An expedition to Christmas Island. 



By Henry N. Ridley. 



The expedition to Christmas Island undertaken by Dr. 

 Hanitsch and myself accompanied by the two x4ssi«tant 

 Taxidermists, De Fontaine and Ahwang, the plant collector 

 Kassan and two boys, started for Christmas Island on Septem- 

 ber 20th, 1904, in the S.S. u Islander," and reached Anjer Point 

 on the 23rd. The weather was bright and fine with a fairly 

 strong breeze. Little of note occurred on the Avay except that 

 I may record seeing no less than eleven Attayen minor together 

 at one point in the Banka Straits, a moth, Ophideres sp. 

 flew on board when we were nearing Anjer and well out of 

 sight of land, and a snippet probably Tringa sp. flew round the 

 ship. 



The boat arriving at Anjer at night 7.30 remained till 11 

 but it was too late to go on shore. After passing Anjer Point 

 the sea became very rough and we only reached Christmas 

 Island on Sunday (25th) evening at five o'clock, too late to 

 land baggage That evening we remained on board till next day 

 when all was safely landed and conveyed to a house kindly put 

 at our disposal by Mr. Macpherson. 



During the transit from Anjer the beautiful orange tropic 

 bird Phcethon fulvus appeared first about midway between Java 

 and Christmas Island. This bird was originally described from 

 specimens of unknown locality. It appears to be almost con- 

 fined to Christmas Island, but is said to fly as far as Southern 

 Java. A large brown shark and a turtle were also seen on the 

 way over. 



After landing our baggage we made an excursion up to- 

 wards the waterfall as far as the first Reservoir, collecting 

 plants and insects, and on the following day I walked to the 



B,'A. Soc, No. 45,190 , 



