CHAP. IV.

Worms, Insects, Reptiles, Fishes, Birds, and Quadrupeds.

CHILI is not quite so abundant in animals as the other countries of America. The reptiles, for instance, are but few, and the indigenous quadrupeds do not exceed thirty-six species. The classes of worms, of fishes, and of birds are those that contain the greatest number of species and of individuals. From my observations, however, I am led to believe that insects are less abundant than in Italy, and that Chili produces a greater number of worms, particularly the marine kind; the whole coast of the Pacific Ocean being filled with zoophytes and molluscas, many of which are wholly unknown to naturalists.

SECT. I. Molluscas.-The pyura (pyura, gen. nov.) is a mollusca, remarkable for its shape and its mode of dwelling. This animal, which scarcely merits the name, is about an inch

in diameter, and of the shape of a pear, or it may more properly be compared to a small fleshy purse, of nearly a conical form, filled with salt water; it is of a red colour, and is furnished on the upper part with two very short trunks, one of which serves for a mouth, the other as an anus. Between these are two shining black points which I suppose are the eyes. On the strictest examination I have not been able to discover any organs or intestines separate from the flesh composing the body of this animal, which is smooth on the outside, and within mammiform. It is not, however, destitute of sensibility, as, on being touched or drawn from its cell, it ejects with violence from both trunks the water which it contains. Several of these animals live together in a kind of coriaceous hive; this is of a different form in different places, and appears to be completely closed on the outside, but within is divided into ten or more cells by means of strong membranes. Each individual has his separate cell, where he lives a recluse life without any visible communication with his companions, and in which he is compelled to remain, though there is no perceptible ligament that attaches him to it. From this circumstance it may fairly be presumed that these animals are hermaphrodites of the first species, or such as produce their like without coupling.

The hives, which serve as habitations for

these molluscas, resemble alcyoniums, and are attached to rocks, covered by the water, from whence they are torn by the waves and driven on the shore. The inhabitants of Chili eat the pyures, either boiled or roasted in the shells, and when fresh they have the taste of a lobster. Great quantities of them are dried annually and sent to Cujo, where they are in great request. believe the animal which Kolben, in his description of the Cape of Good Hope, calls the sea fountain, is of the same family.

I

Various species of the holothuria, especially the holothuria physalis, or the galley, are frequently found upon the shore, whither they are driven by the waves. This mollusca, called by several authors the sea nettle, from its producing an inflammation of the skin when touched, is of the shape and size of an ox-bladder filled with air. It is furnished within with a great number of branching feelers, or tentaculæ, intertwined with each other, in the centre of which is placed the mouth, of a very deformed appearance.

These tentaculæ are of several colours, red, purple or blue; the skin that forms the vesicle or bladder is transparent, and appears to consist of different longitudinal and transverse fibres, within which a peristaltic motion is perceptible. The top of this bladder is ornamented with a membrane in the shape of a crest, which serves the animal as a sail, and contains nothing excepting

a little clear water, confined to one of its extre mities by a membrane or diaphragm, which prevents it from spreading throughout the wholecavity of the bladder.

Besides the common cuttle fish (sepia octopodia) three other singular species are found in the sea of Chili. The first, the ungulated cuttle fish (sepia unguiculata) is of a great size, and ́ instead of suckers, has paws armed with a double row of pointed nails, like those of a cat, which it can, at its pleasure, draw into a kind of sheath. This fish is of a delicate taste, but is not very common. The second I have called the tunicated cuttle fish (sepia tunicata) from its body being covered with a second skin, in the form of a tunic; this is transparent, and terminates in two little semicircular appendages like wings, which project from either side of the tail. Many wonderful and incredible stories are told by sailors of the bulk and strength of this fish, but it is certain that it is frequently caught of one hundred and fifty pounds weight on the coast of Chili, and the flesh is esteemed a great delicacy. The third is the cuttle fish with six feet (sepia hexapodia). This species is of a very singular figure, and when seen in a state of quiescence, appears much more like a broken piece of the small branch of a tree than an animal. Its body does not exceed six inches in length, and is of the size of a man's finger, divided into four or

five articulations decreasing in size towards the tail. Its feet are usually drawn up near the head, but when extended have the appearance of so many floating roots; like those of other cuttle fish, they are furnished with suckers, but so small as to be scarcely discernible. The head is misshapen, and supplied with two antennae, or trunks. The black liquor is contained in a little bladder or vesicle, common to all the genus, and is very good for writing. The animal, when taken in the naked hand, produces a slight degree of numbness, which is not, however, attended with any disagreeable consequences.

Of the urchins, or sea-eggs, there are several species, but the principal are the white and the black. The white urchin (echinus albus) is of a globular form, and about three inches in diameter; the shell and spines are white, but the interior substance is yellowish, and of an excelZent taste. The black urchin (echinus niger) is a little larger than the white, and of an oval form; the exterior and the eggs are black; it is called the devil's hedge-hog, and is never

eaten.

Of the class of vermes, or worms, the order of testacei are most abundant in Chili; the sea shore being covered with all kinds of shells, of which several hills are formed, from whence the inhabitants collect great quantities for lime. I have no doubt that among them might be dis