Life at the Ocean Surface. 13 



calm. There were several merchant vessels in sight, with one 

 of which, a fine-looking full-rigged clipper ship, we communicated 

 by signal, when the usual dumb interchange of civilities took 

 place ; she informing us that she was the Baron Collinson, seven- 

 teen days out from Liverpool, and we in return giving the latest 

 news we were aware of, viz., the failure of the Glasgow Bank. 

 During the afternoon, a shark, which seemed to be the Squalus 

 glaucus, hovered about our stern. It was accompanied by at 

 least four "pilots" (Naucrates ductor), whose conspicuous dark- 

 blue body stripes showed out in striking contrast to the sombre 

 hues of the shark, whose body formed the background. 



It is during those tropical calms, usually so wearisome to the 

 seaman, that the lover of natural history reaps his richest harvest. 

 On the present occasion the tow-net brought up quantities of a 

 minute conferva consisting of little bundles of delicate straw- 

 coloured fibres, about one-eighth of an inch in length, and resem- 

 bling, on a small scale, the familiar bundles of " faggots " as one 

 sees them hawked in the streets. Under a high magnifying 

 power the individual fibres composing these bundles were seen 

 to consist of jointed segments marked with dots and transverse 

 striae as a diatom. When placed in spirit, they at once broke 

 up into a shapeless fluffy mass. The surface water was thickly 

 impregnated with them, yet not so as to impart any obvious dis- 

 colouration. About dusk the trade wind suddenly returned, and 

 a heavy shower of rain brought to a close a day of great interest. 



On the 1 8th of October, many of us fore and aft were diligently 

 expending our ingenuity in fishing for bonitoes, of which several 

 (apparently the Thinnus pelamis) were to be seen about the ship ; 

 but, to our great chagrin, only one, a small specimen, was captured. 

 The tow-net still brought up quantities of the conferva before 

 mentioned, and multitudes of minute unattached specimens of 

 the Spirorbis nummulites. 



On the following day, as we lay all but becalmed, the storm- 

 petrels (Thalassidroma pelagicd] appeared in great numbers, settling 



