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BOTAN.'CAL XEWS. 89
coccineutn, Geiim M'igellanicum, and a variety of other plants. Shortly after
that, a long and tedious period ensued, the officers being occupied in deep
soundings, and as the ship lay a long distance from land, and there were gales
without number, I was very much confined on board. Towards tlie end of
December, we visited tlie Gallegos River, about thirty miles to the north of
Cape Virgins, in search of a deposit of fossil bones of manimalia, but were un-
successful in our quest, and about the middle of Januaiy we went across to the
Falkland Islands to provision and coal. We remained in Stanley Harbour
about ten days, and I was more favourably impressed with the surrounding
country than I was on my first visit. Callixine marginata, Chabraa suaveolens,
Drosera vniflora, Pratia repens, Empetrum rubrum, Gentiana sp., Serraria
Magellanica, S. alpina, and Aspidium mohrioides, and various other plants
were procured. On our way back to the strait we passed through Falkland
Sound, visiting the Tyssan group of islands, where I saw the Tussac {Dactylis
ccEspitosa) in great luxuriance, and found the ripe fruit of Ruhus geoides. We
also spent a day at Fox Bay (West Falkland Islands), and there I obtained
two Orchids which I had not previously met with. We had very blowy
weather for some time after our return to the Cape, which greatly retarded
operations. I spent a week during that time tented-out in Patagonia, but got
very little in the way of specimens for my trouble, the most interesting ' find '
being Cranfzia lineata, whieli does not appear to have been previously re-
corded from the Strait, though it is recorded in the ' Flora Antarctica ' as oc-
ciu-ring in the Falkland Islands. I forget whether I mentioned in my former
letter, that Apium graveolens is extremely abundant on both sides of the
eastern portion of the strait, wherever the land is at all damp, and, as Dr.
Hooker has observed, is perfectly wholesome. The survey of the eastern por-
tion of the strait was at length brought to a close, and after a few days' sojourn
at Sandy Point in tlie fir^t week of March, we set out to get a fresh supply
of provisions at Chiloe, passing through the western part of the strait and the
cliannels leading northwards from it to the Gulf of Penas. We halted at various
places on our way, and I made use of all the opportunities that came of going
ashore and hunting for specimens. At Playa Parda Cove, in the western part
of the strait, I obtained, among other plants, Philesia huxifolia, Desfontainia
spinosa, Escallonia macrantha, and a Myrtaceous plant, which seems to be
Metrodderos stipularis, and which does not seem to have been previously met
with to the north of the Chonos Archipelago. It is, however, abundant in the
channels, and constitutes a well-marked feature in the vegetation, frequently
forming a distinct belt where the precipitous land dips into the water. At
Poll Bay, where we spent two or three days, I found Gaultheria antarctica,
generally growing along with Myrtits Nummularia, and easily mistaken for it
at first sight, and Tetroncium Magellanicnm. Here, as in most places in the
channels where there was any open ground, a solid turf was formed of plants
of Gaimardia,Astelia,?mdiCaltha dionewfolia ; and a species of Prestonia
was plentiful in the shallow pools of freshwater. At Eden Harbour, in the
Messier Channel, I met with Podocarpus nuUgenus, foi-ming handsome trees,
and a curious little dwarf conifer, which also occurs on the mountains of Yal-