6 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology. 



the fishes is quoted in contrast with the statements of Cook and 

 La Perouse : " Fish has always been the principal means of support for 

 the islanders, and the natives are exceedingly expert in the various 

 methods of capturing them. The bonito, albicore, ray, dolphin, and 

 porpoise are the off-shore fish most highly esteemed, but the swordfish 

 and shark are also eaten. Rock-fish are caught in abundance and are 

 remarkably sweet and good. Small fish of many varieties are caught 

 along the shore, and the flying-fish are common. Eels of immense size 

 are caught in the cavities and crevices of the rock-bound coast. Fresh- 

 water fish are reported to exist in the lakes inside of the craters, but we 

 did not see any of them." Of particular interest in the present writing 

 are the statements concerning tortoises. The author does not explain 

 why he classes them with his fishes rather than his reptiles. " Turtles 

 are plentiful and are highly esteemed ; at certain seasons a watch for 

 them is constantly maintained on the sand beach. The turtle occupies 

 a prominent place in the traditions, and it is frequently represented in 

 the hieroglyphics and also appears on the sculptured rocks." Other 

 notice occurs in the translations of the tablets : " What power has tlie 

 Great King on the land 1 He has the power to clothe the turtles in hard 

 shell, the fish with scales, and protects every living thing. All hail tlie 

 power of the Great King who enables us to overcome the defense of the 

 turtles, fish, and all reptiles." Elsewhere it is said that Hotu-Matua 

 and his three hundred, arriving on the island, from land to the eastward, 

 subsisted for the first three months entirely upon fish, turtle, and the 

 nuts of a creeping plant found growing along the ground. And in the 

 account of Machaa's arrival with six companions, two months before 

 Hotu-Matua, we learn that on the second day after arriving this party 

 found a turtle on the beach near Anekena, and one of the men was 

 killed by a blow of its flipper in trying to turn it over. At the point 

 Ahuakapu, Mr. Thomson says, "Upon the extreme point we found 

 another one of those round towers, built for the purpose of observing 

 the movements of turtles on the beach." Concerning other reptiles an 

 item is given on page 459 : " Small lizards are frequently seen among 

 the rocks ; the natives claim that a large variety is not uncommon, but 

 we saw nothing of it. No snakes exist." Small reptiles, no doubt, 

 would find food in the several varieties of butterflies, the myriads of 

 troublesome flies, the fleas that were worse than the flies, the mosquitoes 

 about the water tanks, the cockroaches two inches long with antennae to 

 correspond, infesting every house on the island, and the peculiar variety 

 of snapping beetle which " made its appearance every evening just before 



