Chap, xxii.] PETS ON BOARD. 



515 



Once, when we were becalmed three days out from Tenerifc, 

 on the voyage to St. Thomas, I went out in a boat to collect 

 surface animals. Some of the house-flies, which were swarm- 

 ing in the ship, accompanied the boat on the excursion in 

 sufficient numbers to be a pest, I suppose in expectation of 

 reaching the shore. 



House-crickets appeared in the ship towards the end of 

 the voyage, and two of them established themselves in Staff 

 Commander Tizard's cabin, to his great annoyance, as they were 

 a.s noisy as at home. They were, however, caught with some 

 difficulty. Centipedes, of two kinds at least, were also amongst 

 the navifauna, and many species of spiders. Some of these 

 latter were, however, deliberately imported on board by the 

 navigating officers, in order that they might use their webs, if 

 wanted, as cross-wires in their theodolites. 



When the ship was moored at Bermuda, alongside the wharf 

 in the dockyard, boards were placed on all the mooring chains 

 as a fence against rats. Rats nevertheless appeared in the ship, 

 and were all curiously enough of the old species, the Black 

 Rat {Afiis rattus). One night, as we were sitting at whist, 

 Mr. J. Hynes, the Assistant Paymaster, suddenly started up with 

 a yell, and danced about as if gone mad, clutching one of his 

 legs with both hands. A rat had mistaken his trousers for a 

 pipe or wind-sail, and had gone up. 



The only plants which made their spontaneous appearance 

 on the ship were Moulds. Whenever the ship entered damp 

 latitudes everything in our cabins on the lower deck became 

 moist, and mould grew thickly over boots and all other leathern 

 articles. I grew mustard and cress with great success in my 

 wardian cases before these were required for other purposes. 

 I failed, however, entirely with onions and radishes, which I 

 also tried to grow. The plant most commonly grown on board 

 ship in the tropics is the Sweet Potato. It can be grown in 

 water and made to climl) up the wall of a cabin and afford a 

 pleasant green. 



Besides Dogs and Cats we had many different pets on board 

 the ship at various times. First amongst these must be placed 

 " Robert " the Parrot. The bird belonged to Von Willemoes 

 Suhm. He and I bought a young Grey Parrot each at Madeira, 

 from a ship bound from the Bight of Benin to Liverpool, with 

 a cargo of these birds on board.* One of the Parrots flew into 

 a dish full of boiling caustic potash solution in the laboratory 

 and perished, and we had to draw lots for the remaining bird, 

 and I lost. 



" Robert " survived all the extremes of the heat and cold of 

 * See p. 36. 



