15 



tinctis "). The identification appeared to me tolerably certain, 

 but to make assurance doubly sure, I dispatched to Waco a 

 particular inquiry as to the color of the fresh blossoms. The 

 reply ran in this satisfactory manner : " The tips to the petals of 

 the water-lily were decidedly purplish; the half-open buds were 

 deep lavender, lighter at the base. The lines on the sepals are 

 purple instead of brown. The plant is plentiful in one place near 

 Waco." Upon the whole, therefore, I feel fully justified in an- 

 nouncing the re-discovery, after nearly forty years, of one of the 

 rarest and most beautiful plants in the whole North American 



flora. 



E. E. Sterns. 



Botanizing in the Strait of Magellan, 



By W. E. Safford, U. S. N. 



The latitude of Cape Virgin, at the eastern entrance to the 

 Strait of Magellan, is 32° 20' south, or only two hundred miles 

 farther away from the Equator than the boundary line between 

 the northwestern portion of our country and British Columbia. 

 The distance in a straight line between the eastern and western 

 extremities of the strait is two hundred and forty miles ; but, 

 owing to the crookedness of the channel, which is somewhat 

 V-shaped, the length of the route which a vessel must travel in 

 passing through it is a httle greater than three hundred miles. 

 The climate of the region, though remarkably mild, if compared 

 with that of the same latitude on the east coast of North Amer- 

 ica, differs but little from that of the corresponding region on the 

 west coast, either in its equable temperature or its excessive 

 dampness. Snow and hail often fall even in mid-summer, yet 

 this is owing to the effect of the high snow-capped mountains of 

 the region upon the moisture-laden winds from the west. The 

 average temperature of the winter months is higher than the 

 freezing point of water, although, of course, the thermometer 

 often falls much below this. 



Shortly after leaving the estuary of the Plata we encoun- 

 tered large floating patches of the giant kelp, Macrocystis 

 Pyrifera^ which plainly indicated a current from the south. This 

 species, so abundant on the Pacific coast of the United States, is 

 the most common alga in the Strait of Magellan and in the chan- 



