place; this colour then dies gradually away, and in the smallest whorl of the shell becomes almost white. They had the power of emitting drops of a violet colour, and when put into spirits a great quantity of this issued from the mouth of the shells. We had one evening before caught a pair of shells of the same species, but much smaller, at exactly the same hour; in both instances each pair were caught at the same haul of the net. November 23.-Lat. 21° 43's.; long. 109° 43′ E. -8 P.M. A flying fish (Exocetus) flew on boardits temperature was 74°-the colour of its iris was black Length from mouth to end of curve between forks of From mouth to commencement of wing-like fin of dorsal fin inches. - 10 - 27 6.7 of pectoral fin of anal fin of upper fork of tail of lower ditto Length from mouth to end of gill Breadth of wing fin 13 spines in each of these wings Breadth between eyes Under jaw projecting; sides, pale green; back, blackish-green; belly, white; five first spines in wing-fin, greenish; others white; wing-fin dark green with a transparent band running nearly up the centre from the back; pectoral fin, transparent, with a dark green spot, nearly an inch square, about the centre of its lowest extremity; tail, dark green, edges light. November 26.-Lat. 16° 32′ s.; long. 117° E. -After crossing about the 22nd parallel of south latitude, we fairly entered into the region of flying fish, and dolphins as they are commonly called; tropic birds were now also frequently seen, which had not up to this moment been the case; we often also met hereabouts with a dark coloured bird with bronzed wings, having a cry precisely like a Snipe. I know not the name of this bird. The more beautiful and largest Sea-jellies (acalepha) had now disappeared, although the more minute ones were as numerous as ever. It therefore appears to me that we have in coming from the southward to this point passed through three great regions, or zones of animal life, one extending from as far to the southward as I have yet been, viz. 36° s. lat. to 31° s. lat.; this zone was inhabited by numerous Sea-jellies (acalepha) of the smaller kind, by porpoises and whales, as well as by immense varieties of the Petrels or Procellariæ. The second zone extending from 31° s. to 22° s. lat. was inhabited by immense numbers of the larger, and more beautiful kind of Sea-jellies (acalepha), particularly by those that have the power of stinging. Within this zone I saw but one whale, one shoal of porpoises, and not a single one of the long-winged water birds or Petrels; in fact, I but once in the whole of this distance saw any birds; there were also here a great variety and numbers of Sea-jellies (acalepha) of the smaller kinds. Do then the larger acalepha in this zone perform the office of the birds in the more southern one, and prey upon the smaller species of their own kind? The third zone is the one with which I have commenced the journal of this day. November 29.- Lat. 15° 26' 32" s.; long. 122° 3′ E. -We saw six or seven water snakes (Hydrus) this day, all about three feet long, of a dirty yellow colour, with black stripes, the head black, they were furnished with fins like an eel, were of a very graceful form, and moved on the water exactly like a snake, with the head a little elevated; when they dived they turned up on their backs before they sank we caught one of these snakes, also a moth and butterfly. A large bat (Pteropus?) flew about the vessel this evening and pitched several times on the boat astern, I once struck it as it passed me, it appeared much fatigued; we were 150 miles from the main, and thirty from the nearest small sandy island. We caught two sharks to-day; the sailors said that they saw fourteen or fifteen little sharks swimming round one of these, and that when the bait was thrown into the water and made a noise, some of these swam into her mouth: directly after they had told me this the shark was caught. I had it opened and four young ones were found inside, two had never left the uterus, for they were attached to it at the time, the other two were not so attached, and were larger than the former, and swam well and strongly when put into the water: whether or not they had ever left the mother I cannot of course say. I have preserved two in spirits, one that was attached and one that was not; two intestinal worms were found in the stomach of one of the sharks. CHAPTER IV. HANOVER BAY. NEW AND DANGEROUS SHOAL-ARRIVAL OFF THE COAST OF AUSTRALIA-ASPECT OF THE COUNTRY FROM SHIP- SEA November 29.-THIS morning at twenty minutes after nine, when in lat. 22° 26' 32" s., and long. 121° 55′ E., we suddenly made the very unpleasant discovery that we were in the midst of shoals, owing to some negligence in our look-out. This was not found out until we were hemmed in between two, one lying not more than fifty fathoms from our larboard quarter, and the other, about three times the distance, on the starboard beam. I went up to the mast-head, and distinctly saw the rocks, not more than two or three feet under water on the larboard side. We fortunately passed through this danger without accident; and, directly we cleared it, found bottom at twenty-five fathoms, coarse sand and shells. December 2.-I was called at four, A. M., to keep |