they continue laying, I presume, in another nest. This appears to me
very improbable. He asserts that four or five hens associate for
incubation with one cock, who sits only at night.
[16] When at the Rio Negro, we heard much of the indefatigable labours
of this naturalist. M. Alcide d'Orbigny, during the years 1825 to
1833, traversed several large portions of South America, and has made a
collection, and is now publishing the results on a scale of
magnificence, which at once places himself in the list of American
travellers second only to Humboldt.
[17] Account of the Abipones, A.D. 1749, vol. i. (English Translation)
p. 314
[18] M. Bibron calls it T. crepitans.
[19] The cavities leading from the fleshy compartments of the
extremity, were filled with a yellow pulpy matter, which, examined
under a microscope, presented an extraordinary appearance. The mass
consisted of rounded, semi-transparent, irregular grains, aggregated
together into particles of various sizes. All such particles, and the
separate grains, possessed the power of rapid movement; generally
revolving around different axes, but sometimes progressive. The
movement was visible with a very weak power, but even with the highest
its cause could not be perceived. It was very different from the
circulation of the fluid in the elastic bag, containing the thin
extremity of the axis. On other occasions, when dissecting small
marine animals beneath the microscope, I have seen particles of pulpy
matter, some of large size, as soon as they were disengaged, commence
revolving. I have imagined, I know not with how much truth, that this
granulo-pulpy matter was in process of being converted into ova.
Certainly in this zoophyte such appeared to be the case.
[20] Kerr's Collection of Voyages, vol. viii. p. 119.
[21] Purchas's Collection of Voyages. I believe the date was really
1537.
[22] Azara has even doubted whether the Pampas Indians ever used bows.
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