THE STEAIT OF MAGELLAN. 301 



I preserved a small specimen which had a Siphonostomous 

 Crustacean of the genus Chondracanthus attached to the roof of 

 its mouth ; and a careful examination of it in the beginning of 

 the present year, with the valuable assistance of Dr. Giinther, 

 proved it to be the Merluccius Gayi of Guichenot, a species of 

 hake very imperfectly described in Gay's HistoriaFisica de Chili. 



The 8th was a bright, sunny day, with only occasional 

 gusts of wind, and Captain Mayne took advantage of the im- 

 provement in the weather to land on Dungeness Spit, with one 

 of the surveying officers, to obtain sights. On their return, 

 they brought me some fine specimens of a beautiful vetch, 

 the Lathyrus Magellanicus, which I had not seen previously, 

 and which would appear to be rare in the Strait. It came 

 on to blow at night from the north-east, but the wind died 

 away before the morning of the 9th, leaving a heavy swell 

 behind it. On the morning of the 10th it was again blowing, 

 but the wind gradually fell, so that we were able to weigh 

 early in the afternoon, and proceed out to the Sarmiento 

 Bank, where we spent the remainder of the day in sounding, 

 anchoring on the bank at 8.30 p.m. It was blowing pretty 

 hard during the greater part of the night, but by the morn- 

 ing of the 11th it was again calm, and a good day's work 

 accomplished, the Sarmiento Bank being finished, and some 

 lines of soundings in addition run between Cape Espiritu 

 Santo and Catherine Point. In the evening we anchored off 

 the Point, and for the next three days it blew too hard to 

 permit of our moving. The 15th was occupied in sounding 

 Lomas Bay on the Fuegian coast, and in the evening we 

 crossed over to Dungeness Spit, and there anchored. 



Captain Mayne having by this time determined on pro- 

 ceeding to Sandy Point, where it seemed probable that letters 

 were awaiting us, resolved to leave an officer on shore near 



