164 NATUEAL HISTORY OF 



now and then occur. On the afternoon of the 27th, a 

 misty November-like day, Dr. Campbell and I landed, and 

 walked for some distance along the shore of the harbour, 

 assiduously employed in searching the stranded masses of 

 Macrocystis for marine animals, of which we found a consider- 

 able number among the interlacing roots, including Paguri, 

 Halicarcini, Porcellance, a curious Ascidian {Cynthia verrucosa), 

 and another animal of the same order, which recalled the 

 remarkable Chelyosoma of the Arctic Seas ; several Annelids, 

 and some Echinoderms, including a small yellow Cucnmaria 

 (C. crocea), and a Cidarid, with strong thick spines (Temnoci- 

 daris T)* I also picked up an odd relic in the botanical line, 

 — the dried leaf of a banyan, bearing the following inscrip- 

 tion : — " Ficus Indica, Banian Tree, India. From the Great 

 Banian Tree in the Botanical Gardens, Calcutta. Dec. 10th, 

 1865." The 28th and the 1st of March were two cold, disagree- 

 able days ; an easterly wind blowing, rain falling in torrents, 

 and, to add to our discomfort, the process of coaling going on. 

 On the evening of the 2d we left Stanley Harbour, with 

 but little regret, setting forth under steam on our return 

 voyage to the Strait. The morning of the 3d was fine ; and 

 as we moved quietly along, several brilliant scarlet patches, of 

 limited extent, were observed on the surface of the water by the 

 officer of the forenoon watch. We managed to dip up a portion 

 of one of these by means of a bucket attached to a rope, and 

 found that the brilliant colour was due to the presence of 

 multitudes of small Decapodous Crustacea, somewhat resem- 

 bling miniature lobsters, which moved rapidly about in a 

 backward direction, by means of repeated flexions and exten- 

 sions of their tails. They measured about three-quarters of 

 an inch in length, and their general colour was a vivid scarlet ; 



* This Cidarid I never met with either in the Strait of Magellan or on the 

 west coast of Patagonia. 



