1835.] WILD POTATO. 2?o 



the sandy, shelly soil near the sea-beach. The tallest plant was 

 four feet in height. The tubers were generally small, but I found 

 one, of an oval shape, two inches in diameter : they resembled in 

 every respect, and had the same smell as English potatoes; but 

 when boiled they shrunk much, and were watery and insipid, with- 

 out any bitter taste. They are undoubtedly here indigenous : they 

 grow as far south, according to Mr. Low, as lat. 50, and are 

 called Aquinas by the wild Indians of that part: the Chilotan 

 Indians have a different name for them. Professor Henslow, who 

 has examined the dried specimens which I brought home, says 

 that they are the same with those described by Mr. Sabine * from 

 Valparaiso, but that they form a variety which by some botanists 

 has been considered as specifically distinct. It is remarkable that 

 the same plant should be found on the sterile mountains of central 

 Chile, where a drop of rain does not fall for more than six months, 

 and within the damp forests of these southern islands. 



In the central parts of the Choiios Archipelago (lat. 45), the 

 forest has very much the same character with that along the 

 whole west coast, for 600 miles southward to Cape Horn. The 

 arborescent grass of Chiloe is not found here; while the beech of 

 Tierra del Fuego grows to a good size, and forms a considerable 

 proportion of the wood ; not, however, in the same exclusive 

 manner as it does farther southward. Cryptogamic plants here 

 find a most congenial climate. In the Strait of Magellan, as I 

 have before remarked, the country appears too cold and wet to 

 allow of their arriving at perfection ; but in these islands, within 

 the forest, the number of species and great abundance of mosses, 

 lichens, and small ferns, is quite extraordinary.! In Tierra del 

 Fuego trees grow only on the hillsides ; every level piece of land 

 being invariably covered by a thick bed of peat ; but in Chiloe flat 

 land supports the most luxuriant forests. Here, within the Chonos 

 Archipelago, the nature of the climate more closely approaches 



* Horticultural Transact., vol. v. p. 249. Mr. Caldcleugh sent home 

 two tubers, which, being well manured, even the first season pro J need 

 numerous potatoes and an abundance of leaves. See Humboldt's 

 interesting discussion on this plant, which it appears was unknown 

 in Mexico, in Polit. Essay on Xew Spain, book iv. chap. ix. 



t By sweeping with uiy insect-net, I procured from these situations a, 

 considerable number of minute insects, of the family of Staphyliuidse, and 

 others allied to Pseluplms, and minute Hymenoptera. But the mos( 

 characteristic family in number, both of individuals and species, through- 

 out the more open parts of Chiloe and Chonos is that of the Telephoridiu. 



I 



