November 9.

I caught four albatrosses with a fishing-line; one of them was a female, the first I had seen.  I observed no marked difference between her and males of the same species, for I have found them vary much in the dark shades upon their feathers.

I have yet found no bird of this family whose foot was not longer than its beak.

Diomedea exulans—­Female.

Length from tip of wing to tip of wing,10 feet 10 inches. 
Length from tip of wing, 4 feet 10 inches. 
From tip of beak to tip of tail, 4 feet 9 inches. 
Length of beak, 7.2 inches. 
Length of tail, 9 inches. 
Length of foot, 7.5 inches.

The black and brown marks on this bird were darker than the corresponding ones on the males.

I am inclined to think that the chief characteristic that distinguishes the females from the males in the family Longipennes is their greater size:  my opinion is grounded upon the following tables, drawn up from careful measurements, made by myself.

(@@@Table of family Longipennes)

In each of these three instances the female is larger than the males; they are the only ones I am able to adduce which bear upon this point.

November 11.  South latitude 30 degrees 47 minutes; east longitude 100 degrees 21 minutes 15 seconds.

Being a calm, I gave the men leave to bathe this afternoon, and was one of the first overboard myself.  Within an hour and a half after we had done bathing, a cry of a shark was raised, and in truth there was the monster (the first we had seen).  I mention this fact as tending to support what I have often heard stated, namely, that a shark’s sense of smell is so keen that, if men ever bathe in seas where they are found, a shark is almost sure to appear directly afterwards.  This really occurred in the present instance.

We repeatedly caught many little animals which I believe are the VELELLA of Lamarck.  They consist of a flat oval cartilage, on which they float; there is a mouth in the inferior surface of this surrounded with many tentacula; on its superior surface is a crest which remains above water, and the wind blowing against it turns the animal round; they thus swim with a rotatory motion; the crest is placed obliquely to the length of the oval cartilage, and this position of it perhaps assists in producing the motion; the crest is perfectly transparent, but marked with little striae; the oval cartilage is marked with concentric striae, which indicate the lines of its growth; in some this cartilage is transparent, in others quite blue.

November 12.  South latitude 30 degrees 11; east longitude 100 degrees 31 minutes 30 seconds.

We caught several beautiful animals this day, of the Medusae kind (Diphya). (See Illustration 3 Diphya, Sp.)

Figure 1 represents a section through one of them, the size of life:  the bag (1) is of a delicate bright amber colour.  The long tentacula issuing out are upwards of a foot in length and of a bright flesh colour.