878 
THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 
so equable, and helps to keep the surface temperature in winter so much higher than the 
temperature of the air. 
The route through the Strait of Magellan has been much facilitated by the excellent 
survey of the eastern portion by H.M.S. “ Nassau,”- and by the beacons which have 
been erected by the Chilian Government, but the charts of its western entrance are 
capable of much improvement ; a great part of the coast line there is still unexplored, 
and it is possible that harbours may exist of which nothing is now known ; besides which 
a vessel employed on this service would, by keeping a careful meteorological register, 
enable the condition of the climate of the western side of Patagonia to be ascertained, 
which there is every reason to believe differs greatly from the climate of Sandy Point 
and the eastern coast . 1 
The Isopoda. — Mr. F. E. Beddard, the first part of whose Report on the Challenger 
collection of Isopoda is published , 2 writes : — “ Among the specimens of Isopoda collected 
by the Expedition, those belonging to the genus Serolis are the most noteworthy. This 
genus, originally founded by Leach for the reception of Oniscus paradoxus, Fabricius, 
is chiefly interesting on account of its peculiar geographical distribution. For a long- 
time it was only known to occur on the shores of Patagonia and the South Shetland 
Islands ; the Challenger, however, discovered many species in other parts of the southern 
hemisphere. During the Transit of Venus Expedition and 'the voyage of the German ship 
‘ Gazelle ’ several of these species were dredged off’ the coasts of Kerguelen subsequently 
to the Challenger’s visit, and have already been described. New Zealand appears to be 
another locality of the genus, since the British Museum contains a single specimen each of 
the Patagonian Serolis schythei and Serolis paradoxa from that locality ; and Serolis 
latifrons, a characteristic Kerguelen species, was obtained during the voyage of the ‘Erebus’ 
and ‘Terror ’at the Auckland Islands, south of New Zealand. The genus is therefore 
more particularly characteristic of the southern hemisphere, and, until quite recently, was 
believed to be entirely confined to that portion of the globe ; within the last few years, 
however, a single species, Serolis carinata, has been met with as far north as San Diego 
in California. During the Challenger Expedition a large number of examples of several 
Patagonian species and of all the known Kerguelen species were dredged, but none of 
these were obtained from any new localities except in so far as regards the Crozets and 
Marion Island. These islands, as might be expected, are inhabited by species identical 
with those found at Kerguelen. On the shores of Southern and Eastern Australia six 
species were obtained, of which five prove to be new ; it is an interesting fact that these 
Australian species form a well marked section of the genus, agreeing with each other and 
differing from their Patagonian and Kerguelen representatives in a number of small but 
1 H.M.S. “ Sylvia,” under Captain Wharton, was employed surveying here in 1882 and 1883. 
2 Report on the Isopoda — The Genus Serolis, by F. E. Beddard, Zool. Chall. Exp., part xxxiii., 1884. 
