350 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



sea. A steamer on the way from Queensland to Sydney had a 

 peculiar experience on the passage down the coast. After leaving 

 Brisbane, and when crossing Moreton Bay, a thick haze was 

 encountered, which made the atmosphere so dense that it was 

 impossible to discern the leading lights. In consequence the 

 vessel had to anchor from midnight till 5.30 a.m., when she 

 passed out of the bay, the buoys in the channel being made out 

 with difficulty, even though it was daylight. This continued for 

 some distance down the coast. When the boat emerged from 

 the thick weather everything (including the passengers' quarters 

 and fittings) was covered with a fine red dust which had been 

 carried out to sea by the strong westerly wind then blowing off the 

 land. (Apropos of this, I am informed by Capt. Waller, who travels 

 between New Zealand and this port, and to whom I am indebted 

 for some interesting specimens which I hope to mention on some 

 future occasion, that he has encountered moths and other insects 

 whilst quite out of sight of the land, at a distance of from seventy 

 to eighty miles from the New South Wales coast.) The red dust, 

 upon undergoing a microscopical examination, was resolved into 

 the remains of innumerable Diatomacece, a fact interesting alike 

 to the zoologist and botanist. 



While walking along the beach at Maroubra Bay (a few miles 

 from Sydney), on an excursion some time ago, my attention 

 was suddenly riveted by a very curious-looking object. This 

 on close examination proved to be the fruit of Barringtonia 

 cupania, which had evidently been in the water for some con- 

 siderable time, as it was covered with stalked barnacles (Lepas 

 pectinata?), some of which were apparently full-grown. Upon 

 its surface was also a species of Bryozoa. In one corner a hole 

 had been excavated (whether by its occupant or not, I am 

 ignorant), and safely ensconced in it was the small and widely 

 distributed " Gulf-weed Crab," Nautilograpsus minutus. (For 

 those readers who are not familiar with this branch of zoology, 

 I may add that this famous little crustacean is believed, with 

 good reason, to be the one which Columbus found on the 

 floating " Sargasso Weed," and which caused him, fallaciously, 

 to surmise that his ships were near land. However, it is perhaps 

 almost needless to say that this was no proof, as the animal is 

 found in nearly all the tropical and temperate seas of the globe 

 upon floating seaweed and wood.) In the same cavity as the 



