Strait more exposed to the wind than this, for it faces the 
reach to the west of Cape Froward, down which the wind 
constantly blows, and brings with it a suecession of rain, 
sleet, or snow; and in the winter months, from April to 
August, the ground is covered with a layer of snow from 
six inches to two or three feet in depth. There must be, 
therefore, some peculiar quality in the atmosphere of this 
otherwise rigorous climate, which favours vegetation ; for, 
if not, these comparatively delicate plants could not live 
and flourish through the long and severe winters of this 
region.”’ 
The author further remarks ; ‘© Whilst upon this sub- 
ject, there are two facts which may be mentioned, as illus- 
trative of the mildness of the climate, notwithstanding 
the lowness of its temperature. One is the comparative 
warmth of the sea near its surface, between which and the 
air, I have in the month of June, the middle of the winter 
season, observed a difference of 30°, upon which occasion 
the sea was covered with a cloud of steam. The other is, 
that parrots and humming-birds, generally the inhabitants 
of warm regions, are very numerous in the southern and 
western parts of the Strait; the former feeding upon the 
seeds of the Winter’s Bark, while the latter have been seen 
by us, chirping and sipping the sweets of the Fucus1a and 
other flowers, after two or three days of constant rain, 
snow, and sleet, during which the thermometer has been 
at freezing point. We saw them also in the month of 
May upon the wing, during a snow shower; and they are 
found in all parts of the south-west and west coasts as far 
as Valparaiso. I have since been informed that this species 
is also an inhabitant of Peru; so that it has a range of 
more than 41° of latitude, the southern limit being 533° 
south.’’ 
It is possible that, like the humming-birds, the same 
species of Fucusta may inhabit the valleys of the Chilian 
Andes, as well as the almost antarctic regions of Port 
Famine; and in such widely different latitudes it may put 
on different appearances. As may be expected, F', discolor, 
is the most hardy of its kind, growing in a short space of 
time into a dense bush, and putting forth numerous shoots, 
which are never injured by the winters even of Scotland. 
Our plants were received from Mr. Lowe of Clapton, who 
was the first to raise the species in this country. 
