ON the 9th of December we observed the sea to be covered with broad streaks of a yellowish colour, several of them a mile long, and three or four hundred yards wide; some of the water thus coloured was taken up, and found to be full of innumerable atoms, pointed at the end, of a yellowish colour, and none more than a quarter of a line, or the fortieth part of an inch long; in the microscope they appeared to be _Fasciculi_ of small fibres interwoven with each other, not unlike the nidus of some of the _Phyganeas_, called Caddices; but whether they were animal or vegetable substances, whence they came, or for what they were designed, neither Mr. Banks nor Dr. Solander could guess. The same appearance had been observed before, when we first discovered the Continent of South America. On the 11th we hooked a shark, and while we were playing it under the cabin window, it threw out, and drew in again, several times, what appeared to be its stomach: it proved to be a female, and upon being opened six young ones were taken out of it; five of them were alive, and swam briskly in a tub of water, but the sixth appeared to have been dead some time. Nothing remarkable happened till the 30th, except that we prepared for the bad weather, which we were shortly to expect, by bending a new suit of sails; but on this day we ran a course of one hundred and sixty miles by the log, through innumerable land insects of various kinds, some upon the wing, and more upon the water, many of which were alive; they appeared to be exactly the same with the _Carabi_, the _Grylli_, the _Phalanæ_, _Aranea_, and other flies that are seen in England, though at this time we could not be less than thirty leagues from land; and some of these insects, particularly the _Grylli Aranea_, never voluntarily leave it at a greater distance than twenty yards. We judged ourselves to be now nearly opposite to _Baye sans fond_, where Mr. Dalrymple supposes there is a passage quite through the continent of America; and we thought from the insects that there might be at least a very large river, and that it had overflowed its banks. On the 3d of January, 1769, being in latitude 47° 17ʹ S. and longitude 61° 29ʹ 45ʺ W., we were all looking out for Pepys’ island, and for some time an appearance was seen in the east which so much resembled land, that we bore away for it; and it was more than two hours and a half before we were convinced that it was nothing but what sailors call a fog-bank.