ATar. 1891.] BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH. 87 



SO. In this parched and withered region, even witli its tropical 

 climate, one does not find the extraordinary exuberance of life, 

 especially as regards birds and amphibians, which one meets with 

 in the damp and lagnna-studded Pampas. Here the nights are 

 marked by a solemn stillness, which is broken only at intervals by 

 animal voices ; by the deep and sepulchral converse of a pair of the 

 great nacurutu owl {Bubo virginianus, Gm.); the soft and plaintive 

 'tururil hil hil ' of the smaller 'choliba' owl (Scops hrasiliajiiis, Gm.); 

 the harsh accents of the charata ; or the most extrordinary sound 

 of all, the wild and despairing shrieks of the ypecaha. While a 

 few frogs in the distance, and a solitary cricket close by, make a 

 more continuous though less accentuated accompaniment. Cicadas 

 are conspicuous by their absence, and fire-flies are few in number 

 and small in size, in all which respects we have a most striking 

 contrast with the luxuriant and well-watered riverain regions of the 

 Paraguay and Parana." 



