Chap, i.] SUCKER FISHES. 7 



within the cloud-bank and had heavy rain, and should not 

 have succeeded in lighting a fire for cooking had we not been 

 helped by a mountain shepherd who was evidently well accus- 

 tomed to setting a fire going in the rain, and soon got our 

 kettle to boil. He was a fine, powerful man and very honest 

 and obliging, as were all the peasants with whom we came 

 in contact. Stimulated with a shilling he turned collector, and 

 soon returned with boxes full of snails and beetles. The 

 steep side of the ridge overlooking Orotava is covered with 

 a luxuriant vegetation of laurels, heaths, and ferns, and is very 

 different in this respect from the comparatively barren surface 

 of the slope above. A finch {Fn'/igi/la teydeana) peculiar to 

 the island of Tenerife, is to be obtained only in some pine 

 woods near Orotava, and is rare. 



In the Cochineal plantations a spider (I believe an Epeira) 

 is very common, which makes a horizontally extended web, 

 composed of fine square meshes. The web is supported by 

 suspending threads in the midst of a globular labyrinth of 

 irregularly disposed fibres. In the centre the horizontal net is 

 drawn upwards into a short conical tube, at the end of which 

 is an opening. The female always occupies a position imme- 

 diately over this hole, which is apparently intended to allow 

 of easy access to either side of the net. The egg bags are 

 suspended in a vertical line immediately over the opening, and 

 are often as many as four in number. In those I examined, 

 the uppermost bag always contained fresh eggs, the lower fully 

 developed young, and the others two intermediate stages. 

 The male lives in the lower part of the irregular globular mass, 

 and is very much smaller than the female, but is marked with 

 brilliant silver patches on the abdomen. 



In one of the churches at Santa Cruz is a flag taken by the 

 Spanish from Nelson, and there preserved as a trophy. The 

 ship left Tenerife on February 14th, and reaching the trade 

 winds on February 20th, sailed pleasantly before them across 

 the Atlantic to the Virgin Islands. 



Off Sombrero Island, March 15th, 1873. — Whilst dredging 

 was proceeding off the Island of Sombrero, on the approach to 

 St. Thomas, two sharks {Carcharias brachiums) were caught 

 with a hook and line. One of these had the greater portion of 

 one of its pectoral fins bitten off, there being a clean semi- 

 circular cut surface, where the jaws of another shark had closed 

 and nipped it through. Attached to the sharks were several 

 " Sucker-fish " {Echiiieis reniora), as commonly is the case. 

 Sometimes these " Suckers " drop off as the shark is hauled on 

 board. Sometimes they remain adherent, and are secured 

 ^yith their companion. In this case four out of six " Suckers " 



