THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN. 239 



ferns. As the way was much overgrown I made abundant 

 use of my bill-hook ; after a time striking out into a road 

 which commanded a view of a cascade descending into the 

 valley below. Two days later I had an opportunity of 

 examining two species of opossum which had been caught by 

 the negroes. These, respectively denominated " Gumba" and 

 " Quica '' by these people, were the Dideljphys Azarce and the 

 D. Quica. The former, much the larger of the two, covered 

 with long coarse black and white hair, also occurs in Para- 

 guay, where its habits have been recorded by Azara ; while 

 the latter, clothed with soft grayish hair, is, I believe, limited 

 to Guyana and Brazil. I passed some time on the forenoon 

 of the 19 th in watching the operations of a large army of ants 

 which were engaged in carrying along great cockroaches to 

 their holes, dismembering them at the entrance, so as to intro- 

 duce them more easily. These, I believe, were a species of 

 EcitoUy and included two classes of workers — one of a black 

 colour, with moderate-sized heads, and the other of a pale- 

 brown hue, with great heads, armed with enormous jaws. 

 Mr. Bates, in his delightful Natwralist on the Amazons^ to 

 which I may refer the reader for detailed information on the 

 economy of these animals, remarks that "the peculiar feature 

 in the habits of the Eciton genus is their hunting for prey in 

 regular bodies or armies ;" and that it is " this which chiefly 

 distinguishes them from the genus of common red stinging- 

 ants, several species of which inhabit England, whose habit 

 is to search for food in the usual irregular manner." 



I brought this very pleasant visit to a close on the after- 

 noon of the same day, returning to Eio, where I learned that 

 the " Galatea," with H.RH. the Duke of Edinburgh, had 

 arrived, and was the topic of conversation. A few days later 

 a ball was given in honour of the Prince by the British mer- 



