MALDONADO. [ CHA p. in. 



the united nets. Azara * has described a gregarious spider in Paraguay 

 which Walckenaer thinks must be a Theridion, but probably it is an 

 Epeira, and perhaps even the same species with mine. I cannot, how- 

 ever, recollect seeing a central nest as large as a hat, in which, durin<* 

 autumn, when the spiders die, Azara says the eggs are deposited. As 

 all the spiders which I saw were of the same size, they must have been 

 nearly of the same age. This gregarious habit, in so typical a genus 

 as Epeira, among insects, which are so bloodthirsty and solitary that 

 even the two sexes attack each other, is a very singular fact 



In a lofty valley of the Cordillera, near Mendoza, I found another 

 spider with a singularly formed web. Strong lines radiated in a vertical 

 plane from a common centre, where the insect had its station ; but only 

 two of the rays were connected by a symmetrical mesh-work ; so that 

 the net, instead of being, as is generally the case, circular, consisted of 

 a wedge-shaped segment. All the webs were similarly constructed. 



CHAPTER IIL 



MALDONADO. 



Monte Video Maldonado Excursion to R. Polanco Lazo and Bolas 

 Partridges Absence of Trees Deers Capybara, or River Hog Tucu- 

 tuco Molothrus, Cuckoo-like Habits Tryant-flycatcher Mocking-bird 

 Carrion Hawks Tubes formed by Lightning House struck. 



July $th, 1832. IN the morning we got under way, and stood out 

 of the splendid harbour of Rio de Janeiro. In our passage to the 

 Plata, we saw nothing particular, excepting on one day a great shoal 

 of porpoises, many hundreds in number. The whole sea was in places 

 furrowed by them ; and a most extraordinary spectacle was presented, 

 as hundreds, proceeding together by jumps, in which their whole 

 bodies were exposed, thus cut the water. When the ship was 

 running nine knots an hour, these animals could cross and recross the 

 bows with the greatest ease, and then dash away right ahead. As 

 soon as we entered the estuary of the Plata, the weather was very 

 unsettled. One dark night we were surrounded by numerous seals 

 and penguins, which made such strange noises, that the officer on 

 watch reported he could hear the cattle bellowing on shore. On a 

 second night we witnessed a splendid scene of natural fireworks ; the 

 mast-head and yard-arm-ends shone with St. Elmo's light ; and the 

 form of the vane could almost be traced, as if it had been rubbed with 

 phosphorus. The sea was so highly luminous, that the tracks of the 

 penguins were marked by a fiery wake, and the darkness of the sky 

 was momentarily illuminated by the most vivid lightning. 



When within the mouth of the river, I was interested by observing 

 how slowly the waters of the sea and river mixed. The latter, muddy 

 * " Azara's Voyage," vol. i,, p. 213. 



