Page:The birds of Tierra del Fuego - Richard Crawshay.djvu/52

xxxii of objects, is the clumsy Emalodera obesa. My first series was taken from under the remains of a whale on the beach in San Sebastian Bay. Plentiful on tree-trunks on the outskirts of forest is the jet-black spider-like slowly-moving extraordinarily hard-dying Bhyephenes lævirostris, one of the Weevils {Curculionidce). Forty-eight hours in normally strong cyanide fumes does not certainly kill this insect. Silpha biguttula is common in carrion. The powerful Sclerostomus femoratus, one of the Stag Beetles (Lucanidæ), is found buried deep in rotten tree trunks. On the open flats a Brown Chafer (Aulacopalpus pilicollis), is a principal prey of the burrowing owl in spring. A smaller Brown Chafer (Sericoides), and Haplous segmentarius in Teleplioridæ, are exceedingly plentiful on umbelliferous flowers—particularly celery.

In Hemiptera. I collected but four species, representing Pentatomidæ, Reduviadæ, Saldidæ, and Aradidæ—in Isodermus gayi, very abundant under the bark of trees.

In Neuroptera. I saw only Æschna diffinis, which I afterwards took at Punta Arenas, and again on board the "Asuncion de Larrinaga" when lying at anchor five miles off Monte Video.

Remarkable Crustacea are a large Rock Lobster (Palinurus), a great delicacy of the ocean; and a formidable Crab (Lithodes antarctica) whose shell is completely armed with thorny spines. A Wood Louse (Styloniscus magellanicus) is abundant on land.

All the main classes of Mollusca are represented—Mr. Edgar Smith informs me—namely, Amphineura, Gastropoda, Scaphopoda, Pelecypoda, Cephalopoda.

Conspicuous Marine species are:— Troplion geversianits, Acanthina imhricata, A. calcar, Valuta magellanica, V. ancilla, Bullia squalida, Argobuccnum vexillum, A, magellnicum, Photinula cæridescens, Patella ænea, Nacella mytilina, Siphonaria lessoni, S. redimiculum, Mactra marcida, Darina solenoides, Chione exalbida, Modiolarca trapezina, Mytilus magellanicus, Pecten patagonicus, P. corneus. The most abundant are a large