Notes by a Naturalist: An Account of Observations Made During the Voyage of H. M. S. "Challenger" Round the World in the Years 1872-1876 ... |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
abundant Admiralty Islands Albatross algæ amongst animals appearance Aru Islands beach berg Bermuda birds boat bushes calcareous canoes Cape Chap Chinese cliffs close coast colour coral covered Crabs crater curious dance dark Darwin deep-sea depth distance doubt dredged eggs Falkland Islands fathoms ferns Fiji Fijian fish flat genus glaciers grass green growing harbour head Heard Island holes houses Humboldt Bay Inaccessible Island inches inhabitants Kerguelen's Land King Penguins lava lower main island Marion Island masses miles mountain mouth narrow natives nearly nest Nightingale Island occur ornaments patches peculiar penguins Peripatus places Planarians plants reef remarkable ridge rock rookery round sand seen shark shells ship shore shot showed side slopes species specimens stone summit surface Tahiti Tonga town trees Tristan da Cunha various vegetation volcanic voyage whales whilst wild wood young Zealand
Popular passages
Page 440 - Both sexes wear necklaces made of strings of small variegated shells, and an ornament in the form of the handle of a cup, about two inches long, and half an inch broad, made of wood, stone, or ivory, finely polished, which is hung about the neck, by fine threads of twisted hair, doubled sometimes a hundred-fold.
Page 368 - True and Wonderful, a Discourse relating to a strange and monstrous Serpent or Dragon lately discovered and yet living, to the great annoyance and divers slaughters both of men and cattell by his strong and violent poison. In Sussex, two miles from Horsham, in a wood called St. Leonard's Forest, and thirtie miles from London, this present month of August, 1614.
Page 355 - by painting or tattooing himself for ornament. Then he adopts a movable appendage, which he hangs on his body, and on which he puts the ornamentation which he formerly marked more or less indelibly on his skin. In this way he is able to gratify his taste for change'.
Page 498 - It was like a great sac, with its walls of jelly about an inch in thickness. It was four feet in length, and ten inches in diameter. When a Pyrosoma is stimulated by having its surface touched, the phosphorescent light breaks out at first at the spot stimulated, and then spreads over the surface of the colony as the stimulus is transmitted to the surrounding animals. I wrote my name with my finger on the surface of the giant Pyrosoma, as it lay on deck in a tub at night, and my name came out in a...
Page 519 - With regard to any future scientific expeditions, it would, howeyer, be well to bear in mind that the deep sea, its physical fe'atures and its fauna, will remain for an indefinite period in the condition in which they now exist and as they have existed for ages past, with little or no change, to be investigated at leisure at any future time. On the surface of the earth, however, animals and plants and races of men are perishing rapidly day by day, and will soon be, like the Dodo, things of the past....
Page 367 - Chee, says that Cheung Wo got Dragon's flesh, which he steeped in vinegar, and thereby gave to the latter five different colours. As the animal is seen and used in this way, I have no doubt that the bones are those of a dead Dragon, and have not been cast off. " This medicine is sweet and is not poison. Dr. A. Koon certainly says' that it is a little poisonous. Care must be taken not to let it come in contact with fish or iron. It cures heartache, stomach-ache, drives away ghosts, cures colds and...
Page 137 - The animal has the appearance of a black caterpillar, the largest specimens being more than three inches in length, but the majority smaller. A pair of simple horn-like antennae project from the head, which is provided with a single pair of small simple eyes. Beneath the head is the mouth provided with tumid lips and within with a double pair of horny jaws.
Page 216 - ... colour. Mr. Buchanan made experiments on the melting point, and amount of salt contained in salt-water ice. He came to the conclusion from analyses of successive meltings and the varying of the melting point, that in salt-water ice " the salt is not contained in the form of mechanically enclosed brine only, but exists in the solid form, either as a single crystalline substance, or as a mixture of ice and salt crystals.
Page 367 - The bones are found on banks of rivers and in caves of the earth, places where the Dragon died, and can be collected at any time. The bones are found in many places in Szechuen and Shanse, where those of the back and brain are highly prized, being variegated with different streaks on a white ground. The best are known by the tongue slipping lightly over them.
Page 404 - They resemble somewhat those of the Carolines, but are very roughly made indeed, only the actual edge being ground. None were seen mounted, and they appeared to have gone out of use. Axes made of hard volcanic rock were also obtained from the houses. They have ground surfaces and are triangular in form, and resemble the stone adzes of the Solomons, but are mounted in an entirely different and very primitive way, as axes, being merely jammed in a slot cut in a club-like billet of hard wood near its...