32g M. Garnot on the Zoology 



of the Falkland Islands, (the hies Malouines of the French,) 

 hitherto so little known, received very careful investigation. 

 A short account of the Zoological department has been pub- 

 lished by M. Garnot, surgeon and naturalist to the expedi- 

 tion. 



The two principal islands of the group are named Soledad 

 and Falkland. The former, indented with a vast number of 

 bays, has two principal ones, those of des Francais and de 

 THuile. It was at the extremity of a reef of rocks at the en- 

 trance of the bay des Francais that the Urania was unfortu- 

 nately shipwrecked. Near this bay the remains of the estab- 

 lishment formed by Bougainville in 1 765 were still visible ; 

 and, on the south of it, the shipwrecked mariners of the Ura- 

 nia formed their camp, of which scarcely a trace remained. 



The Island of Soledad offers scenery but little attractive. 

 Its mountains are destitute of large vegetables. The deep 

 valleys and some plains are covered here and there with spots 

 of verdure ; but the vegetation is scarcely elevated above the 

 surface of the ground, except where the shrub Veronica de- 

 cussata, and the grass, Festuca Jlabettata, 4 — 5 feet in height 

 occur. 



It is remarkable that the horses, the cattle, and pigs, with 

 which Soledad was stocked by the French and Spaniards, 

 have not degenerated, though exposed to great vicissitudes of 

 the atmosphere. The horses are the most numerous, and are 

 met with in troops of fifteen to twenty. They are extremely 

 shy, and can only be approached by stratagem ; their flesh in 

 the wild state is good, certainly as delicate as that of the oxen. 

 The oxen are generally found in pairs, and are obtained with 

 difficulty. The pigs are less diffused, having chosen for their 

 retreat the shrubby cover in the neighbourhood of the bay 

 de VHuile. 



The quadruped, however, which exists in the greatest num- 

 ber is the rabbit ; burrowing principally on the sea shore, 

 and in some of the valleys. They abounded so much in one 

 spot that the sailors took them with their hands. Some of a 

 violet-brown colour, interspersed with white hairs, and having 

 brown ears, is considered a distinct species, and named I.epus 

 magettanicus. The Canis antarcticus of Shaw, and mention- 



