NOTES OF A NATURALIST. 



on general physics. Of his large collections I trust 

 that the greater part have safely reached Switzerland. 

 A considerable collection of dried plants, sent home 

 while he resided at Bahia Blanca, was unfortunately 

 lost. He Avas good enough, after his return, to send 

 me a smaller collection remaining in his hands, of 

 which I gave an account in the Jouriial of the Linncean 

 Society for 1884. 



As I trust that the great store of information col- 

 lected by M. Claraz will before long be given to the 

 world, I should not wish to anticipate the appearance 

 of his work, but I may say that among many in- 

 teresting particulars, several of which I noted at the 

 time, I was especially struck by the evidence collected 

 among the Indians, which seemed to prove that the 

 Glyptodon survived in Patagonia down to a compara- 

 tively recent period, and that the tradition of its 

 presence is preserved in the stories and songs of the 

 natives. 



Early on July 31 we passed the equator, but it was 

 not till ten p.m. on the following day that we escaped 

 from the area of cool water and found the ordinary 

 equatorial temperature of 82-5°. During the three 

 following days the weather was hot and relaxing, the 

 thermometer ranging by day between 84° and 85°. 

 For some hours on the 2nd of August the wind 

 came from south-south-east, but before evening it 

 backed to west, and blew from that point rather freshly 

 at night. On the following day we appeared to have 

 met the north-east trade wind, which was, however, 

 a gentle breeze, and occasionally veered to the north- 

 west. 



