268 Mr. H. J. Elwes on 



vegetation peculiar to Southern Chile, very few butterflies, 

 and those the same as I had previously taken, were to be 

 found. Moths, however, are abundant at light, and a 

 good many were collected. San Ignacio lies some little 

 way from the foot of the Pemehue Mountains, which 

 constitute an outlying group on the west of the Biobio 

 Valley, and the country round the hacienda is now mainly 

 under wheat cultivation. 



I was here delayed more than a week by a sudden and 

 severe attack of illness, from which I Avas fortunate enough 

 to be cured by the medical skill of Senora Bussey's brother, 

 Dr. Puelma, and was nursed with as much care and atten- 

 tion as if I had been at home. I cannot speak too grate- 

 fully of the kindness and hospitality of this charming 

 family, who, like many of the upper-class Chileans, are, 

 though living in a country only recently conquered from 

 the Indians, as civilized and well educated as any people 

 in Europe. 



I was at last able to make a start on January 22nd, a 

 month later than I had hoped to do, and rode in two days 

 up the valley of the Renaico river through a beautiful 

 country mostly covered with virgin forest, and then over 

 the Sierra de Pemehue to Lolco, a hacienda belonging to 

 Senor Manuel Puelma, another brother of Senora Bussey's. 

 This is a beautiful place near the Biobio river, and near it 

 I got some of the best insects I found on my journey. No 

 one except Mr. Calvert had ever collected Lepidoptera on 

 this road before, and if I had not been so pressed for time 

 I should have stayed longer. 



On January 27th we started early from Lolco on a very 

 cold morning, and rode first through grassy valleys which 

 reminded one of Mongolia, and splendid araucaria and 

 beech forests, over a very striking pass about 8000 feet 

 high, to Lonquima,y, which is the Chilean outpost and 

 custom-house, on the main road from Victoria to Argentina, 

 and from here in one and a half days up the head-waters 

 of the Biobio we reached the Argentine frontier, which is 

 an open bare ridge about 5000 feet high, and not the 

 least like the northern passes over the Andes, the higher 

 mountains in this latitude being isolated volcanoes, which 

 lie well to the westward of the watershed. Close to the 

 pass is an outpost of Argentine cavalry at Los Arcos, where 

 I was civilly received by the lieutenant in command, and 

 from here we turned more to the southward, and reached 



