340 FAUNA AND FLOKA OF THE FALKLANDS. 



ments were lashed. In spite of these drawbacks, I was able to 

 make a cursory examination of my gatherings, and to note 

 roughly the changes of the plankton as we steamed along. 



Between Ushant and Finisterre, a common radiolarian 

 Acanthometra elastica, occurred in abundance ; a few Clausia elongata 

 being noticed with them. Drift specimens of Fucus serraf.us, 

 Zostera marina and Chorda filum were seen floating in large masses 

 ten miles due west of Ushant lighthouse ; smaller clumps of the 

 same weeds being detected at intervals as much as twenty-four 

 hours after leaving that spot. 



The barometer, from the day after our departure, remained 

 very steady at 30*00 ; but rose during the night of the 9tli to 

 30-10. 



The first flying-fish was seen in 41° 03' N., and as we steamed 

 south, these attractive objects daily increased in numbers, till the 

 neighbourhood of Cape Frio near Eio de Janeiro was reached, 

 when they vanished. 



I have frequently noticed in my previous voyages when in 

 the tropics, how soon cats discover the presence of fish on board, 

 and the pussie we had on this vessel was no exception 

 Instead of turning in to sleep as she had hitherto done 

 after nightfall, she prowled on the deck, and the moment one of 

 these fish came on board she promptly seized it. 



On the morning of the lOtli when about 250 miles north of 

 the Canaries, we began to realize that we had left winter behind 

 us, the air being much warmer. The sea, too, assumed that 

 beautiful cobalt blue, which those who have never been an ocean 

 voyage can but feebly imagine. 



Early on the morning of the 1 1th the i3eak of Teneriff e was 

 seen rising out of a sea of mist find towering 12,000 feet into the 

 azure blue sky ; and about mid-day our anchor was dropped in 

 the bay of Santa Cruz. On the same evening we resumed our 

 journey to Montevideo. 



We were now well in the region of the north-east trade 

 winds. The temperature of the air was high, being 80°F. in 

 the shade on deck ten minutes after sunset on the 12th, and 

 during the next ten days from longitude 17° W. to about 38° W. 

 it varied but little. The barometer also varied very slightly 

 during the same period, ranging between 30' 10 and 30-00. 



