514 ZOOLOGY AKD BOTANY OF THE SHIP. 



white as if bleached. The majority of deep-sea animals are 

 coloured in some way or another, many brightly so. 



Zoology and Botany of the Ship.— The zoology of the "Chal- 

 lenger " itself was rather interesting. At the time that England 

 was left the ship seemed nearly free of animals, other than 

 men, dogs, and live stock required for food. The first Cock- 

 roaches apparently came on board at St. Vincent, Cape 

 Verdes, for a large specimen of this insect was caught by one 

 of the lieutenants on his bed soon after we left that port. 

 Cockroaches soon became plentiful on board, and showed 

 themselves whenever the ship was in a warm climate. A 

 special haunt of a swarm of them was behind the books in 

 the chemical laboratory, from which Mr. Buchanan in vain 

 attempted to evict them. 



At one period of the voyage, a number of these insects 

 established themselves in my cabin, and devoured parts of my 

 boots, nibbling off all the margins of leather projecting beyond 

 the seams on the upper leathers. One huge winged Cockroach 

 for a long time baified me in my attempts to get rid of him. I 

 could not discover his retreat. At night he came out and rested 

 on my book-shelf, at the foot of my bed, swaying his antennas 

 to and fro, and watching me closely. If I reached out my hand 

 from the bed, to get a stick, or raised my book to throw it at 

 him, he dropped at once on deck, and was forthwith out of 

 harm's way. 



He bothered me much, because when my light was out, he 

 had a familiar habit of coming to sip the moisture from my face 

 and lips, which was decidedly unpleasant, and often awoke me 

 from a doze. I believe it was with this object that he watched 

 me before I went to sleep. I often had a shot at him with a 

 book or other missile, as he sat on the book-shelf, but he always 

 dodged and escaped. His quickness and agility astonished me. 

 At last I triumphed, by adopting the advice of Captain Maclear, 

 and shooting him with a pellet of paper from my air-gun, a mode 

 of attack for which he was evidently unprepared ; but I was taken 

 to task for discharging the air-gun in my cabin, because it made 

 a noise just like the sharp crack of a spar when broken by the 

 force of the breeze, and created some excitement on the upper 

 deck, where the sound was plainly heard. 



In the zoological laboratory on board, small red ants estab- 

 lished themselves, and used to follow trails up the legs of the 

 tables, and find out anything eatable. Clothes-moths were a 

 terrible pest, and destroyed several garments for me in my cabin. 

 Mosquitoes swarmed in the ship at some ports, as well as house- 

 flies, but these both disappeared when we had been at sea for 

 a few days in a breeze. 



