NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 41 



The last noteworthy point connected with the '-'comadreja 

 picaso" is its tenacity of life. Dogs may worry at it as long as 

 they like — it hardly offers any resistance; half-a-dozen times will 

 it be left for dead, and as often does it reYive and begin to move 

 off. The first and biggest one I came across was in a parroquet's 

 nest. I put three revolver bullets into its body, and gave it a 

 knife thrust as it came towards me, which precipitated it to the 

 ground, over twenty feet. By the time I descended, it was 

 trotting leisurely away, and after various assaults on it with a 

 stick, I was ultimately compelled to fire other two shots into the 

 head, after which it did not come to life any more. Hanging I 

 found to be the best and speediest way of securing a specimen, 

 without mortally injuring both the cranium and fur. The latter 

 is very handsome, but the skin is impregnated with grease to such 

 an extent as to be a great deterrent to its use. All specimens I 

 ever killed, whatever the season, were extremely fat. 



There has been no perceptible change or variation in the 

 numbers of the " comadreja picaso " in our district, during the 

 last six years. Unlike the next species, wet or dry seasons 

 cannot much affect the abundance of its food, as it does not 

 frequent the swamps; while, from its habits, man, its only enemy, 

 does not often come across it. Accordingly, I long expect to be 

 able, as I am at present, to lay my hands on specimens whenever 

 I want them. 



II.— The Flora of Chile. By Mr. Thomas King. 



As the character of vegetation depends on the nature of its 

 surroundings, I will first say a few words regarding the physical 

 geography of Chile. This country lies between the Andes and the 

 Pacific, and stretches from the southern borders of the tropics 

 to Cape Horn — a distance of 2000 miles. Its average breadth 

 is from 70 or 80 miles, and its area 150,000 square miles, or 

 about a fourth larger than Great Britain and Ireland. In a 

 country so situated there is necessarily great diversity of climate, 

 and consequently conditions favourable to the growth of many 

 different kinds of plants. But the climate is even more varied 

 than we might expect from the geographical position of the 

 country, owing to the great differences of elevation and the unequal 

 distribution of moisture. The surface rises from the sea level to 

 heights far above the snow line, and while in Valdivia, in the 



