“We had not been anchored five minutes,” says King, “before 
the vessel was surrounded by sharks, which at once impressed us 
with the propriety of Dampier’s nomenclature. One that was 
caught measured eleven feet in length, but the greater number were 
not more than three or four feet long. They were very voracious, 
and scared away large quantities of fish, of which, however, our 
people caught a good supply.” Five or six dozen snappers were 
obtained in one evening, besides some of the genus tetradon; these 
were the only two species obtained : “our people could not be per- 
suaded to eat the tetradon, although the French lived chiefly upon 
it.” It was described by M. Lacepede in a, paper in the Annales 
du Museum d’Histoire Naturelle (tom. iv., p. 203) as le tetrodon 
argente (T. argenteus ) . 
A rocky reef fronting the shore was “covered with shell-fish, 
of which the principal sorts were species of trochus, chama, conus, 
voluta, cyprasa, buccinum, ostrea, mytilus, and patella; among the. 
latter was the large one of King George’s Sound. Upon the beaches 
we found varieties of sponge and coral; and beche-de-mer were ob- 
served in the crevices of the rocks, but were neither large nor 
plentiful.” 
From Sharks Bay the expedition passed north and surveyed 
various islands and shoals, but the only further notes on animals 
relate to the neighbourhood of what is now called King Sound. 
From Point Cunningham, on Feb. 12, “the gentlemen brought 
off a few shells and some insects, among which was a beautiful 
sphynx; besides which, one of the boat’s crew caught a species of 
vampyrus, apparently similar to the flying fox of Port Jackson. 
Of shells there was not a great variety; a chama (Tridacna gigas, 
Lam.), a pinna, and the trochus (ccerulescens) of Dirk Hartog’s 
Island ; but at one of the fire-places they found a very large voluta 1 
that seemed to have served the purpose of a water-vessel ; it 
was fifteen inches long and ten inches in diameter.” 
When off the xldele Islands, on Feb. 18, “towards sunset large 
flights of boobies, terns, and other sea-birds passed by, flying 
towards the islands.” 
Soon after this date the “Bathurst” returned to Sydney round 
the south coast without again sighting Western Australia. Here she 
remained from April 25 to Sept. 25, on which date she left for 
England, calling in once more at King George’s Sound on her way 
home. 
Thus ended Captain King’s long service on our coast-line. In 
one of the appendices to his Journal are contained the descriptions 
of the animals brought home by him. Unfortunately the exact 
localities are not nearly always recorded, and in the ensuing list I 
have only included those definitely recorded from within the limits 
of the State. 
1 Cymbium flammeum, Bolten. 
