ronectes sp.
Cuvier) was noticed, of amphibious nature, and something similar to what
we have frequently before seen; these were, however, much larger, being
about nine inches long. At low water the mud-banks near the cascade that
were exposed by the falling tide were covered with these fish, sporting
about, and running at each other with open mouths; but as we approached,
they so instantaneously buried themselves in the soft mud that their
disappearance seemed the effect of magic: upon our retiring and
attentively watching the spot, these curious animals would re-appear as
suddenly as they had before vanished. We fired at several, but so sudden
were their motions that they generally escaped; two or three only were
procured, which appeared from their lying on the mud in an inactive state
to have been asleep; they are furnished with very strong pectoral and
ventral fins with which and with the anal fin, when required, they make a
hole, into which they drop. When sporting on the mud, the pectoral fins
are used like legs, upon which they move very quickly; but nothing can
exceed the instantaneous movement by which they disappear. Those that
were shot were taken on board, but on account of the extreme heat of the
weather they had become so putrefied as to be totally unfit for
preservation.

July 30.

The next day, the 30th, was spent in examining some bights in the narrow
part of the channel near Gap Island, so named from a remarkable division
in its centre, through which the high-tide flows, and gives it the
appearance of being two islands. It was on this occasion that we explored
Halfway Bay, where we were fortunate in finding good anchorage, and in
which we also discovered a strait, that on a subsequent examination was
found to communicate with Munster Water, and to insulate the land that
forms the north-west shore of the bay: this island was called after the
late Right Honourable Charles Greville, whose name has also been given to
a family of plants (grevillea) that bears a prominent rank in the botany
of this country. The strait, in which the tide was running at the rate of
six or seven knots, was not more than one hundred and fifty yards wide;
but in one part it was contracted to a much narrower compass, by a bed of
rocks that nearly extended across the strait, and which must originally
have communicated with the opposite shore.

We landed under the flat-topped hill, at the south end of Greville
Island, among the m