distinguished by their resemblance to _Melolonthidae_: those of Brazil
have no breast-bone, and at least one claw to each foot is cloven, which
distinguishes them from those of Asia. _Chelonarium_ and _Atractocerus_
fly about in the evening, and are attracted by a light. The Brazilian
jumping beetles differ, almost all of them, in their form, from those of
Europe. Among the _Heteromerides_, in the neighbourhood of Rio Janeiro,
owing to the dampness of the soil, no unwinged beetle is to be met with;
a few varieties of the species _Scotinus_ have been found upon the Organ
mountains only.

Owing to the excessive roughness of the weather, our passage from Rio
Janeiro to the Bay of Conception afforded us but few opportunities to
add to our collections. A snipe blown out to sea from the Rio de la
Plata, a specimen of _Diomedea Albatros_ at Terra del Fuego, a large
_Salpa_, and a _Lepas_, were all we were able to obtain. The Bay of
Conception presents a rich field to the ornithologist. A kind of parrot,
with a long tail, and naked round the eyes, flies about in swarms; and a
smaller kind from the interior, is to be found tame in the houses; our
guns frequently brought down two small kinds of doves. Of _Ambulatores_
we met some, of the genera _Cassicus_, _Motacilla_, _Muscicapa_,
_Pyrgita_, _Saxicola_, _Cotile_; of birds of prey, _Percnopterus Jota
Mol._, and two buzzards; of _Grallatores_, two kinds of _Haematopus_,
both with white legs, the one with a black body, as _H. niger_ is
described by Quoy and Gaimard, the other more similar to the European; a
_Vanellus_ with spurs to the wings, _Numenius_, _Scolopax_,
_Phalaropus_, _Ardea Nycticorax_; and lastly a small bird with
remarkably short legs, digitated, and with a short thick bill,
frequenting the sea-shore, and feeding on seeds of _Rumex_ and
_Polygonum_, and constituting a new species, which may be called
_Thinocorus_. Of aquatic birds, there were two kinds of _Sterna_ and
_Larus_; many thousands of _Rynchops nigra_, which were so numerous as
to appear like clouds when they rose into the air; a _Procellaria_ of
the variety _Nectris_; two kinds of _Podiceps_, and an _Aptenodytes_ of
the variety _Spheniscus_. The upper part of the latter was of a lead
colour, and the lower part white, with a line of dullish grey running
from the bill to the belly, and forming a boundary between the two
colours; the bill and legs quite black. The animal was alive when
brought to us. When res