300 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



beneath with silvery-white spots and bands on a tawny grown 

 It proved to be the rare Telesto argenteo-ornatus, Hew., previous) 

 recorded from " Western Australia"; and as it was fairly commoi 

 here, I did not neglect to secure a good series. A good-size< 

 black-and-white day-flying moth (Nyctemera sp.) was also not 

 uncommon. I walked over to the far side of the island, and 

 spent some little time in looking for shells on a stretch of coral- 

 reef left dry by the receding tide, but met with very little success. 

 A large light-coloured Purpura (agrota), which had in almost 

 every instance several specimens of a Crepidula partly embedded 

 in the substance of its thick shell, was almost the only species 

 observed. Many more shells were to be picked up on the sandy 

 beaches, two handsome species of Voluta (ncevosa and volva) being 

 met with among others ; and a Pearly Nautilus, in very good 

 condition, surely a long way out of its latitude, was found by 

 one of the boat's crew. Large numbers of the dried and bleached 

 skeletons of sponges were strewn along the beach at high-water 

 mark, and I came across a rounded block of pumice, much bigger 

 than a man's head, which had drifted hither from some far-distant 

 volcano, perhaps from Krakatao. 



At noon we all met at the landing-place for lunch, of which 

 the piece de resistance was a boiled Wallaby shot that morning. 

 A very little of this creature, however, went a long way, as it was 

 about the most unpalatable dish I have ever tasted. This arose 

 from the fact that the cook had forgotten the salt, and we had 

 none of this necessary article with us. Sea-water was suggested 

 as a substitute, but it could not be used, as all the water near the 

 shore was charged with sulphuretted hydrogen, arising from the 

 decay of the seaweed and Zostera washing about in it. The first 

 lieutenant's face was a study when his beautifully white-painted 

 whale-boat returned to the ship in the evening stained all over 

 with a rusty-black hue, by the action of this gas on the white-lead 

 paint. My messmates had enjoyed fairly good sport, as, besides 

 the Wallabies, there were numbers of a very beautiful " bronze- 

 wing" Pigeon, Phaps elegans, Temm., among the low bushes; 

 and in the more open grassy places, a Bush- Quail, Turulv 

 scintillans, Gould, was frequently flushed. This latter species is 

 a little bird of sober though beautifully varied plumage, and 

 appears to be peculiar to the Houtman's Abrolhos, having been 

 first obtained there during the visit of the ' Beagle ' in 1840. 



