10 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



to be made partly by swimming through the surf. Our getting ashore 

 on Clipperton is just another tribute to the efficiency of the Navy and 

 a further instance of the value of their cooperation in scientific ex- 

 ploration. Landing in heavy surf is a part of the Navy's routine 

 training, and so they took the Clipperton landing in their stride, as it 

 were. 



There were so many sharks at Clipperton that they utterly ruined 

 the fishing. Not only did they destroy the few fish that were hooked, 

 but they usually destroyed the tackle as soon as it was put into the 

 water. Closer in toward shore the President observed a considerable 

 number of blue trigger fish schooling about at the surface and, desir- 

 ous of knowing more about them and obtaining a few specimens of 

 them for the Museum, he tried baiting a trout hook with a tiny strip 

 of fish skin. It was just the thing, for three of them were caught in 

 short order. These beautifully colored trigger fish, Melichthys radula, 

 occur also in the East Indies and are found in Hawaii and at Socorro 

 and Clarion Island, as well. The President, who at all times was 

 as much interested in the bottom and reef species as in the game fish, 

 got another of these blue trigger fish at Cocos Island. 



Eight days, July 24-31, were devoted to our Galapagos investiga- 

 tions. In these scientifically famous islands were made some of the 

 best hauls of fish of the entire cruise. A number of rarities such as 

 the gray thread-fin bass, Cratinus agassizii, and the southern barra- 

 cuda, Sphyraena idiastes, were taken on several occasions. The former 

 looked like a good pan fish. As no one seemed to have any informa- 

 tion on the subject and nothing could be found in any publications 

 available on board, the President had one prepared for his mess. He 

 said it was very good eating. The heaviest yellow-fin tuna taken 

 weighed 56 pounds. Wahoo were plentiful off Hood Island and gave 

 those of the party who tangled with them "a run for their money." 

 The largest weighed 54 pounds. Three were brought back to the 

 Museum for study, as the Institution heretofore had only a mounted 

 specimen of this large game fish. 



Together with the wahoo, five species of fish never before repre- 

 sented in the study collections of the Museum were obtained in the 

 Galapagos. The other four species were the Pacific amberjack, Scriola 

 colburni, of which the heaviest weighed 28 pounds; the round-herring, 

 Etrumens micropus; a pilot fish, Doydixodon freminvillei; and a 

 demoiselle, Nexilosus albemarleus. The Pacific amberjacks constitute 

 the first record of this species from the Galapagos Islands. 



We visited the famed albatross colony on Hood Island, and found 

 a number of birds at this late date, July 28, still incubating eggs and 



