his Voyage to South America. 443 
sterility ; but, owing to the prevalence of heavy rains, which 
had shortly before taken place, it was much greener than usual 
at the time of our visit; and I was aaa by the variety of 
plants I met with. I devoted one afternoon to marine re- 
searches, and I met with a considerable number of Mollusca 
and a few Crustacea (principally crabs). I also got a species 
of Hippa or Remipes, which burrows in the sand, and is, I was 
informed, employed as bait for fish. We took our departure 
early in the evening of the 13th for Rio. In the course of the 
voyage I employed the towing-net whenever practicable, and 
with tolerable success, obtaining specimens of Janthine, va- 
rious Pteropods, Porpite, Velelle, &c. I saw some beautiful 
Physalie, but did not capture any. On the 16th I got a large 
suctorial crustacean off the gills of a flyingfish which flew on 
board; and Iwas nearly forgetting to mention that on the 14th I 
gota specimen of Alima hyalina [ Appendix, I.] in the towing- 
net. Weentered the magnificent harbour of Rio de Janeiro late 
on the evening of the 2nd of November, and we stayed till the 
afternoon of the 18th. On the stones in shallow water in the 
harbour an Isopod allied to our British Ldgia [App., II.] was 
abundant. We encountered two gales between Rio and Monte 
Video, where we arrived on the 23rd. During our stay of 
nearly a fortnight I saw as much as I could of the neigh- 
bourhood. The country is very monotonous, consisting for the 
most part of gently undulating pampas covered with tall thistles. 
Some parts of these plains, however, are rendered beautiful 
by the beds of purple and scarlet Verbenas. The marine life 
except the fish, which are numerous, is barrenness itself. 
One day when I took a long walk along the beach outside the 
town, and diligently searched for marine animals in the rock- 
ols, the only living thing that I could find was a small 
usky-coloured shore-crab, which existed in numbers. I for- 
got to say that between Rio and Monte Video I one day pro- 
cured three specimens of an Jdotea [App., III.; Plate X XI. 
fig. 1], or some closely allied form, in the towing-net, 200 
miles off land. They were at first of a brilliant blue tint, 
but have faded in the spirit in which they were put. We left 
Monte Video on the 6th December, and, after spending a day 
at Maldanado, shaped our course for the Strait, which we 
entered on the 21st. On the afternoon of the 22nd we an- 
chored off the Chilian settlement of Puntas Menas, better 
known to us as Sandy Point; and shortly after, I landed for 
_ the first time in Patagonia. It is a truly delightful sensation 
to land for the first time in a new ae | wild country, and I 
greatly enjoyed my walk that day. Pursuing my way along 
the beach, the first Crustacean I met with was Serol’s Fabricit, 
| gi* 
