 uncertainty in its appearance. 



8th February. — No birds ; but about noon I observed two 

 large porpoises in the distance, moving very languidly, as if it 

 was too much exertion even for them to plunge about in this 

 tropical heat. To-day is beautifully tine, but there is no ani- 

 mated object to break the monotony of this great wilderness of 

 waters. Since seeing the large Petrel on the 3rd instant we 

 have traversed over two thousand miles of ocean without 

 seeing so much as the wing of a bird, with the exception of 

 the Storm Petrel that came on board on the 5th, and the 

 little visitant from the shore on the preceding Sunday. In 

 this respect this is a veritable Dead Sea : so different in- 

 deed from the great southern ocean, with its plenitude of bird- 

 life at all seasons of the year ! We look for a change in this 

 respect now that we have crossed the Equator. At noon I 

 observed a large dark Petrel with white croup, but too distant 

 for identification, and later in the day four Storm Petrels 

 (0. oceanicus) hunting in company. 



* Report on specimen submitted : — 



Red dust from the rigging of s.s. "Doric," 100 miles off the African 

 coast, in lat. 19° 53' N., and long. 18° 30' W. 



Consists of about 90 per cent, of sea salt, in rough grains = ^^jin. 

 — which readily develope characteristic crystals. The colouring matter 

 (reddish-brown) is organic ; and about 1 per cent, of the organic 

 matter has distinctive form as follows : — (1.) Frustules of a marine diatom 

 {Syiicdra fulgens). (2.) Spiculee of sponges. (3.) Elongated and jointed 

 cells, probably fucoidal. (4.) Calcareous spines with a deep groove, pro- 

 bably echinodermid. I think the deposit must be tropical sea-scum that 

 has been picked up by a tornado and distributed in an upper air-current. 

 It is certainly not material swept from a land-surface. — James Hector. 



