THE PAUMOTU PLATEAU. 31 



Paumotus to Australia, to the East Indies, and even farther to the west, to 

 the east coast of Africa. Among the genera we collected were Parasalenia, 

 Metalia, Heterocentrotus, Echinometra, Echinaster, Culcita, and other genera 

 having a very general distribution in the tropical Pacific. 



Of birds the number of species is also small ; a babbler, a pigeon, a 

 curlew, snipe, a small parroquet, a kingfisher, are the principal types, in 

 addition to the terns, boobies, frigate birds, petrels, and tropic birds, all of 

 which spread over the Pacific. 



The Large Birgus (cocoanut-tree crab) is abundant on some of the islands 

 of the Paumotus. 



As far as we observed, the temperature of the lagoons at the surface is 

 identical with that of the sea outside of the atolls, and at a depth of about 

 500 fathoms a temperature of 40° F. was recorded. 



We made a number of surface hauls, as well as intermediate hauls with 

 the tow-nets, but obtained very little animal life in the Paumotus. The 

 poverty of the surface pelagic life and down to 300 fathoms is remarkable. 

 I do not think I have ever sailed over so extensive an area as that of the 

 Paumotus and observed so little surface life ; on calm days, under the most 

 favorable conditions, nothing could be seen with the naked eye, and at night 

 there was little or no phosphorescence. Inside of the lagoons our hauls 

 were equally barren. 



The same paucity of animal life seemed to extend to the deep-water 

 fauna. All the hauls we made off the islands, in from 600 to 1000 fathoms, 

 usually the most productive area of a sea slope, brought nothing, or so little 

 that we came to grudge the time spent in trawling on the bottom, as well as 

 towing on the surface or near it, — a great contrast to the conditions in the 

 Atlantic in similar latitudes, and very difl'erent from our anticipations. 



For these reasons we did not attempt to make a trial of the deep-sea 

 pump while in such unproductive areas ; and unfortunately while we were 

 in the region of the equatorial currents the weather conditions were not 

 suited for a trial of the apparatus. 



The vegetation of the land rim is composed entirely of small trees and 

 low bushes, and it is only on the larger islands that they have been cleared 

 and cocoanut trees have been planted in their place. 



