82 [September, 



but of very few species, and these were of a decidedly British aspect, with the 

 exception of the large and conspicuous Danals Archlppus. There are two species 

 of Pyrantels (Carye and Huntera, the first being like a small and intensely coloured 

 "Painted Lady"), a very handsome Colias (C. Lesbia),tvro handsome species of 

 Plerls, a little dark Thecla, not unlike T. prnnl, &c. ; the moths appeared to be very 

 few in number, but among them I recognised such familiar Britishers as Stenopteryx 

 hybridalis, Agrotls saucia, and Camptogramma jluviata. Monte Video is a fine and 

 well built town, of over 100,000 inhabitants, and altogether I was much pleased with 

 my first sight of the New World. 



We started again on December 12th, and, on the 23rd, entered the Straits of 

 Magellan, and at 6 p.m. we were safely anchored off the little Chilian settlement of 

 Punta Arenas or Sandy Point, 110 miles from the entrance. As it was necessary to 

 coal ship, we spent Christmas day here, and did not leave until the morning of the 

 28th. I was thus able to enjoy, on Christmas day, a most delightful ramble about 

 the surrounding country, which is very pretty, covered with a fine open forest of 

 evergreen beech, and other trees, and abounding in beautiful wild flowers. Insects 

 were numerous, and I obtained some 40 species of Coleoptera : among them were 

 some that could scarcely be distinguished from familiar British coast species, such as 

 Proscns, Pogonus, Harpalus, Pledhis, &c. : while others had a very exotic appear- 

 ance, and would scarcely have been suspected to come from so high a latitude as 53° S. 

 Among these were a fine Prionid, with flabellated antenna? much longer than the 

 body ; a large and grotesque, spider-like, black Acalloid weevil ; a fine Brenthid, 

 some large weevils related to Otlorhynchns, &c, and one or two Heteromera of a 

 very Mediterranean type. The Lepldoptera were of much more British aspect ; 

 three species of butterflies were represented ; a charming little Argynnis, like a 

 miniature Lathonia above, but very different beneath (being entirely destitute of 

 silvery markings), was abundant ; less so was a Colias (Vautieri, Gruer.), of which 

 the S is very like a small Edusa, while the $ closely resembles Hellce in tint and 

 marking ; a pretty Plerls was rare. The moths were represented by several 

 Geometrce, among which were four species of Lobophora, one very beautiful species 

 reproducing, on the fore-wings, the colour and markings of Agrlopls aprlllna ; a 

 fine Fidonid, related to Scoria dealbata, but sharply marked beneath with white 

 streaks on a coffee-brown ground ; a Scotosla, like a small certata, sundry Cldarlce, 

 &c. The Noctuce included a Euclid la, looking very like a mixture of our two 

 Britishers, mi and glyphlca ; a Hadena, not unlike glauca, and an Agrotls, which, I 

 think, is the widely distributed A.fennica. 



Altogether I was very much pleased with my success at Punta Arenas, and 

 would gladly have stayed some days longer. On leaving, we proceeded round Cape 

 Froward, the southern extreme of the American Continent (a noble promontory), to 

 the west end of the Straits, and then northward, through the passage known as 

 Smyth's and Messier Channels, finally entering the Pacific Ocean, in the Gulf of 

 Peiias, on January 8th. The scenery along the whole 600 miles of this route is most 

 magnificent — I should say, unrivalled in the whole world : in some places the chan- 

 nel is less than 400 yards wide, the mountains rising sheer to the height of 3000 

 feet and more, and densely wooded to the water's edge ; at frequent intervals, glaciers 

 (sometimes many miles in extent) come down to the Strait, and the ice discharged 

 from them is frequently a serious impediment to navigation. As we did not travel 



