Letlers from J. MacGillivray, Esq. 21 



IV. — Letters from i . MacGillivray, Esq., Naturalist to H.M. 

 Purveying Ship Rattlesnake, Capt. Stanley, R.N. (Commu- 

 unicated by Professor Edward Forbes.) 



II. M.S. Rattlesnake, at sea, May 3, 1847. 



My dear Sir, 



As we expect to rcacli the Isle of France tomorrow, and as I have 

 a case of specimens ready to go by the first ship, I now proceed 

 to write an accompanying letter giving a brief account of our 

 voyage up to the present time. 



We sailed from Plymouth on December 11th, 1846, and after 

 a quick passage of seven days reached Madeira, not sorry to have 

 escaped from the sharp commencement of an English winter. 

 Knowing that unless by dredging I need expect nothing new 

 during a visit to a place carefully searched by resident zoological 

 collectors, I was annoyed to find that the depth of water and the 

 nature of the bottom required for the working of the dredge a 

 more powerful boat than I could procure. During various ex- 

 cursions on shore 1 attended chiefly to the land shells, and ob- 

 tained twenty-three species* (exclusive of an Ancylus and a Lym- 

 ncea) at various elevations up to the Pass of the Corral, 2700 feet 

 above the sea, where single species of Achatina, Clausilia and 

 Pujja were found under stones along with coleoptera of the genera 

 Scarites and Pimelia. The ferns (Adiantum Capillus- Veneris, Da- 

 vallia canariensis, &c.) about the dripping rocks would, to a bo- 

 tanist, have made ample amends for the small number of plants 

 in flower; yet many butterflies {Colias Edusa, Cynthia Cardui, 

 and a Vanessa like V. Atalanta) were flitting about; but the 

 lizards, which in the month of April I had seen basking in great 

 numbers upon every wall, had not yet awoke from their winter^s 

 sleep. 



Leaving Madeira we sighted Palma, and passed between St. 

 Jago and Mayo, so close to the latter that various insects (espe- 

 cially an Acrydium and a fine blue ^shna) paid us a visit and were 

 detained. We crossed the line on January 13th with the usual 

 ceremonies attending the introduction of upwards of a hundred 

 novitiates at Neptune^s levee. In lat. 2° N. soundings were tried 

 for with 2600 fathoms (or very nearly three statute miles) of line 

 without success. In this neighbourhood also I procured specimens 

 of a British storm petrel [Thalassidroma Bulla c kii) , the occurrence 

 of which in such low latitudes would have surprised me had I not 

 known (from Mr. Gould) that Th. Wilsoni was common to both 



* Among them were Biilimus decollatus, ClavsUia deJtostoma, Bulimus 

 lubriciis, Pupa anconosioma, Helix maderensis, H. widata, II. cellariwi^ 

 H. nilidiuscula, II. polymorpha and //. pulchella. 



