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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Darwin speculate about the continents?
(a) a land bridge across what is now the Bering Strait
(b) volcanic anctions in all of them
(c) why they are so different
(d) shifts in the earth's teutonic plates

2. Why can two dead monkeys not be shaken out of a tree?
(a) they are held by other monkeys
(b) the grip of their prehensile tails
(c) they are wedged in the branches
(d) the grip of their large hands

3. What do the inhabitants of a ranch north of the Polanco River find interesting when Darwin arrives?
(a) the odd clothes that Darwin wears
(b) Darwin's compass and maps and phosphorous matches
(c) the color of Darwin's skin
(d) the pictures Darwin draws of plants and insects

4. What is Capt. Fitz Roy's plan after anchoring at the mouth of the Santa Cruz River?
(a) to take boats up the river as far as he can
(b) to anchor there for the winter
(c) to spend a few weeks fishing
(d) to trade with natives who come in canoes

5. What does Darwin discover that some small owls eat by examining the contents of their stomachs?
(a) mice and snakes
(b) fruit and vegetables
(c) eggs and other birds
(d) grain and insects

6. What do the Brazilian villages remind Darwin of?
(a) settlements on Cape de Verd
(b) the Hottentot dwellings of Southern Africa
(c) paintings of early Egypt
(d) Scottish villages

7. What are the only two insects Darwin locates on St. Paul's Rocks?
(a) grasshoppers and flies
(b) moths and ants
(c) ticks and fleas
(d) spiders and parasites brought in on the birds

8. How does Darwin speculate the craggy boulders around the mountains were moved?
(a) by seismic activity
(b) by meteors
(c) by floating icebergs
(d) by volcanic eruptions

9. What does Darwin see along the way where robbers hide and cattle can be lost?
(a) many rocky caves
(b) dark hollows
(c) thick copses
(d) vast expanses of thistles

10. How does Darwin surmise the butterflies and insects got to where the Beagle is?
(a) blown out to sea rather than being on a migration
(b) following the scent of fresh fruit on the Beagle
(c) chased out to sea by insect eating birds
(d) migrating across the Pacific Ocean toward Asia

11. Where do seals and penguins surround the ship and make noises that resemble cattle?
(a) just of the coast from Rio de Janeiro
(b) headed north from Rio de Janeiro
(c) the Plata estuary
(d) off the coast of Antarctica

12. What is the Casarita meaning little house builder?
(a) a kind of rabbit that nests in trees
(b) a bird that digs long holes into its underground nest
(c) a snake that builds mounds of rock
(d) a species of armadillo

13. What are two important items used by the gauchos?
(a) rifles and bows
(b) knives and pistols
(c) blow guns and spears
(d) the lazo (lasso) and the bola

14. What is the composition of Sierra de la Ventana?
(a) mostly granite
(b) largely limestone
(c) largely white quartz
(d) mostly ignecious rock

15. Where does Darwin see camphor, pepper, cinnamon and clove trees, along with breadfruit, jaca and mango?
(a) in a Brazilian marketplace
(b) the edge of the sea
(c) the Botanical Garden
(d) deep in the Brazilian jungle

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Darwin speculate died out on the continent long before the Spanish arrived?

2. What does Darwin compare to the taste of veal?

3. Where does Darwin see a rocky, steep hill jutting about 1,000 feet into the sky?

4. How does Darwin end up bringing his own horse down?

5. What do Darwin's discoveries cause him to think about?

(see the answer keys)

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