TERRIFIC RAINSTORM. I 25 



ing the small eyes, powerful fore-limbs, and feet well adapted for burrow- 

 ing, and other anatomical characters common to animals of more or less 

 subterranean habits. 



In the small brush which grew at the base and over the slopes of the 

 bluff above our camp, there lived a variety of small rodents for the most 

 part characterized by large, thin ears, delicate soft fur of a bluish-brown 

 color above and lighter on the belly, with tails of various length, which in 

 some species might be described as short and in others much attenuated. 



The tall grass which covered the river valley swarmed with myriads of 

 small rodents of other species somewhat larger than those just mentioned, 

 with usually smaller ears, shorter tails, and a coarser pelage of an almost 

 uniformly dull brown color. While these little animals were present in 

 the greatest abundance, they seemed all to pertain to one of two or three 

 different species and exhibited very little variety of either form, size or 

 color. 



During the first night passed at this camp by the river above the first 

 terminal moraine, we experienced the most severe rain storm witnessed 

 during our travels in Patagonia. It commenced about ten o'clock and 

 continued throughout the greater part of the night. The rain fell in per- 

 fect torrents, while there was an almost continuous roar of thunder accom- 

 panied by most vivid flashes of lightning, which followed one another in 

 rapid succession. We had received ample warning of the approaching 

 storm the evening before and had so prepared for it that little or no 

 injury resulted to either ourselves or our belongings. On walking about 

 the following morning I was much impressed, not only with the amount 

 of erosion which had been effected by the storm, but with the great destruc- 

 tion to animal life of which it had been the cause. Proceeding along the 

 foot of the bluff, I observed a number of dead bodies of the little Ctenomys 

 magellanica lying upon the surface, and could only guess at the number 

 of carcasses of these and other rodents that were buried beneath the debris, 

 that during the night had been washed down from the bluff above and 

 now lay at my feet, covering no inconsiderable portion of the surface of 

 the valley to a depth varying from an inch to one or two feet. While the 

 dead bodies of rodents belonging to other species were not wanting, the 

 storm appeared to have been especially destructive to the little tuco-tuco, 

 owing no doubt to the peculiar habit of that animal in burrowing so near 

 the surface of the ground in search of food. When erosion on the surface 



