m A CRUISE IN THE LACCADIVE SEA 



of coral sand. It is one of the most desolate places 

 that I have ever set foot on. Almost all the coral 

 that I saw was dead ; not a sign of a plant, or even 

 of a cast-up seed or nut, was visible ; and the only 

 animals to be seen, besides a flock of small sand-pipers 

 and an occasional bo'sun bird, were hermit-crabs of 

 the genus Ccenobita, and grapsoid crabs of the 

 genera Grapsus and Ocypoda. Even the lagoon sup- 

 ported but little animal life, though there were plenty 

 of seaweeds in it, and in a whole afternoon of steady 

 work I got nothing of any very great value ; perhaps 

 my most interesting find was two pairs of little 

 shrimps [Pontonia), each consisting of a male and a 

 brooding female, living comfortably, each pair in the 

 mantle cavity of a giant clam {Tridacna). Mr A. O. 

 Hume, who visited this atoll in February 1875, in 

 the survey ship Clyde, found the noddy and the 

 sooty tern breeding ; but nothing of this sort was 

 going on at the time of our visit at the end of 

 October, and we did not see so much as an egg-shell. 



From Cherbaniani we sounded away southwards 

 to Byramgore atoll, which only differs from Cher- 

 baniani in being a little larger, and in being com- 

 pletely covered at high tide. As it was far too rough 

 to land on the reef when the ebb laid it bare here and 

 there, I addicted myself not to sack but to fishing, 

 but without success, owing to the multitude of small 

 sharks, which appropriated everything that I hooked. 



