6Q NATUEAL HISTORY OF 



points, such as Mount Aymond, the Asses' Ears, Mount Dinero, 

 Cape Possession, and Direction Hills, on the Patagonian, and 

 Mount Orange on the Fuegian side, were eagerly and carefully 

 noted, and, at the same time, a line of soundings was taken 

 for future use. I examined the soundings thus obtained, but 

 the only substances to be observed were portions of fine 

 black mud, with fragments of the sheUs of molluscs and 

 barnacles, the latter of which (Balamcs Icevis), which is very 

 abundant in the Strait, were specially prevalent. The after- 

 noon was cold, cloudy, and drizzling, though here and there 

 parts of the Patagonian coast were lighted up with sunshine. 

 Towards the latter part of the afternoon the tide turned in 

 our favour, so that we progressed at a rate of upwards of 

 twelve knots, though against a head wind. About six o'clock 

 the weather cleared up, and along the Fuegian side there was 

 a beautiful pale bluish-gray sky, sprinkled with delicate 

 silvery clouds. By and by part of the Patagonian coast 

 became exquisitely dappled with pale gold and purple tints, 

 and the sun set gloriously right ahead of us, on this the 

 longest day of the year. In the course of the evening a 

 number of minute Diptera flew on board, while earlier 

 in the day a small yellow ichneumon fly was captured. We 

 passed rapidly through the First Narrows, and anchored, be- 

 tween ten and eleven p.m., in Philip Bay on the Fuegian 

 coast. Shortly after this some of the men tried their luck in 

 fishing, and although no fish were procured, a fine mass of a 

 compound Tunicate, a species of the genus Aplidium, was 

 hooked up, and handed over to me. This, which is appa- 

 rently a new species, to which I have given the specific 

 name of Fuegiense, was of a very firm consistence, a good deal 

 resembling one of the fleshy alcyonoid polyp-masses. The 

 ground colour of the mass was a bluish-gray, while the 



