THE STEAIT OF MAGELLAN. 129 



able number of sea-weeds were taken in this manner, 

 including the beautiful Delesseria Lyallii and Ptilota Harveyi, 

 species of Plocamium, Polysiphonia, etc. etc. Preparations 

 were made in the evening for the despatch of a couple of 

 surveying parties, one of which I was to have accompanied ; 

 but on the morning of the 18th it was blowing so hard as to 

 render it impossible for any boat to leave the ship. On the 

 19th, on a piece of Macrocystis which was hooked, I found 

 many live specimens of a molluscan bivalve, afterwards 

 obtained very plentifully in many localities in the Strait and 

 Western Channels. This was the Modiolarca trapezina, the 

 shell of which varies in tint from light straw-colour to 

 dark olive-green. The animals adhered to the fronds of the 

 " kelp" by a process of a tough gelatinous substance. In 

 the afternoon three of the officers took advantage of a lull 

 to go on shore close to Direction Hill to watch the tides. 

 It came on to blow soon after their departure, and continued 

 blowing all next day ; and for some days the weather 

 remained too unsettled to admit of surveying operations. 

 On the 23d the tide-watching party returned to the ship, bring- 

 ing with them a lot of marine animals in a bucket. Among 

 these were specimens of a fish of the genus Notothenia {N, 

 virgata)^ some long-legged crabs (species of Eurypodius), a few 

 Annelida, and some fine starfish of the genera Uraster, 

 Asterina, and Ganeria. The Ganerice — referable, I believe, 

 to G. Falklandica (Gray) — ^were exceedingly beautiful speci- 

 mens, of a rich carmine colour. The wind lasted throughout 

 the day ; but on the 25th we had an interval of calmer 

 weather, which we employed in passing through the first 

 Narrows, where we met a small vessel, the " Zeta " of 

 Swansea, on her homeward way. We anchored early in the 

 evening in St. Jago Bay, and, as the weather appeared more 



