of the Straits of Magellan. 423 



The specimen sent home was shot at Port Gregory at the entrance. 

 It appears to me to be the Cams cinereo-argeniafus of Erxleben, 

 the Renard tricolor of M. Desmarest. (Mamm. sp. 310). 



No. 2 is an Armadillo^ {Dusypus minutus^ Desm. sp. 588,) from 

 Port St. Elena ; found in great abundance. 



Our sportsmen took a specimen of the Hare of Patagonia^ 

 {Dasyprocta Patachonica, 111., Cavia Pa/achonica, Shaw,) but 

 being very hungry, and more mindful of their appetite than of the 

 interests of science, they ate it ; and thus deprived me of the op- 

 portunity of examining the teeth and solving the doubt expressed 

 by M. Desmarest (Mamm. sp. 574, p. 359, Note,) whether the 

 animal is a true Dasyprocta or not. 



I shall say nothing of the Insects which I sent home. They do 

 not exceed fifty species. They are in fact very scarce to the 

 southward. Nature seems to have granted a monopoly of these 

 creatures to this beautiful part of the world. Such as my collection 

 is, however, I send it to you, lest you should think me entirely 

 neglectful of a branch of Zoology to which I promised you, when 

 I was leaving England, to pay some attention. In my next trip 

 I hope to be more successful. 



There are about eighty specimens of Birds. I have numbered 

 them by specimens, not by species ; and I have made a few obser- 

 vations or memoranda on each. Many of the species appear to 

 me to be new ; of some of these I have given short descriptions, 

 which I should feel much gratified if you would extract and pub- 

 lish in an early number of the Zoological Journal; that is, if they 

 appear to you to be really new. On this point I cannot myself 

 speak with any certainty, as I have but few books, and no speci- 

 mens, to refer to. All that I can say is that I can find no descrip- 

 tions that accord with my species either in the last edition of 

 Dr. Latham's works, or in the Encycloprdie Methodique. I have 

 endeavoured to arrange my birds according to the mode which you 

 usually follow, and I hope without many mistakes. 



1. A Car agar a. — Falco Braziliensis of Latham.* 



* Polyhorus Brasiliensis, Auct. Pol. vulgaris^ Vieill., Gal. des Ois, pi. vii. 

 Ed. 



