290 NATURAL HISTOKY OF 



The 27tli was a beautiful calm day, and employed in 

 sounding the Sarmiento Bank. In the evening we anchored 

 off tlie inner side of Dungeness, and two ofticers who had 

 been on shore there returned to the ship. Next morning it 

 came on to blow hard, and as we were on a lee-shore we 

 shifted our anchorage well into Possession Bay. There was a 

 very heavy sea on, and the vessel rolled to a greater extent 

 than she had yet done in the Strait. Numbers of stormy 

 petrels were flying over the waves in our vicinity, the first 

 observed by us so far south. The wind went down in the 

 evening, and the 29th (Sunday) was tolerably calm. An 

 officer, who had been on shore for some days engaged in tide- 

 watching, returned in the evening, and brought me a specimen 

 of a Cephalopod, of the genus Ommastrephes, but, unfortunately, 

 in too bad condition to be worth preserving. The aspect of 

 the weather on the morning of the 30th was of a very doubt- 

 ful nature, so that we did not get under way early ; but a 

 certain amount of sounding was carried on during the latter 

 part of the day. From this time till the 7th of January 1868, 

 it blew so persistently that we could not make a move. The 

 ship's company occupied a considerable amount of their spare 

 time in fishing from the vessel, and caught several specimens 

 of the large fish taken at the Gallegos river, as well as one or 

 two individuals of a ray of considerable size, and numerous 

 examples of the common British dog-fish, Acanthias vulgaris. 

 Several good specimens of Sphyrion were met with on the ling- 

 like fish, and two parasitic Isopodous Crustacea also occurred 

 — one a Cirolana, apparently not distinct from G. hirtipes, and 

 the other, which was elegantly tinted with bright purple around 

 the edges of the segments, the Pterelas magnificus of Dana. 



On the 7th heavy rain fell in the morning, but the re- 

 mainder of. the day was fair and calm, and occupied in sound- 



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