28 PERCY SLADEN TRUST EXPEDITION. 
attack not only mammals and birds but on occasions lizards, spiders, and other insects 
as well, while they will feed voraciously on any dead animal matter. Indeed only land- 
crabs were much in evidence, the enormous red Cardiosoma staring at us from every 
quarter of the swamp and affording much amusement to Bruce, the captain’s Irish 
terrier, who developed a penchant for all crabs, which often materially assisted our 
collections. 
We remained at anchor at He Diamant over Sunday, May 21. On the Saturday 
the wind increased from the south-east to a strong breeze with rain—the commencement 
of the trade-wind, as we subsequently found. One of us went off to further examine the 
island, while the other remained on board to sort out the plankton previously collected. 
Additional hauls of the same organisms were taken while at anchor, and a series of 
Tide-party erecting their pole in Salomon lagoon. 
experiments were made in preserving them, the method finally adopted being to kill 
them in bulk with a few drops of formic aldehyde. When the organisms had settled, 
we decanted the clear fluid, finally pouring the residue into as many 4- and 8-oz. 
corked bottles as might be necessary, and adding more formic aldehyde to make up toa 
strength of 24 per cent. The solution, as bought, is generally an aqueous solution of 
40 per cent. strength. The bottles after being corked and thoroughly sealed with melted 
paraffin are then ready to be sent home without further examination. We also placed 
out swabs, made of old hempen rope unravelled, such as is used for mopping up water 
on the deck. These swept over the bottom with the swinging of the ship and brought 
up from 15 fathoms several large masses of a slate-coloured Alveopora, and many reef- 
corals of the genera Huphyllia, Orbicella, Prionastrea, Mussa, and others. Some of 
these were preserved, while others were broken up with the hammer and chisel, yielding 
