THE NAVY SURVEYING EXPEDITION TO THE 

 PHOENIX AND SAMOAN ISLANDS, 1939 



By LEONARD P. SCHULTZ 



Curator, Division of Fishes, U. S. National Museum 



When the Smithsonian Institution informed me that I was to 

 accompany the U.S.S. Bushnell as naturalist to collect material for 

 the United States National Museum, I was delighted to have the 

 opportunity to take specimens on seldom-visited islands of the South 

 Pacific Ocean. 



Without the aid of two enlisted men, Charles W. Rackliffe and 

 Arthur Petit, pharmacist's mates on the U.S.S. Bushnell, who were 

 kindly given permission to help me by Dr. H. D. Hubbard (Comdr. 

 U.S.N., M.C.) it would have been impossible for me to have 

 obtained as much material as I did. 



I left San Diego April i on the U.S.S. Bushnell (fig. 45), and 

 after a few days spent at Pearl Harbor, T. H., my field work began 

 on Canton Island April 23. This coral atoll, about 9 miles long and 

 3 or 4 miles wide, contains a large lagoon (fig. 46), rich in marine 

 life. During the next 5 days I was able to collect many specimens of 

 fishes and invertebrates and a few birds. The scanty vegetation on 

 the rim of this island offers no shade, and if it were not for the brisk 

 trade winds that blow continually, the heat of the tropical sun would 

 be unbearable. 



Field work was continued from May 3 to 10 on Swains Island 

 (figs. 47, 48, 49), a small atoll about a mile and a half in diameter 

 containing a fresh-water lake, around the shore of which I found a 

 small species of goby. The members of the astronomical party, with 

 whom I camped, were treated royally by Mr. Jennings, owner of 

 the island, and by the natives, who brought us cocoanuts and other 

 foods. They entertained us one evening with the siva-siva (a native 

 dance). 



My stay on Enderbury Island from May 14 to 20 was made most 

 pleasant by the interest in natural history of James Kinney, a native 

 Hawaiian employed at the radio station there. Through his aid I 

 was able to catch several species of birds. Sooty terns were as abun- 

 dant here as on Rose and Hull Islands. The shallow lagoon was not 

 connected with the sea, and the absence of fish in it was sharply con- 

 trasted with their great abundance on the reef. 



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