A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



full moon, many of the fruits exposed fully to its rays 

 are blighted, the pulp becoming puckered and shrunk. Sun- 

 stroke, he said, was also very common ; but in this case the 

 affected nut shrivels up, and when it is opened only a withered 

 embryo is found inside. 



I searched for the two trees seen, but not obtained by Mr. 

 Darwin, as mentioned in his ' Voyage.' Of the one " of great 

 height on West Island " I would have secured specimens but 

 for an unfortunate discharge by a twig of Mr. Ross's gun, 

 resulting in a severe and painful wound to his hand (happily 

 not more serious than a bad flesh wound), which necessitated 

 our return home, before we had succeeded. As it was the last 

 occasion I could visit the islet, I was unable certainly to iden- 

 tify the tree, although from the seeds which I obtained, I have 

 little doubt that it is a species of Pisonia (probably P. inermis) 

 which is found in the Australian and Pacific islands. Its 

 seeds are spiny and glutinous, and, by adhering in great 

 numbers to their feathers, often prove fatal to the herons that 

 nest in its summit. As many sea-fowl have almost a cosmo- 

 politan distribution, it is easy to perceive how widely this tree 

 might be disseminated by the birds that roost on it. 



Mr. Darwin records that he took pains to collect every kind 

 of insect he saw. Exclusive of spiders, which were numerous, 

 thirteen species were found by him. A list of all those col- 

 lected or seen by me would far outrun Mr. Darwin's, showing 

 that by some means or other species are still finding their way 

 to this distant spot. Unfortunately, this collection was . destroyed 

 on my way back to Java, and cannot be now named ; but few, if 

 any, of the species were referable to Australian, Timorese or 

 East Archipelago forms, so that the origin of the fauna is 

 evidently different from that of the flora of the atoll, and is 

 doubtless due to many chance passengers, that half a century of 

 the coming and going of ships has brought as stowaways and 

 landed unknowingly ; now an adhering cluster of eggs, now a 

 gravid female, or perchance a mated couple. Erom the testi- 

 mony of Mr. Eoss, whom I have found a most accurate observer, 

 the cyclones of 1863 and of 1 876 added, if not new species, at 

 least a host of new individuals to the Keeling fauna. 



Among Coleopiera Mr. Darwin mentions only one small 

 Elater ; while I observed hosts of small Melolonthidie (genus 



