3930 Journal of a Voyage 



of a small glass tube, or even with a common pipe-stem, the finger 

 acting as a kind of valve on the top or open end of the tube. 



Feb. 29 : (lat. 36 55; long. 15 56). I was called out of the cabin 

 to see some " Meerswein " (sea-pigs), which were swimming in front 

 of the ship, passing and repassing with incredible velocity before the 

 stem of the vessel. As well as I could distinguish, I took them for 

 the common dolphin. Having made myself fast to the bowsprit, I 

 tried to harpoon one of them, but my awkwardness only served to 

 frighten them away. 



March 1 : (lat. 34 18 ; long. 17 54). I saw today, for the first time, 

 the beautiful Portuguese man-of-war {Physalisa pelagica). This sin- 

 gular animal, with its silvery, pink, and violent tints shining in the 

 sun on the blue sea, is to me one of the most beautiful of ocean sights. 



March 2 : (lat. 31 49 ; long. 20 28). Saw some more dolphins and 

 numbers of Physalisa, which latter animal I continued to observe dur- 

 ing nearly the whole of my voyage. 



March 4 : (lat. 27 8 ; long. 25 12). We have entered the region of 

 Fucus natans, Z., (Sargassum vulgare of modern botanists) ; small 

 patches of which are floating here and there around the vessel. Ac- 

 cording to Meyen, this plant is found from 22° to 36 g N. lat. and from 

 25° to 45° W. long. 1 collected some specimens, all of which exhi- 

 bited evident marks of decay. This is the well-known plant described 

 by all navigators since Columbus ; and called by the French naviga- 

 tors, " Raisin du Tropique." On my return home, 1 had occasion to 

 pass through the Bahama field of Sargasso, which is noticed by Hum- 

 boldt and other naturalists. I caught a gray-coloured parasitical 

 Entomostracan, of the family Caligidae, of which I made a microsco- 

 pical drawing : it was swimming freely in the sea. 



March 5 : (lat. 25 32 ; long. 26 43). I have collected a few ani- 

 mals on some floating masses of Sargasso ; the most remarkable of 

 which is a brown nudibranchiate mollusc, with four branchial ap- 

 pendages on the back and two on the head. The sailors called it a 

 " sea-horse," from the appearance of its head. Being without the ne- 

 cessary books, I cannot determine the species. On the same sea- 

 weed I found some small crabs, and a beautiful and delicate species 

 of a compound Campanularia, each specimen of which bore from three 

 to ten individuals. The total length of the whole polype was a quar- 

 ter of an inch ; the arms of each individual in one row, and about 

 twenty in number. 



March 7. Passed the Tropic and saw a shark. I saw several very 

 small flying fish, (Exocetm mesogaster, Cuv., or Hillianus, Gosse ?) ; 



