THE ANIMALS OF THE ISLANDS 199 



Miss Ada Skinner has described a new bee from Santa 

 Catalina, naming it Holicitiis cataliniensis — a big 

 name for so small a creature, but doubtless it bears 

 up under it. If bees and other animals have half the 

 attributes ascribed to them by some ardent nature- 

 writers they must be astonished to hear themselves 

 called by name or made a "new species." Space does 

 not permit even an enumeration of the interesting 

 bugs, beetles, and insects of various kinds found here. 

 The most interesting is the pinacate, that lumbers 

 along the trail and when disturbed bombards you with 

 a discharge that will demoralize a dog and leave a 

 yellow stain upon the flesh. 



The position of San Clemente and San Nicolas so 

 far offshore puts them in the highway of many whales, 

 and doubtless they are visited by various great sea 

 animals which are not seen except by a few fishermen. 



I have never seen a fishing-ground where there were 

 so many large game fishes and so few sharks. At 

 Aransas, Texas, and on the Florida Reef one is dodging 

 sharks all the time, and many fishes are lost. Among 

 these islands this is really the exception. Man-eating 

 sharks are rarely, if ever, seen. The grouper sharks, 

 of colossal length, are taken on the fishing-banks, but 

 rarely disturb the reflections of anglers. Then they 

 are taken on rod and reel, and the sport is legitimate 

 here. The hammerhead is the common shark, though 

 for seasons it may not be seen; again several will be 

 taken. None of the sharks have the bulk of the Florida 

 or tropical species; they are long and slender. The 

 game shark of the islands is the bonito shark, a trim 

 cavalier with the necessary speed to take these phan- 

 toms of the sea. He is a savage fellow. Mr. Sharpe 



