6 VOYAGES OF A NATURALIST 



rock on which we landed, appeared to be the 

 largest, both in height and circumference. 



At the foot of Booby Hill were several tidal 

 pools in which many species of small fishes were 

 seen, but all attempts to catch them with a net 

 proved futile. A great many fish were, however, 

 caught in the sea by fishing from the rocks. Of 

 these a species of "cavalli " weighed in some cases 

 as many as twelve pounds. Fishing here pre- 

 sented a somewhat unusual difficulty, for sharks* 

 swarmed in incredible numbers, and it was a 

 difficult task to avoid hooking them instead of 

 more serviceable game; indeed, so numerous 

 were the sharks that, on our return to the ship, 

 we found that during our absence no less than 

 twenty had been caught, all of them at no greater 

 distance than two hundred yards from the shore. 



As to the other inhabitants of the rocks, Darwin 

 mentions the following : A pupiparous fly (living 

 as a parasite on the booby), a beetle (Quedius), 

 a tick, a small brown moth belonging to a genus 

 which feeds on feathers, and a woodlouse. Moseley 

 says : " We found two species of spiders .... 

 and, in addition to the insects noted by Darwin, 

 the larva of a moth, apparently a Tortrix, and 

 a small dipter .... but could not find either the 

 beetle or woodlouse." 



We searched carefully and obtained specimens 

 of the feather-feeding moth, a tiny beetle, and a 



* Carcharias sp. ? 



