94 SHELL-COLLECTING. 



pumice twelve feet above high water mark of spring 

 tides. There is little underwood, the trees overhead 

 forming a shady grove. Herbaceous plants are 

 few in number — of the others I shall only mention 

 a wild nutmeg, Myristica cimicifera, not, how- 

 ever, of any commercial importance. 



The Torres Strait rat was exceedingly plentiful 

 here, in hollow trees and logs, also about the roots 

 of the pandanus trees and under blocks of coral. 

 Our dogs caught many, as they do not shew so much 

 agility as is usual in the genus. The principal bird 

 is the megapodius, — a gecko, and another small 

 lizard are abundant, — of land shells we found a new 

 Scarabus and a small brown Helix, in great abun- 

 dance under blocks of coral, and on the trunks and 

 branches of trees, a pretty Oyclostoma (C. vitreum) 

 formerly found by the French in New Caledonia, 

 also a new and pretty Helix, remarkable for its 

 angular sinuated mouth and conical spire, — this last 

 has been named H. Macgillivrayi by Professor 

 E. Forbes. The reef furnished many radiata and 

 Crustacea, and as usual the shell collectors — consist- 

 ing of about one-half the ship's company, reaped a 

 rich harvest of cowries, cones, and spider shells, 

 amounting to several hundred weight. One day I 

 was much amused when, on hailing one of our men 

 whom I observed perched up among the top 

 branches of a tree, and asking whether it was a nest 

 that he had found, the answer returned was—" Oh 

 no. Sir, its these geotrochuses that I am after." 



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