Quiet and invisible by day, they emerged at night, and cut their funny pranks.
No sooner were we all asleep, than they made a sudden dash over the lockers and across our faces for the cabin door, where all broke out into a loud He! he! he! he! he! he! showing how keenly they enjoyed the joke.
They next went forward with as much delight, and scampered over the men.
Every night they went fore and aft, rousing with impartial feet every sleeper, and laughing to scorn the aimless blows, growls, and deadly rushes of outraged humanity.

We observed elsewhere a species of large mouse, nearly allied to _Euryotis unisulcatus_ (F.Cuvier), escaping up a rough and not very upright wall, with six young ones firmly attached to the perineum.

They were old enough to be well covered with hair, and some were not detached by a blow which disabled the dam.

We could not decide whether any involuntary muscles were brought into play in helping the young to adhere.

Their weight seemed to require a sort of cataleptic state of the muscles of the jaw, to enable them to hold on.
Scorpions, centipedes, and poisonous spiders also were not unfrequently brought into the ship with the wood, and occasionally found their way into our beds; but in every instance we were fortunate enough to discover and destroy them before they did any harm.