326 Journal of Travel and Natural History 



are a month earlier than we were last year I find some plants, that had nearly 

 passed over as regards then" flowering then, in full flower at present, and others 

 that were out then have not begini to flower now. The morning of the 19th, 

 when I first landed, was a delightful one, with that quiet sweetness that one 

 often sees in spring mornings at home. The woods of the Antartic beech were 

 in their fresh green, and the Magellanic thrush and a small warbler were singing 

 deliciously. The Berberis impetrifolia rendered the ground yellow in many 

 places, with its prostrate stems crowded with blossoms, which diffused a faint 

 pleasant fragrance, and in the neighbourhood of the settlement, Taraxacum, a 

 yellow-flowered Ranunculus, Cerastium arvense, a small prostrate Geranium, a 

 Saxifraga, which I presume to be S. exarata, and a few Graminacerc, were in full 

 flower and very plentiful. Continuing my walk, I found the Magellanic Ribes 

 flowering plentifully, as well as Berberis buxifolia and Primula farinosa, v. Ma- 

 gellanica. I was much attracted by the beauty of the last, which had almost 

 ceased flowering last year. Its colour varies much, as it occurs under the 

 shade of bushes, such as Chilobothrium, or grows in more open places. In 

 the former case the flowers are often of that rather deep shade of purple 

 which one sees in Verbenas, while in the latter it is often nearly pure white. 

 The same day I got numerous specimens of Anemone decapetala, and one 

 or two Cruciferje. A small copper butterfly, very like our small copper, and a 

 little dark brown one, were flying about ; but, to condense my experiences, I 

 may mention that a few blossoms are beginning to appear on Chilobothrium, 

 and Calceolaria plantaginea, Valeriana lapathifolia, &c., are in bud. Geum 

 Magellanicum, which is very common here, has not even pushed up its flower 

 stem. Valeriana carnosa is in full flower, as is also a yellow Viola, which I 

 imagine to be V. Magellanica. A minute Rumex, which looks like our R. 

 acetosella, is out, and a larger curl-leaved one, growing a little above high- 

 water mark, is in bud. Sisyrinchium filifolium is rapidly coming out. Carda- 

 mine geranifolia is fully out in the woods, and I have got beautiful specimens 

 of a purple variety of Oxalis enneaphylla, which, however, appear to be con- 

 fined to a limited space of ground. None of the Senecios are in flower as yet, 

 a solitary specimen of one, a good deal like S. Falklandicus, excepted. Very 

 few grasses are in flower yet ; but I have got good specimens of all that I could 

 lay hands on. I have got at least one plant that I did not get last year ; 

 one or two that I got in other localities, such as Asplenium Magellanicum, and 

 Hippurus (the latter I have found abundantly in marshes, but not in flower), 

 and better specimens of a good many plants that I got here last year. Berberis 

 ilicifolia is magnificent in some places in the woods. Its flowers have a redder 

 tinge than those in the specimens figured in the copy of the 'Flora Antartica' 

 beside me. 



' ' As to birds, gulls, steamer ducks, geese, and the large ibis, are plentiful. This 

 is the breeding season of these birds, and I have at present a number of eggs in 

 my cabin, brought from Elizabeth Island by the emissaries of the governor of 

 Sandy Point. I have got a fresh-v/ater Gasteropod, and a few Coleoptera, that 

 I did not get last year, and a splendid specimen of a Cnistacean of the genus 

 Lithodes, which I only got imperfect specimens of last year. This is a genus 

 which has interested me for some time. We have a British species which 

 occurs now and then in the Firth of Forth. In it, as well as in all the fin'eign 

 species that I have had an ojiporlunity of examining, the plates of the abdomen 

 or tail flap are symmetrically arranged in the male, asymmetrically in the 

 female. 



" We expect to leave the place to-morrow, and will probably go out to finish 

 sounding the Sarmiento Bank at the entrance of the Strait. We go to the Falk- 

 land Isles about the middle of January for su]iplies, and till after that I fear I 

 will not be able to accomplish much, for we \\\\\ be chiefly engaged in sounding 

 Ihc deeper parts of various of the bays, and there will consequently be few 

 opportunities of landing. Should anything occur to make it worth while doing 

 so, I will write to you again from the Falklands ; but if there is nothing worth 

 mentioning, I will not write again till we go to Chiloc in the beginning of 

 April. " Robert O. Cunningham." 



