SHIP- AND WIND-BORNE COLONISTS 307 



marvelJous abundance to the copra industry. Others have 

 probably used this route, but beetles have a far more varied 

 manner of colonising than is open to many orders of insects. 



It is impossible to say if the two species of Geckos came 

 by ships, but the Gecko is no lover of ship life, and as the egg 

 is laid securely beneath the bark of a tree, and two months 

 may elapse before its hatching, it is obvious that the more 

 independent route is open to it. Both the species that have 

 made their home in the islands are widely distributed in 

 tropical countries. 



It may be said, on the whole, that the creatures which have 

 accompanied man in his wanderings, and have made their 

 landing unbidden, are a very undesirable set. The rats and 

 the copra beetles are the most harmful of all the atoll's fauna ; 

 and the centipede and the scorpion are the most unpleasant. 

 The highly desirable animals which he would have to live 

 around him have ceased to thrive, and the very undesirable 

 ruffians which have taken advantage of his enterprise have 

 thriven exceedingly. 



The colonists that have come to the atoll by flying through 

 the air compose by far the most numerous group of all the 

 island fauna; and they are a class of the very greatest 

 interest. 



So many of the difficulties which lie in the path of these 

 wind-borne creatures are commonly forgotten, or not ap- 

 preciated, that their presence upon the atoll often does not 

 create the admiration which it deserves. Two cases may be 

 told of wind-blown waifs in the Cocos-Keeling Islands that will 

 serve to make real some of the problems surrounding this 

 method of colonisation. 



At certain times in the year — generally after the rare 

 north winds — the whole atoll will be swarming with dragon- 

 flies : the commonest species of them all is the widely dis- 

 tributed Fantula flavescens, but Tramea Boseiibergii and Anax 

 guttatus are mostly to be found on such occasions. They come 

 to the islands in thousands. They hawk for flies over the 

 - surface of the lagoon, and are to be met with sailing up and 



