By digging, however,
in the ground, several insects, large spiders, and lizards were
found in a half-torpid state. On the 15th, a few animals began to
appear, and by the 18th (three days from the equinox), everything
announced the commencement of spring. The plains were ornamented by
the flowers of a pink wood-sorrel, wild peas, oenotherae, and
geraniums; and the birds began to lay their eggs. Numerous
Lamellicorn and Heteromerous insects, the latter remarkable for
their deeply sculptured bodies, were slowly crawling about; while
the lizard tribe, the constant inhabitants of a sandy soil, darted
about in every direction. During the first eleven days, whilst
nature was dormant, the mean temperature taken from observations
made every two hours on board the "Beagle," was 51 degrees; and in
the middle of the day the thermometer seldom ranged above 55
degrees. On the eleven succeeding days, in which all living things
became so animated, the mean was 58 degrees, and the range in the
middle of the day between sixty and seventy. Here then an increase
of seven degrees in mean temperature, but a greater one of extreme
heat, was sufficient to awake the functions of life.
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