19 
which, by the way, are new to the Museum collections, and a grant. With 
hand lines over the ship‘s side the crew got several Galapagos sheepsheads. 
Along shore a puffer, Sphaeroides annulatus , was taken. The wind was a hit 
too high to render the electric light fishing profitable. The only thing 
dipped up worth noting was a tiny octopus. We remained at anchor here over 
night. 
South Seymour is iguana land. With few enemies other than man, 
and man a rare visitor, land iguanas have always been found here in plenty. 
In fact, there are more iguanas than there seems to be food for. Many of 
them give you the impression that they are on short rations or else are slen- 
derizing in the modern fashion. In the dry season, which comprises the far 
greater part of the year, there is no moisture of any kind anywhere on South 
Seymour and one wonders what the animals do for water. Goats often die, for 
.every little while 
/we find little piles of bones, each with its horned head. Perhaps the iguanas 
can last through from one wet season to another, or else, like many desert 
animals, get along with very little water at any time, but they do drink 
greedily at times in captivity. 
The finches at least, and no doubt the rest of the small bird life 
of South Seymour, have found an answer to their need for water by making use 
ub'uwilawS 
of the inner pulp of the www p »inn^ cacti . Apparently whenever a cactus 
suffers an injury from the fall of a leaf or " branch, *' which may leave a small 
area of the trunk unguarded by spines, the finches get to work at excavating 
and later tunneling into the body of the plant, down into the trunk and up- 
wards even into the flattened leaves until no more than a mere shell remains. 
In the end, the cactus succumbs to the ravages of the "birds, or else becomes 
too weak to withstand the wind or the weight of its own superstructure*, Sooner 
or later it totters over to become another of the dead cacti lying on the 
